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August 30, 2003TC St. Francis wins 36th straight over BenzieByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - The beat goes on at Traverse City St. Francis, even with a new front man. The Gladiators kept their record against Benzie Central perfect on Thursday with a 25-6 non-conference football win at Thirlby Field/Harry Running Stadium. The season-opening victory ran St. Francis' record against the Huskies to 36-0 and gave first-year head coach Josh Sellers career win No. 1. "What a way to start a season," said Sellers, who insists he doesn't care about personal accomplishments. "I feel a lot of relief because we won our first game, not because we beat Benzie. "I'm happy for our kids." The Gladiators started the game - and the season - with a bang, scoring just 14 seconds into the contest when Travis Sivek took the opening kickoff at his own 16-yard line and scampered 84 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown. Garrett Petterson's extra-point kick made it 7-0 before some fans had taken their seats. "That was huge," Sellers said of Sivek's run. "And there wasn't much there, either. He made a heck of a run." Benzie tried to fight back with their not-so-secret weapon - senior running back John Plumstead - but the Gladiators defense hung tough. Plumstead, who is among the state's all-time leaders in career rushing yards, touched the ball on Benzie's first nine plays from scrimmage. Plumstead ran for 15 yards on the Huskies' first series, which ended when his halfback-option pass was picked off by Kevin Curtis. He added eight more yards on the second, which ended with a punt. Benzie moved the ball 66 yards to the St. Francis 11 on its third series, but the Gladiators stopped Huskies quarterback Kyle McManus on fourth-and-three. "Defense was the difference tonight," said Sellers, who praised his line coach, Joe Forlenza. "John (Plumstead) is a great athlete, without question. But if you're running around on (both) offense and defense and getting hit all the time, you run down. "You can only do so much before you start to get tired." Benzie coach Hal Holman said his defense grew tired late in the game. "They were out there the whole game," he said. "We ran out of juice at the end." Holman wasn't far off - the Gladiators actually held the ball for eight of the 12 minutes in the third quarter, including a 15-play, 75-yard scoring drive that ate 7:13 off the clock. Curtis keyed the drive, gaining 36 yards on six carries, including the final yard for a touchdown to make it 13-0 just before the break. St. Francis scored again less than three minutes later on Sivek's 26-yard run up the middle to push the margin to 19-0. Plumstead, who rushed for 79 yards on 12 carries in the first half, finally broke free for one of his signature runs - an 83-yard TD dash early in the fourth quarter - but the Gladiators quickly countered with a 24-yard touchdown run by Curtis. "We had them run down a little bit," said Curtis, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound junior. "They were tired in the second half and we knew that." Sellers, whose team travels to Muskegon Catholic next Saturday, said that's exactly what he told his players at halftime. "When we went into the locker room and drew up our defense on the board, our guys didn't look tired - they looked expectant," Sellers said. "That was pretty cool. I really didn't have any worries at that point." St. Francis finished with more than 300 yards on offense, led by three rushers who each gained more than 60 yards - Curtis (15 carres for 108), Sivek (17-80) and Sam Schilling (8-67). Curtis' performance came despite the fact that he cut his hand in the first quarter while falling out of bounds. "That's Kevin - he's a game," Sellers said. "He's a tough kid." Benzie, which travels to Charlevoix next Friday, picked up 201 net yards of offense. Plumstead accounted for 197 on his own - 185 on 19 rushes and 12 more on two pass receptions. He is now eighth on the state's all-time rushing list. Holman said he is happy to have the game out of the way. "We'll be fine," he said. "I'm just glad it's over. I'm sure they are, too."
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