Football roundup: Bebble, Jeffers return in St. Mary's win, J-L honors Tom Zick on HC

GAYLORD ― Just a few weeks ago, the Gaylord St. Mary's Snowbirds were a much different football team.

After their starting quarterback, senior Gavin Bebble, and fellow senior and backup Brody Jeffers both went down with injuries early in the season, head coach Kevin O'Connell was put in a tough spot trying to piece together his team.

"We were just trying to hold on," O'Connell said.

Very few teams can survive losing their top two options at quarterback, but Bebble and Jeffers mean much more than that to the Snowbirds; the two seniors are arguably the team's most versatile athletes, the two best defenders and the team's most vocal leaders.

Now, Bebble and Jeffers are healthy, and St. Mary's has transformed from a team searching for more options to a team overflowing with weapons at every spot.

"It affords us a lot offensively, but they are both great defensive players too," said O'Connell. "It helps us on both sides of the ball."

With Jeffers making his return and Bebble making his season debut, the Snowbirds were finally at full strength against Pellston on Friday, and it showed as the Snowbirds ran away from the Hornets in the second half of their 62-12 victory.

The senior duo made their presence felt immediately on defense, with Bebble coming up with a sack on his first snap of the season and Jeffers following that with a tackle for loss right after.

Then, on the first offensive snap of the game, Bebble completed a 17-yard pass to Jeffers over the top of the defense, bringing back a part of the Snowbirds' offense that had been missing since their two seniors had gone down.

After all that, it was still Pellston striking first with a 61-yard touchdown pass over the top of the St. Mary defense to take a 6-0 lead.

From there, however, it was all about the Snowbirds' offense.

On the next drive, a combination of Bebble, Jeffers and Dillon Croff running the ball brought St. Mary's within a yard of the goal line, where Jeffers pounded in a one-yard run for the Snowbirds' first score of the game. That would be the theme of the rest of the game; efficient drives by the St. Mary's offense capped off by touchdown runs.

Jeffers added touchdown-runs of five yards, 23 yards and 30 yards to finish with four total touchdowns. Bebble added 103 yards and a touchdown on the ground while finishing 8-for-15 passing for 132 yards as well. Dillon Croff added 148 rushing yards and two TDs while Donovan Blust had 62 yards and a touchdown on the ground and three catches for 38 yards through the air.

With the two seniors out, it had been largely up to Croff to run the offense by himself. With Bebble and Jeffers back, he can focus on tearing up the ground game while Bebble, Jeffers and Blust make things work in the passing game.

Having those four at full strength gives the Snowbirds' offense a ton to work with as the second half of the season approaches.

"It affords us a lot of diversity," O'Connell said. "The key for us is none of our guys are selfish. No one is counting carries or counting yards. They are happy blocking."

Bebble said the feeling in the locker room has changed now that the team is at full strength and winning the way they believe they should.

"The two losses we had, we knew we should've won those games," Bebble said. "The following weeks, we went to practice and we're always looking forward to the future. Now that we're at full strength, the locker room is happier, everyone is happier. We're together again."

St. Mary's improves their record to 4-2 overall and 4-1 in the Ski Valley Conference.

JoBurg honors longtime announcer, crown HC King and Queen at final home game

JOHANNESBURG ― In most cases, to say "I've seen it all," in sports is a foolish statement.

Even the most casual fans can rattle off a scenario that hasn't been seen before, and seemingly on a weekly basis, some team does something that is seemingly brand new to the sports world.

But at Johannesburg-Lewiston, one man can (almost) claim "I have seen it all" to be fact, at least as Cardinal football is concerned.

Public Address announcer Tom Zick has been volunteering his time to the J-L football program for the past 38 years, only missing two total games in the process.

"When you do something this long, it is because you enjoy it," Zick said.

A staunch supporter of Cardinals athletics, Zick has been helping honor the J-L football program nearly since its inception, and at the Cardinals' final home game of the 2022 season last Friday, the J-L program decided to set aside some time to honor him.

This past January, Zick and his partner in the booth, Tom Righi, were inducted as honorary members into the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association, an honor given to staff members that have dedicated a significant amount of time and effort to a program.

No one fits that billing better than Righi and Zick.

Righi, a teacher who has been working the clock at football games since the beginning of the J-L program, helped athletic director Joe Smokevitch honor Zick, his longtime partner in the booth, giving him a plaque honoring that induction while the J-L community celebrated their longtime announcer before the game.

"My wife and I have certainly enjoyed coming to these games all these years," Zick said.

It was also J-L's homecoming game, and the 2022 homecoming court was honored during the halftime ceremony.

PHOTOS: Johannesburg-Lewiston hosts CC-Crystal for homecoming, Tom Zick Honored

Representatives included freshmen Alexis Hogle and Nathan Jackson, sophomores Eliza Idalski and Shay Gali, juniors Jayden Marlatt and Thomas Fox, and seniors Layla Gascha, Gloria House, Isabelle Monroe, Colin Basinski, Mitchell Hall and Ronin Vaden.

In the end, Isabelle Monroe was crowned as Homecoming Queen and Mitchell Hall won Homecoming King.

The game ended in a 41-14 defeat for the Cardinals, with Colin Basinski's three-yard touchdown run and Nate Hummel's 49-yard touchdown run serving as the highlights. Elijah Lindbert had a good game on defense, coming up with a sack and an interception.

J-L falls to 0-6 overall this season.