Sentinels hold off Petoskey to win Big North outright

PETOSKEY, Mich. — There was one way for Marquette to keep the Big North Conference title to itself on Friday night, and that was to win at Petoskey.

A Northmen victory would have left Marquette, Petoskey and Cadillac tied at 5-1. Instead, the Sentinels won 19-10 in rain, cold and a stiff wind, finished 6-0 in the league and took the championship outright.

It was Marquette’s sixth straight win since an 0-2 start. The Sentinels are 6-2 overall.

Petoskey wore pink for its annual pink game, honoring people affected by cancer. Rain fell early, a strong wind blew down the field all night, and kickoffs had to be held because the ball kept blowing off the tee.

The game turned on a handful of plays near the goal lines. Marquette scored touchdowns on its first two trips inside the 5, and Petoskey stopped the Sentinels on fourth-and-goal in the third quarter and drove for a touchdown of its own. Then the Marquette defense held, and two fourth-quarter field goals decided it.

The opening drive

Marquette received the opening kickoff, which the wind held up, and started near its 25. Faccio carried on most of the drive. On third-and-6, Leonard completed a short pass in the flat for a first down, and on the next snap Faccio broke two tackles past midfield and ran to the Petoskey 29 before he was pushed out of bounds.

Faccio gained 6 more. On third-and-3 he went off the right side for 10 and a first down at the 12. Another run reached the 1, where the ball came loose but went out of bounds, and Faccio dove in from the 2 on the next play. The extra point made it 7-0 with 9:08 left in the first quarter.

Petoskey on the ground

Petoskey answered by running the ball on almost every down, mostly out of a full backfield. Sean Hopf, Trevin Boyce and Pike took turns, and the Northmen moved into Marquette territory three and four yards at a time.

The drive stalled when a run lost 5 yards on third down, and Petoskey failed to convert on fourth-and-12. Marquette took over near midfield.

The Sentinels could not get a first down and punted, and a Petoskey rusher nearly blocked the kick.

Petoskey moved again. Pike ran for 14, and an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty on Marquette added 15 yards. Early in the second quarter Nemec ran for 15 to the Marquette 25. The drive stalled there, and Jace Shaw kicked a 40-yard field goal with the wind behind him. It was 7-3.

Back to 13-3

Marquette’s next drive started near its 29. Faccio ran for 15. On third-and-9, Leonard threw over the middle for about 15 yards and a first down. On another third-and-long, a delayed handoff to Faccio picked up a first down at the Petoskey 24, and a 10-yard run reached the 14.

Inside the 15, a run gained 4 and a quick throw to the outside lost about as much. Then Leonard completed a pass near the sideline, and his receiver was ruled out of bounds at the 1. Marquette ran it in on the next play. The extra point was no good, and Marquette led 13-3 with 5:23 left in the half.

The rest of the half was a tangle of penalties. Petoskey recovered a short Marquette kickoff that bounced untouched at its 30. A personal foul on Marquette on third down kept the drive alive. Pike threw deep for Pethers, who went down as a Marquette defender reached him. Petoskey’s coach argued for pass interference, but no flag was thrown. A Petoskey run was partly erased by an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty, a Petoskey hold backed the Northmen up, and a Marquette facemask was offset by another Petoskey unsportsmanlike call.

Nemec ran for a long gain on third-and-18 to set up a late field-goal try, but the snap was bad, Pike picked it up and ran, and he was tackled as the half ended.

Petoskey’s comeback

Petoskey opened the third quarter with runs of 10 and 8 yards by Boyce and moved to the Marquette 43. On fourth-and-2, the exchange in the backfield went wrong and Pike went down. Turnover on downs.

Marquette drove the other way. Faccio ran for 13, a holding penalty set up second-and-21, and Leonard completed passes of about 15 yards and then a quick out for a first down at the Petoskey 30. On third-and-7, Faccio found a seam up the middle and ran 16 yards to the 10.

Petoskey held. Faccio was stopped for no gain and then for a loss, and a third-down throw sailed high. On fourth-and-goal from the 11 with 3:46 left in the third quarter, Leonard looked for a slant. Fralick stepped in front of it and returned the interception to the Petoskey 30.

Petoskey turned it into seven points. A facemask penalty on Marquette added 15 yards to a Pike run. Nemec, who had barely thrown, completed a 12-yard pass to Pethers. Nemec converted a third-and-1 behind his blockers, and a long run reached the Marquette 6. Pike, lined up in the wildcat, ran up the middle for a 7-yard touchdown, and Shaw’s kick made it 13-10 with 47 seconds left in the third quarter.

Two field goals

Marquette returned the kickoff to near its 37 and drove into Petoskey territory as the quarter ended. Early in the fourth, Faccio broke a long run to the Petoskey 19, and Leonard kept the ball for a first down near the 6.

A delay-of-game penalty pushed the Sentinels back to the 10. Faccio gained 2 and then lost a yard, and a third-down throw to the corner was overthrown. Marquette kicked a field goal for a 16-10 lead with about eight minutes left.

The Marquette defense then forced a three-and-out. Petoskey punted into the wind from its 26, and Marquette took over at its 46 with about six minutes to play.

The Sentinels converted one third down with a quick out and reached the Petoskey 40, but two runs lost yards and a third-down pass came up short. With 2:38 left Marquette went for it on fourth-and-2. The snap was high. Leonard caught it, rolled right and threw to the flat for the first down.

Faccio then broke a run to the 10. His next two carries gained 3 yards, and Petoskey used its last two timeouts after them. A jet sweep then lost yardage. With 1:04 left Leonard kicked a 28-yard field goal. It was 19-10.

Petoskey had no timeouts left. Fralick returned the kickoff to the 33, and Pike completed passes to Pethers and Shaw for first downs, the second with 9 seconds left. On the final play Pike scrambled and threw across the middle, and Marquette intercepted it.

What it means

Marquette is the outright Big North champion, a league of three Upper Peninsula and four Lower Peninsula schools. The Sentinels climbed to No. 4 in this week’s U.P. 11-player rankings.

They close the regular season Friday at Kingsford, the top-ranked team in the U.P. at 8-0. Kickoff is 7 p.m. Eastern.

Statistics compiled from the game broadcast and are unofficial.