MUSKEGON HEIGHTS — The football program at Muskegon Catholic Central has a storied history, and another chapter was added Friday night.

The Crusaders ran away from Muskegon Heights in the second half for a 52-20 win — the 500th in the school’s history.

“It’s one of many, but I’m happy for the school. I’m happy for all the people that played here before,” said MCC coach Steve Czerwon, who has coached 82 of MCC’s wins. “A lot of people played here before these guys, and people will play here after, but this is a cool thing (for this team) to have.”

Senior quarterback Elliot Riegler said the energy from the fans, in anticipation of the milestone victory. was felt in a big way, even in a road game.

“The fans were amazing,” Riegler said. “This is the best I’ve ever seen the fans, and it’s an away game. It just says everything about how important this milestone is to our school. It’s just awesome to be part of such history. They can never take that away from us, we’ll always have 500.”

With the win, the Crusaders also clinched at least a share of the Lakes 8 conference title — the last before the conference dissolves at the end of the school year. MCC can win the conference outright with a win over Manistee next week.

“We’ll have won, since we’ve been in it, all but two of them,” Czerwon said of the conference title. “That’s an accomplishment. The Lakes 8 is done, but it’s something for the kids to be proud of.”

Muskegon Heights falls to 4-2 on the season. Coach Van Parker said his team got worn out after a close first half and needs to rally together to bounce back from back-to-back defeats.

“We got undisciplined and tired and just kinda wore down,” he said. “We can’t get too low, we can’t get too high. We know that we are much better than that score looks. We’ve just got to go back to the drawing board and try to be our best selves in our next opportunity.”

The Crusaders started the scoring on their first drive of the game on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Riegler to Sam Convertini to go ahead 6-0. Muskegon Heights answered on the first play of the ensuing drive with a 63-yard scoring run by quarterback Ja’Kari Edwards, knotting the score at 6-6.

MCC took the lead back with 8:15 remaining in the second on a one-yard rush by Riegler. The quarterback scored again with 45 seconds left in the half, this time on a 19-yard run, to make the score 20-6.

Muskegon Heights answered with another big-play TD when Edwards found Ahston Smith for a 72-yard touchdown. That pulled the Tigers within eight points, 20-12, with 25 seconds left in the half, and the home team appeared to have some momentum.

However, MCC marched down field and scored with two seconds remaining on a 19-yard trick play touchdown pass from freshman Bryan Convertini to Sam Convertini to push the score to 28-12 heading to the break.

“I thought that showed a lot of resilience on our kids’ part,” Czerwon said. “I thought they were going to have the momentum going into the half, and then we got that. I think that took a lot of air out of (Muskegon Heights’) sails.”

Muskegon Catholic dominated the third quarter with a 24-0 edge to extend the lead to 52-12. Joe Waller scored on runs of 6 and 37 yards, while Bryan Convertini added a 25-yard score.

Muskegon Heights added a touchdown with 3:20 to play on a 57-yard throw from Edwards to Smith to make the final score 52-20.

Riegler led MCC with 134 rushing yards and two TDs, while throwing for 90 yards and a score on seven attempts. David Hill rushed for 85 yards and Waller finished with 82 yards and two scores. Sam Convertini had 56 receiving yards and two scores.

Edwards led Muskegon Heights with 115 rushing yards and 227 passing yards. Smith was his top target, hauling in five catches for 197 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Will Gowen led the MCC defense with four tackles. Waller recovered a fumble and Hill recorded an interception.

Edwards and Jimarea Jackson each had six tackles for the Tigers, while Anthony Floyd and G’Nari Davis had five.