By DOUG DONNELLY

DETROIT – A determined Ubly football team in search of its first ever state championship controlled the line of scrimmage and beat Whiteford 21-6 Saturday for the Division 8 state title.

Ubly doubled Whiteford’s time of possession and nearly its total yards, had 20 first downs and shutout the Bobcats in the second half.

“Ubly has a heck of a football team,” Whiteford coach Todd Thieken said. “They certainly were the better team out there.”

The Bearcats drove 79 yards on its first drive, coming up about three inches short of the end zone on its opening drive when quarterback Evan Peruski was tackled by Whiteford defensive back Kolby Masserant on a fourth-down play. The call on the field was a touchdown, but it was reversed after officials took a second look.

Whiteford then went on a 15-play, 99-yard drive, the last four yards coming on a touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Tre Eitniear to senior Hunter DeBarr. The key play on the drive was a 48-yard pass play from Eitniear to Ryin Ruddy.

Thieken that drive, with a good mix of running and passing, was what Whiteford wanted to do all game.

 “That drive was indicative of our game plan,” Thieken said. “In the second half we just couldn’t get anything going. Things weren’t going our way.”

The 99 yards ended up being more than Whiteford’s offense could muster the rest of the game.

Ubly scored on its next possession, when Seth Maurer scored on the 13th play of an 80-yard drive to put the Bearcats up 7-6 with 1:31 left in the first half.

Whiteford got the ball first to start the second half but was forced to punt. Ubly scored again to increase its lead to 14-6 on a 11-yard pass from Peruski to Ryan Learman. Ubly put the game out of reach with a 9-play, 50-yard drive in the fourth quarter with Luke Volmering scoring from three yards out.

The Bobcat offense struggled in the second half to sustain drives. Thieken said Ubly shut down the Bobcat run game.

“I was expected we would throw the ball, but more on stuff that we saw on film that we thought we could capitalize on,” Thieken said. “In the second half we were forced to throw the ball. I wasn’t expecting to need that the way we did. We were having a hard time running the ball and doing anything sustainable.”

Whiteford was held to a season-low 60 yards rushing.

“We controlled the line of scrimmage,” Ubly coach Eric Sweeney said. “That’s pretty much the story of the game.”

Eitniear completed 6-of-11 passes for 78 yards. Ruddy had 53 yards receiving and Masserant added 32.

“I thought we made some adjustments at the half but had a lot of drive killers in the second half,” Thieken said.

Mauer, who gained more than 100 yards in last year’s state finals, had 138 yards on 27 carries. Luke Volmering had 78 and Canden Perusky, a 1,500-yard rusher on the season, added 36 yards.

Ubly finished the season 14-0. Whiteford dropped its first game since the 2022 semifinals and finished 13-1. It was their first loss in 27 games.

“I can’t take anything away from these kids,” Thieken said. “They’ve had a tremendous career. Most of the seniors have been starters since they were freshmen. I’m proud of our kids and the way they battled and represented our school.”

Senior Drew Knaggs is one of five Bobcat seniors to start four consecutive years.

“We really had great coaching all the way through,” Knaggs said. “We have a lot of great memories with each other. We won a lot of games.”

DeBarr was playing in his 50th career game along with Knaggs and Ruddy.

“We won a lot of big games and we lost a couple of big games,” DeBarr said. “It was a lot of fun.”

Ubly 0 7 7 7 = 21

Whiteford 0 6 0 0 = 6

Scoring Summary

Second Quarter

W – Hunter DeBarr 4 pass from Tre Eitniear (run failed), 8:11

U – Seth Maurer 4 run (Brett Mueller kick), 1:31

Third Quarter

U – Ryan Learman 11 pass from Evan Peruski (Mueller kick), 2:14

Fourth Quarter

U – Luke Volmering 3 run (Mueller kick), 6:13

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Ubly: Seth Maurer 27-138, Luke Volmering 16-77, Canden Peruski 8-36, Evan Peruski 6-32, team 2-(minus)-2. Totals 59-281. Whiteford: Jake Iott 12-37, Hunter DeBarr 8-13, Ryin Ruddy 5-8, Drew Knaggs 2-2. Totals 25-60.

PASSING – Ubly: Evan Peruski 2-3-0 29 yards. Whiteford: Tre Eitniear 6-11-0 78 yards, Ryin Ruddy 3-4-0 27 yards.

RECEIVING – Ubly: Ryan Learman 2-29. Whiteford: Ryin Ruddy 2-53, Kolby Masserant 3-32, Hunter DeBarr 3-21, Jake Iott 1-(minus)-1.