Brathwaite Leads Lakers to First Win, 39-21 over Royal Oak

The score: West Bloomfield 39, Royal Oak 21

The star: West Bloomfield senior running back C.J. Brathwaite led the Lakers emotionally after starters Bijan Dees, Cortez Hardrick, and Jalen Campbell all left after the second quarter due to injuries. Brathwaite finished with five touchdowns.

The turning point: With the ball at the Lakers' 35-yard line and trailing 32-21, Royal Oak could have made it a one-possession game with 5:43 left in the fourth quarter. However, West Bloomfield’s Patrick Russell sacked quarterback Brandon Fredrikson on fourth down to give the Lakers the ball back and to seal the victory.

The quote: “I honestly thought we had the momentum and once we had the injuries, we went down a little bit and the guys started feeling sorry for themselves. But playmakers make plays, and that’s what C.J. (Brathwaite) did. He got us out of a hole.” — West Bloomfield head coach Ron Bellamy

Injury report: Dees suffered a dislocated ankle and will be out for the season. Hardrick and Campbell both suffered leg injuries and will be considered day-to-day.

What’s next? West Bloomfield will host defending Oakland Activities Association Red Division champions Lake Orion Sept. 16, while the Ravens will visit Troy Athens the same day.

Bottom line: The home team did what it does well on offense by allowing seniors Fredrikson and Nolan Jones to carry the ball freely. However, the defense just couldn’t stop Campbell or Brathwaite. If the Lakers can carry the ball against Lake Orion just as well, they have a chance to unseat the defending league champions.

The game

The varsity football team didn’t stay down long Friday night — even in the face of injuries to its No. 1 quarterback, running back, and wide receiver.

The Lakers held off a comeback attempt by Royal Oak on the road to pick up their first win of the season on the strength of senior running back C.J. Brathwaite’s five touchdowns and 134 rushing yards on nine attempts.

West Bloomfield went into halftime with a 20-0 lead after senior running back Jalen Campbell scored one touchdown and racked up 94 yards rushing, to complement two touchdowns by Brathwaite. However, the advantage came at a steep price, as Campbell, along with star wide receiver Cortez Hardrick, and starting quarterback Bijan Dees all suffered injuries which would keep them out the remainder of the game.

Dees dislocated his ankle and was carted off the field in a stretcher. Coach Ron Bellamy said that he would be out for the season.

Bellamy said that at that point, the Lakers’ momentum was sunk and it showed on the field. West Bloomfield’s opening drive in the second half fell flat after two penalties and the Lakers were forced to punt. Royal Oak took advantage of good field position thanks to a 27-yard punt return from Justin Unger, scoring shortly thereafter on a 7-yard scamper by senior Alex Tuszynski to get the Ravens on the board.

The ensuing kickoff was fumbled and recovered by Royal Oak’s Jalen Mitchell at the Lakers’ 10-yard line. Although the West Bloomfield defense was able to force fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line, Royal Oak head coach Jeff Hill made the right call in going for the touchdown, as quarterback Brandon Fredrikson was able to sneak it in to bring the score to 20-14.

Enter Brathwaite, who took the ensuing kickoff from the Lakers’ 10-yard line and returned it 46 yards. On the next play, he took a handoff from senior quarterback Daryn Byrd up the middle, juked a hapless defender in the secondary, cut to the right sideline, and simply outran the Ravens’ defense en route to a 44-yard touchdown run.

“I honestly thought we had the momentum and once we had the injuries, we went down a little bit and the guys started feeling sorry for themselves. But playmakers make plays, and that’s what C.J. did. He got us out of a hole,” said Bellamy.

Brathwaite pointed to downfield blocking as a critical element to the team’s success. “Apart from the injuries, everything was perfect today. Everyone executed and did their job. We had a talk before the game and got motivated and then after our players were injured, we talked again and just had to keep it moving,” he said.

Bellamy added that he’s encouraged by the way that Campbell and Brathwaite complemented each other prior to Campbell’s injury. “They’re starting to put their games together and tonight we got a look at what they can do when they’re successful at it," he said.

Hill pointed to his team’s resiliency in the face of a 20-point deficit as a positive element to draw from the game. “We’ve got a group of fighters out there,” he said. “You can’t teach that, but we can teach how to eliminate mistakes. We left a lot of points on the field and that’s part of growing up. We need to get consistent.”

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West Bloomfield 39, Royal Oak 21

WBHS – 13 7 12 7 – 39

ROHS –  0 0 14 7 – 21

WBHS: Campbell 1 run (Genrich miss)

WBHS: Brathwaite 6 run (Genrich kick)

WBHS: Brathwaite 69 pass from Byrd (Genrich kick)

ROHS: Tuszynski 7 run (Fredrikson kick)

ROHS: Fredrikson 1 run (Fredrikson kick)

WBHS: Brathwaite 44 run (Genrich miss)

WBHS: Brathwaite 22 run (Genrich miss)

ROHS: Jones 40 run (Fredrikson kick)

WBHS: Brathwaite 42 run (Genrich kick)

RUSHING:

WBHS: Brathwaite 9-134, Campbell 10-94, Byrd 1-2, Farrow 10-48, Elliott 1-9, Abro 3-0, Dees 1-7. Totals: 35-294. ROHS: Fredrikson 16-65, Gibson 7-10, Jones 20-141, Tuszynski 3-26, Foster 5-24, Unger 4-8. Totals: 65-274.

PASSING:

WBHS: Byrd 1-2-69-0, Dees 2-3-14-0. Totals: 3-4-83-0. ROHS: Fredrikson: 0-3-0-0.

RECEIVING:

WBHS: Brathwaite 2-73, Hardrick 1-10. Totals: 3-83.

PENALTIES:

WBHS: 16-115. ROHS: 13-71.

RECORDS:

WBHS: 1-2 (1-0 OAA Red). ROHS: 1-2 (0-1 OAA Red).