Photos: Detroit King football dominates in second half to defeat River Rouge 41-28

DETRIOT — It was a highly anticipated Division 1 playoff first-round matchup between Detroit Martin Luther King and River Rouge, and King defeated River Rouge 41-28 to advance to the second round of the playoffs.

In the first half, it was an absolute battle between the two as both teams combined for a total of seven first-half touchdowns. The second half was all Detroit King, as the Crusaders outscored River Rouge 13-7 to earn the victory over the Panthers.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

It was a first-half offensive battle

The first half of the matchup was a back-and-forth battle between the squads as both teams matched each other in the half.

King started the scoring early as they went up 7-0 on River Rouge in the first quarter. Rouge would not hang its head though, and they answered back with a first-quarter touchdown of its own to make it 7-7.

Of course, King would not keep it tied for long. Quarterback Dante Moore found Jameel Croft Jr. to put the Crusaders up 14-7 in the first quarter.

The first score of the second quarter came with River Rouge answering back. Running back Daivon Hill rushed for a touchdown to tie 14-14. Toward the end of the second quarter, King answered right back with a rushing touchdown by Kenneth Merrieweather.

Now, with the score at 21-14 with King leading, River Rouge’s Cameron Broadnax made a great run to the 1-yard line where Nick Marsh would ran it in for the Panthers on the next play, but Rouge would miss the extra point and that put the score at 21-20, with King still leading.

To end the first half, King’s Moore found Damon Stennis on a spectacular play to extend the Crusaders’ lead to 28–20 to close out the first half of play.

When asked about the first-half offensive shootout, Detroit King coach Tyrone Spencer said, “I told them at halftime that we need to shut them out in the second half. I told them that they can’t be afraid to die, and they did it, that’s just King football."

Moore and the Crusaders refused to lay down as they defend their state title

The Detroit King football team enters this year's playoffs as the defending state champions after winning the 2021 Football State Championship.

“Defending state champions, that’s in the past,” King quarterback and Oregon commit Moore said. “I’ve got a lot of young guys on my team that now know how to take care of it so that’s what I’m looking forward to."

King had its hands full in the first half as River Rouge kept answering back with touchdowns of their own every time the Crusaders would score, leaving it a close game at halftime. In the second half, King dominated the Panthers to capture a 41-28 win.

Moore finished with three passing touchdowns in the win

King running back Sterling Anderson would not be denied in tonight’s matchup as he records a big game for the Crusaders

Senior running back Sterling Anderson displayed his talents tonight for Detroit King as he had himself a big game and was a key player in the win for the Crusaders.

“He played like he needed to play, we’ve been waiting for that all year long,” coach Spencer said. “He did it when we needed it the most -- in the playoffs."

Anderson finished the game with 17 carries for 94 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns while also catching seven passes for 54 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown.

When asked about his performance tonight, Anderson said, “It started in practice, I feel like the loss the past two weeks helped with that, so I was locked in all week. My coach came to me today and said he had a dream that I was going to have a big game, and everything just fell into place."

Here are photos from Friday night's playoff game in Detroit:

Video and photos by Mariusz Nowak