Napoleon, MI. – The stands were packed Friday night as the loyal fans of the Napoleon Pirates looked to cheer their undefeated team on to victory against the Leslie Blackhawks on homecoming.
The Pirates received the ball first and after going 3 and out the Pirates punter received a bad snap near his own goal line and wisely threw the ball out of the end zone sacrificing 2 points against his team instead of allowing 6.
The Blackhawks then received the ball and marched downfield for a score to take an 8-0 lead as their 2-point conversion attempt failed. But the Pirates fought back right away driving down the field. The Pirates on a 4th down with 3 to go on the Blackhawks 14 decided to go for it and quarterback Grant Bradley scrambled his way down the left side of the field for the score. They tied up the score at 8 as Bradley hit Kayden Fowler with the pass on the 2-point conversion.
After swapping turnovers with time running out in the first, Christian Nykamp picked off a Blackhawk pass and returned it to the 40-yard line giving the Pirates great field position. After a few great runs by running back Mason Roth the Pirates were in scoring position again as quarterback Bradley kept the ball and drove into the end zone from the 1 giving the Pirates the lead which they would not relinquish again for the evening.
It was all Pirates for the rest of the first half as they took a huge 30-8 lead behind great running from Roth and Bradley.
At the half were the homecoming festivities and the courts and king and queen were announced. Winning the honor of homecoming king was Christian Nykamp. Winning the proud honor of homecoming Queen was Pirate placekicker Maggie Van Wagnen, daughter of Aaron & Lenae Van Wagnen, who were there to happily and proudly celebrate the honor along with Maggie’s youngest sibling Kate.
After the halftime festivities, the Blackhawks received the ball but the tough Pirates defense was doing a great job of forcing them to turnover the ball on downs. But about halfway through the quarter Leslie struck on a deep pass to score but failed on the 2-point conversion.
To start the fourth quarter it was Roth scoring again for the Pirates but the Blackhawks struck right back on an 80-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Braydin Johnson on the right side of the field to cut the Pirate’s lead to 37-22 after they converted the 2-point conversion.
The Pirates did not take their feet off the gas pedal as with 7:55 to go in the game the Pirates scored again with Fowler running through the middle of the field with his offensive line throwing great blocks for him. Doubling the points scored by the Blackhawks the Pirates were up 44-22. About a minute later it was Bradley throwing a 50-yard strike to number 44 on the left side of the field to give the Pirates a commanding 51-22 lead.
After that, the Pirates just stayed strong on the defense and substituted a lot of the younger players and others that don’t get to play as much to see what they have for the future as they ran the clock out.
The Pirates ran their record to 6-0, the second year in a row they’ve done that and the seventh time overall in their recorded history dating back to 1951. The Blackhawks fall to 2-4 on the season.
Roth led the Pirates with 205 yards on 25 carries a week after putting up almost 200 yards on the road against Grass Lake. Bradley had 10 carries for 71 yards and was 9 of 15 passing for 153 yards.
For the Pirates defense freshman Ashton Warner, who was playing his first varsity game, had nine tackles, two sacks, and an interception and put on quite a defensive show of what the future looks like for the Pirates.
Napoleon will travel to Michigan Center next Friday night to take on the 5-1 Cardinals whose only loss this year was in their first game against Jackson Lumen Christi.
