After losing to Fenton the week before, the football team delivered a convincing victory against Holly, winning 27-7 on the Bronchos home turf Friday, October 4.

With junior offensive dynamo Braylon Silvas injured, backup quarterback Kodie Josling, sophomore, guided the Hornets on offense.

The Hornets started slow and for the first time this season did not score in the first quarter.

Junior Isaiah Stiverson broke the deadlock less than two minutes into the second quarter, punching in a 2-yard rush for a touchdown.

Stiverson then hit pay dirt with 2:50 left in the first half, sprinting to the end zone on a 28-yard rush.

A stout defense shut out the Bronchos in the first half and the Hornets led 13-0 at halftime.

After fumbling the ball in the opening drive of the second half, the Hornets prevented the Bronchos from capitalizing and forced a punt.

The Hornets put together a four-play drive, ending when Stiverson scored his third rushing touchdown of the game. He barreled eight yards for the score with 6:51 left in the third quarter.

Just under three minutes later, junior Jace Chapman put up a rushing touchdown of his own with a 2-yard run. He also ran a good two-point conversion to put the Hornets up 27-0.

The dominant Hornet defense finally broke with 10:10 left in the game, allowing the Bronchos to score a 6-yard touchdown.

Chapman and senior Ethan Livingston picked off two Holly passes in the fourth quarter to prevent a comeback and the score remained 27-7 for the rest of the game.

Josling performed adequately, generating 40 yards on seven passes.

The Hornets heavily favored keeping the ball on the ground, calling 42 rushes to just 11 passes. Stiverson racked up 196 yards on the rush.

The Hornet defense stood out as the star of the game, holding the Bronchos to just 92 yards of total offense. Holly only earned nine first downs, five of which came on Kearsley penalties.

Senior Nick Drinkwine made three solo tackles and assisted on another. Senior Josh Truax stopped two Bronchos by himself and picked up two assisted tackles in the game.

Seniors Ashtyn Cohoon and Amari Douglas made three solo tackles. Two of Douglas’ stops were sacks.

Making one sack and two total tackles, senior Matt Monroe helped shut down the Bronchos.

Accumulating 322 yards, the Hornet offense played well.

While the Hornets looked sharp in their victory, the team is already shifting its attention to qualifying for the MHSAA Class A playoffs with a sixth regular season victory in next week’s homecoming game against Linden.

Last season, the Eagles soared over the Hornets 28-0, scoring three touchdowns to seal away the game in the third quarter.

Silvas said he is unsure whether he will play or not, but Kearsley’s game plan is to get revenge for last year’s upsetting loss.

“We will work this week and if we have good practices, we should take care of business,” Silvas said.

Will the Hornets clinch a playoff spot for the first time since the 1998 season, one in which Kearsley went 10-1 and lost in the second round of the MHSAA Class A playoffs?