Unexpected receiver does damage for Novi in football win at Hartland
HARTLAND — Hartland’s football team knew all about Boden Fernsler from personal experience, and Andrew Kummer from all the Novi highlights on last week’s game film.
The Eagles knew they had their hands full defending the Wildcats’ receivers.
Perhaps they realized the extent of the challenge.
Jaden Vondrasek, a junior who played junior varsity ball last season, became Novi quarterback Caleb Walker’s favorite weapon Thursday night in a 14-7 victory at Hartland.
Vondrasek caught nine passes for 94 yards and both Novi touchdowns. Kummer and Fernsler helped move the chains, combining for 10 catches for 80 yards, but it was Vondrasek who made the greatest impact this time around.
“On some plays, I was just scrambling and was able to hit him,” said Walker, who was 24-for-31 for 229 yards and two touchdowns. “He was always in the right spot and able to catch it. He played a great game.”
On Novi’s first touchdown drive, which began on its own 1-yard line, Vondrasek hauled in a 36-yard pass to move the ball to midfield. He capped the drive by catching a 3-yard touchdown pass with 3:39 left in the first half.
Known for his speed, Vondrasek showed some power on his other touchdown catch, breaking tackles on his way to a 21-yard score with 6:59 left in the third quarter.
The previous week, Kummer was the main target, hauling in nine passes for 130 yards in a 21-7 loss to Sterling Heights Stevenson. Last year when the two teams played, Fernsler had a spectacular third-down catch on the go-ahead drive, which ended with him catching the winning touchdown.
Vondrasek was just a small part of the offense in Week 1, catching four passes for 34 yards.
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“Watching them on film, they posed a big challenge to us, because all their receivers are game-breakers,” Hartland coach Thomas Stevenson said. “Watching them last week, they only scored seven against Stevenson, but they had three touchdowns taken off the board because of holding penalties.
“We told our secondary they were going to have to be up for a challenge this week. They’re all great receivers and the quarterback is incredible. He’s a tough kid and he delivers the ball on time. He’s a great high school quarterback.”
99 problems
Jacob Dibert gave Hartland a boost of momentum when his punt was downed inside the 1-yard line with 8:49 left in the second quarter.
But Novi quickly got out of danger and would eventually score on a 12-play, 99-yard drive that took 5 minutes, 10 seconds.
“We had them in some long downs,” Stevenson said. “We had them at third-and-15 and committed a pass interference. That’s tough. You get off the field, but you make a penalty. You never want to give up a 99-yard drive. We never want to give up any points, but especially you don’t want to let them drive the whole field. and get points out of it.”
A 9-yard pass from Walker to Kummer got the drive started.
“At the start, we were just trying not to get a safety, move the ball, get a first down,” Walker said. “Once we did that, we started building on it and had a big play and just went down and scored.”
Finally finding the end zone
Hartland nearly went into Week 3 without having scored an offensive touchdown.
The Eagles finally got on the board and made the final seconds a little more interesting when James Butzier hit Connor Renaud with an 80-yard touchdown pass with 14 seconds left in the game.
Hartland attempted an onside kick, but Fernsler made the recovery for Novi.
“Today we had a lot of self-inflicted wounds where we were moving it a little bit and then we’d get a 15-yarder,” Stevenson said. “When you get behind the sticks like that, it’s tough. We’ve just got to keep getting better on that side of the ball. We’ve got to get better on every side of the ball. Obviously, when you’re 0-2, everything’s a problem.”
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Jaden Vondrasek the latest Novi receiver to shine in win over Hartland
