All through the first half, Walled Lake Western controlled the flow of the game at Waterford Kettering by winning the field position battle, clamping down on defense, and methodically moving the ball upfield with a series of short passes.
But Western isn’t 3-0 because it plays it safe. Rather than take a knee with a 16-point lead and three seconds remaining, Kyle Thomas launched a quick-strike to Cody White, who went up among a crowd at midfield, cradled the ball and sped toward the left end zone pylon on a 74-yard touchdown play.
“I dropped back and I had Cody running up the hash and I trusted him,” Thomas said. “He’s a good enough player, and I gave him a chance and he made the play happen. We were going into the half positive with a big play.”
The catch made the game 23-0 and sent the Captains back to their locker room no longer thinking they had a fighting chance. Western went on to win, 44-0, tonight.
“We figured we’d throw it up to a kid who’s got an offer from the University of Wisconsin, because he’s a pretty good athlete,” coach Mike Zdebski said. “That was a great play right there. We figured we’d throw it up to our best kid and see what happens.”
“I just remember running up the hash and there was a back there and I had to jump over him. I broke that (tackle) and I was free from there,” White said. “It was just fun to come out here and play football and keep scoring.”
That’s exactly what the Warriors did after the break. Thomas capped the first drive of the third quarter by lofting another pass to White covering 15 yards. Shortly after that, Jack Dodge returned a punt 55 yards to give Western a 37-0 lead and keep the clock running.
Thomas finished the night early, completing 12-of-21 for 165 yards. He also rushed for 59 yards on 11 carries.
White, who also played quarterback down the stretch, threw a 21-yard scoring pass to Jacob McCarthy with 1:13 to play.
The Kensington Lakes North rivals came into the game undefeated, but the Warriors were able to post their 12th straight win over Kettering.