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But he also made some big plays on defense, particularly in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter when the Rangers threatened to mount a comeback.

Throwing the ball to reach their objective in the least amount of time because of the score, the Rangers saw their hopes for a rally dashed when Clark intercepted two passes inside the Blazers' 1o-yard line.

What's more, he returned one back inside the Manton 20, and the other to near midfield, getting the Blazers out from under the shadow of their own goal posts. Clark was the Blazers' leading rusher, finishing with 227 yards on 18 carries in a 28-6 victory in Ted Collins' debut as Kalkaska's new head coach. "The blocking was great," Clark said. "The line played real hard. I believe as a team, we played with a lot of pride and a lot of heart, and made it work tonight.

"We made that defensive stand, and that's what kind of set us off." Played under threatening clouds and humid conditions, the game got off to a rocky start for the Blazers when they handed the Rangers a golden scoring opporunity early in the first quarter.

A fumbled punt return set the Rangers up at the Kalkaska 18-yard line. But the Rangers managed only three yards in the next three plays, and Kalkaska took over on downs at their own 10.

On third down and short, Clark skirted his right end and showed the Rangers his heels in scampering to an 83- yard run to the Manton 1-yard line. Corey Wilson capped it off with a one-yard dive. Although the twopoint conversion failed, the Blazers had a 6-0 lead with 5:16 left in the first quarter.

Manton failed to move the ball on its next possession and punted the ball back to the Blazers as Kalkaska's defense began to assert its dominance.

The Blazers quickly extended their lead to 14-0 lead when Wilson scored on another short touchdown run, and added the two-point conversion with 11:12 remaining in the second quarter.

Big plays on defense

Manton finally got on the scoreboard with 5:31 left in the third quarter on a 13-yard run by sophomore quarterback Ben Dermome, cutting the Blazers' lead to 14-6. The two-point conversion pass was incomplete. Clark scored on a three-yard run with 11:56 remaining in the fourth quarter to finish off a long Kalkaska drive. After the twopoint conversion run was stopped short of the goal line, Kalkaska took 20-6 lead. Kalkaska's defense stiffened on the next Manton possession. Andrew Higgins sacked Dermome for a fiveyard loss, and then Luke Gillespie intercepted a pass at the Blazers' 4- yard line on the next play.

On the Blazers' first play from scrimmage after the interception, Clark ripped off a big gainer down to the Manton 35-yard line. Kalkaska couldn't move the ball and gave it up on downs.

Manton drove down to the Kalkaska 17 with 3:56 left in the fourth quarter before Clark made his first pass interception with 2:52 remaining and returned it 40 yards.

David Chalker added the final touchdown for Kalkaska on a 53-yard run with 58.9 seconds remaining in the game. The Blazers added the two-point conversion for the final score. All that remained was for Clark to intercept his second pass of the game, and Kalkaska ran out the clock. "They were excited. That's the key," said Collins. "We had some excited kids out there tonight. A lot of kids that are getting their first taste of victory.

"I'll tell you, Jeff did a nice job tonight. He ran the ball well. Our fullbacks, Chalker and Wilson, also did a great job running the ball. Our starters (on the line), and we had a couple of guys going in to spell some people, did a great job." Dan Tinkle, Brent Pettigrew, Andrew Adams, Higgins and Ethan Miltenberger were the muscle up front that opened all the holes for the backs.

Jale Hiller and Jeff Wellman played solid games at the tight end spots. Wilson rushed for 113 yards on 19 carries, and Chalker picked up 85 yards.

"We can get better ... we can get better. But, it's a good way to start," Collins said. Kalkaska next plays at Roscommon this week.