BERRIEN SPRINGS – The Dowagiac freshmen football team improved to 3-1 with a 24-0 win over host Berrien Springs Thursday.

Offensively for the Chieftains, Brad Moran had a pair of touchdowns, while Hunter Ayers and Kyle Thies both added one score.

Other notable offensive performances came from Colin Hassle, Erik Walker and Kevin Whitaker.

Defensively, Shawn Sirk recovered the opening kickoff setting the tempo for the Chieftains while Thies, Hassle and Moran led the defense.

“We have had numerous injuries in the past two weeks in an already small (numbers-wise) freshmen class and have had to move several people to fill the gaps,” Dowagiac coach Chad Perrin said. “While we saw a lot of things we need to work on, the one thing that holds true is this class plays as a team.

The Chieftains play Brandywine’s JV squad Thursday at Chris Taylor-Alumni Field beginning at 4:30 p.m.

 

JV football

The Dowagiac JV football team scored 19 points in each half en route to a 38-6 win over host Berrien Springs Thursday.

Ronnie Payne had 106 yards on five carries with two touchdowns for the Chieftains, who also got 90 yards from Jacob Davis on 14 carries. Nate Tackitt and Anthony Neubaur also scored for Dowagiac.

Scott Hassle was 3-of-6 for 132 yards and two scores. Nate Ward and Payne were on the receiving end of the touchdown passes.

Neubaur had a team-high six tackles for the Chieftains.

“Much better game tonight,” Dowagiac coach Matt Alward said. “We took a step in the right direction, We still have a lot of things to clean up. We are going to watch film and get ready for Coloma.”