Belleville MI. – It seemed as the Belleville Tigers could nothing wrong Friday night on their home field and that the Tractors of Dearborn Fordson could do nothing right. In what many thought was going to be a very tough close battle turned out to a runaway route for the Tigers.
It didn’t take long for the Tigers to get on the board after a good kick return to open the game. Starting from the Tractors 30, senior quarterback Christian Dhue-Reid connected for the deep touchdown, his first of 7 on the night. Dhue-Reid is closing in on the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s state record for career touchdowns, Dhue-Reid now has 104 career touchdown passes, which is 20 shy of tying the Michigan High School Athletic Association record of 124 set by Mason Gee-Montgomery of Stockbridge in 2016. He currently sits tied for No. 3 all-time with Travis Smith of Ithaca.
Up 8-0 with the early lead Tiger defensive back Jeremiah Caldwell jumped a route and picked off a Tractor pass and took it to the house for a 26-yard score. The Tigers defense was swarming early on and dominating at the line behind Alabama commit Damon Payne and didn’t give the Tractors much room to doing anything at all, stifling their star running back Travis Boston Jr.
Before the first quarter had ended the Tigers added two more scores with big touchdowns by Christian Rapley and a 38-yard scoring strike to the senior receiver and Purdue commit Deion Burks for a huge 28-0 lead after the first quarter.
Try as the might the Tractors just couldn’t get anything going on offense. The tigers just outmanned them at every step of the way and the Tractors just couldn’t generate much yardage gains or first downs at all. Early in the second quarter, it was the Tigers expanding their lead even more with a pair of deep passes minutes apart with another one to Burks and one to Ronzie Randle for a huge 42-0 lead.
The Tractors faced a lot of pressure and as their quarterback Alex Osman rolled out to his right he was picked off by Payne who returned the ball to the Tractors 43-yard line. After a big 23 yard pass to Rapley, it was senior Kobe Langord keeping the ball on the ground and dodging tacklers for a 17-yard score and with the extra point, the Tigers had a dominating 49-0 lead.
But the Tigers didn’t let up at all, they kept that pedal to the metal and with 2 minutes left to go, they doubled their first-quarter score by adding another score for a commanding 56-0 lead going into the halftime.
With a running clock and many of the backups getting a chance to play the second half flew by. Things got a little chippy on the field with many personal fouls being called but the Tractors could not get anything going at all. The Tigers added two more scores for the record-setting 69-0 victory.
Dhue-Reid finished 17-for-25 for 295 yards. Six of his touchdowns came in the first half as Belleville led 56-0 at the break. He spread the ball around well connecting with six different receivers for his touchdowns. He also completed 6 of his passes for 20 or more yards.
As much as the offense was clicking the Tigers defense was even more outstanding as Fordson finished the night with -27 yards of offense and had only eight plays all night with positive yards. Penn State linebacker commit Jamari Buddin had a pair of sacks, while Alabama defensive tackle commit Damon Payne also had a sack.
Belleville will look to keep rolling against Wayne Memorial at home next week. Fordson will seek its first win next week when it hosts Westland John Glenn.
