JONESVILLE

It was a stifling 85 degree humidity Friday night over in Jonesville to kick off the MHSAA fall football season for 2021. The Hillsdale Daily News traveled out to watch the game as the first Game of the Week for the season.Check out the full photo gallery from the game here.

With the new playoff rules regarding 11-player football teams in all eight divisions of the MHSAA, both Hillsdale and Jonesville were looking at this cross-county rivalry game as a must win. With the new rules, there's a new emphasis on playoff points for teams this season. The MHSAA has stated that there will no longer be automatic playoff qualifiers for six-win teams. Teams get in based on playoff points, which puts an emphasis on strength of schedule and quality wins.

Lucky for Hillsdale and Jonesville, their opening series game that has been going on since 2014 was the perfect opportunity for both teams to win a quality game and get a head start on playoff points before they started their conference regular season. The LCAA-affiliated Hillsdale Hornets, led by head coach Marc Lemerand, headed into the matchup having won every game of the opening series since it's start. Last year's game wasn't played due to the pandemic. The Big 8-affiliated Jonesville Comets, led by head coach Frank Keller, headed into the game with a talented core group of players whom many had their first experience playing for a district championship last season.

Both teams were playoff teams last year, and the expectations were high both both teams and their fanbases. Car loads of Jonesville and Hornets fans came out to watch their favorite teams play on Kickoff Friday. The Jonesville student section was out in full force Friday night, keeping in tradition with the terrific turnouts from the basketball season earlier this year.

Things would start out far worse for the Hornets than they were anticipating. A muffed punt opportunity on fourth down gave the Comets great field position on the Hornets side of the field. Jonesville would take advantage early and punch in a score right away. From there on out, the Jonesville Comets would control the line of scrimmage, and take advantage of mismatches on the perimeter and use the air game to spread out the Hornet defense. Junior Quarterback Cowen Keller would find connections with receivers Curtis Knapp and Brady Wright. Both receivers would catch three passes and score a touchdown for the Hornets.

The dominating defensive performance for the Comets was led by Christian Adams and Breaden Trine who both had eight tackles. Offensively, Cowen Keller had eight carries for 40 yards. Keller also went 6-15 for 161 yards and two touchdowns. Curtis Knapp had three catches for 85 yards and a touchdown. Brady Wright had three catches for 77 yards and one touchdown.

The score was 16-6 at halftime. Both teams would head into the locker room hoping for a different outcome and adjustments to start the third quarter. What transpired in the second half was probably not what both teams had wished for. For the Comets, they would be able to score one more touchdown in the opening minutes of the third quarter. Comet running back Dominic Aponte had a 50+ yard breakaway touchdown with around 10 minutes to go. Aponte would rush for a total 10 carries for 93 yards. It was the last time Jonesville would score as Hillsdale would make defensive adjustments and take away the Comets offense for the rest of the game.

For Hillsdale, the offense couldn't get going on the ground or through passing. The Hornets had 10 minutes in the third quarter to answer the Comets, but could not capitalize on great field position and amazing special teams work. Shane Martinez would have several great punts (net 35 average yards) to pin back Jonesville in during the game. Hillsdale would only have 121 total yards of offense to Jonesville's 268.

Hillsdale running back Jordan Barnes would lead the Hornet rushing attack with 15 carries for 38 yards. Barnes also had four catches for 29 yards and a touchdown. Jack Bowles would throw 5-12 for 33 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Defensively, Stephen Petersen had seven tackles; two for a loss. Jordan Barnes had five tackles. Emmett Woodcox would have the Hornets lone sack of the game, and would also have a rumble recovery.

As the game neared the fourth quarter, Hillsdale would have two key fourth down offensive attempts. Jonesville was able to stop both of these late drives. A combination of missed opportunities and turnovers plagued the Hornets all night. It is something coach Lemerand hopes the team will improve upon during practice this week. However, he is proud of the way his kids fought during the game, and continued to fight in the second half.

"We had too many mistakes out there, but the kids tried hard." said Coach Lemerand."We got caught a little flat footed to start the game. Trying to dig out of that was tough. I'm proud of our kid's effort. Our execution was not great, so we have to get better at that."

Jonesville's second half offense couldn't keep up their first half momentum. The team made mistakes, but it's something that they will try and work on according to coach Frank Keller.

"Hillsdale is a very good team," said coach Keller. "They take everything away from you, and they did it again in the second half. It was our first game, we made a lot of mistakes up front and we have a lot of work to do, but great job by our kids today."

Jonesville's student section rushed the field after the game as the rest of the fans celebrated. The players and student section were celebrating what was the team's first win against Hillsdale since starting the opening season series in 2014. It was a special moment for the team and the community, but for coach Keller it's just one of many games the team has to win to accomplish their season goals.

"It feels great," said coach Keller."We always want to beat Hillsdale, but we need to win every game out here. There's no more six games and your in."

For Jonesville, they will be on the road in week two to take on the Homer Trojans on Thursday, September 2nd at 7:00 pm. The Trojans lost their first game against Michigan Center 0-39. However, the Trojans are always a rival opponent in the Big 8 for Jonesville.

"Homer is always skilled and athletic," said coach Keller."They have an aggressive defense, and they'll be a tough team."

For the Hornets, they will look to win their first game of the season on the road against Berrien Springs. Berrien Springs is another playoff team from last season who just defeated a good Benton Harbor squad 26-6. It will be another tough test for Coach Lemerand and the Hornets, but the team will look to come back home with a major non-conference victory that will help get the Hornets their first playoff points of the season.

For more information on both the Hornet'sand Comets'' seasons ahead, check out our in depth looks at both teams' schedules this year at hillsdale.net.

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Jonesville takes advantage of turnovers and fourth down stops to beat Hillsdale 22-6 - The Hillsdale Daily News