Justin St. Ours | Daily Press North Central’s Caden Tietz (44) tackles Lake Linden-Hubbell’s Dan Marcotte (5) Sept. 19 in Powers.

POWERS — With their usual fast and powerful start, and three total touchdowns from senior Wyatt Raab, the defending MHSAA Division 2 8-player state champion North Central Jets rolled past long time foe Forest Park, 65-8 Friday night in a Division 2 8-player Regional final at North Central High School.

North Central scored early and often, with 36 points in the opening stanza to essentially put the game out of reach right away. Jets all-state junior quarterback Luke Gorzinski was back in the starting lineup tonight, as a hamstring injury had sidelined him the last couple of weeks, with him seeing limited action last week versus Pellston.

“It may appear things come easy for us, to score and play defense the way we do, but our kids worked their butts off this offseason. Once we got Lane Nehring back, we knew we’d be a very strong team,” said NC head coach Leo Gorzinski.

Raab scored the opening touchdown of the game, literally one minute into the contest, with his second score coming on a fumble recovery in the endzone, after a Lane Nehring forced fumble on the Trojans 15 yard line. In between Raab’s two first-quarter scores, Luke Gorzinski dashed for a 67-yard score.

Elijah Gorzinski and Carter Tietz each had a rushing touchdown for NC in the first quarter, from 33 and nine yards respectively.

“We ran into a buzz saw tonight, especially in the first quarter,” head coach Brian Fabbri. “They’re so good and so fast, but we gave it all we had.”

Raab’s third score of the game came on a 4-yard run late in the second quarter.

The Jets’ third quarter score was on a 60-yard punt return by sophomore Jake Gorzinski.

Junior Owen Eichmeier ran for a 36-yard touchdown in the final quarter to cap off the Jets’ scoring. North Central amassed 443 yards of total offense in the game on 35 plays from scrimmage, with 344 yards coming on the ground.

“I can’t take credit for how fast these kids are, across the board, even our reserves are fast. But these kids pay attention, they know what we want them to do, and they do it,” Coach Gorzinski added.

Despite finishing the game with 40 yards of total offense, the Trojans managed to get on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter with a 47-yard pass from senior Tim McKissak to sophomore Nik Stephens.

The Jets, who improve to 11-0 on the season, will advance to the semifinal game on Saturday as they’ll host the same team they played back in January at the Superior Dome in Marquette in the 2020 8-player semifinals, Marion. Kickoff time for the game will be announced on Monday.

“Marion has a great quarterback and a decent tight end. Those players are back from last year. So we’ll get our game plan ready and host them next,” said coach Gorzinski.

Forest Park finishes the season at 8-3 in Fabbri’s first full season at the helm, after taking over for long time Trojans football coach David Graff partway through the 2020 season.

“Our season was a success for us, definitely. We’re a young program. We got into the playoffs, got a hard-fought playoff win on the road. It’s definitely been one to remember for our program,” Fabbri added.

Forest Park 0 0 0 8 — 8

North Central 36 14 7 8 — 65

1st Quarter

NC – Wyatt Raab 47 yard Run, (Jaden Walters kick), 11:00

NC – Luke Gorzinski 67 yard Run, (Walters kick), 8:58

NC – Wyatt Raab Fumble recovery in end zone, (Dillion Raab Pass to Jordan Messenger), 6:51

NC – Elijah Gorzinski 33 yard Run, (Walters kick), 5:15

NC – Carter Tietz 9-yard Run, (Walters kick), 1:12

2nd Quarter

NC – Brent LaBonte 7-yard Run, (Walters kick), 4:55

NC – Wyatt Raab 4-yard Run, (Walters kick), 1:52

3rd Quarter

NC – Jake Gorzinski 60 yard Punt Return, (Walters kick), 9:04

4th Quarter

FP – Tim McKissack 47 yard Pass to Nik Stephens (Sam McKissak Run), 11:45

NC – Owen Eichmeier 36 yard Run (Dillion Raab Pass to Walters), 4:57