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Romulus senior quarterback Rodney Cofield (10) pitches back to junior running back Marcel Rogers (5) before being tackled by Inkster's Jose McNeal (22).There were strange forces at work on Friday.
Although Inkster scored 55 points against host Romulus in an early contest on Friday afternoon, it wasn’t because the Viking offense looked exceptionally good or the Eagle defense seemed unusually bad in the 55-15 game.
It was actually quite the opposite.
The Vikings struggled in most areas of their offense-especially the run game-against a pretty tough Romulus 5-2 defense. Take away a few Romulus mistakes and a few big plays by the Vikings, and the game might very well have been a lot closer or even gone the other way.
So how did Inkster pull out a 55-15 victory?
The answer lies with what happened on the opposite side of the ball for both teams. Inkster’s defense was simply superior to Romulus’s still-struggling offense that only produced 130 total yards.
“I knew they were going to be good,” said Romulus Coach Keith Wittkopp of Inkster. “I think we drew up a pretty good game plan to stop them. Most times we did, but they just had a couple of big plays because they have a lot of talent. Defensively, I thought we were pretty good. Offensively we’re struggling and still trying to work out some of the kinks.”
Or is Inkster so good that even when they struggle they can post 55 points?
Inkster put together a respectable 342 total offensive yards but appeared to struggle for each and every one of them.
“We didn’t play very well offensively,” said Inkster Coach Greg Carter. “I expected to run the ball a little bit better. They did a very good job against our run game and gave us problems. We had a lot of turnovers and penalties; we’re not happy the way that we played offense.”
Inkster looked smooth on its opening drive. Senior running back Alan Freeman busted loose on the first play for 60 yards and landed at the Eagles’ 1-yard line. Two plays later, junior quarterback Devin Gardner punched in the first Viking touchdown for a 6-0 lead with 7:30 left in the first.
Romulus, on its following drive, attempted to go for it on 4th-and-2, but fumbled the snap to turn the ball over on downs.
Inkster took over but went further backward than forward on penalties, setting up a 4th-and-33 from its own 41. Gardner couldn’t find an open receiver so he fled from the backfield for 56 yards. Freeman took it the remaining three yards to make it a 12-0 game with 2:29 left in the first.
On a rare occasion, Inkster was forced to punt on its next drive in the second quarter. Romulus made them pay for it when Antonio Brown returned the kick 70 yards for an Eagle score, cutting into the Vikings’ lead, 12-7 with 9:37 left in the half.
Romulus forced Inkster to punt again on the ensuing drive but this time Brown fumbled and the Vikings recovered on the 2-yard line. Freeman dragged defenders into the end zone for a 20-7 advantage.
The Eagles, with the help of an Inkster pass interference penalty, moved into Viking territory. But instead of capitalizing on it, two plays later Inkster sophomore safety Donovan Lindsay snagged an interception and returned it 91 yards for a score. Freeman punched in the two-point conversion for a 28-7 lead.
Inkster finished off the first half with a pass from Gardner to senior receiver Cameron Gordon to make it 34-7.
Inkster senior running back Kevin Brown ran in a 4-yard score with 7:07 left in the third and junior running back Alonso Collins capitalized on a Romulus fumble to score from five yards out in the fourth to make it 47-7.
On 4-and-11 from midfield, Romulus junior quarterback James Givens connected with senior wideout Donnavin Searcy. Givens found senior receiver Derek Kinney for two-points to make it 47-15.
Inkster senior running back Jose McNeal capped the scoring with a 13-yard jaunt.
The Vikings scored a majority of their points off of defensive and special teams play.
“We’re really emphasizing our defense,” Carter said. “We figure even if we’re not playing that well offensively, hopefully our defense will keep us in the game. I think we’re talented enough to where we can make a couple of plays offensively. The emphasis has been on defense in the practice but we really have to shore up our running game if we want to be the kind of team that we hoped to be.”
Gardner led the Viking attack with nine carries for 105 yards and was 7-of-15 passing for 108 yards. He coughed up two fumbles and threw an interception.
Freeman finished with 91 yards on nine attempts.
Wittkopp said his defense, for the most part, helped disrupt Gardner and the Inkster offense.
“I’ve always liked the 5-2 defense and against a team like this they have to account for the defensive ends that almost like a blitzer every time,” he said. “I think we were able to rattle him a little bit and caused some problems but he’s just that good that he can get out and get away.”
Senior defensive back Taishawn Blackmon nabbed an interception and Searcy recovered a fumble for Romulus but it wasn’t enough, according to Wittkopp.
“We had some missed tackles and some missed plays and that all adds up,” he added. “You can’t have any mistakes against a team like this.”
Romulus (3-5) wraps up the season at home against playoff-bound Plymouth at 7 p.m. Friday.
Inkster improved to 7-1 with the victory and heads to a 4-4 Allen Park at 7 p.m. Friday. Carter expressed how important it is to win the final game of the season before heading into the playoffs.
“You want to go in (to the playoffs) thinking that you can win,” he said. “You always have to fear losing, in my opinion. So we always respect every team. We know that Allen Park is going to bring a really good effort. It will be a good challenge for us and a good way to go into the playoffs if we play well.”
