Millington 43, Lakers 16
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Three Takeaways Pave the Way for a Millington Victory over Lakers
September 11, 2026 — Week 03 — Millington, Michigan
Millington converted turnovers into points to take the driver’s seat in the Big Thumb Conference’s White Division, defeating the Elkton Pigeon Bay Port Lakers, 43-16 on Friday, September 11, 2026. Lakers were stymied by Millington’s defense all night, which forced two interceptions, a fumble for a score and a goal-line stand, all of which were turned into scores. In addition, the Cardinal offense was firing on all cylinders, running for nearly 400 yards and three touchdowns.
It was actually the Laker defense that forced the first turnover of the game, an interception by Ayden Stormzand. The Green Machine’s drive stalled at the Millington 28-yard line after six plays. Lucas Wehner connected on a 45-yard field goal to give the Lakers an early lead, 3-0, halfway through the first quarter. Lakers would force a three-and-out punt on the next drive and would march all the way down to the Millington two-yard line before being stopped on fourth down just five seconds into the second quarter.
The Cardinals then took the momentum of the goal-line stand and marched 98 yards on 10 plays, capped off with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Layden DeLong to Evan Kreger for Millington’s first score of the night to lead 6-3, 7:42 remaining in the first half. Lakers would throw an interception just three plays later, picked off by Drake Terwilliger, which Millington turned into a touchdown seven plays later as Brenden Wascher brought in the one-yard catch from DeLong, now leading 12-3. A minute later, Terwilliger would again intercept a pass from Lakers’ Ben LeVasseur. Millington was unable to take advantage of the turnover, being stopped at Lakers’ 27-yard line on fourth down with 1:38 remaining in the second quarter. However, 36 seconds later, Lakers’ Stormzand fumbled the ball at the end of a run and was recovered by Bentley Hitsman, running it into the end zone for a touchdown. After a successful two-point conversion, Millington led 20-3 entering halftime.
Trailing by 17 points, Lakers looked to begin the second half with some positive momentum, but was held to a three-and-out punt, which Millington yet again scored on the subsequent drive, this time a Terwilliger six-yard rumble into the end zone, extending the lead to 28-3.
Lakers would score their first touchdown of the day with three minutes left in the third quarter when LeVasseur connected with Matt Murdoch on a pass. As Murdoch lunged for the end zone, the ball was fumbled and luckily recovered by Lucas Lesoski for the score, cutting the deficit to 19 points, 28-9. Two minutes later, the Cardinals would respond with a score of their own, a Hudson Myers 14-yard touchdown run to give Millington a 27-point lead, 36-9 with 1:09 left in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter began with Lakers’ next drive stalling on fourth down, but Millington nor Lakers could take advantage on their next drives, both resulting in three-and-out punts. With 5:38 left in the game, DeLong broke loose for the final Cardinal touchdown on a 44-yard scramble on a broken play. A Kreger extra point pushed the lead to 34 points, 43-9. In the final moments of the game, the green and white put together their longest drive of the night, covering 72 yards and capped off with a Murdoch two-yard run.
Player of the Game
#23 Drake Terwilliger
13 carries, 131 yards, 1 TD (10.1yd/carry)
5 tackles, 2 Interceptions
Photo credit: Scott Bolsby, Tuscola Advertiser
Millington ran the ball 43 times for 379 yards and three touchdowns. Terwilliger paced the rushing attack with 131 yards on just 13 carries and one score. DeLong completed three passes on 11 attempts for 32 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Wascher brought in two passes for 20 total yards, including one score. Lakers’ Christian Sanchez led the ground game with 18 carries for 62 yards. LeVasseur finished the night going nine for 20 in passes for 133 yards, two interceptions and one touchdown. Wehner was his biggest target, bringing in five passes for 104 yards.
The Cardinals improve to 3-0 with the win and 1-0 in divisional play, knocking out perhaps their toughest foe in the BTC-White. Lakers fall to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in BTC-White play who will play their first home game next week against Vassar. The Green Machine plays five of their six final games of the regular season at home. Millington hosts the 3-0 Caro Tigers on Friday, September 18.