“PLAYOFFS?! Don’t talk about—playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs!?!”
That’s right true believers, your Friday Night Heroes, THE St. Johns Redwings are talking about playoffs. It’s been a few years. The last time St. Johns was in the playoffs was 2019 (discounting the odd 2020 COVID year). That year the Redwings were also 6-3 in the regular season.

“We talked about it after the game and I told the kids, this is the expectation going forward,” Coach Schmitt said.

I have to be honest, it’s a lot easier writing this after a victory. St. Johns had a rough go of it the last 3 weeks with losses to Mason, Haslett and Ionia (all three are also playoff bound). Earlier in the season Schmitt described those 3 games as “the gauntlet.” Mason currently stands at 7-2 with losses to DeWitt and Walled Lake Western, Haslett is 6-3 losing to DeWitt, Fenton and Mason, Ionia is 6-3 with losses to Portland, Olivet and Lansing Catholic. So all and all not terrible losses but winning is more fun.

Alpena’s season has not been as bright this year. They show flashes of where the program is headed and they have a lot of underclassmen playing up on the Varsity. Hopefully that leads to good things in their future, but unfortunately they are bringing an 0-8 record for their last match up with the Redwings.

Alpena won the coin toss and elected to defer their choice to the 2nd half and so St. Johns is going to be on the receiving end of the kick off to start the game. Ian Smith took the opening kick-off like a toddler that got caught with something they shouldn’t have and returned it all the way to the Alpena 25. Unfortunately a block in the back penalty brought it back to the St. Johns 45. Running behind Brady Heibeck St. Johns moved the ball to the Alpena 20. With 6:13 to go in the opening quarter, Bryce Pratl gets in behind the big uglies and takes it in for the TD. St. Johns goes up 7-0.

St. Johns defense forces a 3 and out on the next possession. Last week it seemed like things never went our way. This week however… The Wildcats are forced to punt. Ian Smith catches the punt and immediately loses it, catches his own fumble in the air, in stride and is finally stopped at the Alpena 35.

Bryson Martinez takes the ball to the 12 and Mike Oberlin takes it to the house. A holding penalty negated the touchdown. But remember what I said about things going St. Johns way?
St. Johns runs the exact same play again and this time Oberlin is in clean. Touchdown St. Johns. Alpena blocked the point after attempt and the score was 13-0.

The kick-off was fumbled by Alpena and Gabe Thelen was there to secure the ball. St. Johns took over on the Alpena 18 and Mike Oberlin took it to the house again. The extra point is blocked again and the score is 19-0.

St. Johns again forced a 3 and out. Alpena’s punt was fumbled but Isaiah Cobb is able to recover it. A big pass from Pratl to Martinez sets up another Oberlin touchdown run. This time St. Johns is able to convert the point after attempt and it’s 26-0.

I’m sure you are reading this and thinking, “well, what an exciting game, surely this is the end of the recap.” Not so fast faithful readers, this is just the 1st quarter. In fact there is 8.9 seconds left in the 1st quarter.

St. Johns kicked off and in what would become a theme for Alpena, the kick-off was mishandled and Alpena was forced to start deep in their own territory and once again they went 3 and out and were forced to punt.

St. Johns fumbled and recovered the punt and Tyson Smith took it 51 yards to tack on another TD. The extra point was good and St. Johns led 33-0.

St. Johns kicked off and in an odd play Tyson Smith recovered the St. Johns kick. The Redwings drive stalls out at the 4 and St. Johns turns the ball over to Alpena. Alpena put together a couple of pass plays. A Mike Oberlin interception was called back for a Defensive Hold but the Redwings Defense was eventually able to force another punt that was recovered at the St. John 45. A few plays later, with 3:35 on the clock, Anthony Lacross records his first of the game and the score after the extra point the score was 40-0.

Again the Wildcats were forced to punt and Tyson Smith made this one hurt. With 1:34 left to play in the half, Tyson returned the punt to the house for another St. Johns touchdown. Nolan Koenigsknecht tallied another extra point to make the score 47-0.

St. Johns kick off was kicked out of bounds by an Alpena player and Alpena took over at their 5.
Alpena was able to start moving the ball but with only 1:34 on the clock there wasn’t much time and the half expired. St. Johns took a 47-0 lead into the locker room.

Alpena received the kick-off to open the half and moved the ball like they had to end the 1st.
Alpena eventually scored with 4:55 left in the 3rd and was able to convert the 2 pt attempt to make the score 47-8.

The 3rd quarter ended with St. Johns having the ball 1st and 10 from the Alpena 21. St. Johns fumbled and Alpen recovered on their 11. The Wildcats passing game was able to move the ball to the St. Johns 18 where it was intercepted and returned to the 50 by Freshman Archer Gurski. Coach Schmitt said “It was cool. We had 4 Freshman in the game at one point. Cool to be able to do that for a couple of plays!” “We came out and executed right away and got it done. A lot of guys got to play a lot of downs and a lot of young guys got in” said Schmitt.

St. Johns was able to grind out the clock for the remainder of the 4th quarter, took a knee and the win 47-8. St. Johns wraps up the regular season 6-3, a big jump from last year’s 4-5 record and a sign of things to come. “We have a lot of underclassmen up front and our JV squad went 7-1-1,” Coach Schmitt said about the future of the program.

St. Johns now waits for the MHSAA announcement on Sunday on who their opponent will be in the first game of the postseason.

Dan Ward- You probably know me
(St. Johns Class of ‘90, HS Wrestling Coach, Youth Football Coach, and Parent of Bennett #64 and Liam #30 4th Grade)

Redwings vs Alpena Stats

Photo Gallery – Varsity Football, Cheer, Dance, Band vs Ionia