TRAVERSE CITY -- The wind howled, the rain came down sideways at times and mud covered the majority of Thirlby Field on Friday.
It was the perfect recipe for Joey Kerridge.
The St. Francis junior scored five times and led the Gladiators to a 54-0 Division 7 pre-district win over Inland Lakes.
"It's a mud bowl," Kerridge said. "The way the field was, we just had to keep running, and run it up the gut."
The defending champion Gladiators moved to 10-0 with the win and will host Rudyard next Friday for the district title. Rudyard advanced with a 32-6 win over Rogers City on Friday.
Kerridge -- a 6-foot-1, 230 pound fullback -- ran the ball 21 times for 243 yards.
"He's a big back and he can hurt you just as much as you'll hurt him," St. Francis coach Greg Vaughan said. "He's a great running back for us and can do a lot of different things. He did what we needed him to do tonight, which was get north and south."
Kerridge and Ben Swan dominated the first half. Swan had six carries for 114 yards while Kerridge ran 14 times for 134 yards.
Out of the break, Kerridge carried seven of the next eight plays for St. Francis, resulting in two TDs and a 54-0 lead with just over a minute to go in the third quarter.
"It's a team and somebody was blocking in front of him to get him in a position where he could start turning his legs," Vaughan said. "Every game, we're going to count on somebody different. Tonight, it was him. Swanny had over 100 yards in the first half too, but then we let go a little bit on him and Joey carried a lot of the load."
Kerridge finished with a career-best five touchdowns and said he would "sleep well on that."
"Whatever coach calls I'll do," Kerridge said. "Our biggest goal was getting to the next game."
Mud created a difficult playing surface for both teams.
"It really did hurt us because I've never seen a field like this in my life," Bulldogs coach Stan Schramm said. "I think we're quicker in some skill positions. It hampered our boys and definitely was a factor. But we both had to play in it."
"It was interesting enough that you almost needed to have someone on the field telling you where you had some green stuff to run to," Vaughan said. "There's no hiding it, we're running to the boundary quite a bit. Getting in that slop in the middle, there was just no going."
The field conditions made for a slow start for the Gladiators. On its first possession, St. Francis ran to the left three times, but couldn't get more than a couple of yards and had to punt the ball away.
"Linemen especially, people don't understand it. You've got to get used to the field a little bit," Vaughan said. "You've got to walk more like a duck when you get in the mud and those types of things. They brought a lot of pressure, and how you deal with that takes a little getting used to."
Schramm said his team was simply running its base defense.
"They're a playoff team," Vaughan said. "We're not going to be able to march down the field every single time we get the ball. It was good for our guys to kind of figure that out."
Because of the field conditions, St. Francis also opted to go for two after its first six touchdowns. The Gladiators tried a Kerridge PAT after the final TD, but it was no good.
"Joey yesterday stepped up and was booming some field goals in practice and I told him I'd give him a shot," Vaughan said. "That solidified it right there, because he couldn't even get a plant foot down."
The Bulldogs finished the season 6-4 after making the playoffs for the first time since 2005.
"This 2009 Bulldog team set a new standard," Schramm said. "Who would say in one season in the Ski Valley we would go down to Mancelona, beat them there. Beat Bellaire even though they were having a down year, and Central Lake. I bet you'd have to go back a decade or better to see that. We've got a lot to build on."
Inland Lakes moved the chains for the first time in the third quarter when receiver Doug Elliott caught a pass from Ben Connelly. The pass was deflected by Glads safety Matt Zakrzewski, but Elliott re-adjusted, came down with it and took it 55 yards.
Elliott finished with three receptions for 68 yards.
Swan had a score for St. Francis on a 7-yard run while quarterback Riley Bullough hit Gabe Gallagher on a 13-yard TD pass.
The Gladiators now turn their attention to a 9-1 Rudyard squad.
"They're going to throw it," Vaughan said. "The one thing everybody says about us is our pass defense is suspect. Hopefully at some point we can get rid of that moniker. They'll be a tough team."
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