Friday, 9/22/17 - 7:00 PM Wildcat Stadium Mattawan, MI Radio (SJ): 95.7 & 1400 WSJM Sports Radio (MAT) none
St. Joseph Bears 3-1 (1-1 SMAC West)	All Time Series St. Joseph leads 8-4 (.667) Last Game: 2016 - SJ 28, MAT 21 (at SJ)	Mattawan Wildcats 3-1 (2-0 SMAC East)
Gandalf Church 7th season	Head Coaches Seasons	Ryan Brown 3rd season

(stjoefootball.com) - It's back on the road as we reach the midpoint of the 2017 season

View the extended game notes (.pdf)

The midway point of the season has the Bears and Wildcats meeting tonight in Mattawan. Both teams enter the game with identical 3-1 records.   The two teams first met back in 2001, since that time St. Joe has an 8-4 record in those matchups, including a 4-2 record at Wildcat Stadium.  The two teams met last year at Dickinson Stadium in St. Joe with the Bears coming away with a 28-21 victory.  This is St. Joe’s first trip to Mattawan since 2013, when the Bears won 38-27.  Tonight’s game is a non-division game but it will be a divisional game next year when the Wildcats move from the East to the West Division. 

Despite forcing five turnovers, the Bears were only able to convert those into six points as Lakeshore scored two touchdowns 56 seconds apart in the first quarter and walked away with a 14-6 win over St. Joe.  Antonio Buhrfield had two field goals for the Bears, from 23 and 31 yards out.   Running back Ryan Haynes had another 100+ yard rushing game, carrying the ball 25 times for 103 yards, he has rushed over 100 yards in each game this season.  Cade Shimulunas had 11 tackles. Konnor Lavanway, Devon Frenchko, and Derek Holowasko each had an interception, while Charlie Jones and Trevor Dilley had fumble recoveries.

LTo say that the Mattawan Wildcats last two games have come down to the final seconds would be an understatement.   Mattawan won 22-21 against Gull Lake two weeks ago on a 2 point conversion in overtime, last week, Dakota Carlisle’s field goal with :03 seconds left gave Mattawan a 16-14 win at Battle Creek Lakeview.  Mattawan dropped their opening game at Portage Central, before winning their next three games against Niles (2-2), Gull Lake (2-2), and Battle Creek Lakeview (1-3),

Midwest Family Radio Sports is once again the home of St. Joseph Bears football, with 95.7 & 1400 WSJM Sports, serving as the flagship for St. Joe football in their 20th straight season. Midwest Family Radio Sports provides weekly coverage of St. Joseph, Lakeshore, Benton Harbor, and South Haven football contests. Now in their 27th season, Phil McDonald (Play-By-Play) and Bret Witkowski (Color) will be calling the game. The broadcast is also available worldwide at www.wsjmsports.com. You can also get the live stats online at scoreboard.stjoefootball.com. The newspaper recap will be in the Herald Palladium and at www.heraldpalladium.com.