All Hands on Deck, P-W Earns 1st Title
November 26, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
DETROIT – Jared Smith’s final football game in a Pewamo-Westphalia uniform ended Saturday how he’d always dreamed.
He waved his arms up and down during the final seconds, beckoning to the crowd for a final blast of cheers as he first hugged teammates, then hoisted up assistant coach Nathan Thelen and spun him around a few times for probably his longest carry of the Division 7 Final.
With that, the most successful decoy in MHSAA championship game history began celebrating the history-making event that’s always mattered most.
It was apparent by halftime Saturday there would be no career rushing record for the Pirates senior back, who will graduate atop all-time lists in five other categories. He didn’t score this time and didn’t even lead his team in rushing. But the second-most traveled rusher in more than a century of Michigan high school football ended as a champion, drawing so much attention from opponent Detroit Loyola that his teammates could do the lifting in a 28-14 win at Ford Field.
“We have so many weapons on the team this year, so many tremendous athletes. … Teams are going to key on me just because of what I’ve done, and it opens up things for everybody else,” Smith said. “When everybody steps up, we’re hard to stop.
“I’ve got no problem with how we win if we come out with the win. I said at the beginning that I don’t care about my records. I just wanted a state championship.”
That championship was the first in Pirates football history, coming in their third Finals appearance, the final victory of a perfect 14-0 run. They entered the playoffs ranked No. 2 in Division 7 and beat No. 1 Traverse City St. Francis, No. 3 Saugatuck and No. 4 Ubly on the way to Detroit before downing No. 5 Loyola.
Last season, P-W led into the final four minutes of the Division 7 championship game before falling 22-16 to Ishpeming. And the lessons from that day – plus the familiarity with this stage from that trip – clearly paid off for a team that returned nine starters on both sides of the ball and the second player to go over 8,000 yards rushing for his career.
Smith entered with 8,140 yards over four varsity seasons, only 291 yards shy of the career record set by East Grand Rapids’ Kevin Grady from 2001-04. But Saturday, Smith ran for a mere 48 on 20 carries, not even the most on his team – but enough to open up opportunities for the Pirates’ pair of quarterbacks, senior Ryan Smith and junior Jimmy Lehman. They orchestrated an attack that scored the second-most points Loyola had allowed in the playoffs over the last five seasons – second only to the 30 P-W scored against the Bulldogs in a Semifinal win last fall.
Ryan Smith led the Pirates in rushing with 81 yards and a touchdown, while Lehman was 6 of 8 passing for 127 yards and a pair of touchdowns tosses to senior Logan Hengesbach. Lehman also added a touchdown run from a yard out with 5:05 to play.
That Lehman run score not withstanding, it’s been a little predictable which quarterback was going to do what. But with the Bulldogs keying on Jared Smith, it didn’t matter much. Lehman’s first touchdown pass came on play-action after a fake handoff to Smith. Ryan Smith’s running touchdown came after a fake dive up the middle to Jared, which drew the interior of Loyola’s defense as Ryan ran right two yards into the end zone.
“(The quarterback predictability) does speak to the play of our offensive line, which was solid today,” P-W coach Jeremy Miller said. “When Ryan comes in, we’re reading some stuff, and we want to get him going with his legs, but Ryan can also throw the ball, hurt you through the air. When Jimmy comes in, it’s more of a passing look for us, and we use him as more of a blocker, but then today Jimmy got a big play for us at the end of the game with his legs.
“To both of their credits, for the last two years they didn’t care who was in, they didn’t care who was carrying the ball, what we were doing. They supported each other, and that’s an example of the brotherhood we had on this team.”
Loyola, a three-time finalist this decade and the champion in 2014, pushed to the end despite facing a three-score deficit with just under nine minutes to play.
The Bulldogs (11-3) got on the board with an 18-yard touchdown pass from senior Price Watkins to junior tight end Keith Johnson, followed by a two-point run by Watkins that made the score 21-8. After Lehman’s run touchdown, Loyola drew to the final deficit on sophomore D’Vaun Bently’s scoring run with 2:04 to play.
The Bulldogs’ late offensive start surely wasn’t helped by the absence of senior Malcolm Mayes, who didn’t play (and was reported earlier in the week to be injured). The usually run-heavy veer offense gained only 123 yards on 38 carries and 186 yards of total offense.
“They attack with the D ends. They really were crashing them,” Watkins said. “So it was hard to make those outside runs. We run a veer, and it’s outside – so they crashed down with the D ends, and basically stopped us from running our plays.”
Senior linebackers Nathan Smith and Devon Pung led the Pirates’ defensive effort with nine and seven tackles, respectively. The most impressive individual defensive performance, however, came from Loyola senior linebacker Kailen Abrams – he had 16 tackles, including 4.5 for losses, at one point taking down Ryan Smith two plays in a row to help force a field goal attempt that ended up no good.
Total, the Bulldogs had nine tackles for losses and a sack. But the Pirates just kept coming.
“Our plan going in there was more concerned with that quarterback read (by Ryan Smith) than Jared. I thought with our speed, I thought we could contain Jared, but we were concerned with the read with the quarterback,” Loyola coach John Callahan said. “And he did an outstanding job on the read. He rode that until the very end, tucked it and took it.
“We watched enough film on them to know they had some receivers, had some guys. Early on that first half, the kids made some big-time plays. … (But) they aren’t just Jared, and obviously you saw that.”
The MHSAA Football Finals are sponsored by the Michigan National Guard.
PHOTOS: (Top) P-W quarterback Ryan Smith breaks a Detroit Loyola tackle during Saturday’s Division 7 Final. (Middle) Logan Hengesbach (5) and Garrett Trierweiler celebrate one of Hengesbach’s two touchdown catches.
Generations of Jonesville Reunite to Say Good-Bye to Old Field, Await New
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
November 11, 2025
As the old saying, and more recent song lyric goes, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."
A new era of Jonesville football will begin next fall when the Comets begin playing on a new field at a new sports complex on the high school campus.
It’s a new beginning. But, before that new era was launched, the Comets had one final game on its old football field this fall – a nearly 75-year-old relic that sits just outside Jonesville Middle School.
“I have a lot of memories of playing on that field,” said Comets football coach Frank Keller. “It’s been home to a lot of big games, good times.”
The final home game on the field was Week 8 against Vandercook Lake. Keller temporarily relinquished his play-calling duties when his former head coach – and recent Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee – Greg Morrison came to the sidelines for a series after some convincing from his former player.
Morrison showed he hadn’t lost his touch. The third and final play he called – “tight end delay” – went for a touchdown.
“It was one of his favorite plays,” Keller said. “He called it, and we scored. It couldn’t have gone any better. He got to call the last touchdown on the old field.”
About a year ago, an anonymous donor gave a $4 million donation to the school to build a new track and football field, along with an accompanying concession stand and restrooms. The field is in a picturesque spot, tucked among trees.
The donation came from a Jonesville family that has had four generations of athletes play sports for the Comets. Athletic director Jeff Turner said the family stepped forward when it became apparent it would be difficult for the district to pass a bond issue or a new tax to fund such a large-scale project.
"We are certainly grateful for them coming forward," Turner said. "We couldn't have done this without them. They wanted to help the school district and the community, and we are fortunate that we are able to build such a nice facility."
The track will be ready for events this spring. Sod was laid on the football field, inside the track, this fall and has been mowed a few times. New bleachers were constructed on both sides of the field recently, and the concession building is almost ready for business.
It’s a dramatic change for the district.
The current football field has been in use for decades and was home to league championship teams, playoff games and more great Jonesville memories.
“Growing up as a kid I always watched football games, there and I played there,” Keller said. “I have mixed feelings about it. It’s great to get a new facility, but sad to see the old one go.”
Morrison recalled a game during his coaching tenure when the opposing team hid in the nearby woods, and then just before kickoff came running onto the field.
Jonesville won by several touchdowns. Clearly the ploy didn’t exactly work out as intended.
“It was a great field to play,” Morrison said. “It was unique.”
These days, Jonesville is a Division 7 football school with an enrollment of 299 students. The Comets play in the Cascades Conference West and went 6-4 this season, falling in the first round of the playoffs.
The football team has been in the playoffs four of the past seven seasons, went 9-0 during the regular season in 2019 and has 16 playoff appearances.
Keller graduated from Jonesville in 1999. He was on the Comets varsity for three seasons, from 1996-1998. Turner is a Jonesville graduate as well. He said several past players, cheerleaders and band members returned to the field for its final game, stirring a lot of memories.
“I don’t know how much of the game I got to watch that night,” Turner said. “It was great to catch up with a lot of people I may not have seen in quite a while. It was great.”
Turner said the athletic complex will be great for the district.
“It looks wonderful,” he said. “Our kids are excited about running track this spring and playing on the new field. Everyone is excited about it.”
As with any new facility, the complex is creating a buzz around athletics at Jonesville.
“We’re hoping we get more kids out just because they want to play on the new field, maybe even get new kids to the school,” Keller said. “We’re hoping it helps bring in more kids. Track looks awesome. The whole facility looks great.
“For us to get a new facility like that is unbelievable.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Jonesville players take the field for their final home game last month at their now former field. (Middle) Past Jonesville players line up with retired coach Greg Morrison during the final game. (Below) Jonesville’s new stadium sits under the lights and will be ready for the spring track & field season. (Photos courtesy of the Jonesville football program.)