Takeaways: Glen Lake scores 41 unanswered points in runaway win over JoBurg

JOHANNESBURG ― With last week's loss to Kalkaska, the goals for the Johannesburg-Lewiston Cardinals football team shifted.

With the postseason all but out of the question and already sporting losses to the top two teams in the Northern Michigan Football League-Legacy Division, the Cardinals are looking for a win in one of their two final league games to improve on their finish from last season, starting with their matchup on Friday, Oct. 6, against Maple City Glen Lake.

But a win wasn't in the cards for the Cards.

After trailing 8-6 early, the Lakers rattled off 41 unanswered points to take a 47-6 victory over JoBurg, their third league loss.

Here are takeaways from the Lakers win:

Late downs prove pivotal for Cardinals' defense

The JoBurg (2-4, 1-3 NMFL-Legacy) defense knew it had its hands full with another spread-out passing offense like Glen Lake's (4-3, 2-2 NMFL-Legacy), a scheme that had given the Cardinals problems in losses to East Jordan and Frankfort.

However, outside of a 56-yard touchdown pass on the Lakers' first drive, this wasn't the same old story for the Cardinals D.

The story came down to a few critical third and fourth down plays, all conversions for Glen Lake; a fourth-and-short that went for a 12-yard touchdown in the first quarter to give the Lakers the lead, a fourth-and-long that went for another 12-yard TD to start the second half and a third-and-long that turned into a 41-yard TD from Cooper Bufalini.

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Those three plays changed the game from a three-score contest to a five-score blowout, a tough pill to swallow for a defense that showed improvement, all things considered.

New QB gets start for JoBurg

JoBurg made a change at quarterback this week, starting junior Kyler Nowak in place of fellow junior Benny Lindbert as the head of the Cardinals' Wing-T offense.

Nowak was effective early, capping off the Cardinals' only scoring drive with a 2-yard QB sneak for a touchdown to give JoBurg an 8-6 lead early.

He was limited the rest of the game, but it may be his job for the foreseeable future as the offense looked more efficient through the air with the lefty at QB.

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Last home game for senior class

This was JoBug's final home game of the season, meaning it was also the final home game for seniors Thomas Fox, Jacob Chartrand, Aydan Fulton, Javier Baragrey and Nick Antosz.

The Class of 2024 has been part of a tough stretch in JoBurg's program history, a winless season in 2021 and a one-win 2022. They were also part of the program when the Cardinals made it to the Division 8 state semifinals in 2020, however; a perspective on the rocky stretch JoBurg has been on since that memorable run.

Contact Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at Djespersen@gaylordheraldtimes.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Maple City Glen Lake blowout win over Johannesburg-Lewiston football