Mt. Pleasant downs Saginaw Heritage 28 to 14 clinching perfect regular season

The last time the Mt. Pleasant Oilers finished a regular season undefeated, the Oilers would find themselves at Ford Field for the state championship game. The Oilers would lose that game to Orchard Lake Saint Mary’s 45 to 7 in 2011.

The Oilers clinched their first undefeated regular season for the first time in seven years Friday night with a 28 to 14 win against Saginaw Heritage.

“I’m really happy and proud of my guys,” head coach Jason McIntyre said. “They’ve worked so hard for this and they will remember this forever.”

The Oilers have already won the Saginaw Valley League title this season to go along with their undefeated record.

“It feels great,” senior fullback and linebacker Hunter Norris said. “We’ve played hard all season to get where we are.”

Dual threat offense

It has been a common theme for Zach Mogg to carry the ball between 15 and 20 times for the Oilers offensively.

Friday night marked a new career high in carries for Mogg as he carried the ball 34 times. Mogg turned those 34 carries into 196 yards and a touchdown.

“We did what we had to do tonight,” McIntyre said. “It was cold and when it began to rain we knew we had to run the ball.”

While Mogg carried the load on the ground, Jackson Ostrowsky continued his solid season through the air.

Ostrowsky completed seven of his ten passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns and an interception.

Ostrowsky found Tyler Huenemann for 53 yards and score and his brother Joseph for a 26-yard score.

Oilers survive scare in fourth quarter

Leading 28 to 0 with 11 minutes remaining on the clock in the fourth quarter is when the momentum began to shift.

Saginaw Heritage would pull a rabbit out of the hat and execute a perfect double pass for 70 yards and touchdown from Keason Woods to Chris Parker. Following the touchdown, the Hawks would try an onside kick and recover.

“You could feel the momentum start to shift to their sideline,” McIntyre said. “It gave them life.”

The Hawks would then drive down the field and cap off the drive with a Keegan Robertson one-yard touchdown run, cutting the lead to 14.

“I think our sideline felt that,” McIntyre said. “Our seniors though responded well and went out and got the job done.”

Mt. Pleasant would run out the clock on their next drive spanning 11 plays and seven minutes and eight seconds. This was Mt. Pleasant’s second drive of seven minutes or longer in the second half.

Looking Forward

The Oilers do not know their opponent for week one of the playoffs yet. The team does know that they will host the game next week.

“We’ve got some little things to work on,” Norris said. “We have to enjoy this, but get right back to work on Monday.”

The Oilers will find out who they play and if they have home field advantage in their district Sunday Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. when the MHSAA releases the playoff matchups on Fox Sports Detroit.