4-Year QB Leads with What He's Learned
October 2, 2020
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
BLISSFIELD – Gavin Ganun is like a seasoned veteran.
“I’m really confident now with everything I’m doing,” said the Blissfield quarterback. “I’ve seen a lot of things happen. There’s nothing that surprises me.”
Clinton’s football team might have something to say about that tonight when it travels to Blissfield for a colossal Lenawee County Athletic Association clash.
But there’s no denying that Ganun has seen just about everything by now. He’s making his 37th career start at quarterback for Blissfield and is having a sensational season.
“To me the game feels really slow now,” Ganun said while preparing to face the 2-0 Clinton squad this week. “I have plenty of time to see everything. I can calm myself down in the pocket. Even if there is pressure, I don’t feel it like I used to. I’m not worried about getting hit. I just stand back there, make the reads and find the open receiver.”
This year Ganun has had plenty of open receivers. He has great targets in wide receivers Zack Horky (6-foot-4) and Ty Wyman (6-6) and tight end Nick Ostas (6-2).
“One of them gets open every play,” Ganun said.
Over the first two weeks of the season, Ganun threw for a combined 611 yards and 10 touchdowns – five scores to Horky and three to Wyman – as Blissfield piled up wins over Dundee and reigning LCAA champion Hillsdale.
Ganun has looked great behind a Royals offensive line that has five new starters – tackles Blaine Pifer and Scott Jackson, guards Luke Nofzinger and Ricky Eisenmann and center Henry Smith.
“It all starts with the line,” Ganun said. “They have come so far. They worked really hard to get better. Their pass blocking has been amazing.”
Ganun has been the starting Blissfield quarterback since game one of his freshman year. He has led Blissfield into the playoffs three straight seasons. For his career, he enters tonight’s game against Clinton with 4,953 passing yards and 56 passing touchdowns.
Ganun was coached his first two seasons by Ryan Love, who is now coaching at Morenci. Ron Estes returned to the Royals’ sideline last year and inherited Ganun as his QB. He couldn’t be happier with his signal-caller.
“There’s no panic in him,” Estes said. “He knows the offense inside and out. He knows what to do when things break down. He knows what to do and when to do it.”
Ganun said Estes gives him a lot of freedom to change the play at the line of scrimmage if he sees something when looking over the defense.
“When I was a freshman, we weren’t doing that,” he said. “But, now, I’m fine to do that anytime. If the defense is running what we think they will run, I don’t have to, but if they change things up, I can change things up.”
Ganun’s audibles have resulted in a couple big plays this season. Horky has caught two touchdown passes in the first quarter of both games.
“We have a good connection,” he said. “We’ve played together so long that we know what each other is going to do before we do it. We’ll just look at each other or say something really quick when we leave the huddle.”
Clinton, which returned to the LCAA this season after just over a decade as a member of the Tri-County Conference, will be a stiff test for Blissfield. Clinton has been rolling during the first two weeks of the season, piling up more than 900 yards of offense – all on the ground.
Clinton coach Jeremy Fielder has watched a lot of film of Ganun lately and is impressed.
“He’s always been pretty good,” Fielder said. “You see it all with him. He’s an outstanding quarterback.”
Ganun plays three sports for the Royals and has been on varsity for all his entire career. He committed to play college baseball at Bowling Green State University, which announced in the spring that it was dropping baseball before re-examining that decision a month or so later. He’s happy he gets to play for the Falcons.
“I’m super excited,” he said. “I love that place. Everything about it is amazing.”
The Royals are trying to win their first LCAA championship since 2007, the same year Estes guided them to the Division 6 championship game before he stepped away – then returned – as head coach. Ganun knows Clinton stands in the way of that goal.
“It’s going to be very tough,” he said. “They are very physical. Both teams know what the other team wants to do.”
He also knows the Royals are playing at a high level right now.
“We have a great team bond,” he said. “We have been clicking on all cylinders.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Blissfield quarterback Gavin Ganun prepares to take on an Ottawa Lake Whiteford defender during the 2019 season. (Middle) Ganun winds up to pass, also last season. (Below) Ron Estes returned as Blissfield coach in 2019. (Photos by Mike Dickie.)
St. Mary's Shifts Into Higher Gear, Finishes Finals Return Back on Top
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
November 29, 2024
DETROIT – Orchard Lake St. Mary’s football already had won eight Finals titles and finished second six times. But before Friday, it hadn’t played in a championship game since 2016.
Which for the Eaglets felt like an eternity.
“This is where Orchard Lake belongs – playing games after Thanksgiving,” said third-year coach Jermaine Gonzalez, a former standout for the Eaglets who went on to play at Michigan. “The goal when I took this job was getting back to getting here every year. For St. Mary’s football, that is the standard.”
That “drought” was wiped out in emphatic fashion Friday night, as OLSM defeated a physical Byron Center team at its own game, at the line of scrimmage, in a 35-19 win in the Division 2 Final at Ford Field.
St. Mary’s (11-3), which had to watch as Catholic High School League rival Warren De La Salle Collegiate played in six of the last seven Division 2 Finals, made a magical run after finishing fourth in the CHSL Central with a 2-3 league record.
All of those losses came against powerhouse programs – De La Salle, Detroit Catholic Central and Toledo Central Catholic – which Gonzales said prepared his team for anything in the postseason.
“We knew all year that with our tough schedule, we would be battle-tested,” said Gonzales. “I think you saw that out there tonight.”
Byron Center, which finished 12-2 after advancing past Regionals for the first time in school history, came out of the gate on fire Friday, thrilling its huge throng of orange and black-clad fans.
Senior Kellen Payne, a Division I baseball commit to Nevada, opened the scoring on a nine-yard run. After a seven-yard run by St. Mary’s Darrin Jones Jr. tied the game, the Bulldogs went ahead early in the second quarter on a 56-yard burst around right end by sophomore Cam Payne, Kellen’s younger brother, making it 13-7.
But at that point, St. Mary’s was able to find another level on both sides of the ball, swinging the game’s momentum.
It started on offense late in the second quarter, as OLSM went 47 yards in eight plays, capped by a 12-yard scoring run from Michigan State commit Bryson Williams, which gave it a 14-13 halftime lead.
“We tell our linemen that if they beat their guy up front, we will do our part running behind them,” explained OLSM senior running back Bryson Williams, one of three Michigan State prospects on the roster, along with linebacker Charles White and tight end Jayden Savoury.
Jones and Williams proved to be a lethal 1-2 punch out of the backfield. Jones led all rushers with 21 carries for 181 yards and two touchdowns, while Williams added 13 rushes for 109 yards and two TDs.
In the third quarter, St. Mary’s defense took over with a series of big hits. Defensive tackle Ryan Harrington came up with a huge sack on Byron Center quarterback Landon Tungate less than a minute into the second half, causing a fumble which teammate Kyrie Williams pounced on. Two plays later, Williams dashed in from three yards out – giving the Eaglets a 21-13 lead, which they would never relinquish.
The most decisive moment came late in the third quarter, when the Eaglets faced a 4th-and-17 from the Bulldogs’ 33-yard line. With Kellen Payne right in his face, 6-foot-4 senior quarterback Axel Newell hung in and delivered an absolute dime to Angelo Chapman running up the seam for a 33-yard score and a 28-13 lead.
The Bulldogs, who brought the biggest crowd of the day despite a snowstorm in West Michigan, kept coming back behind senior quarterback Landon Tungate, who entered the Final with 23 passing TDs and 25 rushing.
Tungate finally got a score at Ford Field with 10:45 remaining in the game, bursting 10 yards up the middle. The 2-point conversion pass was stopped short, making the score 28-19.
“This team is never going to quit, no matter what,” explained Tungate. “It’s been a great ride for our team and our town, and I’m just happy I got to be a part of it.”
Tungate finished 9-of-16 passing for 49 yards and rushed 16 times for 90 yards. Cam Payne rushed eight times for 122 yards and caught two passes.
Landen Conrad led Byron Center’s defense with 10 tackles, Kellen Payne made nine tackles and Luke Laska had eight stops.
“We lost to a really good football team with a lot of weapons,” said 16th-year Byron Center coach Marc Cisco. “They really stretch your defense and find a weak spot. All of their backs run hard.”
Jones iced the victory, capping a 63-yard OLSM drive with a four-yard scoring run with 3:33 remaining.
Linebacker Christopher Coates was the leading tackler for St. Mary’s with 10. Ryan Fresquez and Kyrie Williams each made six tackles, and Harrington had five tackles – including three for loss and the crucial forced fumble in the third quarter.
PHOTOS (Top) Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Darrin Jones (5) breaks into an opening during Saturday’s Division 2 Final at Ford Field. (Middle) The Eaglets’ Bryson Williams (4) attempts to break away from Byron Center’s Isaac Lee. (Below) St. Mary’s coach Jermaine Gonzales raises the championship trophy as his players cheer. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)