Crockett Wins Thriller at Navarre

Here is another reprint article. This time from August 28, 2009. The star from Crockett is current Michigan State WR Tony Lippett.


Thank you blog fans for encouraging me to go and see the SMCC/Crockett game tonight at the rained soaked Navarre Field.

This may have been one of the most entertaining high school games I have ever witnessed. SMCC opened the scoring by picking up where they left off last year on special teams. While running their tricky reverse kickoff play Mike Howey ran around the left side 85 yards and the Falcons took a 6-0 first quarter lead

The Falcons took a 12-0 lead midway through the 2nd quarter on a Chris LaBeau 3 yard plunge that capped a 85 yard drive. Crockett responded with a 58 yard drive of it’s own in the quarter as QB Tony Lippett scored on a 4th and 1 QB sneak from 49 yards out to make the score 12-6 Falcons at the half. The Falcons dominated the first half time of possesion by having the ball on offense for 17:39. Much of the 1st half was played in monsoon type conditions that limited the Rockets spread offense.

The 2nd half started with Crockett taking their opening drive 75 yards in 1:46 culminating with a Lippett pass to WR James White making the score 12-12. SMCC roared right back and took an 18-12 lead with a 55 yard drive of their own. Andrew Lamour used his speed to get around the left side from 23 yards out. With the 2nd half completely free of rain, QB Lippett generated another long drive which resulted in a 40 yard TD pass to Ashton Gaines the 2 point conversion was good and Crockett took a 20-18 lead into the 4th quarter.

The 4th quarter started with the Rockets on their own 3 yard line and they put together their best drive of the night eating up half of the quarter while going 97 yards. Lippett threw another TD pass, this one from 12 yards out to White to take a 26-18 lead with 6:00 minutes to go. The Falcons ensuing possesion started at their own 17 yard line and they ran the ball down Crockett’s throat and scored with 1:56 left on a 2 yard plunge by Lamour making the score 26-24 Crockett. SMCC’s 2 point conversion try was good on a Mike Howey run. The score was made possible by a pancake block by Robbie Cardella on a would be Crockett defender.

This is where the game gets interesting. Crockett gets the ball back at their own 25 with 1:51 left. Lippett looks to pick up where he left off throwing the ball down the field. With 57 seconds left, SMCC conerback “John John” Qualey intercepts a Lippett pass and the Falcons are back in business at their own 39 yard line. The Falcons start immediately moving the ball down field en route to a possible game winning score. With 26 seconds left a Falcon ball carrier coughs up the football at the Rocket’s 36 yard line. Enter Crockett QB Tony Lippett, it simply took the athletic senior 3 plays to go 41 yards down to the Falcon 23 yard line with 2 seconds to play. With one snap left before overtime, Lippett took the snap out of the shot gun and lofted a soft pass to sophomore James White who had gotten behind the Falcon defense again and caught his 3rd touchdown of the game. The Crockett team rushed the field and celebrated as 32-26 winners in a game for the ages.

Most of SMCC’s offense came on the ground. The Falcons rushed for 273 yards on 59 carries. Chris LaBeau’s 77 yards led SMCC in rushing as 6 players shared the carries. Crockett’s Tony Lippett finished the game with some gaudy numbers. The senior was 15-21 for 351 yards and 4 touchdowns. He also had 4 carries for 59 yards and a touchdown. Rumor has it that Lippett skipped the half time speech of Coach Rod Oden and sold 12 popcorns and a slushy at the concession stand and did a halftime routine with the Crockett cheerleaders.

I stick by my prediction that this game would make SMCC a better team for the playoffs. This team was the best the Falcons will see in the regular season. With apologies to Andrew Mayrand from Huron, this is also the best QB the Falcons will see all year as well.