11-Player Football Semis Sites UPDATED
November 16, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Sites and game times have been announced for the MHSAA Football 11-player Semifinals.
Friday's 8-player Final will kick off at 7 p.m. Friday at Greenville High School, with Cedarville and Lawrence both making their first 8-player championship game appearances.
Below are sites for the 11-player games; all are 1 p.m. Saturday unless noted, with Wednesday updates in bold (click for all previous results, team records and playoff points from this fall):
DIVISION 1
East Kentwood vs. Clarkston at Brighton High School
Saline vs. Detroit Cass Tech at Troy Athens High School
DIVISION 2
Muskegon Mona Shores vs. Farmington Hills Harrison at Howell High School
Southfield vs. Warren DeLaSalle at Novi High School
DIVISION 3
Muskegon vs. Zeeland West at Greenville High School
Orchard Lake St. Mary's vs. New Boston Huron at Dearborn High School
DIVISION 4
Grand Rapids South Christian vs. Edwardsburg at Jackson High School, 3 p.m.
Lansing Sexton vs. Detroit Country Day at Fenton High School
DIVISION 5
Menominee vs. Grand Rapids West Catholic at Northern Michigan University Superior Dome, 11 a.m.
Lansing Catholic vs. Almont at Ortonville-Brandon
DIVISION 6
Boyne City vs. Ithaca at Midland Community Stadium, 2 p.m.
Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian vs. Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central at Battle Creek Harper Creek High School
DIVISION 7
Ishpeming vs. Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary at the Superior Dome, 2 p.m.
Pewamo-Westphalia vs. Detroit Loyola at Jackson High School, 11 a.m.
DIVISION 8
Munising vs. Beal City at the Superior Dome, 7 p.m. Friday
Muskegon Catholic Central vs. Harbor Beach at Alma College
PHOTO: Detroit Cass Tech defeated Clinton Township Chippewa Valley on Saturday to return to the Semifinals. (Photo courtesy of the Detroit Public School League.)
Moment: Comets Make Last Minute Count
October 8, 2020
By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
A hop and a wave.
That’s what it took for Grand Ledge to pull off the most unlikely of comebacks in the 2000 Division 1 MHSAA Football title game at the Pontiac Silverdome, doing what no team has ever done – scoring two touchdowns during the final minute to claim a 19-14 victory over Utica Eisenhower.
The game was your typical large-school, heavyweight fight, tied at 7-7 with less than five minutes to play when Eisenhower’s Chris Hoover broke loose for a 36-yard scoring run. But Grand Ledge bounced right back, mounting an 80-yard drive following the ensuing kickoff, capped by quarterback Matt Bohnet’s five-yard scramble to the end zone.
With just 53 seconds left on the clock, Comets coach Pat O’Keefe, already known as one of the state’s most successful baseball coaches, decided he had to gamble. Go for two.
“We were tired,” O’Keefe told the Lansing State Journal after the game. “I thought the momentum was there for us and I didn’t want to play overtime.
“We thought about it a little bit, and I saw it in the kid’s faces. I asked Matt (Bohnet) what he wanted to do and he said, ‘Let’s go for the win.’”
But the conversion play broke down. Bohnet couldn’t find an open receiver and was tackled short of the goal line.
Everyone in the Silverdome knew what was coming next. No one could have seen, however, what was going to happen.
The onside kick by Nick Sandy took a textbook hop, and Colin O’Keefe flew through the air to grab it and give the Comets new life.
Two plays later, Bohnet was scrambling again – and a wide-open Tim George was downfield waving at him. Bohnet connected with George at the 15-yard line, and after shaking off one would-be tackler, George headed for the end zone, finishing with a pylon dive that gave the Comets the lead. It was the second TD catch of the game for George.
“I caught the ball and got bumped,” George told The Detroit News. “I saw the goal line and I knew I had to get there. I didn’t even think about going out of bounds.”
You can watch the final moments of the FOX Sports Detroit coverage of the 2000 Grand Ledge-Utica Eisenhower game below.
PHOTO: Grand Ledge's Tim George dives for the winning touchdown during the final seconds of the 2000 Division 1 Final at the Pontiac Silverdome. (Photo by Gary Shook.)