Southgate 21, Woodhaven 6

Southgate jumps to lead, avenges October heartbreaker

David Goricki / The Detroit News

Brownstown Township -- Chris Ye made the most of his first two completions, throwing for first-half touchdowns to help Southgate gain revenge on Woodhaven with a 21-6 victory Friday night that earned a Division 2 district championship.

The teams played Oct. 16 with Woodhaven escaping with a 20-19 win at home when Southgate failed to convert a two-point conversion in the final minute.

"We came out and executed better," said Ye, who finished 5-of-13 for 92 yards, including a 26-yard toss to Michael Currie to open the scoring in the first quarter and a 49-yard pass to Kamir Kouassi to build a 21-0 cushion with 1:32 left in the half.

"This was revenge week. They beat us during the regular season and we beat them when it counted the most. It was big to get the lead. You could see their confidence go down when we scored the second and third touchdowns."

Currie ran 21 times for 103 yards for Southgate (8-3), which totaled 292 yards to Woodhaven's 148.

Southgate's defense met the challenge, limiting 2,000-yard rusher Aaron Bailey to 49 yards on 15 carries. Southgate, leading 7-0 in the first quarter, stopped Bailey on a fourth-and-one play from Woodhaven's 46.

"We worked hard on defense all week to prepare for this game," said first-year Southgate coach Derek McLaughlin. "We did a great job of playing team defense, not just on stopping Bailey but their other weapons, too."

Southgate (8-3) dominated the line of scrimmage, especially in the opening half, to take control.

It won the battle of field position, then took advantage of a short field on all three of its first-half touchdown drives.

First, Ye found Currie wide open near the 15 on the right sideline and he ran the rest of the way to complete the 26-yard touchdown that capped a 43-yard drive.

Midway through the second quarter, Southgate went with a steady diet of Currie to take a 14-0 lead. Currie gained 38 yards on eight carries during the 41-yard drive.

Southgate scored on its longest march of the half, 52 yards, with 1:32 remaining in the second quarter. Ye connected with Kouassi on a bullet pass near the right sideline at the 30; Kouassi then made a move on a defender and scored.

"We worked on that play all week," Ye said. "He (Kouassi) ran a great route and I got him the ball."

After Kouassi's touchdown, Woodhaven held a 177-15 advantage in total yards.

Woodhaven (7-4) moved the ball to Southgate's 33 in the final minute of the half, but Ryan Jones' fourth-down pass in the end zone to Bailey was incomplete.

Woodhaven finally did get on the board with 10:29 left on a 1-yard run by Jones.

Woodhaven got the ball back on an onside kick at Southgate's 46, but couldn't score.

Jones completed 7 of 21 passes for 80 yards.

david.goricki@detnews.com