Fenton junior wide receiver Owen Mueller angrily stalked the side lines during the latter stages of the Tigers regular season finale 49-20 loss to top-ranked Mason.
Moments earlier he had a chance to show off to family and friends and show coaches he could have a bigger role with the Tigers next season when he shook a Mason defensive back and ran into the clear for a long pass play that would have made the score more respectable.
Quarterback Noah Dotson scampered away from Mason’s pass rush, spotted his man and flung a 40-yard pass to the awaiting arms of Mueller. His eyes lit up and his heart began pumping for this potentially big play.
The perfect pass reached his outstretched hands. Mueller began the process of bringing the ball to his chest. Unfortunately the wet, slippery ball kept falling from his chest, to his stomach and to the ground.
Mueller removed himself from the game and began his one man bereavement.
“Shake it off,” teammates yelled to him. “That’s OK. Next time.”
That is the theme for the Fenton Tigers (6-3) heading into next week’s Division 3 MHSAA state playoffs against either Linden (4-5) who qualified despite a losing record and four-game losing streak, or Holly (6-3), which is coming off a 27-26 home victory over North Branch.
Fenton coach Jeff Setzke was upbeat as he addressed his team after the loss. Mason had a tough time running the ball against Fenton. Despite scoring a late touchdown junior running back Caleb Vaughn grew frustrated as the game progressed because the usual holes he runs behind were not there.
“That team could not run against us,” Setzke said. “That was very big for us because they are the number one team in the state.”
Setzke asked his team to forget the 57-7 shellacking suffered a week earlier to Corunna in the Flint Metro League championship game. And he wanted his players to forget about the 42-7 deficit to Mason, which resulted in a second half running clock because they fell behind by 35 points.
The Tigers remained upbeat on the sidelines which translated to success on the field against Mason’s peppering of backups along with some starters. Quarterback Noah Dotson fired a 78-yard touchdown pass to speedster Kristian Kilpatrick and later Dotson ran one in from 19-yards out to finish the scoring.
“We were not afraid to face Mason,” Setzke said. “Remember to be the best you have to beat the best.”