Midland dominates WL Western with a punishing run game (Story by: Terry Foster)

Midland runningback Christian Gordon felt anxiety on the three hour bus ride to Walled Lake Western Friday night. His team was running late for its regional championship game as the team bus inched through thick traffic and a bad accident scene on I-23 three miles before hitting I-96.

Gordon, the senior leader of this team, was not certain which team would step off the bus to face Western. Would it be the team that dropped its first two games of the season or the one that rallied with a five-game winning streak to finish it?

The team that stepped off that bus resembled the old Green Bay Packers that played on the frozen tundra at Lambeau Field under Vince Lombardi. The Chemics arrived late but landed an early knockout blow with a pounding ground game that floored Walled Lake Western (8-4) 43-0 in a Division II regional final.

The Chemics (9-3) now face Muskegon Mona Shores (11-1) in the D-2 semifinals.

By half time most of the home crowd was either headed to the comfort and warmth of home or poking their head into opening night of Western’s musical production of Fiddler on the Roof at the high school.

Gordon’s offensive line opened massive holes which allowed him to run for 199 yards on 18 carries, including a 21-yard touchdown run.

The defense harassed Western quarterback Sam Johnson (Boston College commit), who completed just 6 of 22 passes for 84 yards and was sacked four times.

And it left head coach Eric Methar bragging about how his warriors from the north out toughed the Warriors from Walled Lake.

“What a performance,” he said shaking his head. “What a performance. We have guys stepping up. You saw that offensive line and that defensive line. For our offensive line to come out and dominate the line of scrimmage was remarkable. I am so proud of my guys.”

There were other remarkable performances. Midland runs the Wing T and does not pass the ball much. But sophomore quarterback Al Money ball faked the Warriors out of their shoes. He ran for 70 yards and threw touchdown passes of 43 and 21 yards.

“Our quarterback played a perfect game,” said Gordon.

Meanwhile, the Warriors remain one of the mysteries of Metro Detroit. They have an All State quarterback, but cannot protect him. They have monsters on the defensive line but cannot stop the run against quality opponents. And they lack team work at times.

The Warriors were picked to win the Lakes Area Conference but lost league games to surprising South Lyon and White Lake Lakeland. After avenging the South Lyon loss during the state playoffs last week they might have come in overconfident against Midland, which gashed them with big plays as soon as the bus arrived.

“There was a lot of energy around us,” Gordon said. “We knew we had to play well to beat this team. We came out and played aggressive. We played mean and fired off the ball.”