Armed with a hoard of future Division 1 talent, including one of the top players in the nation in senior quarterback Bryce Underwood, Belleville was favored to handle Clarkston by some measure in Friday’s Xenith Prep Kickoff Classic matchup at Wayne State University.

As it turns out, it was the Wolves who gave the preseason D1 favorites all they could handle.

Clarkston came up empty on a potential game-tying drive in the final minutes, losing to the Tigers 35-28, but earning the feeling that the Wolves can compete with any team in the state.

“Man, I thought we went toe-to-toe with probably as good a team as there is in the state,” Clarkston head coach Justin Pintar said. “It was a little sloppy on both sides, but that was just a helluva football game. It just felt like watching a heavyweight title fight, with blow after blow. The determination from every kid was just outstanding.”

The Tigers, last year’s D1 runner-up to Southfield A&T after winning the title the previous two seasons, were on course to win somewhat comfortably when Central Michigan commit Andre Thomas blazed for an 80-yard touchdown, then took a direct snap on the conversion that followed to put the Tigers up 28-14 with 5:07 left in the third. In fact, it looked even worse for Clarkston when a punt attempt was mishandled on its next drive, resulting in a turnover on downs.

But on Belleville’s first play after getting the ball back, Underwood’s deep pass just short of the end zone was jumped by Clarkston senior Brady Beck, giving his team a new lease on life with his pick that was returned to near mid-field.

Not long after, Wolves sophomore QB Alex Waszczenko hit senior wide receiver Benny Adams for a 35-yard completion that came a yard short of the end zone, and Lukas Boman finished the job on the next play to make it an eight-point game with 10:13 remaining in the contest.

“The pick by Brady, that certainly swung momentum back, and then we got the big play right after that on offense,” Pintar said. “That’s what I mean, our guys just kept battling, even when we’re down two scores. It just felt like the guys kept grinding and never felt like they were gonna give up.”

Underwood scampered for over 30 yards on one run the next drive, and again Clarkston was reeling when, after holding the Tigers to 4th-and-13 at their own 12-yard line, they were flagged for having too many men on the field and looked destined to give up a score.

But two plays later, the Wolves forced a fumble that was recovered by T.J. Schafer inside the five with under six minutes left, and the turnover proved to be the opening they needed. Several minutes after, Waszczenko ate a shot out of the pocket, but connected on his shot downfield to junior Hank Hornung, who pedaled 80 yards for the touchdown to make it 28-26. On the two-point try, Beck took a sweep handoff right, and while being knocked out of bounds found Brady Roush for the game-tying conversion with 3:19 left.

“Alex played a great game, and you know, he took some hits and bounced right back up,” Pintar said. “He’s another kid that does everything you ask of him, made the throws when he had to, and in the run game, he had some where he just stuck his nose in them. He’s not a real big kid, but he plays a lot bigger than he is, and I was super proud of him in his first game.”

In response, however, the LSU-committed Underwood proved worthy of his billing. Seconds after gaining 10 yards, he took a designed run left 55 yards to the house — putting him close to 200 yards rushing on the evening on fewer than 10 carries — sending the Tigers back in front with 1:18 remaining.

“Honestly, I just wanted to show that I’ve got another gift to show everybody,” Underwood said of the work he did with his legs in the win.”

Needing to score in the remaining time left, Clarkston crossed half-field on a reception by Lukas Boman, but Tigers senior Ray-mond Smith recovered a fumble after a Wolves’ completion near the 30-yard line with 43 seconds left that sealed the win for Belleville.

Miami (OH) commit Adrian Walker Jr. was first to cross the pylon with a 27-yard pass from Underwood that put Belleville up 6-0 up in the first three minutes, the only scoring of the first quarter. Clarkston answered with a sustained drive that spanned into the second, finished by an 8-yard rushing TD from Griffin Boman to give the Wolves a 7-6 lead after the extra point with 10:57 on the board.Later in the half, Belleville looked set to put up more points with great field position, but a sack by Griffin Boman and some resolve by the Wolves’ pass defense forced a turnover on downs. Belleville did eventually score next, getting in the end zone immediately after intermission on a 37-yard run by Underwood that put his team back ahead, and a Clarkston fumble just several plays later led to another score when Charles Britton caught a 14-yard TD pass from Underwood that made it 20-7 with 9:17 still left in the third.

It was at that point that Clarkston began to take chances through the air. A double move by Adams left him wide-open behind the defense, leading to a 65-yard reception, and Griffin Boman fought his way in for a 3-yard rushing score that would be answered instantly by Thomas’ long TD that set up the back-and-forth down the stretch.

“I’m just super proud of these guys, and hopefully we learn from our mistakes and keep getting better,” Pintar said. “We’ve got to clean up the turnovers, and the mistakes — the mental mistakes, the coaching mistakes, all the mistakes — but if we can do that in Week 1 and keep getting better and better, I feel really good about where we are.”

Clarkston remains away from home in its next game, taking on the defending D1 champs in Southfield A&T, who opened up with a 46-0 victory over Flint Beecher Friday night under new coach Keith McKenzie.

“That’s been an OAA battle for years now, so we know that’s going to be another talented football team, but I think this game probably prepared us pretty well for next week,” Pintar said.