Dexter Rolls Over Allen Park in Playoff Opener

Cover- STN File Photo

Despite being the lower seed, the Dexter football team left no doubt that is was the better team, at least on Friday night as the Dreadnaughts rolled over Allen Park 47-9.

Dexter entered the game seeded third in the district and had to travel to second seed Allen Park, but it was the Dreadnaughts that dominated for most of the night.

Ronny Johnson got things going with a 55-yard TD run for a 6-0 Dexter lead after the missed extra points.

Allen Park would answer, and the game would be tied at 6 after one quarter.

Johnson would bust in from four yards out early in the second for a 13-6 Dexter lead and a short time later Cooper Arnedt hit Holden Niemi with a 27-yard scoring pass for a 19-6 lead.

After a Jaguar field goal cut the lead to 19-9, Johnson would score his third of the half from eight yards out to give Dexter a 26-9 halftime lead.

Johnson would find the end zone one more time to start the second half and the Dreads lead grew to 33-9.

Dexter continued to pour it on with Arnedt hitting Cole Novara with a 36-yard TD pass and the lead was 40-9 after three quarters.

Arnedt wasn’t done when he hit Niemi with a TD pass for the second time, from 33 yards out to make the final 47-9.

The Dexter defense shut down Allen Park in the second half, keeping a team that had averaged over 40 points a game off the board and just one touchdown on the night.

Johnson finished with 187 yards rushing and four TD’s.

Arnedt was 9 for 14 passing for 162 yards and three scores and rushed for 35 yards on two carries.

Niemi caught three passes for 93 yards and two scores, while Novara had one catch for the 36-yard TD. Johnson caught three passes for 14 yards and Jaiden Juback two for 19.

Dexter improved to 7-3 on the season will travel to Gibraltar Carlson (9-1) for the D2 district finals. Carlson was the only team to defeat Allen Park in the regular season, 20-18 in week 8.