MABEN — Caledonia football’s youthfulness was on full display on Friday night at East Webster.
Sure, there were the mistakes and the missed assignments that come with kids playing varsity football for the first time, but there was also hope, determination, excitement. The Cavaliers weren’t a pushover team, and despite their shortcomings they made a game of it until late in a 43-23 loss to the Wolverines.
The Cavaliers, 0-5, are a young team with plenty to learn. The growing pains that come with that can be difficult to accept at times, but that doesn’t reflect in the team’s effort.
“It’s tough because they understand experience, but they want a byproduct,” head coach Michael Kelly said. “That’s the point of coming out here. Our kids work too hard to keep coming up on this end of it, but we’re not learning from our mistakes. That’s why you see different kids out here, they’ve got to learn accountability, and they either respond and get better or we’ll continue to play the ones that got out there tonight.”
It was never going to be an easy ask for the Cavs on Friday, going into hostile territory against a stout Wolverines team with plenty of firepower on offense. Still, they were able to establish their game and take the fight to the hosts.
Sophomore quarterback Tyler Long expertly led several drives into East Webster territory, running in three touchdowns himself on the night as his team controlled the tempo behind a senior offensive line. Cole Garner and Cohen Clark both stepped up with big carries throughout the night as well, moving the chains and keeping the clock on Caledonia’s side.
“Tyler is still a young kid,” Kelly said of his quarterback. “He’s taken a lot of snaps for us over the last two years, but he’s still a 10th grader. He’s going to do some things wrong, that’s part of growing up, but he does a lot of things right for us and gets the ball to the right people. Offensively, we were moving, but we get behind 20 points, and we’re not built for that.”
Things started to fall apart toward the end of the first half. The Cavaliers looked to respond to a score knowing that the Wolverines would receive the second half kickoff, but fumbled near midfield. A quick 45-yard score turned a one-point game into an eight point game. Long led another long touchdown drive, scoring with 30 seconds left, but the ensuing kickoff was returned 88 yards for another touchdown to give the hosts a 30-20 halftime advantage.
The half featured two kickoffs returned to midfield, and a third returned for a score added another error on special teams.
The Cavaliers added a field goal and got a defensive stop out of halftime, but another turnover and two big scores by East Webster sealed the game early in the fourth quarter.
“You can’t do those things, because they’ll expose you when you do things the wrong way,” Kelly said of the mistakes in the first half. “We did get a stop, we went down and got a field goal. That’s complementary football. That’s what we’ve got to praise our football team on because that’s what we have to have in (the) division. These kids ain’t gonna quit, we just need to help them and find a way to get better.”
The Cavaliers will have a week to rest and reset before preparing for Columbus on Oct. 10. It’s an opportunity to start fresh with five division games, albeit one of the most challenging divisions in Class 5A. Kelly is looking to make the most of the challenge though, and continue to foster growth in his team as they adjust to a new level of high school football.
“One thing I teach our kids moving forward, life gets hard on you when you get to my age,” he said. “You’ve got to learn how to persevere and stay committed and dedicated. Hopefully we teach them a life lesson, but obviously we’ve got to get better. We start a new season, that’s the kicker, and I think our kids are focused on that.”
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