Airport scores quickly and often in opening-round playoff rout

CARLETON – There are 24 minutes in a half of high school football.

Airport was only on offense for 4:59 of those 24 minutes in the first half of Friday's Division 4 state playoff game against Detroit East English Village.

It was enough time for the Jets to score 49 points before halftime.

“We were very efficient, whether we were running the ball or throwing the ball, so we were able to score really fast,” Airport coach Jim Duffy said.

The offensive efficiency led the Jets to a whopping 70-18 win in the opening round of playoff action.

Duffy said the quick scoring made things tough for the defense, but he’ll take the points however they come.

“Defensively, we were on the field for a long time, which was a little draining, but I’m never going to complain about being able to put that many points up that quickly," he said.

The Jets ran just six plays in the first quarter and scored three offensive touchdowns.

Colin Nowak scored on a 71-yard touchdown run and also caught a 47-yard touchdown pass from Cooper Nye.

Nye connected with Zajac on a 10-yard pass and Jack Mills recovered a fumble for an 18-yard touchdown on defense to make the score 28-6 at the end of the first quarter.

Champs flex muscle: Whiteford begins defense with overpowering win over Sand Creek

Change of plans: Flat Rock airs it out in playoff rout over Milan

Less than a minute into the second quarter, Nye and Zajac linked again, this time for a 22-yard touchdown. Brett Moore then ran for a 23-yard touchdown and Nye added a 1-yard score to cap the first half scoring for Airport.

Moore added a 43-yard touchdown run on the second play after the intermission. He led the team with 6 carries for 128 yards.

“I like the way the coaches look at me as a weapon they can use, and tonight they trusted me enough to give me the ball and I scored a couple of times,” Moore said.

It’s the big guys up front that allowed Moore to flourish.

“Shout out to my o-line, they’re the only reason this offense is doing what it’s doing today,” Moore said.

That offensive line is made up of senior’s Jacob Hanning and David Satnick, juniors Blake Haliburda and Issac Kemp, and freshman Silas Satnick. Their work cleared the way for the Jets' weapons to notch 393 yards rushing on 33 carries.

Matt Foor led the way defensively with 2 sacks.

“Everyone played great, everyone did their jobs and we didn’t let the bad stuff snowball,” Foor said.

Foor entered the game with 11 sacks and his two Friday were enough to make him the program record holder for sacks in a season with 13.

Duffy was happy with his team, but Friday night’s victory was just another step towards the goals set by the team during the off-season.

“I am so proud of these guys. This is something we talked about at the beginning of the year – compete and win a Huron League Championship, which they did – they wanted to host and win a playoff game, which they did – and they wanted win a district and make a run, and they have an opportunity to do that next week."

Airport (9-1) will host Dearborn Divine Child next Friday Night.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Airport scores quickly and often in opening-round playoff rout