Waterford Mott took down crosstown rival Waterford Kettering 35-7 on Saturday, Oct. 23, at Kettering to improve to 5-4 and conclude the regular season.

   Mott took a 6-0 lead on the game’s first play from scrimmage when senior Cardi’er Johnson returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown. The extra point failed.

   Kettering answered later in the quarter as Noah Salazar tossed a 24-yard touchdown pass to Zarek Zelinski to give the Captains a 7-6 lead.

   The rest of the game was all Mott.

   Senior Malique Eaton ran for a 31-yard touchdown, breaking several tackles along the way.

   Sophomore quarterback Kalieb Osbourne later rushed for a touchdown and then  tossed a pass to senior Griffin Johnson for a two-point conversion to give Mott a 21-7 lead at halftime.

   Osbourne rushed for two more touchdowns in the second half.

   The win broke a streak of three losses for Mott. The Corsairs evened their Lakes Valley Conference record at 4-4. Kettering finished its season at 1-8.

   Kettering had won the previous two meetings against Mott, 34-26 in 2020 and 49-28 in 2019.

   “Our kids’ energy and emotion — we’ve been through so much off the field stuff and it’s hard to keep their (spirits) up all of the time,” Mott coach Chris Fahr told reporters. “We’ve been our biggest opponent this year. We lost three games by a total of 12 points at one point. We just needed to play disciplined and play with passion and emotion. I knew when they showed up this morning, I felt really good about what we were doing.”

   Mott comfortably earned a Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 2 playoff spot, sitting at No. 24 of 32 spots with a point total of 54.222.

   Mott will face Berkley (7-2) from the Oakland Activities Association in its Division 2, Region 3, District 1 matchup.

   Mott will be looking for its first playoff win since 2017.

   Mott is coming off a COVID-19 shortened 2020 season where it finished 2-4.