Photo by Michelle Sullivan

By DOUG DONNELLY

ADRIAN, Mich. – Jake Iott was surprised when he saw a football coming right at him.

“I was shocked,” the Whiteford senior linebacker said. “It was like it was meant for me.”

Iott’s 93-yard interception return just before halftime was the key play in Whiteford’s 35-6 victory Saturday over Riverview Gabriel Richard. It puts the 13-0 Bobcats into Saturday’s Division 8 state championship game. It’s Whiteford’s second straight state finals appearance and fourth in the last eight years.

Whiteford was leading 14-0 late in the second quarter when Richard mounted its biggest drive of the game. A 33-yard pass put the Pioneers into the Bobcat Red Zone. They had a second down from the 12-yard line when Pioneer quarterback Nick Sobush dropped back to pass.

“I knew they were most likely to pass,” Iott said. “I was dropping back, and I see the ball come up and it was right to me. I saw the open field and I got out and turned on the jets.”

Iott got a couple of key blocks and reached the end zone and Whiteford led 20-0 at halftime.

“That was a great play,” Whiteford coach Todd Thieken said. “To make the catch was one thing, then he made a great return. That was a 14-point swing.”

Iott is one of five four-year starters for the Bobcats, along with Drew Knaggs, his brother Jack Iott, Hunter DeBarr and Ryin Ruddy. Ruddy said the interception from Jake was a big key to the game.

“We didn’t start out as good as we had hoped,” Ruddy said. “We started picking it up and got into our groove. That pick-six really gave us some momentum.”

On offense, Iott finished with two touchdowns and 94 yards rushing to lead the Bobcats.

“He was all over the field today,” Thieken said. “He had another great game.”

The Bobcats scored the first two times they had the ball in the second half as well to build a 35-0 lead before Gabriel Richard (8-5) scored on a late touchdown inside the four-minute mark of the game.

In addition to Iott’s touchdown runs of five and 26 yards and his defensive score, Ryin Ruddy had a 14-yard touchdown run and Kolby Masserant caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from freshman starting quarterback Tre Eitniear.

“The kids did great,” Thieken said. “I loved how when we went in at halftime to the locker room, everyone just kept talking about finishing, about not letting up. We got the ball to start the second half and just went right down and scored.”

Whiteford had 292 yards of total offense and 18 first downs, compared to 203 yards and eight first downs for Richard.

Masserant broke the school’s single season record with his 41st reception of the season and had nine tackles on defense. Brandon Knaggs had an outstanding game at defense as well, coming in with seven stops. Richard completed just one pass on the day.

Antonio Sobush scored on a 60-yard touchdown run for Richard with 3:58 left in the fourth quarter. It was by far the biggest play of the day for Richard, who committed several costly penalties, especially in the first half. One came on a four-and-two from near midfield that kept a Bobcat drive alive.

Whiteford has won 27 consecutive games, dating back to a 2021 semifinal loss. They beat Ubly 26-20 in last year’s state championship game at Ford Field, the same team they will play at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Thieken said after the game that the Bobcats have had a goal of winning back-to-back state championships all season.

“We’re going to make sure in these next seven days we’ll do what we have to do to prepare,” he said.

Whiteford 6 14 15 0 = 35

Gabriel Richard 0 0 0 6 = 6

First Quarter

W – Jake Iott 5 run (Run failed), 1:24

Second Quarter

W – Kolby Masserant 24 pass from Tre Eitniear (Hunter DeBarr pass from Ryin Rudd), 10:13

W – Jake Iott 93 interception return (run failed), :17

Third Quarter

W – Jake Iott 24 run (Iott run), 7:09

W – Ryin Ruddy 14 run (Hunter DeBarr kick), :33

Fourth Quarter

R – Antonio Sobush 60 run (kick failed), 3:58

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Whiteford: Jake Iott 12-94, Hunter DeBarr 8-41, Brek Ruddy 4-32, Ryin Ruddy 3-18, Drew Knaggs 5-9, Stepan Masserant 3-8, Brody Hillard 2-8, Brandon Knaggs 2-7, Shevy Alexander 1-2, Tre Eitniear 1-0. Totals 43-225. Gabriel Richard: Antonio Sobush 3-71, EJ Bennett 11-42, Nick Sobush 6-24, Joey Calhoun 6-21, Derek Lesko 4-11, Kris Vigars 1-(minus)-4. Totals 31-165.

PASSING – Whiteford: Tre Eitniear 2-7-0 46, Ryin Ruddy 3-5-0 24, Totals 4-12-0 67 yards. Richard: Nick Sobush 1-6-1 38.

RECEIVING – Whiteford: Kolby Masserant 4-67. Derek Lesko 1-38.