John Raffel
Sports Scene
Drew Humm completed his second regular season as quarterback at Alma but was especially happy to win on week nine.
The Panthers had started out at 6-0 before losing to 24-14 to Freeland and 36-19 to Saginaw Swan Valley.
It wasn’t easy Friday at Big Rapids but Humm and the Panther offense were able to pull out a 39-33 non-league victory entering the playoffs.
Humm was 6-of-11 for 74 yards with no interceptions.
His favorite receiver was Brandon Huff with four catches for 51 yards.
Brec Alward was a rushing machine for the Panthers with 268 yards rushing and four touchdowns. Humm also had a punt for 33 yards.
As a junior, Humm made significant progress at quarterback.
“I’m starting to be more of a leader for the team,” he said. “Last year we had a lot of senior leadership. This year, we were looking for leaders to step up. We’ve had a lot of different guys filling that role.
“My passing game has improved with making decisions and throwing the ball when I need to instead of taking sacks.”
Humm recalls the key to the 6-0 start.
“It was a lot of good play by our defense,” he said. “They came up strong in all of those games, But they had a rough last two games. Those were two of the best teams we played.”
Alward “is an amazing back especially when our line gets a hole open,” Humm said.
Defensively, he had four tackles.
“After the last two games we wanted to regain the confidence,” Alma coach Dan Falor said.
Winning the ninth game was critical for the Panthers, Falor said, in their hopes of hosting a playoff game.
“It’s a new season and we’ve put everything behind us,” Falor said. “Everyone is 0-0. We had high expectations coming into the year and we still have them. The kids play hard. They give us everything they’ve got. You can’t ask for a better group of guys. We have to play good defense.”
“I think we can easily win a district championship and go farther than we did last year,” Humm said. “The key will be our defense and O line.”