Savages foiled

TECUMSEH — The Tecumseh Savages got to celebrate the official opening of its new THS stadium Friday night, but could not get a victory as part of the package as they suffered a 34-13 setback to the Noble Bears.
Noble flourished with its rushing attack, rolling up 337 yards. Brandon McElhany led Bear rushers with 184 yards on 12 carries and three touchdowns, scoring on runs of 36, 43 and 18. Tecumseh could onlymuster 184 yards of total offense.
It looked as if the Bears were going to runaway when they moved swiftly in front 13-0 on their first two possessions. But the Savages (0-1) struck back, using up nearly half the clock in the first quarter with a ground control offense. And with 11:21 to go in the second period, Tecumseh quarterback Dylan Brady overcame a big hurdle on second down when he retrieved a bad snap and tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jake Watkins.
“We’re a young football team,” Tecumseh coach Greg George said. “That was the example of a real young football team out there playing. We did some good things. We moved the football, but when we got down, I thought we faced adversity pretty well by getting back on the scoreboard.”
But Noble (1-0) seized back control with the rout. The Bears turned the ball over on downs on two of their next three possessions before halftime, and picked up a 25-yard TD on an end around to the left by quarterback Chad Davidson with 3:22 to go. That made it 20-7 at halftime.
“We shot ourselves in the foot too many times, which you can’t do in a high school football game,” George said. “We would have a good play, then shoot ourself in the foot, which is typical of a young team. That showed tonight. We got to get those mistakes corrected on Monday and get back to work.”
Noble extended its lead to 27-7 on a 43-yard scamper from McElhany on its first series of the second half.
McElhany added another score from 18 yards after he broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage with 6:13 left in the third to make it a 34-7 game.
The Savages got another bright moment near the end when Ryan Morrison returned an interception 25 yards to the Bear 46. That set up a 16-yard TD strike from Morrison to Jesse Belvin.