John Raffel
Sports Scene
It’s a critical time of the year for Fulton’s football team at 3-2, and with hopes of finishing the season strong and perhaps having success in the playoffs.
Coach Paul Hungerford’s team lost 48-7 to perennial powerhouse Pewamo-Westphalia on Sept. 22, but notched perhaps its biggest win of the season in the previous week with a 26-20 topping of Fowler.
“Pewamo-Westphalia is obviously a daunting challenge for anyone,” Hungerford said. “They took it to us pretty well. Overall, we got that nice win at Fowler. We’re going into a big stretch at the end of the year. The last four weeks will be critical for us.”
Saranac was expected to give Fowler a tough run. Other games are with Bath, Danville and Vestaburg, who have been struggling, but could still pose a threat on any night.
“We’re healthy, and we need to put good practices together and take it one week at a time,” Hungerford said.
Top performers for the Pirates have been leading rusher TJ Johnston with nine touchdowns so far and close to 500 yards and five games.
“He has really good speed,” Hungerford said. “We have Larry Briggs at fullback.”
Junior quarterback Zach Andrews has been leading the offense.”
On defense, Duflo at safety has been among the leading tacklers at 30 tackles after five games.
Fulton has had two back-to-back 3-6 seasons but seems destined to enjoy a winning season in 2017.
Cross country
Fulton’s cross country teams have not been finishing too high in Central Michigan Athletic Conference meets but have still enjoyed individual success.
That includes sophomore Nate Alwood, who has a season’s best of 18:34.0 at the Central Montcalm Hornet Run Grade Level race. He’s trying to break his personal best from last season when he had a 17:58.6 in a CMAC race.
He is also hoping to qualify for the state finals the first time.
Junior Destiny Johnson had her season’s best in the Laingsburg Early Burg Invitational in 23:19.4.
Her personal record is still from her freshman season when she clocked a 22:44.2 at the Alma College Scottie Classic. She’s also hoping to qualify for the state finals the first time.