AUBURN HILLS >> Friday night’s football game between Ferndale and Avondale that was suspended in Ferndale was completed Saturday afternoon at Avondale High School before an empty stadium, and the Yellow Jackets emerged with a 21-7 win.

The game had been stopped with 8:27 left in the third quarter and Avondale driving, having just crossed into Ferndale territory. It was stopped and the field cleared amid reports of fighting among the fans. Shortly thereafter, the stands were cleared and eventually, the players and coaches were sent home as well.Once the game resumed, it didn’t take Avondale long to score. After picking up one more first down, the Yellow Jackets were put in a fourth-and-11 situation where Max Checkley hit Bryan Green II, who broke a tackle near the 20-yard line and raced into the end zone for a 34-yard touchdown and a 21-7 lead.

It was Avondale’s second touchdown of the game on fourth down from the Ferndale 34-yard line.

Avondale had opened the action Friday night by scoring on its opening pair of drives. The Yellow Jackets took a 7-0 lead on an 11-yard touchdown run by Green II with 5:15 remaining in the first quarter. Avondale extended that advantage on its next drive when Checkley found Cooper Voeffray down the left sideline on fourth-and-6, then Voeffray hauled in Checkley’s pass for a 34-yard touchdown to put the Yellow Jackets up 14-0.

Ferndale’s defense, spearheaded by the play of middle linebacker Bryce Ferguson, was able to keep Avondale in check for much of the game, but Avondale came up with a handful of big plays in long yardage situations to either find the end zone or set up a touchdown.

“Literally, it came down to three plays. We gave up two fourth-down touchdowns,” Ferndale head coach Eric Royal said. “And then we gave up a big long screen yesterday in the first half on third-and-25 that set up their first touchdown. Other than that, I thought our defense played extremely well. We had our assignments locked in, and we limited their running game, which, they have a very, very good running attack.”

Ferndale finally got on the board in the second half. The Yellow Jackets had been overcoming mistakes, mostly penalties, in the first half. But Ferndale recovered an Avondale loose ball, and the Eagles needed just four plays to punch in the ball, with Antonio Jones scampering the last five yards for the touchdown, cutting Avondale’s lead in half to 14-7.

But much like on offense, Avondale’s defense came up with big plays when it needed them, including a pair of interceptions — one each by Jacob Manley and Justin Greer-Sykes, with Manley’s interception setting the table for Avondale’s second touchdown.

“Defensively, this season, we have been playing some of the best football of my entire coaching career, so give my defensive coordinator Jason Summerfield correctly for that. He’s got them dialed up and having answers for a whole lot of issues teams are trying to give us,” Avondale head coach Bob Meyer said.

Overall, it was a game that seemed to have everything — wind on Friday, rain on Saturday after the postponement, a delay for an injured official shortly after the game was resumed — as well as a handful of plays that seemed to come out of nowhere to shift momentum.

“There were a lot of firsts, and I can’t say they were all great. But to make it even more difficult, we had a chance to make corrections with our kids, and they had a chance. They came out doing some different things from last night. Twelve hours is a good jump to study for a test. But I’m very pleased, the boys continue undefeated in the (Oakland Activities Association) Gold, and marching toward a Gold championship, which is our first goal,” Meyer said.

Ferndale Police Department released a statement on social media at 10:36 p.m. Friday night that said the department “was alerted to potential threats made on social media. After consulting with school leadership, the decision was made to pause and postpone the game out of an abundance of caution. No actual threat was identified, and with the support of neighboring law enforcement, we ensured everyone left the event safely. We are treating these concerns with the utmost seriousness and will conduct a full investigation to uphold the security of our community.”

“You want your kids to be safe. You don’t want this to happen, so obviously our administration is taking a safety-first approach,” Royal said after Friday night’s postponement.

With a strict policy of no spectators allowed inside the gates at Dick Bye Field for the conclusion, a scattering of less than 10 people who watched from there comprised whatever little outside noise was provided Saturday beyond the players and coaches.

And through it all, both teams persevered.

“My worry was what mental shape the kids were going to show up in, and from the get go they were here to play and did a great job. So I’m very, very proud of them,” Meyer said. “It’s not easy to go away one night and the very next morning to get up and play the home game. It was tough on them (Ferndale) and tough on us, and our kids made the plays when they had to be made. I think that goes a lot with their mental toughness.”

“Other than giving up the one play on fourth down and 11, I thought our boys were really locked in. We came ready to play,” Royal said. “It came down to crucial downs where we’re not making the plays we need to make, and we’ve got to get better at that.”

Avondale (3-2, 2-0 OAA Gold) takes control of the divisional race with the win. The Yellow Jackets play their first official home game next week when they host Royal Oak in another division game.

The Eagles (3-2, 2-1 OAA Gold) travel to Pontiac next week as they also continue divisional play.

“We’re trying to qualify for the playoffs. The league is still wide-open. Obviously, they took control of first place with this win. But we’ve both got league games left. We’ve got to see where the cards fall, but we’ll regroup for Pontiac next week, and we’ll go from there and try to secure a playoff bid,” Royal said.