St. Joseph continued its midseason surge on Friday night at Dickinson Stadium, grinding out a 35–14 victory over rival Lakeshore in the annual “War by the Shore.” The Bears leaned heavily on a punishing ground game, rushing for 432 yards and five touchdowns while keeping the Lancers off the scoreboard for the entire second half. With the win, St. Joe (3–2, 1–0 SMAC) has now won three straight overall and four straight in the regular-season series, tightening what was once a comfortable Lakeshore lead to just one game — the Lancers now hold a slim 37–36 advantage all-time

The Bears set the tone early with two first-quarter scoring drives. Senior tailback Ish Dixon finished off an 8-play, 61-yard march with a 3-yard touchdown run, then capped a 16-play, 80-yard grind with a 2-yard plunge to make it 14–0 midway through the first. Lakeshore responded with a big strike — Kaden Griffiths hit Jonah Chavez for a 45-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 14–7. The Lancers tied the game early in the second quarter when Griffiths connected with Isaiah Timmons on a 67-yard bomb, but St. Joseph answered with a 14-play, 67-yard march capped by Caden LeClear’s 1-yard score to retake the lead 21–14 at halftime

From there, the Bears’ offensive line and rushing tandem wore the Lancers down. After a third quarter filled with defensive stands, St. Joe struck twice in the fourth to pull away. LeClear broke free for a 21-yard touchdown run to finish an 80-yard drive, then sealed the night with a 10-yard score following a Gabe King interception deep in Bears territory. Dixon powered the attack with 177 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries, while LeClear added 149 yards and three scores on 20 attempts. King provided a spark with 76 rushing yards and the key late interception to halt Lakeshore’s comeback hopes

Defensively, the Bears limited Lakeshore to 77 rushing yards on 35 attempts (2.2 per carry) and forced the Lancers to settle for long-yardage situations. Griffiths threw for 143 yards and two touchdowns but was intercepted once and sacked on a pivotal fourth-quarter drive. St. Joseph’s front seven, led by Dominick Lignel (9 tackles) and Nate Schmitt (3 tackles for loss), repeatedly stuffed Lakeshore’s rushing attempts and held them scoreless after halftime

With the victory, St. Joseph climbs back above .500 and sets up a massive Week 6 matchup on the road at 4–1 Portage Northern. Lakeshore (1–4, 0–2 SMAC) will try to regroup when it visits 1–4 Mattawan next Friday.