By RICK SWANSON
Dowagiac Daily News

RICHLAND – On a cold and wet Friday night, the visiting Dowagiac Chieftains routed the Blue Devils of Gull Lake 34-10.

The Chieftains have secured their place in post-season play winning their sixth game of the season, and are in second place in the Wolverine Conference, just behind the Wildcats of Three Rivers.

The Blue Devils drop to 4-3 for the season.

Dowagiac started its scoring on their first drive, when, at 6:23 in the first quarter, Senior Jon Myers ran 57 yards for a touchdown.

But, on their second possession, the Chieftains fumbled the ball into the hands of Gull Lake’s Lucas Szekely, leading to the Blue Devil’s first three points of the game with a 29-yard field goal.

The Chieftains fought back when Senior Brandon Douglas capped off an 11-play, 76-yard series with a 19-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Austin Adams, making it 14-3.

And the Chieftains never looked back.

“This game was won by both the offense and defense,” Dowagiac coach Mike Stanger commented after the game.

The Chieftains produced 356 yards total offense, while the defense kept the Blue Devils to only 196, with 45 of those yards coming on the ground.

“It was nice to have (senior) Adam Roach back,” Stanger said.

Roach has been out due to a knee injury since the first game against Three Rivers.  Roach was credited with four tackles, while seniors Cody Nowak and Douglas recording five tackles each. The defense collected 32 tackles on the night with two quarterback sacks.

On the first drive of the second half, Douglas ran the football 35 yards for a touchdown at 9:42, raising the score to 21-3.

On the following series, the Chieftains forced the Blue Devils to go three and out, but then the fumbled the ball again on the fourth play of the drive. By the end of the night, Dowagiac turned the ball over three times.

“We will need to work on the turnovers this week in practice,” Stanger said.

At 3:18 left in the third quarter, Adams ran the ball in for the fourth Chieftain touchdown of the night taking the score to 28-3.

On the next possession, Dowagiac marched 81 yards down the field in 15 plays to score its final touchdown of the night with 3:55 left in the fourth quarter.

Douglas capped the series with a 14-yard run.

“We have to give thanks to a great coaching staff… most of our guys have come through this program,” Stanger said.

This year’s team is well coached and the fruit of their labor is evident in the numbers.
The Chieftains continued their dominance of the Wolverine Conference points scored statistic, leading Three Rivers 271 to 260.

Douglas has rushed the ball for 857 yards on the season with Myers behind him at 535. The defense is equally impressive. Senior Anthony Nelson is credited with 65 tackles on the season, followed by Nowak with 56.

The Chieftains take on Otsego next week at Chris Taylor-Alumni Field starting at 7 p.m.

Dowagiac 14 0 14 6 – 34
Gull Lake 0 3 0 7 – 10
D – Jon Myers 57 run (Cody Carnell kick)
GL – 29 field goal
D – Brand Douglas 19 pass from Austin Adams (Carnell kick)
D – Douglas 35 run (Carnell kick)
D – Adams 1 run (Carnell kick)
D – Douglas 14 run (kick fails)
GL – Zudwig 7 run (kick good)