Bears declaw the Wildcats, St. Joe beats Mattawan 34-19

ST. JOSEPH – "Ground and pound" and "pound the rock" maybe old football cliches, but it's how the game is played, a strong running game is exactly what the Bears did in a season opening 34-19 win over Mattawan at Dickinson Stadium. 

St. Joe outgained the visitors by 207 yards on the ground and had 4 different players score the 5 Bears touchdowns.

As expected, it was a slow start for both teams offenses as is typical in the first game of the season. As the first three possessions of the game ended with punts, but the offense was given a gift by Mattawan’s special teams, Hudson Lange returned the punt down to the Mattawan 24-yard line, but a personal foul penalty on Mattawan would set up St. Joe to start the next drive on the Mattawan 13 yard line. Trey McGinnis carried the ball for the 13 yards over 2 plays and the Bears had a 7-0 lead.

Mattawan’s next drive was ended at the St. Joe 39-yard line on a Hudson Lange interception, Lange returned the ball to the Mattawan 34 yard line, but could do nothing with it.

Mattawan would score early in the 4th quarter on a touchdown pass from Andrew Keorkunian to Andrew Marucci, but the point after was blocked, keeping St. Joe ahead 7-6. 

St. Joe would add to the lead on a 14-play, 74-yard drive, the final three plays were runs by Joron Brown, with the touchdown run from 5-yards out.  St. Joe expanded the lead to 14-6.

After switching quarterbacks, Mattawan came within a yard of scoring late in the first half. But the Bear defense came up with another interception. Cole Lakin caught what seemed to be a toss up by Mattawan quarterback Ryan Van Liere, he returned it to midfield.  With only 8 second left in the half, St. Joe could only complete one pass and did not have time to take another play.

The second half started with the Bears with the ball, after a long return by Trey McGinnis, St. Joe found the endzone just 2:20 later on a 1 yard run by Andrew Barlow.  Max Taylor’s PAT was good and the Bears held a 21-6 lead.

Mattawan would again creep closer with a drive helped with Bear penalties.  A 49 yard drive that only lasted 69 seconds had Van Liere throwing a 16-yard touchdown pass to Drew Atkinson to make the score 21-13.

St. Joe replied on the ensuing drive as the Bears went 89 yards in 7 plays, resulting in a 38 yard touchdown run from Joron Brown.  The Bears again increased the lead to 28-13.

In the 4th quarter, a bad snap on a Bears punt gave Mattawan the ball at the St. Joe 2 yard line, and only needed two plays to score on a run by Blaine Rodgers. But the point after was again blocked keeping the lead at two possessions.

St. Joe wouldn’t give Mattawan the chance as quarterback Matt Lanier sprinted down the home sideline for a 46 yard touchdown run and a 34-19 lead, which is how the game would end.

St. Joe outgained Mattawan 325-121 on the ground and 354-284 for the game.   However the Bears had to overcome 13 penalties for 105 yards.

The Bears now head on the road to face Battle Creek Central (1-0) next week.