Ottawa Lake, MI — Video Highlights--https://youtu.be/aD-JfQPEOAc Game Story By DOUG DONNELLY Special Writer OTTAWA LAKE – Tre Eitniear knows a thing or two about hitting for the cycle in baseball. On Thursday, the Whiteford sophomore sort of hit for the cycle in football. Eitniear threw for three touchdowns, ran for two touchdowns, ran for a two-point conversion and kicked three extra points. The only thing he didn’t do was kick a field goal and that’s because the Bobcat offense scored touchdowns on all but two of its offensive drives. Having a season under his belt has given Eitniear more confidence than ever. “It makes it a lot easier,” he said. “Seeing the defense last year and going over a lot of film helps me a lot. I feel like I can just see a lot more out there, what’s going on.” Eitniear was in mid-season form from the first drive of the game. After the Bobcat forced Blissfield to punt after running three offensive plays, Eitniear directed a seven-play, 78-yard scoring drive, finishing it off with a 35-yard touchdown run. The Bobcats scored three touchdowns in the second quarter. Eitniear threw touchdown passes to Drew Ruddy for 8-yards and Brek Ruddy for 62-yards, then closed out the scoring spree with a 4-yard touchdown run right before halftime to put Whiteford up 28-0. He finished with 100 yards rushing for the game. “I was training more for running the ball, to get more power in my legs, more drive,” he said. “I know we lost a lot of seniors who were good runners. I feel I have to step up and be more of a runner this year.” In the fourth quarter, Eitniear threw a touchdown pass to Conner Beasley. Whiteford coach Todd Thieken saw the improvement in Eitniear immediately. “He certainly looked like a kid who has been playing a couple of years tonight,” Thieken said. “He did everything right. There were a couple of passes he made that he was so poised on. A year ago, he would have gotten rid of the ball (too) early. Now, he waited one more second and it made all the difference.” Thieken especially liked how the Bobcats controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. In the first half, Blissfield had negative three yards rushing. “I love how we came out on both sides of the ball with intensity,” Thieken said. “That was my worry coming into the game like this, especially with nine or 10 new guys on defense. From the start, we didn’t have to say anything about that. They came out and set the tone.” Drew Ruddy finished with 75 yards rushing and Brek Ruddy 74. Antonio Nochtrab had a long run in the fourth quarter to set up Whiteford’s final touchdown – a 12-yard pass from Eitniear to Conner Beasley. Eitniear closed out the game going 7-for-10 for 120 yards through the air. Beasley had three catches, including one along the sideline to keep a scoring drive going in the second quarter. Blissfield scored its only touchdown in the third quarter, taking advantage of a Whiteford turnover to drive 65 yards for a score. Jonathan Cheney, making his first varsity start, found Kipp Fisher from 10 yards out for the lone Royal score. Cheney threw for 44 yards. “We have to come over and start football games,” Blissfield coach Ryan Love said. “You can have a couple of moral victories in the second half but that’s not what we are after. We’re here to compete. Unfortunately, the game got away from us.” Brandon Jacobs led Blissfield with 45 yards on the ground. Blissfield finished the game with 71 yards rushing and 44 yards through the air. They turned the ball over once – an interception by Jake Scott on the second to last play of the game. Fisher made 11 tackles while Matthew Early was in on eight stops. Weirich had five solo tackles. “I thought some of our seniors played well,” Love said. “Kipp and A.J. did a good job. They were in every down, fighting and clawing. Another bright spot was Ethan Samuels, a sophomore, came in and ran really hard. That’s super positive.” Game Stats Blissfield 2024 vs. Ottawa Lake - Whiteford 2024 8/29/24, 7:00 PM Regular Season Ottawa Lake 1 2 3 4 Total Blissfield 2024 0 0 6 0 6 Ottawa Lake - Whiteford 2024 6 22 0 7 35 SCORING SUMMARY: 1st Quarter OLW: Tre Eitniear 35 yd Rush (TD) 0-6 2nd Quarter OLW: Drew Ruddy 8 yd Pass from Tre Eitniear (CNV) 0-12 OLW: Tre Eitniear 3 yd Rush (CNV) 0-14 OLW: Brek Ruddy 62 yd Pass from Tre Eitniear (CNV) 0-20 OLW: Tre Eitniear (PAT) 0-21 OLW: Tre Eitniear 4 yd Rush (TD) 0-27 OLW: Tre Eitniear (PAT) 0-28 3rd Quarter BLI: Kipp Fisher 10 yd Pass from Jonathan Cheney (CNV) 6-28 4th Quarter OLW: Conner Beasley 12 yd Pass from Tre Eitniear (CNV) 6-34 OLW: Tre Eitniear (PAT) 6-35 Game Summary Blissfield 2024 Ottawa Lake - Whiteford 2024 First Downs 9 24 Rushes-Yards 33 71 43 321 Recep-Yards 5 44 7 120 Passing Yards 44 120 Comp-Attempts 5 13 7 10 TD-INT 1 1 3 0 Fumbles-Lost 0 0 2 2 Penalties-Yards 2 20 4 20 3rd Down Conv 4 15 7 9 4th Down Conv 1 1 0 1 FG Made-Att 0 0 0 0 Tackles 40.0 41.0 Sacks-Yards 0.0 0 2.0 -17 Time of Possession 49:37 39:32 RUSHING LEADERS: No. Player Rushes Yards TDs Fumbles No. Player Rushes Yards TDs Fumbles 8 Brandon Jacobs 11 45 0 0 1 Tre Eitniear 8 100 2 0 10 Ethan Samuels 7 38 0 0 5 Drew Ruddy 15 75 0 1 32 Blake Iffland 3 8 0 0 22 Brek Ruddy 8 74 0 0 5 Kassidy Lenz 9 0 0 0 25 Antonio Nachtrab 3 46 0 0 6 Skyler Kimple 1 -3 0 0 33 Trenton Eitniear 4 13 0 0 3 Jonathan Cheney 2 -17 0 0 11 Brody Hillard 4 10 0 0 8 Andy Trejo 1 3 0 0 PASSING LEADERS: No. Player Comp Att Yards TD INT No. Player Comp Att Yards TD INT 3 Jonathan Cheney 5 13 44 1 1 1 Tre Eitniear 7 10 120 3 0 RECEIVING LEADERS: No. Player Rec Yards TDs No. Player Rec Yards TDs 7 Kipp Fisher 2 27 1 22 Brek Ruddy 1 62 1 4 Mason Case 3 17 0 9 Conner Beasley 3 24 1 5 Drew Ruddy 2 18 1 33 Trenton Eitniear 1 16 0 FIELD GOAL LEADERS: No. Player Made Att Avg Long No. Player Made Att Avg Long PAT LEADERS: No. Player Made Att No. Player Made Att 1 Tre Eitniear 3 3 PUNTING LEADERS: No. Player Punts Avg Long No. Player Punts Avg Long 32 Blake Iffland 6 36.8 47 1 Tre Eitniear 1 30.0 30 KICKOFF RETURN LEADERS: No. Player Ret Yards TDs No. Player Ret Yards TDs 5 Kassidy Lenz 3 41 0 5 Drew Ruddy 1 0 0 11 Jude Rosas 1 12 0 25 Antonio Nachtrab 1 0 0 10 Ethan Samuels 1 0 0 4 Mason Case 1 0 0 PUNT RETURN LEADERS: No. Player Ret Yards TDs No. Player Ret Yards TDs 8 Brandon Jacobs 1 0 0 5 Drew Ruddy 2 1 0