News Photo by James Andersen Alpena players Brady Carlson (64) and John Kurowski (1) wrap up a Sanford Meridian runner during the first half of a football game on Friday at Park Family Field at Wildcat Stadium.

ALPENA — The Alpena High football team suffered a heartbreaking, devastating loss on Friday against Sanford Meridian.

Without starting quarterback Jake Zann, a new offensive scheme was installed in order to play through the run. Starting at quarterback in his first game this season, Kaleb Donajkowski played a strong game, throwing for three touchdowns and rushing for more than 50 yards on the ground.

Despite Donajkowski’s effort, the Mustangs completed an incredible comeback in the fourth quarter and finished off the 26-20 win in overtime.

“The little mistakes were what really killed us tonight. The false starts, the holding calls, and the late game pass interference was really what ended up costing us that game,” Alpena coach Eric Mitchell said.

On its final drive of regulation, Sanford Meridian made it count. A huge fourth and eight conversion, followed by a massive defensive pass interference call set the Mustangs up with all the momentum to score.

Just like that, Meridian found itself in the end zone for the score with 1:52 to play. In order to send the game into OT, the Mustangs needed to convert the two-point conversion. It did just that after Jace Burns found Nickolas Metzger wide-open on a play-action pass.

Going into overtime, the game was knotted at 20-20, and the Wildcats won the coin toss.

After Alpena (1-2) deffered, the Mustangs set the tone. On third down, Burns rushed it straight in for a 26-20 lead.

All the pressure was on the Wildcats to score, but a strong pass rush led to a tremendous defensive stop from Meridian, ultimately giving the Mustangs the win.

Donajkowski finished the game with touchdown passes of 19, 52 and 64 yards to Hunter Cohoon, Carter Stark and Easton Srebnik respectively.

The strike to Srebnik came with 5:22 left in regulation and gave Alpena a 20-12 lead, though the Wildcats missed the extra point attempt.

The Mustangs took no time whatsoever to get on the board against the Wildcats defense. With eight minutes remaining in the first quarter, Meridian rushed the ball straight into the end zone for the score. Meridian’s kicker was unable to convert the extra point, so the Mustangs took a 6-0 lead early.

It wasn’t until the second quarter that Alpena started to find its footing on both sides of the ball.

A massive hit from Joe Sheridan against Burns led to a considerable misfire and a Wildcats interception. Cohoon came up with the ball, giving Alpena excellent field positioning.

On the next drive, Cohoon continued his great game with a 19-yard touchdown reception to put the Wildcats ahead 7-6.

The Mustangs kept the pressure on after a massive completion of their own. A 50-yard passing touchdown was completed after a great throw from Burns. Meridian lined up to go for the two-point conversion but wound up unsuccessful, only putting it up 12-7 in the second quarter.

With under a minute left in the first half, Alpena found a way to get into the end zone. An incredible 52-yard touchdown pass to Stark followed a 25-yard catch from Srebnik. Gabe Glawe lined up the PAT again and drilled it, giving Alpena a 14-12 halftime lead.

Alpena will look to right the ship this week when it resumes conference play against Cadillac.

“It’s a tough loss, and the schedule does not get any easier next week against Cadillac. I think letting this loss sink in over the weekend will help us come back next week and play as hard as we possibly can,” Mitchell said.