By By ADAM FISHER / Niles Daily Star
The first half of Thursday's Dowagiac-Niles freshman football game was all it was built up to be - a battle of undefeated teams and a clash of two bruising running games led by powerful backs.
The second half, however, was dominated by the Chieftains, who came from 21 points down to win at Niles 42-36.
The junior varsity game wasn't nearly as exciting, as Dowagiac handily beat the Vikings, 64-0.
The freshman game featured two of the best ninth-grade running backs in the SMAC in Niles' Ben Brandstatter and Dowagiac's Jamie Simpson. The two did not disappoint.
Brandstatter struck first. On the second play of the game, he took the ball straight through the heart of the Chieftain's defense for a 63-yard touchdown run.
On Dowagiac's first possession, Simpson broke off a 36-yard run to put the Chiefs (8-0) in scoring position. It was quarterback Jacob Cox who punched the ball into the endzone, though. Simpson's two-point conversion run on a botched PAT attempt put Dowagiac up 8-7.
From there, the Vikings (7-1) rolled off 22 straight points on two touchdowns from Brandstatter, including an 84-yard run, and one by running back Josh Beers.
The Chieftains responded with two scores in the final four minutes of the half on passes by Cox. The touchdowns pulled Dowagiac to within 29-24 at halftime.
Brandstatter ran for 236 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries in the first half. Niles compiled 289 yards of total offense, all on the ground.
Simpson carried the ball just five times in the half, but managed to gain 65 yards. The Chiefs had 94 yards passing in the first half.
While Brandstatter would have the edge in the first half, Simpson won the second.
Dowagiac got two touchdowns and a field goal in the third and fourth quarters before Niles scored again. All told, the Chiefs scored 36 straight points.
Simpson accounted for all of Dowagiac's scoring in the second half. He ran 21-yards for one score, caught a 45-yard pass for another and kicked the Chieftains' field goal.
The Vikings got one more score, a 51-yard pass from Seth Jordan to Paul Dreher in the fourth quarter, but couldn't move the ball in the second half. Excluding the big pass, Niles' only completion of the game, the Vikings gained 27 yards in the second half.
Brandstatter started hot, but Dowagiac's defense limited him in the second half. He finished the night with 253 yards, but only 17 after the third and fourth quarters.
Simpson had 128 yards rushing and 104 receiving. He even had an interception with less than two minutes remaining to seal the victory for Dowagiac.
The Chieftains' junior varsity squad got ahead of Niles in a hurry. They scored 28 points and ran for 213 yards in the first quarter alone.
Dowagiac went up 36-0 at the 8:36 mark of the second quarter on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Nick File to Ryan Laylin. At that time, File had completed 5-of-5 passes for 96 yards and two touchdowns.
Niles gave up 345 yards rushing to the Chieftains in their worse loss of the year.