Cass Tech football defeats Detroit King for PSL Blue title
DETROIT -- The No. 8 Cass Tech Technicians (6-2) defeated the Detroit King Crusaders (4-4) 24-23 Friday at Ford Field.
Freshman quarterback Darryl Flemister III ran for a 25-yard touchdown to give Detroit King a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
Cass Tech scored five minutes later. On a reverse, sophomore Corey Sadler Jr. threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Seth Sendry to tie the game at 7-7.
In the second half, Sadler Jr. ran in a 54-yard touchdown for a 14-7 Cass Tech lead.
Junior Cass Tech kicker George Sanchez Murillo hit a field goal for a 17-7 lead with seven minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Senior Detroit King wide receiver Kavon Matthews scored on a 20-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 17-14.
Cass Tech answered with a 5-yard touchdown run from running back Arthur Nichols with five minutes remaining in the game.
Detroit King scored on a running back pass from Michael Dukes III to Matthews to cut the lead to 24-21 with 1:41 remaining.
Cass Tech took an intentional safety to run the clock down. Detroit King's Hail Mary fell short of the endzone.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
Slow start
Much like the first matchup this season, the first half of Friday night’s game moved at a snail's pace. Penalty flags were flying early and often, but it’s not much of a surprise considering how intense the rivalry is between Cass Tech and King.
The score was 7-7 at halftime, and each teams’ first touchdown came in the first quarter.
Cass Tech head coach Marvin Rushing said the play calling was a bit conservative early in the contest.
“I think our offensive staff was a little bit stale in terms of some of the play calls in the beginning,” Rushing said. “We should’ve been a little more creative, and maybe we could’ve gave ourselves a better opportunity to widen this margin. At the end, the kids did what we expected them to do.”
Sadler Jr. came through
The King defense did a great job at containing the Cass Tech receivers. Almost every time Sadler dropped back to pass he had to scramble to find time to throw, and he didn’t have a lot of open teammates.
For certain stretches of the game, Sadler would move out to receiver, with junior quarterback Sendry going under center.
Late in the first quarter with the ball deep in King territory, Sendry took the snap and tossed the ball to Sadler as he came in motion. Sendry then leaked into the flat and caught a touchdown from Sadler for Cass Tech’s first score of the game.
Sadler said he told his team to follow his lead.
“Without (my teammates) I couldn’t do it,” Sadler said. “Coming out of half, I told them I got y’all, just get me. Just have my back. We came out with the win, and it was ugly, but we did it.”
Down to the wire
Heading into the fourth quarter up 17-7, it seemed as if Cass Tech could potentially coast to the win. With just under ten minutes to go, senior King receiver Matthews ran in a 20 touchdown to make it a three point game.
Cass Tech running back Nichols ran in a five yard touchdown about five minutes later, putting the Technicians back up ten.
On the next drive, the Crusaders found themselves on the five yard-line with under two minutes left.
Sophomore King running back Michael Dukes III took a direct snap and completed a jump pass to Matthews for a touchdown, making it a three point game once again.
With the game in the balance, King was able to stop Cass Tech three times, but it could only stop the clock twice. The Technicians were able to get the clock down to 16 seconds before they had to snap it on fourth down.
Rather than punting the ball away, Sadler lined up under snap and managed to run around for 14 seconds before taking a safety on a 24 yard loss, while keeping Cass Tech up one.
The Crusaders got the ball back with two seconds left, and they completed a pass down inside the ten yard-line, but the receiver was tackled with all zeros on the clock.
Sadler said the idea came from the coaches.
“Coach told me, ‘Hey we can get the safety.’ We’re up three, just get the safety and run time off,” Salder said. “I said, 'All right coach I got you.'”
Rushing joked about what would’ve happened if it backfired.
“He was about to take that out of the endzone, and I was glad he didn’t do it,” Rushing added. “I was like, damn don’t do that (or) I’m going to fire myself.”
