Looking at Traverse City St. Francis

Ubly (13-0) vs. Traverse City St. Francis (12-1) at Ford Field
* TCSF advanced to the finals with a 28-7 win over Ravenna. In that game, the Gladiators outrushed their opponent 242-83 on comparable totes (42-41). In the passing game, TCSF had a 120-87 edge in terms of yards, giving the Gladiators the overall edge in all-purpose yardage 362-170.
* The key to the game was TCSF’s ability to put themselves in short yardage situations, as they averaged 7.1 yards per play on offense, compared to 3.1 for Ravenna.
* In the pass game, they averaged 13.3 yards per attempt and 17.1 yards per completion. The Gladiators passed the ball on just nine of their 51 offensive plays or just 18 percent of the time. However, half of their TDs came through the air as St. Francis scored on a 34 yard TD strike from QB Corey Williams to Taylor Hennrick (65 yards receiving) in the first and in the third, Williams hooked up with Matthew Benson (32 yards) on a seven yard TD pass.
* On the ground, Joe Kerridge rushed for 89 yards on 11 carries (8.1 ypc) and Ryan Farley 85 yards on 16 totes, while Ben Swan (35 yards) and Jack Gallagher (eight yards) added rushing scores. As for this team’s power running attack, St. Francis likes to utilize the T and the I, as their main formations.
* Defensively, the Gladiators allowed 117 yards and a score to Ravenna’s Jamohn Martin, but did sack the opposing quarterback six times. Standouts on this side of the ball included junior linebacker Max Bullough (6-3, 220, verbally committed to Michigan State) with 13 tackles, including three for loses for a combined -16 yards, to go along with 1.5 sacks, which netted a loss of 12 yards. Defensive back Matt Zakrezwski added 12 tackles (five solo), while Hennrick added an interception and Gallagher recovered a fumble. * St. Francis is a perennial playoff powerhouse, winning state titles in 1999 (13-1), 2003 (14-0) and 2005 (13-1) over the last 10 years. They have also finished as runner-up in 2007. Overall the team has made the playoffs 19 straight years. The team has seven returnees from last year’s state runner-up.
* So far this season, the Gladiators have scored 552 points (42.5 ppg average) and allowed 165 points (12.7 ppg allowed on average). Comparatively, Ubly has scored 616 points (47.4 ppg) and allowed 130 points (10 ppg).
* Their lone loss of the season was a 17-14 setback to Saginaw Nouvel in Week 2. Nouvel lost 35-34 to Montague in the Division 6 semifinals, ending their bid for a third straight state title.
* TCSF has shown they can be vulnerable to the spread in the post-season. After holding Whittemore-Prescott to just eight points against that formation, Merrill scored 48 on the Gladiators by “spreading” the ball around. The 48 points allowed was a season high for St, Francis and the first time they allowed that many points since a 56-13 loss in 2000, which was the team’s playoff opener.
The Glads also faced two teams that run the spread in the regular season, Elk Rapids and Grayling. TCSF surrendered a combined 47 points in those games, beating E.R. 27-19 and Grayling 43-28.
In four games against “spread teams,” St. Francis has allowed 103 points or an average of 26 ppg.