Friday Night Kickoff

As we continue our preview of the big St. Joe Lakeshore game this Friday, let's look back at the two games played last year...

During the buildup to the game, the rivalry was put over the top in the "Sign gate" incident.  During 2007, Lakeshore was celebrating the 50th anniversary of their football program.  A bill board displaying the Lakeshore logo and saying "50 years of excellence" was displayed on along Niles avenue in downtown St. Joe, less than a mile from St. Joe high school.  The sign company claimed that the billboard was simply put up in the wrong place. 

With the weight of a 17 game losing streak in the series and a controversial call in the 28-20 Lakeshore win in the 2006 playoffs, St. Joe playing at home vowed that the streak would end in 2007.

When gameday finally arrived,  Lakeshore came into the game with a 4-1 record, St. Joe a perfect 5-0 record.  The gates of Dickinson Stadium opened at 6:00, the seats were filled by 6:10, and the crowd kept coming.  

When the Bears came out of the high school and walked to the stadium locker room shortly afterwards the crowds were already cheering.   The game was still more than an hour away and the fans were already ready for kickoff.   The parking lots were full at the high school, shortly thereafter the lots are Kelly's Bowl were filled.   One side of the stadium was decked out in maize and blue and the other side red.  Still about an hour from kickoff.

By the time the game started, there were an estimated 8,000 people inside the stadium, the seating capacity for Dickinson Stadium is 5,300.  The city of St. Joe brought in some temporary bleachers in the north endzone. Still fans were lined up around the fence, at the top of the stands, all around the perimeter of the stadium.

St. Joe came out to a slow start as the Bears turned the ball over which led to a Kai Peng field goal for Lakeshore.  The Bears would turn it over again, and Lakeshore would attempt another Kai Peng field goal, but this attempt was blocked by the Bears, and suddenly you could tell that the momentum was starting to turn. 

The defensive battle would continue until late in the second quarter when the St. Joe offense finally got to work as Ryan Bock scored on a 1 yard run to give the Bears a 7-3 lead going into halftime.

The Bears would take advantage of a Lakeshore miscue as the Lancers were forced to punt the ball from their own 41 yard line.  A bad snap forced Lancer punter Matt Miller to fall on the ball at the Lakeshore 30 yard line.  The Bears would take advantage 3 plays later as Ethan Schweir threw a 15 yard touchdown pass to Brad Guinane to give the Bears a 14-3 lead.

The Bears and Lancers traded interceptions in the third quarter and the Bears then went on an 8 play 51 yard drive capped off by a 4 yard touchdown pass from Schweir to Brett Virgil,  like the previous three touchdowns Virgil would add the extra point.  The Bears had a 21-3 lead and the St. Joe crowd could sense that Lakeshore's streak was about to end.

After the Lancer defense came up with a goal line stand to stop the Bears before the final horn.  The St. Joe student section rushed the field and St. Joe celebrated the Bears first win over Lakeshore since 1991.

With the win, St. Joe clinched a playoff spot, Lakeshore would need to win two of their last three games to clinch a playoff spot which they did in the final week. 

In the opening round of the playoffs Lakeshore defeated Wayland 10-7 while St. Joe defeated Grand Rapids Christian 31-21 to set up the rematch.

Dickinson Stadium was packed again but this game seemingly was never in doubt.

The Bears dominated the Lakeshore Lancers with a 49-14 win to claim the 2007 Division 3 District Championship.

St. Joe's defense set the tone early as the Bears held Lakeshore's offense in check, the Bears would get on the Board first when Ryan Bock scored from 2 yards out for an early 7-0 St. Joe lead.

After consecutive punts by Lakeshore and St. Joe, the Lancers would drive to the St. Joe 5 yard line, but the Bear defense held the Lancers to a field goal attempt, Kai Peng who has been almost automatic for Lakeshore, missed a 20 yard field goal wide left. The Bears would drive 80 yards on the next series to take a 14-0 lead when Ryan Bock caught a 2 yard touchdown pass from Ethan Schweir. 

Lakeshore would finally get on the board with 4 minutes to go in the half as Cam Moore was able to make a running catch in the endzone and was able to keep his foot in bounds to cut the St. Joe lead to 14-7.  

The Bears would swing the momentum back to St. Joe as Palmer Averill caught a 23 yard touchdown pass to give the Bears a 21-7 lead prior to halftime.

The Bears would get the second half kickoff and drive to score on a 1 yard Ryan Bock touchdown run to give the Bears a 28-7 lead.

Lakeshore would cut the lead in half when Griffin Gibson scored on a 2 yard run.

St. Joe would score again when Brad Guinane had a 37 yard touchdown catch and a 35-14 Bear lead.

The defense held Lakeshore to a 3 and out and got the ball back at the Bear 48 yard line.  St. Joe only needed one play and 11 seconds to add to the lead when Ryan Bock scored on a 52 yard run.

St. Joe would begin the 35 point mercy rule when Drake Smith scored a 20 yard touchdown run and a Bears 49-14.  In all the Bears totaled 518 yards of total offense.

The Bears claimed the district title and would go on to beat Lansing Sexton a week later in one of the greatest comebacks in school history as the Bears rallied from a 21-0 deficit to win 42-27 and claim the regional crown.

Ticket update
Tickets are on sale Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 7:30 AM - 3:30 PM at both the Lakeshore and St. Joseph athletic offices.  They are $5 each.  Gates will open at 6:00 PM on Friday.  We do know that Lakeshore will be bringing in some temporary bleachers to help accomodate the what is expected to be a overflow crowd. 

I am starting to wonder if this game should be moved to Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend.   It's the only way they will actually see a decent football game.