Northville girls flag football downs FGR, awaits playoff fate

While Northville huddled at the 40-yard line to celebrate its 20-0 win over first-place Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard on May 16, coach Chris Manno slipped out of the pile, pulled out his phone and checked the Detroit Lions ’ website for the All Grit League standings. “We’re going to need Ypsi Lincoln to score seven tomorrow,” the first-year coach said. That’s right, the division will likely come down to the third- and fourth-criteria tiebreakers to determine which school earns a berth to the state tournament in two weeks at Ford Field.

A P-CEP win over Lincoln on May 17 would create a three-way tie for first place, with FGR, Northville and the Prowlers all finishing 3-1. Head-to-head results wouldn’t break the tie either because, like the Spider-Man pointing meme, they’ve all beaten each other. P-CEP snuck past Northville in Week 1, FGR edged P-CEP by a safety last week and the Mustangs defended Sports Den Field against FGR in their regular-season finale.

It’ll either be P-CEP or Northville representing the division in downtown Detroit, and it’s likely coming down to points against and point differential. “It’s kind of crazy because we thought we were out of (the postseason) after losing at the start of the season,” said Northville QB Taylor Chrzanowski, who was 13 of 20 passing for 149 yards, two touchdowns and two one-point conversions. “When we found out what we had to do to give us a chance, we just went out there and did what we had to do.

Now, it’s just up to whatever happens tomorrow. ” The Mustangs’ coaches had them well prepared for FGR, including its offensive trickeration and run-heavy attack led by Reagan Fault, who rushed 17 times for 86 yards for the Irish. On the opening drive, Chrzanowski hit star pass rusher Lili Vettraino twice over the middle, including a 19-yard TD, and Northville never looked back.