BRIGHTON — Brian Lemons takes a lawyerly approach to answering interview questions in most cases, answering pleasantly while saying as little as possible.
But, after the Bulldogs were routed by Walled Lake Western 37-7, he was positively terse afterward.
Asked if the Warriors came as advertised, he said, “They are terrific.”
About his team’s slow start: “You can’t get behind a team that good.”
In his defense, though, Walled Lake Western answered whatever questions needed to be asked on the field.
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The Warriors (8-1), who had a win taken away due to an ineligible player, dominated throughout.
Quarterback Johnny Tracy threw for 311 yards and three touchdowns, and his favorite receiver, Cody White, had nine catches for 118 yards and three scores.
The Bulldogs, meanwhile, never got untracked on offense.
Western made Brighton fight for every yard on the ground, and the Brighton passing attack never really got going. Cameron Tullar was 9-for-21 for 150 yards, with a couple of drops and a few overthrows slowing the Bulldogs’ momentum.
“They did a good job getting their athletes the ball,” Lemons said. “On offense, we didn’t execute consistently enough to make a difference.”
Western got going early. Jalen Marshall rushed for 35 yards on the Warriors’ first play from scrimmage, Cody White carried the ball 14 yards on second down and then scored from 34 yards out from a pass from Tracy.
After Tullar threw an interception on Brighton’s first series, the Warriors went 44 yards in seven plays to take a 13-0 lead. Western added a field goal late in the first half.
“We moved the ball really well the first two possessions,” Western coach Mike Zdebski said. “We’ve done that really well this year. And then it felt like we got stagnant a little bit.”
The Bulldogs, meanwhile, sputtered throughout the first half until their last possession, when Tullar moved them down the field for the first time. But the drive ended when Tullar was stopped short of the goal line as time ran out.
After Brighton stalled on its first drive of the second half, Tracy took the Warriors down the field on a drive that ended in a 36-yard scoring pass to Kameron Ford.
Brighton scored on its next drive, on a 6-yard run by Will Jontz, but could get no closer.
“We were in the right place a lot of the time,,” Brighton senior Jack Aigner said of the Bulldogs’ defense, “but it only takes one mistake for them to capitalize on it, and that’s what good teams do, and that happened a few too many times tonight.”
Western won the Lakes Conference title for the fourth year in a row and in its final season in the KLAA. The Warriors are among 10 schools leaving after the current school year. Nine are forming their own league, while Pinckney is moving to the Southeastern Conference.
Brighton finished its season 7-2 and could play host to a first-round Division 1 playoff game. Western is a favorite in Division 2. The MHSAA will announce the pairings on Sunday.
“Next week is week 1 for us,”Aigner said. “We’re already looking ahead.:
“They’re a terrific team,” Lemons said, “but every team that makes the playoffs from now on is going to be pretty darn good. Our boys just have to get their heads on straight and come to practice Monday ready to go.”
