(St. Joseph) – After falling to Lakeshore the previous week, the Bears were looking to get back on the right track. St. Joe returned home to face Gull Lake, a team that has never won against St. Joe in the history of the matchup.

St. Joe would be forced to punt on their initial possession of the game, but would score touchdowns on 9 of the following 11 times the offense was on the field.

The Bears would strike first on a 1 play drive, after a pass interference penalty on Gull Lake, Troy Pratley would complete what he intended to do on the previous play when he connected with Griffin Shinrock for a 34 yard touchdown pass.

Gull Lake would punt on their next drive and St. Joe drove 78 yards in 9 plays, again ending with a Pratley to Shinrock touchdown pass, this from 8 yards out and the Bears had a 13-0 lead.

Gull Lake would fumble on their 2nd play and St. Joe had a short field to work with, 3 plays later Carter Vonk scored on a 38 yard run and the Bears lead was 20-0 with :58 seconds left in the first quarter.

St. Joe would then score three touchdowns in the final 7 minutes of the 2nd quarter. The first came with 6:43 remaining in the quarter, when Troy Pratley ran the ball twice, a 24 yard run followed by a 3 yard touchdown run to expand the lead to 26-0.

A Brennen Kerns interception and a penalty on Gull Lake started the next drive at the Gull Lake 16 yard line. Pratley ran it 16 yards one play later and St. Joe's lead was at 33-0.

St. Joe would get one final possession with only 17 seconds left in the half starting at the St. Joe 35 yard line, instead of ending the half. A 16 yard run from Andrew Barlow set up the third touchdown pass from Praltey to Shinrock as time expired in the 2nd quarter, with the extra point by Reese Uzelac, St. Joe had a 40-0 lead at the half, which caused the MHSAA mercy rule to be in play for the entire 2nd half.

Gull Lake would go three and out on their opening drive of the 2nd half, and a short punt set up the Bears in good field position again, at the Blue Devils 43 yard line.

The Bears would then take the opportunity to get some reps for the running backs of Trey McGinnis and Joron Brown. With McGinnins getting the bulk of the hand offs. He would score two touchdowns on runs from 3 and 38 yards and the Bears lead was a 54-0 as the 3rd quarter ended.

Gull Lake would get on the scoreboard on an 11 yard touchdown run from Daniel Clancey and a 25 yard run from Ben Jackson to provide the final margin on 54-14.

St. Joe improves to 4-1 on the season and 3-1 in the SMAC. The Bears are now 7-0 all time against Gull Lake. The Bears will close out the regular season at 4-1 Battle Creek Lakeview, Friday evening at 5:00 PM.

Other SMAC Games
Lakeshore 13, Battle Creek Lakeview 7
Kalamazoo Central 27, Mattawan 7
Portage Central 27, Battle Creek Central 7
Holt 26, Portage Northern 0