Linden falls to Fenton but wins tie-breaker to go to Metro League football title game

LINDEN, MI – Linden’s football team won despite losing Friday night.

The Eagles lost their first Metro League game of the season 28-21 to visiting Fenton, dropping them into a three-way tie with Fenton and Swartz Creek atop the Stripes Division.

Friday marked the final round of Metro League games before next week’s championship game.

The first tie-breaker to determine a finalist for next week’s game is head-to-head competition but that didn’t solve anything. Swartz Creek beat Fenton, Linden beat Swartz Creek and as we already said, Fenton beat Linden.

The second tie-breaker is MHSAA playoff points within the division and that’s where Linden got the nod to go to the championship game. The Eagles finished with 210 points to 205 for both Fenton and Swartz Creek.

Linden coach Chad Williams didn’t have much to say about the playoff situation since it wasn’t resolved until a couple of hours after the game.

But Fenton coach Jeff Setzke figured his team was probably going to be left out of the championship game. Still, beating Fenton’s No. 1 rival was a nice consolation prize.

“All that matters in life is beating them,” Setzke said. “That’s all that matters. I’m sure we’ll see them again in a month” in the playoffs.

The victory was Fenton’s 10th straight over Linden and their third straight victory gave the Tigers an overall record of 5-2 and a Metro League mark of 4-1.

They were in control the entire game, jumping to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and then hiking the advantage to 21-0 midway through the second.

Christopher Piwowarczyk opened the scoring for Fenton 3:26 into the game when he caught a 28-yard TD pass from Nolan Alvord on Fenton’s second play from scrimmage.

The Tigers struck again on their next possession, when Alvord hit Ja’Hon Bond with a 25-yard touchdown pass.

They made it 21-0 with 6:24 left in the first half on a 1-yard run by Cameron Dean and that was too much of a hole for Linden to escape.

“We’re a damn good football team,” Setzke said. “Everybody sleeps on us but we play a tough ass schedule for a reason. It makes us better in the end.

“When we get to these games, kids don’t panic.”

Alvord threw a third TD pass in the third quarter, when he hooked up with Bond for a 12-yard strike that made it 28-14 with 2:42 left in the period.

Alvord was satisfied beating Linden and seeing the Tigers do all they could to try and get into the championship game.

“We battled our butts off,” he said. “We put together good games. None of that is in our control anymore. We just have to go out and play who we play.”

That will be nearby Lake Fenton in the crossover game. It will be a rematch of last year’s championship game, which was won by Lake Fenton.

Despite the loss, Linden showed grit by battling back after falling into the three-touchdown hole.

Linden quarterback Michael Bush hit Connor Brown with a 10-yard TD pass to make it 21-7 at halftime and Bryce Eliuk ran nine yards out of the wildcat formation to pull Linden within a touchdown with 7:56 left in the third quarter.

After Bond’s 12-yard TD catch made it 28-14, Bush ended the scoring on a 1-yard run with 3:55 to play.

“They’re a good football team,” Williams said. “They’re well coached. We cannot make the mistakes we made and expect to win against a team like that.”

Linden fell to 5-2 overall and 4-1 in the league.

The Eagles will be playing in the Metro League championship game for the first time. They haven’t won a league championship since sharing the Metro title with Fenton in 2012.

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