FREMONT — Ludington’s football players and coaches know the games are going to continue to get tougher as they grind through the West Michigan Conference schedule.
At the same time, the Orioles will take any hard-fought victory they can get.
Friday night in the North Grove Brewers WMC Game of the Week, Aidan Gilchrist’s 13-yard touchdown run early on was the difference in Ludington’s 7-0 win over host Fremont in the teams’ WMC Lakes Division opener at Pine Street Athletic Complex.
Photos by Scott DeCamp | CatchMark
Here are notables and more details from the game:
- Ludington capitalized on a Fremont fumble in the game’s first four minutes. With 7:38 remaining in the opening quarter, Gilchrist took a handoff and scored on a 13-yard run off the left side. Mile Wilson’s PAT was good for a 7-0 Orioles lead and those turned out to be the only points of the game.
- Ludington senior Trey Forfinski led his team with 79 rushing yards on 13 carries. He also paced the Orioles with eight tackles, including a pair of sacks, plus a fumble recovery.
- Ludington senior quarterback Chase Hackert was 6-of-14 passing for 66 yards and he ran 14 times for 56 yards.
- Ludington senior Levi Laman caught three passes for 33 yards and he notched four tackles.
- Ludington junior Gage Jones was second on the team with six tackles, one for lost yardage.
- Ludington junior Daniel Ramirez finished with five tackles.
- Fremont senior running back Justin Dirheimer continued his strong season. He finished with a hard-earned, game-high 121 yards on 25 carries. Dirheimer also caught two passes for 15 yards.
- Fremont junior quarterback Kyler DeKuiper finished 3-of-7 passing for 32 yards.
- Fremont senior linebacker Michael Romero led the charge defensively with a game-high 8.5 tackles, seven of them solo. He had one sack and two tackles for loss.
- Fremont junior Daniel Romero was next on the list with seven tackles, six of them solo.
- Fremont junior Connor Pettis notched 4.5 stops, including a tackle for loss.
- Ludington improves to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the Lakes Division. Next Friday, the Orioles hit the road for the fourth time in as many weeks and it’s a tough one as they visit undefeated Oakridge. It doesn’t get any easier after that, as Ludington hosts Montague and Manistee in Weeks 5 and 6, then travels to Whitehall in Week 7.
- Fremont (2-1, 0-1 WMC Lakes) hits the road as well next Friday, visiting former conference rival Grant.
- Even though it was the teams’ first time meeting as West Michigan Conference opponents, Friday marked the fifth straight win for Ludington in its longtime series with Fremont. The Orioles and Packers were also conference foes in the Lakes 8, Western Waterways and Seaway.
