Tuscola falls to Nokomis in heartbreaking playoff opener
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By Ben Crane
Tuscola’s playoff run ended before it could truly begin.
A series of costly miscues — two blocked extra points, a blocked punt returned for a touchdown, and a fumble on the game’s opening kickoff — proved too much to overcome as Nokomis upset the Warriors 28–19 in Saturday’s Class 1A first-round playoff matchup at Memorial Field. Tuscola finishes the season 7-3.
Momentum never fully belonged to Tuscola. After senior Kale Wilcox fumbled on the opening kick return, Nokomis quickly capitalized with a 6-yard touchdown run to make it 7–0 less than three minutes into the game. Quarterback Jon Pettry helped the Warriors strike back midway through the first quarter, connecting with Tanner Block for a 37-yard touchdown, but the extra point missed wide, leaving Tuscola trailing 7–6.
A 12-yard Nokomis touchdown late in the second quarter extended the lead to 13–6 before senior running back Dylan Graves ripped off a 65-yard scoring run, tying the game at 13–13 after Cooper Lyons’ extra point. But the Redskins stole the momentum before halftime, punching in a touchdown on the final play of the half and converting a two-point try to go up 21–13 at the break.
Nokomis’ special teams struck again in the third quarter, blocking a Tuscola punt and returning it for a touchdown to make it 28–13. The Warriors cut the deficit late when Pettry found Lyons for a 4-yard score, but another blocked extra point all but sealed their fate. Tuscola drove deep into Nokomis territory again in the fourth quarter but was stopped on fourth down inside the 5-yard line.
Graves carried 17 times for 160 yards and a touchdown, finishing his senior season with another strong effort. Pettry went 7-of-9 for 113 yards and two scores, both to seniors — Block (3 catches, 36 yards, 1 TD) and Lyons (1 catch, 4 yards, 1 TD). Myles McKinnie added 76 receiving yards on two receptions and 23 rushing yards on eight carries. Tuscola totaled 306 yards of offense.
Defensively, Caiden Russo anchored the unit with 15 tackles and a tackle for loss, while Michael Reese and Graves each added 10 stops and Kaedan Chenoweth chipped in eight. The Warriors allowed 335 rushing yards to the Nokomis ground game.
“Hats off to Nokomis,” head coach Andy Romine said. “They were able to play keep-away from us in the first half, and we gave them too many extra possessions. We fumble the opening kick, they score at the end of the half, then block a punt and two extra points. That’s tough to overcome.”
Romine said it reminded him of earlier heartbreaks in program history — games decided by razor-thin margins and single plays on special teams.
“At one point we’d lost three games in three years, all by one point,” he said. “One was on a missed extra point, one on a bad snap. We talk about it all the time — one in every six plays in football is a kick of some kind. And unfortunately, those ended up being the difference today.”
Despite the sting, Romine emphasized how special this senior group has been.
“They’ve been such a joy to be around every day,” he said. “In a year that’s been really difficult for me personally, this group meant a lot. Practice was fun. They made it something I looked forward to. That’s what hurts most — not getting to go to practice on Monday.”
It marked the Warriors’ first first-round home playoff loss in more than a decade, and one that will likely linger.
“We felt like we were set to make a big run,” Romine said. “It just didn’t happen. When you give a good team extra possessions, you’re asking for trouble. And if it could go against us, it did.”
Tuscola closes another proud season under Romine with plenty of reason to look back fondly — even if this ending came too soon.