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At some point in a season even the strongest football teams are going to face some adversity and it is a test to see if they can overcome it.
The Dexter football team had its first big obstacle of the season Friday night, and they were able to come through in the clutch with a Cole Cabana five-yard touchdown run with 23 seconds left to hold off Ann Arbor Huron for a 21-14 Homecoming win and move to 6-0 on the season.
The Dreadnaughts lost a pair of key starters during the game and came through in the end with a back-up quarterback and a struggling defense that came up huge when it needed to pull out the win.
Dexter looked in control early against Huron, taking the opening kickoff and driving 80-yards for a Cabana one-yard touchdown run and a 7-0 lead.
The Dreads defense stymied the Huron offense for most of the first half and Dexter took advantage of a fumbled punt snap and took over at the Huron 23-yard line early in the second quarter.
Two plays later Cabana found the corner of the endzone for his second score of the game to make it 14-0.
Adversity then set in for the Dreads.
Defensive tackle Corey Baker, who was having a monster game inside the trenches went down with a leg injury in the second quarter and would not return.
Huron took advantage of the injury and the River Rats running game began to heat up, but the only chance for Huron was a field goal attempt that went awry with a bad snap and the score stayed 14-0 at the half.
The River Rats showed some life to start the third quarter by driving 80 yards for a score to cut the Dreads lead to 14-7.
Dexter's offense stalled, and a big blow came when Dexter quarterback Reeves Taylor was knocked out of the game when he was injured on a Huron roughing the passer penalty and would not return.
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Brennan Parachek took over at quarterback for one series, but the Dreads were forced to punt.
Dexter held and took over on offense on the last play of the third but turned the ball over with a fumble to start the fourth and Huron took over at the 27.
The River Rats would punch it in to tie the game with 11:35 left.
Dexter was forced to punt, and Huron took over at the 20 and drove into Dreads territory with four-minutes remaining.
The Dexter defense came up huge and forced a long 52-yard field goal attempt that came up just short to give the Dreads the ball at the 20-yard line with just over three minutes remaining.
Dexter drove to midfield and Dreads sophomore back-up quarterback Grant Goodrich came up with likely the biggest pass of his career when he connected with Micah Davis for a 45-yard screen pass to the Huron five yard-line with under a minute to play.
Two plays later, Cabana went around the left end and lunged into the endzone for the game winning score with 23 seconds left. The extra point by Gerzon Herzer made it 21-14.
Huron had one last chance and on the final play they completed a pass and used several laterals to try to move the ball down field, but it was fumbled and recovered by Noah Pitts to end the game and the Dreadnaughts, and their fans celebrated.
Cabana finished with 135 yards rushing and three scores.
Goodrich finished 3-3 for 48 yards in relief of Taylor who tossed for 54 yards before leaving the game.
The receivers were led by Davis with three catches for 58 yards. Parachek caught two for 18, Cabana two for 10, and Tessmer one for 16.
Davis was in on nine tackles to lead the defense with Parachek adding eight. Pitts had four solo and seven assists, Nathan Gersh three solo and seven assists, Owen Wondrash three solo and six assists, and Niko Michos four solo and four assists.
Photos by Mike Williamson
