By Mark Blentlinger
Schoolcraft has returned to its roots and rebranded its mascot. Over the years, the Schoolcraft Eagles strayed from the golden eagle and used the bald eagle in its images. Starting with the coming season, the golden eagle has returned.
The Golden Eagle football team faced its first opponent August 25. The Comstock Colts visited Roy Davis Field with hopes to start its season at 1-0. Coach Ferency and the Golden Eagles had other plans for the visiting team, and it didn’t take long for the team to set the tone for the game.
After receiving the kickoff and during the second play, Isaac Noora took the handoff and went untouched for 53 yards down the home team’s sideline for the first score of the 2022 season.
For the second straight year, Schoolcraft will have a female kicking the extra points. Last season, Hannah Thompson was the first-ever female to score a point in a football game for Schoolcraft. This season Brooklyn Hamelink will be taking on the task of putting the ball through the uprights. Her first attempt went straight through, making the score 7-0 Golden Eagles.
After a struggling Comstock got the ball back and suffered three straight penalties, the Colts had to punt the ball. A few plays later, Senior Tagg Gott took the ball five yards through the center of the line to hit paydirt. Gott, after playing in Indiana last season during his junior year, decided to return to Schoolcraft for his senior season. He will be playing in the quarterback position, the same position he played in Indiana.
Comstock was never able to get much going on offense and had its hands full on defense with the size and speed of the Schoolcraft team.
Gott added three more touchdowns to his first. Noora added two more to his first and Gavin Hart added his own score. This took place all in the first half of the game. And Hamelink added her name to the Schoolcraft record book by making all eight extra points she attempted.
The Golden Eagles hit the locker room with the score at 56-0. The second half of the game was a non-stop running clock with no additional scoring, and only juniors and sophomores played on the Schoolcraft side of the ball. Schoolcraft ended the night running 25 total plays on offense, totaling 348 yards. The Comstock Colts had 52 plays on offense but were only able to post 114 total yards.