John Haynes
October 10, 2009
 

In the battle of the ‘junior jug’ the Novi JV football team traveled to Northville to regain the handle and never relinquished control.  The 4-2 Mustangs proved no match for the Novi’s dominant offense and characteristically stingy defense.  Novi improved their record to 6-0-1 to clinch the KLAA Central Division championship.  The JV Wildcats will host the 3-4 JV Plymouth Wildcats in the KLAA South Division cross over on October 15.

In a cool drizzle at the start of the game, Novi got on their horse early with a defensive three and out which forced a Northville punt to the Novi 48.  After testing the defensive line with two rushes, quarterback Derek Ince stepped into the pocket to deliver a 50 yard touchdown pass to Adam Haynes.  Haynes and the extra point team added one to warm up the scoreboard at 7-0.

The defense kept up their reputation for outstanding play all night.  The defense was led by tacklers Derek Poppenger who also had one fumble recovery, Derek Cingel and Chris Diacono.  Alex Barry contributed a quarterback sack and Derek Edwards and Evan Thomas produced tackles for losses.  The secondary of Justin Brooks, Giddiani Albuerne, Alejandro Albuerne, Lance Lilla and Haynes defended against the pass to prevent several third down conversions.

The centerpiece of the game was offensive ball control behind the offensive line of Poppenger, Justin Michael, Josh Feight, Diacono, Edwards and Nathan Peters and the running of Jimmy Eloff.  The line opened up the middle of the Northville field for Eloff who carried for a season high of 186 yards on 20 carries.  Eloff scored early in the second quarter to complete a 86 yard Novi drive.  To close out the first half, Ince took to the air to find Logan Regnier all alone along the Northville sideline for a 64 touchdown play.  After a Haynes extra point, Novi broke for half time with a 21-0 lead.

In the second half the football changed hands until Haynes (82 yards on 5 carries) got the call from the Mustang 45 and found outside daylight and the end zone.  The extra point team added one point to the 28-0 total.  The football continued to change hands until a Nick Provost pass interception put the ball in Novi’s hands for good.