New Life Academy football: Michaud scores five touchdowns in 49-12 romp

The New Life Academy Eagles improved their record to 2-0 Friday evening against the St. Paul Academy Spartans at SPA’s Randolph Campus field.

The Eagles followed their 400 yards on the ground against Breck in the season opener a week ago with 315 yards on Friday. Senior co-captain Matt Michaud led the charge rushing for 190 yards on 11 carries with three touchdowns.

Michaud finished the night with five touchdowns in the game. His other two scores came on an 80-yard punt return and a 35-yard interception.

Head coach Paul Mork said it was a great win for his team, especially because the backups and junior varsity players were able to play from the end of the third quarter through to the end of the game.

“(It was) great for the 46-man squad to get extended action,” Mork said. “SPA was outmanned.”

Senior Nolan Johnson played well on both offense and defense for the Eagles, and NLA was able to stop SPA’s passing offense with pressure up front by defensive linemen Jonathon Edwards, a senior, junior Jacob Salkowicz and sophomore Jake Wynia and with great secondary play by seniors Eddie Blair and Sam Dufault.

The Eagles have their work cut out for them as they begin Tri-Metro East conference play next week against state semi-finalist Providence. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday at NLA’s home field at East Ridge High School.

“We need to cut down on penalties from the SPA game, improve our kick coverage, and be more consistent on defense as we move into Conference competition beginning this week,” Mork said.

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