North Farmington Football Fails To Impress Home Crowd

FARMINGTON HILLS – The varsity football team will have to go back to the drawing board.

The Raiders made mistakes all over the field in a 48-14 loss to Seaholm in its season opener Thursday on home turf.

“We didn’t execute,” head coach Todd Schultz said. Looking at the scoreboard, he added, “If that’s not motivation, I don’t know what is.”

The Raiders (0-1, 0-1 Oakland Activities Association Blue) put themselves in a hole early and just couldn’t recover.

After a three and out on the opening drive, the special teams botched a snap on the punt. The ball went sailing into the end zone and Seaholm recovered to put North Farmington behind 6-0 just three minutes into the game. 

“The punt was a big momentum changer,” Maples head coach Jim Pobursky said. 

And his team never let go. Senior quarterback John Glazier torched the Raiders secondary for over 180 yards and two passing touchdowns. And he added two more on the ground. 

The two-year starter gave the credit for his impressive performance to his offensive line. The front five gave him time to throw all night. Schultz agreed that Seaholm’s offensive line was a difference maker.  

“They dominated at the line of the scrimmage,” he said.

The Maples receivers benefited as well. Five different players caught passes, and the group combined for six plays over 20 yards. Glazier threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to J.D. Hess in the second quarter to put Seaholm up 20-0. He found Hess again in the end zone with a 27-yard strike at the end of the third, to make it 34-8

“North Farmington gave me a lot of short corners, and then they bit on some of those pump fakes and we just went deep,” Glazier said.

Seaholm was just as good defensively. The Maples swarmed to the ball on every play.

North Farmington quarterback Kevin Penny had pass rushers in his face all night, and the run game was ineffective. Penny opened the game completing only two of his first 10 passes.

 “They had a good rush up field,” Schultz said. “We went a little more to gun to give him some more space. We weren’t hitting our quick routes, we were throwing a little bit behind or a little bit late. “

One bright spot for North Farmington was Ervin Jason’s performance. Jason returned the opening kick of the second half for a touchdown; he also led the team with four receptions.

“I’m really impressed with their tailback #3 (Jason),” Pobursky said.

The kickoff return cut Seaholm’s halftime lead to 12. The Raiders defense wasn't able to get the stops it needed and allowed the Maples to answer with two straight scoring drives that put the game out of reach.

North Farmington will try to turn the page on the loss when they visit Groves next week on Sept. 2. Seaholm will on the road again next week at Andover on Sept. 1. Its home opener will be in two weeks, against Lahser (Sept. 9).

“You get the most improvement between the first and second game,” Schultz said. “We just need to step up.”