'22 Game' Lasts 2 Plays, Lives on
By
Ron Pesch
MHSAA historian
October 26, 2015
What would you do with 22 seconds to right a wrong?
In Michigan, the longest football game in high school sports history was played on September 23, 1977 when Detroit Southeastern defeated Detroit Northeastern 42-36 in nine overtimes.
But what is the shortest?
On the evening of Thursday, Nov. 5, 1953, Eaton County foes Bellevue and Vermontville squared off in a Tri-C Conference battle. It was a home contest for Vermontville, but without illumination at its field, the game was staged just west beneath the lights at Nashville High School in Barry County.
The dominant team in Tri-C play over the previous three years, Bellevue’s Broncos had posted three consecutive undefeated seasons from 1950 and 1952. However, graduation took its toll and with only five returning veterans in the fall of 1953, Bellevue lost its nonconference season opener to Homer. The Broncos had also dropped a pair of league contests, to Lake Odessa and Olivet, just prior to the Vermontville game, and entered with a 4-3 record.
Vermontville brought a 4-2 mark into the contest, and was in a four-way tie with Bellevue, Nashville and Lake Odessa for second in the conference.
The Broncos and Wildcats were evenly matched and played to a scoreless tie in the first half. Vermontville opened up a 6-0 lead on a 20-yard end sweep by the Wildcats’ quarterback Pete Benton in the third quarter, but entered the final minutes of the game trailing 12-6 thanks to a TD run by Bellevue’s Jim Smith and an early-fourth quarter scoring pass from Smith to Bob Babbitt.
Coach Dave McDowell’s Wildcats mounted a long final drive, and fans strapped in for a thrilling finish. Pushing deep into Bellevue territory, Vermontville faced a fourth down and eight from the 16-yard line with under a minute to play when Benton launched a desperation pass to the end zone.
The pass fell incomplete, but Bellevue was flagged for pass interference. Officials stepped off the penalty and awarded Vermontville the ball at the one-yard line, but the Wildcats’ plunge into the line fell an inch short on what was called a repeated fourth down play. Vermontville took possession and ran out the clock.
Following the game, Coach McDowell protested the ruling to officials, correctly stating that his team should have been awarded an automatic first down and goal from the 1-yard-line on the penalty, according to high school rules. Appealing the call, the situation was brought to the attention of the league, MHSAA executive director Charles Forsythe and the MHSAA athletic board.
On Wednesday, Nov. 11, the state athletic board agreed an error had been made, but did not order a replay. Instead, they noted three possible solutions:
- Result left as it was.
- Called a no contest.
- Replay it at the point of infraction.
The board moved a final decision back to the league. Because of the possible impact on the final conference standings, and eventually, the awarding of the league’s all-sports trophy, the Tri-C Conference opted to replay the contest from the point of infraction – the 1-yard line – with 22 seconds placed on the clock.
The news of the league’s decision was blasted out by the news services nationwide, and immediately, the pending replay of a small town contest captured the imagination of reporters and sports fans across the United States.
“Shortest ‘Game’ in History?” read the headline in the Lexington, Kentucky Herald. From Biloxi, Mississippi, to Boston, Massachusetts, from Rockford, Illinois to Omaha, Nebraska and Seattle Washington, sports aficionados read the news about the error. Best of all, details flowed forth on the plan to replay critical seconds that might alter the result, fulfilling every fan’s dream.
So began the longest huddle in history.
“What would you do?” was the question on the lips of coaches and followers in barber shops and factories. Detroit Free Press writer George Puscas asked that very question to some of Michigan’s top coaches.
Detroit Lions coach Buddy Parker offered his advice to Vermontville’s coach McDowell.
“The other team will be expecting a run,” noted Parker, “so I would fake a run off tackle then throw a pass in the other direction – with three receivers downfield.”
Michigan State’s legendary Biggie Munn stated the obvious:
“Call a scoring play.”
University of Michigan head coach Bennie Oosterbaan was tied up preparing for the Wolverines’ upcoming contest with MSU, so instead U-M end coach Bill Orwig weighed in with a tongue-in-cheek recommendation:
“Take the time out.”
Earl “Dutch” Clark, in charge at the University of Detroit, suggested that McDowell diagram “two of the most unusual offensive formations … anything to confuse the defense. The first play should be a running play and if it didn’t work, take time out then try again.”
Wayne University’s coach Lou Zarza was the most specific of them all.
“On a goal line stand, the defense usually drifts toward the middle. So I would fake the ball to the right halfback on a slant, then send the fullback with the ball wide to the right, outflanking the defense. It’s a good goal line play on the T formation.”
Suggestions came from all over. A gentleman in Syracuse, New York, even penned a personal letter to McDowell with a sure-fire suggestion.
Three days after the 1953 prep season had officially ended, on the afternoon of Monday, Nov. 16, the same officiating crew and the Vermontville and Bellevue squads emerged and again travelled to Nashville to line up for what can arguably be called the shortest – or perhaps the longest – game in high school football history.
Reporters from Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing and Battle Creek converged on the city for 22 seconds of football. High school reporting legends Hal Schram of the Detroit Free Press, Bob Hoerner of the Lansing State Journal, George Maskin of the Detroit Times, Harry Stapler of the Detroit News and writers from the Associated Press and United Press International all descended upon mid-Michigan, “almost as if the Rose Bowl was to be played.”
“That game brought more publicity to coach Gordon Korstange’s 6-3 squad then his teams received for posting three consecutive unbeaten seasons in 1950, 1951 and 1952,” recalled 80-year old Burton H. Brooks, who was the only reporter who had covered the original contest, and one of many covering the replay. A graduate of Bellevue, he was a freshman at Michigan State at the time, earning money as a sports stringer for the Bellevue Gazette and Charlotte Republican Tribune.
Beneath sunny skies, “a crowd of over 500 fans and curiosity seekers, most of them attired in shirt sleeves, lined the field on both sides near the east end of the Nashville gridiron,” wrote Brooks, many years later. “At 5:00 the shrill blast of an official’s whistle split the air, announcing time for the game.”
Attendance was way up from the original contest, and in an unusual move for the time, Kalamazoo television station WKZO announced that they would send a crew to Nashville and then televise the game – (all 22 seconds of it!) – Tuesday evening. In addition, 10 newspaper photographers were on site to capture images from the game.
While the size of the crowd was up, turnout on the football squads had decreased. Vermontville dressed its full squad of 24 for the showdown, but kept out two regular tackles and his first-string quarterback, as all had been on the injured list at the end of the first clash.
Meanwhile, Bellevue brought only 14 players.
“Just our defensive unit and enough to run back the kickoff,” Korstange told the Lansing State Journal, prepared for a situation that could arise if Vermontville scored.
“Three of the defensive starters had decided to go deer hunting instead,” said Brooks discussing the shortened game, “so Bellevue needed to call up some kids for the game from the junior varsity squad.”
“Bellevue won its sixth game of the year, downing Vermontville in a sensational goal line stand in the famous ‘22’ Game” at Nashville last Monday,” wrote Brooks in the Bellevue Gazette. “Coach Dave McDowell’s Wildcats ran two plays against Bellevue, but couldn’t dent the solid Bronco defense. On the first play the Wildcats sent big Bob Steward up center, but he was driven back a yard by the entire center of the Bellevue line.”
Following a timeout, the Green and White tried to sneak quarterback Pete Benton across the line to the left of center as the ball carrier on the second play, but the hole was quickly plugged by tackle Donald Rogers and guard Jerry Babbitt. Steward had been stopped by Bellevue guard Wayne Lesser. Dale Spotts, Bob Babbitt, Harold Messenger, Ralph Hales, Dick Moon, Jim Smith, Gordon Smith, and Ed Bessemer filled the other defensive spots and ensured the result of the first game went unchanged.
Once again, the wire services blasted their report from sea to shining sea.
“Officials Didn’t Rob Vermontville Team” screamed the headline in the Miami Daily News. Beneath an AP photo, residents of the Florida town were treated to a detailed account of the contest.
“Prep Grid Game Ends Same Way Following 11-Day Break” read the caption in the Dallas Morning News in football-crazed Texas.
“Replayed Grid Game Ends with the Same Result as Before,” read the headline in the Seattle, Washington, Daily Times.
As noted at the time, it certainly wasn’t the first, nor would it be the last, that a refereeing crew made a mistake in a game. Fans then, like now, were reminded officials are only human.
Bellevue ended the extended season in a tie for second with Lake Odessa, with 5-2 marks. For the first time in league history the Tri-C gridiron championship was awarded to Olivet, which, at 8-0, posted its first unbeaten season and, as it turned out, unseated Bellevue for the league’s 1953-54 all-sports trophy.
More than 60 years later, a forgotten showdown between high school football teams, played out before national attention in little Nashville, Michigan, still stands as one of the most entertaining and unusual sports moments in the history of America.
Ron Pesch has taken an active role in researching the history of MHSAA events since 1985 and began writing for MHSAA Finals programs in 1986, adding additional features and "flashbacks" in 1992. He inherited the title of MHSAA historian from the late Dick Kishpaugh following the 1993-94 school year, and resides in Muskegon. Contact him at [email protected] with ideas for historical articles.
PHOTOS: (Top and below) What's believed to be a Battle Creek Enquirer photo shows one of the goal line stands by the Bellevue defense against Vermontville. (Middle) The Lansing State Journal reported on the nationwide reporting of the "22-second game."
Camden-Frontier Enjoys 8-Player Rebirth
By
Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
October 20, 2016
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
CAMDEN – When it comes to football at Camden-Frontier, fewer is better.
Three times better.
After enduring back-to-back winless seasons in 2014-15, Camden-Frontier made the switch from 11- to 8-player football. The result? The Redskins are 5-1 this season with a shot at making the MHSAA playoffs.
Camden, a farming village with 512 residents in the 2010 census, is nestled in a tri-state area just two miles east of the Michigan/Indiana border and 4 miles north of the Michigan/Ohio border. Frontier is a civil township just 11 miles northeast of Camden.
The school sits between the two along a peaceful country road that is void of traffic and other structures. Except on football weekends. This fall, the communities have connected with the football team and its success, even though the 8-player format wasn't embraced at the start, even by many of the players.
“At first, they didn't know how it was going to go,” said Ryan Sigler, athletic director and assistant football coach. “It was brand new to them, but it didn't take very long for them to see what it was going to be like. We did lose maybe six or seven kids who aren't playing and should be playing. They decided it wasn't for them, but I think after seeing how this year went and what's coming in the future, I think they will come back.
“It has been a positive experience, and the morale in the school is higher than it's ever been.”
Making the switch
After the second consecutive winless season in 2015, Camden-Frontier's football coach resigned, and the search was on for a new coach. In the process, switching to 8-player football became a possibility.
“I am a firm believer in JV football, and I want our kids to be able to play JV football,” Sigler said. “With our low numbers – I think we were 22 or 23 in our whole program last year – you're not going to have JV games because you take half of your kids and they go right to varsity.”
When Waldron football coach Mark Long's name popped into the discussion, Sigler and Camden-Frontier Superintendent Scott Riley explored the idea of going to 8-player. Not only did Long have experience and success in 8-player football at Waldron, Sigler and Riley could not get past the failures of the Redskins in the previous two seasons.
“Last year, we scored two touchdowns – one on offense and one on defense,” Sigler said. “The year before, we scored four touchdowns total.
“Scott and I kind of got talking, and we decided that Mark would be the right guy. He came to us in the process and said, 'If I come, I want to go 8-man football.' We kind of talked back and forth, what it would do for the program and how it would help us.”
Long agreed to leave Waldron, his hometown, to pursue a fresh, new challenge at Camden-Frontier.
“I had been coaching at Waldron for about 16 years,” he said. “I coached basketball and football, I was the athletic director, and we were extremely successful in football.
“I had the opportunity to go to Camden-Frontier and coach and take them from 11-man to 8-man, and it was something that I thought would be a good challenge.”
While Long's challenge was on the field, Sigler had to put together a schedule of 8-player teams. It was too late to join the Southern Michigan 8-man Football League, so he ended up with just a seven-game schedule, including a drive of 5 hours, 30 minutes that covered 298 miles to Pellston, which is just south of the Mackinac Bridge.
“We were not able to get into the league schedule, but we will be back in next year,” Sigler said. “We just got in too late, and we didn't want to break any contracts.
“Mark knew a lot of 8-man teams, so we could set our schedule, and we were able to get seven games. I wish we would have gotten at least eight. We're right in the mix for a playoff spot. It could come back to bite us that we only had a seven-game schedule.”
Making the sell
While setting the schedule at late notice was tough, selling 8-player football to a bunch of young men who had played only 11-player football was going to be tougher. Six or seven quit the program, but slowly the others bought into the new format.
“I was set on not playing varsity at all,” sophomore fullback/middle linebacker Cole Mapes said. “I heard that we were going to stay at 11-man for JV, and I didn't care for 8-man.
“Then I started seeing what was going on, and I saw how much dedication that Coach Mark put into it. With 11-man, we had no hope.”
Others slowly but surely accepted the new format. Long said the younger players were more open to the switch than the older players at first.
“A lot of the sophomores started showing up on Day 1 in the weight room and the 7-on-7s in the summer,” he said. “The young kids really bought into it quickly.”
Some of the veteran players, like junior guard/defensive end Austin Zilka, were more apprehensive about the move.
“My initial thought was, 'Why are we changing?'” Zilka said. “I understood that we hadn't had the best record, but I didn't understand why we were changing.
“I never thought about not playing because either way, when you pad up and get hit, it feels the same whether there are eight men on the field or 11 men. It took me about two weeks to get adjusted and (I) realized that I had no choice if I wanted to play football. Now, if I had a choice, I like that we're winning, but I like the teams that we played in 11-man. But I think I'd stick with 8-man.”
With the players buying into the program and the success, Sigler is hopeful players who decided not to play this season will return to the program next season.
“They decided it wasn't for them, but I think after seeing how this year went and what's coming in the future, I think they will come back,” he said.
Early wins – and doubts
Camden-Frontier started the season quickly, but not everybody was impressed. The 86-8 opening-game victory, along with wins by 56-0 and 50-0, left many in the community wondering if it all was simply because of the level of competition.
That question was to be answered in Week 5. On a Saturday – and Homecoming – Camden-Frontier hosted 8-player power Battle Creek St. Phillip, a team that lost in the MHSAA championship game in 2015 and had started its season 4-0.
“I kind of felt uneasy just scheduling them,” Sigler said. “We had a bye week before we played St. Philip, so we prepared for two weeks. We're preaching the whole time that we have to prove that we're the type of football team that we want to be, and it is going to take hard work. We had the best two weeks of practice that we had all year.”
It turned out to be a signature moment of the season. The Redskins shut out St. Philip 22-0, and suddenly that 8-player football team that had beaten four nobodies in the eyes of the community was now the apple of the community's eye.
“It was huge for the community to see that there are other good 8-man football teams and there's going to be a lot tougher competition down the road,” Long said.
And the attitude toward the football team changed.
“We went into that game thinking that they were going to be good, and by all means they were, and it was one of the defining moments that we had as a team,” Zilka said. “And it proved to all the people that said, 'You guys beat a team that isn't very good 86-8, and you're not very good.' It showed that we're here to make a statement.
“They realized that we can play pretty good football and be a good 8-man team, and they kept encouraging us and it helped.”
Expectations from fans also were not negative as they had been in previous years.
“The atmosphere at the football games is a lot better,” sophomore running back/outside linebacker Cale Lehman said. “People expected us to lose, and now it's like they know we have a chance at winning.”
Suddenly, following the Redskins was bordering on an epidemic.
“It was awesome,” Sigler said. “I've noticed a lot more people are staying longer at our games now. You'll have the parents who come out and stay for their kids, but families and others are coming out and staying for the whole game.
“We drove up to Pellston for a game – it was a five and a half hour drive – and we had more people in the stands than they had, and it was Parents' Night. It's been awesome how the parents and community have run with this. We had a full set of stands at Lawrence. People have really bought into this and gotten on board with it.”
Camden-Frontier lost to Lawrence 32-8 in a battle of unbeatens, and the next week was the trek to Pellston. Not many high school teams from small towns get to have a road game that includes an overnight stay.
“We went up Friday after school,” Sigler said. “Our middle school coach runs a logging company, and his logging company donated hotel rooms for us. Tight-knit communities do things for each other.
“We drove up and had the kids bring snacks and food and when we got out there, we grilled outside. It was awesome. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, all that stuff. After that, we went and bowled for two hours, just to get them doing something fun and to relax.”
Then, on Saturday, the Redskins defeated Pellston 58-12.
“It was a team-bonding experience as well as a game,” Zilka said. “We had fun, and then we did what we came up there to do.”
Several parents who made the trip took their sons to see the Mackinac Bridge after the game.
“Some of those kids had never seen the bridge,” Sigler said. “Most of the parents went, and a lot of them surprised the players and took them to the bridge after the game. It was a cool experience.”
One hurdle remains
The season has been a full one. A switch from 11- to 8-player football. A new coach. New opponents on the schedule. A huge Homecoming victory. A 298-mile trip and a visit to the Mackinac Bridge.
What possibly could remain? How about this scenario: Camden-Frontier sits in the No. 16 spot in the points race for the playoffs. Sixteen teams qualify for the 8-player playoffs, and the Redskins need to win and maybe get a little help to secure their first postseason berth since 2000.
Tonight, Camden-Frontier will visit Waldron – yes, the same Waldron that was coached by Long for several years and is his hometown. A better script could not be written for the final game in the regular season with the playoffs on the line.
“I live in Waldron and my daughter goes to Waldron,” Long said. “I coached there and grew up there and played there, so it will be emotional for me and a little tough, but hopefully when the game starts, it will be just another game.”
While Waldron remains home, getting the chance to coach at a new place has been refreshing for Long.
“It has been a rejuvenation,” he said. “It's no different than a job. Once you've been someplace for a certain amount of time, you become complacent. I'm around new kids, but I really still care about the kids I coached at Waldron.”
And he has a great appreciation for the communities of Camden and Frontier and his new team of players.
“For them to come in and buy in – and the community to buy into 8-man football the way that they have – has been a blessing for me,” he said. “They have accepted me from Day One, and I can't say thank you enough.”
With newfound success, don't expect Camden-Frontier to rush back to 11-player football. But Sigler said never say never.
“I think we will stay here for a while, but I wouldn't say that we'll never go back to 11-man again, either,” Sigler said. “But it's not likely anytime soon.”
“The biggest misconception is that a lot of people look down on 8-man football. I didn't know at first if it was right for us, but I'm glad we did it. Obviously."
Chip Mundy served as sports editor at the Brooklyn Exponent and Albion Recorder from 1980-86, and then as a reporter and later copy editor at the Jackson Citizen-Patriot from 1986-2011. He also co-authored Michigan Sports Trivia. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Sophomore running back Cale Lehman finds an opening against Elyria Open Door Christian of Ohio. (Middle) Junior running back Hunter Fackler carries the ball as Austin Bennett (14) and Logan Barnes (17) provide blocking. (Photos by Matthew Lounsberry and Andrew King/Hillsdale Daily News.)