Bears blast Blue Devils in opening round
Bears will battle Lakeshore in round 2

(St. Joseph) – Four seasons ago, St. Joe made their first playoff appearance since 1999 when the Bears traveled to Gull Lake, the Bears came out of that game with 14-0 win over the Blue Devils.  Three years later, the Bears showed the Blue Devils that St. Joe football has come a long way since their first round matchup, as the Bears crushed Gull Lake 56-13 at Dickinson Stadium.

The Bears defense and a strong wind kept Gull Lake deep in their own territory in the first quarter.  St. Joe got on the board first after the defense forced a three and out for Gull Lake, on the ensuing punt, Devonte Jones picked up the ball after bouncing off of a Bear defender and returned it 50 yards for the touchdown and a 7-0 Bear lead.

The defense would step up again on the Blue Devils next drive.   Tyler Curtis caused a fumble which was recovered by Jeremy Rush at the Gull Lake 24 yard line, two plays later Tyler Curtis would take the handoff and scored from 12 yards out for a 14-0 St. Joe lead.

After another Gull Lake punt the Bears took just one play to make it 21-0 as Sean Guinane threw a 42 yard touchdown pass to Michael Carter.  The Bears, at that point, only had a total of three offensive plays.

Still in the first quarter, Gull Lake punted again, St. Joe took 6 plays to find the endzone again as Joel Bergman caught a 19 yard touchdown pass to put the Bears up 28-0.

Gull Lake's offense finally was able to gain a first down in the Blue Devils first possession of the second quarter but it again resulted in a punt, which St. Joe turned into another touchdown as Devonte Jones scored his second touchdown of the game on a 25 yard run to put the Bears up 35-0.

St. Joe defense kept Gull Lake's offense bottled up and forced another three and out, the Bear offense turned it into another touchdown.  Ty Taylor scored from 10 yards out and the Bears lead jumped to 42-0.

Gull Lake finally was able to cross midfield against some of the Bears substitutes on defense as Taylor Schultz scored on a 30 yard scramble to put the visitors on the board at 42-7.

The Bears didn't take long to get that score back as St. Joe capped of a 3 play 52 yard drive when Sean Guinane threw a 25 yard touchdown pass to Tyler Curtis to put the Bears ahead 49-7 at halftime.

The second half would be played under the MHSAA mercy rule.  But the luck wouldn't chance for Gull Lake as the Blue Devils first two possessions of the second half were stopped by interceptions, the Bears would turn the second of the two into a touchdown as Josh Akins scored on a 10 yard run, and then proceeded to kick the extra point to put the Bears up 56-7.  Akins kicked 8 extra points and kicked off 10 times for 534 yards.

With the clock quickly winding down, Gull Lake would close out the scoring as Schultz threw a 12 yard passing touchdown to Adrian Zuidweg.  The point after was blocked my Micah Schoeplein.

The win by the Bears sets up a rematch of a week 8 game against arch rival Lakeshore in the district title game on Friday night at Dickinson Stadium.  Lakeshore had to beat Battle Creek Harper Creek 17-14 in overtime to set up the rematch.

SCORING SUMMARY

Gull Lake     0  7 0 6 – 13
St. Joseph   28 21 7 0 – 48

SJ - Devonte Jones 50 yard punt return (Josh Akins kick) 
SJ - Tyler Curtis 12 yard run (Josh Akins kick) 
SJ - Michael Carter 42 yard pass from Sean Guinane (Josh Akins kick) 
SJ - Joel Bergman 19 yard pass from Sean Guinane (Josh Akins kick)
SJ - Devonte Jones 25 yard run (Josh Akins kick) 
SJ - Ty Taylor 10 yard run (Josh Akins kick) 
GL - Taylor Schultz 30 yard run (Vince Behnke kick) 
SJ - Tyler Curtis 25 yard pass from Sean Guinane (Josh Akins kick)
SJ - Josh Akins 10 yard run (Josh Akins kick)
GL - Adrian Zuidweg 12 yard pass from Taylor Schultz (Vince Behnke kick blocked)

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