SOUTH LYON >> Beginning next week, 32 teams across the state in each division get to play an additional game. But for this week, a couple of teams in Division 2 sat just outside of the field of 32 and needed to win to get in.

South Lyon East and South Lyon High School both were on the outside looking in, but the odds were in the Cougars’ favor being the 34th team in the state. The odds would drastically improve with a win over their rival.

Thanks to a dominant first half, East beat South Lyon 31-20 at home.

“I’m so proud of our guys. It was a must-win tonight. We handled our business and we earned the ability to play one more week,” East head coach Jacob Topp said.“With a rivalry, the kids are always excited for this one. It’s big for the city. I think, if anything, we had to manage their emotions; the highs and lows. We came out flying pretty good, but we had to make sure guys came out and focused on their technique, eye position, and their roles.”

The Cougars came out ready to set a tone, scoring immediately on the first possession of the game.

A 52-yard drive orchestrated by a handful of runs by junior Jaden Saavedra and a pass by senior Dom Giovannini helped set up a one-yard touchdown run by Saavedra for a 7-0 lead.

After South Lyon’s ensuing drive that was plagued by errors and miscues, East built on its lead with a 63-yard touchdown pass from Giovannini to Jonaven Joseph that was laid in perfectly over the fellow senior’s shoulder for a 14-0 lead.

East capped the quarter after another immediate Lion 3-and-out off the leg of sophomore Mark Winter on a 27-yard field goal for a 17-0 lead.

The Lions got the spark they needed on a 75-yard kick return by Gavin Martinkowski that placed the ball on the Cougar 20. South Lyon also switched quarterbacks for an added boost of momentum when junior Tayden Plave entered the game.

Two plays later he scored on a 12-yard run to cut into the lead 17-6. The extra point was blocked.

The Cougars extended their lead on a 15-play, seven-and-a-half-minute drive that was capped by Giovannini’s second touchdown pass of the game, a 25-yard strike to Jaxon Gochenour for a 24-6 lead with 3:32 to play.

“We just wanted to eat the clock, and really force South Lyon to abandon their run game because they run the ball so well. We left some bullets in the chamber, too. We worked on a couple of different things instead to drain the clock,” Topp said.

“Our backfield is outstanding. Dom is everything you’d want a leader to be. He’s great in the classroom, good kid in the community, and most of all a good teammate. (Saavedra) and AJ Morgan, and Evan Lowry all just run the ball so well. They each do different things, but they all run hard, and do a really nice job.”

East scored its final touchdown of the night at the start of the fourth quarter when Morgan ran a tough eight yards for a score, making it 31-6 with 11:53 to play in the game.

South Lyon, though, kept fighting in the last 12 minutes, scoring two touchdowns to pull within 11 points. The first was a touchdown pass from Skylar McGlinch to Rocko Arciero, while the second was a touchdown run by Landon Fredericks. McGlinch completed a two-yard pass to Brayden Kneiper for the two-point conversion with 46 seconds to play.

The win also gives the Cougars its second six-win season — its first since 2018 — as the team hopes it can get to seven wins like it did in 2022.

However, East will treat this upcoming Selection Sunday just like any normal Sunday, according to Topp, going through its normal routines before watching the MHSAA Selection Show on tape delay to find out who its opponent will be.

“We’re going to approach Sunday like it’s our usual Sunday. We won’t know who we’re going to play. That’s a little bit different, but we’re still going to come in: lift, run, watch film, get ourselves mentally and physically ready to play in Week 10,” he said.