Back to Building Boys Into Men, Munger Bringing Newfound Success to Newaygo
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
November 6, 2024
NEWAYGO – After a long, physical practice Tuesday, as the light rain started to intensify, Newaygo coach Ralph Munger decided to squeeze in a quick game of “Simon Says.”
Within a few minutes, players were laughing, making fun of each other for clapping their hands when Munger didn’t say the magic words (and doing five push-ups as punishment) – and learning mental focus in the process.
“He’s an old-style coach,” said Newaygo senior Henry Wood, a senior captain and two-way starter. “But he has a crazy passion for the sport, and his football IQ is insane.”
Simon Says is just one of proven techniques the longtime coach is using to teach and motivate his players at Newaygo, which is 8-2 and hosting Central Montcalm on Friday for a Division 6 District championship in just his second year as coach.
Munger, 72, is having a ball at his latest coaching stop and is up to 11 wins over his two years at Newaygo, a small, rural school northwest of Grand Rapids – after winning 80 games in 11 years at Frankenmuth and 255 games over 28 years at Rockford, the latter tenure including five Finals appearances and three titles. He entered this season the sixth-winningest coach in state football history, and heading into this weekend his career record is 343-117.
“We’re making strides, and things are starting to click,” said Munger, who was an all-state football player in his own right at Frankenmuth in the late 1960s. “I feel pretty good, and I thank God every day that he has allowed me to coach again.”
Newaygo knocked off traditional Division 6 power Montague, 30-17, last week for the school’s first playoff win since 2018.
The Lions are doing it with Munger’s beloved power game, led by senior quarterback Blake Kerr (55-of-99 passing for 805 yards and 10 TDs), junior running back Porter Slominski (130 rushes for 934 yards and 13 TDs) and senior running back Ethan Reyburn (104 rushes for 673 yards and 8 TDs).
Kerr, who has good size at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, has thrown primarily to his two fellow senior captains in split end Hunter Yearsovich (18 catches for 255 yards and 3 TDs) and Wood (9 catches for 140 yards and 3 TDs).
Luis Ceja Alvarez (5-10, 155), is a crafty, undersized linebacker who leads the defense with 34 solo tackles and 52 assists. Fellow linebacker Xavier Stroud has 17 solos and 32 assists.
Yearsovich, a team leader and two-way starter with a 4.4 GPA, said he and his senior teammates had an immediate connection with their Hall of Fame coach.
“I’ll never forget when we met him in the gym last year because he talked to us like we were men,” said Yearsovich. “With him, we don’t ever have the mentality that we’re going to lose, no matter who we’re playing. It hasn’t always been like that around here.”
As the Lions broke into groups in the middle of Tuesday’s practice, Munger headed off with the defensive backs.
The joy of hands-on coaching was apparent as he schooled them on back-pedaling and cutting on what could be a muddy playing surface Friday night, and then concentrating and catching a wet ball.
Munger, who had quadruple-bypass, open-heart surgery in the summer of 2019 and has undergone three separate spine surgeries, is thankful to still be able to stalk the sidelines with a whistle around his neck. He endured one long autumn away from coaching, during the COVID year of 2020, which is when he knew he wasn’t done.
“I was going stir crazy,” said Munger with a grin. “I needed my football fix, anywhere.”
That led him to tiny Mancelona High School, which is near his cabin in northern Michigan, where he helped coach the offensive and defensive lines in 2021 and 2022. He then in 2023 pursued and landed the Newaygo head coaching job, which is a 30-minute drive from his home in Rockford.
He led Newaygo to a fairly typical 3-6 record last year. But with a full year of his coaching under their belts, the Lions are enjoying a breakthrough fall.
Newaygo finished the regular season 7-2, with the only losses coming against Reed City and Big Rapids, who are both still alive in the playoffs. One of the wins came against this week’s playoff opponent, Central Montcalm, 21-12, in Week 2.
Another victory over CM would earn the Lions yet another home game, against the winner of Ovid-Elsie at Lansing Catholic, this time for a Regional championship. Newaygo has never won a football Regional title, and 2012 was the only year it won more than one playoff game, losing to Grand Rapids West Catholic in a Division 5 Regional Final.
Munger said, at this point in his life, his only goals are to bring some positive energy to Newaygo and help his players make the transition from boys to men – the same thing he has been doing for almost 50 years.
“I am enjoying myself, very much so,” said Munger, who is a member of six Halls of Fame for his coaching achievements. “I find it fun getting after all the challenges out here. That’s what drives me.
“That’s the calling that the Good Lord has given me.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Newaygo varsity football coach Ralph Munger, right, talks things over with his senior quarterback Blake Kerr during a 53-26 win over Lake Odessa Lakewood on Oct. 18 at Central Michigan’s Kelly-Shorts Stadium. (Middle) Senior tight end Henry Wood (84) works to get past an outstretched defender. (Below) Munger, play sheet in hand, has led the Lions to an 8-2 record. (Photos by Tashina Kerr.)
1st & Goal: 2025 Week 7 Preview
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 10, 2025
The MHSAA Football Playoffs don't start for three more weeks. But this weekend definitely feels playoff caliber.
At least 25 games could end tonight or Saturday with a team celebrating a share or more of a league championship. A few more of our top matchups will set up similar showdowns over the final two weeks of the regular season.
Follow scores for every game across the state this weekend on the MHSAA Scores page, check out standings for every league on those teams' pages, and watch several of those title deciders unfold on the NFHS Network, including all games with “WATCH” linked below.
Bay & Thumb
Millington (5-1) at Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker (6-0) WATCH
Millington’s loss to Cass City in Week 4 was in league play since 2022, but the Cardinals still can claim a share of the Big Thumb Conference West title with a win over the Lakers, whose only single-digit game this season was an 18-13 win over Cass City in Week 3. Millington won last year’s regular-season matchup 28-0 and then a 42-14 playoff rematch on the way to claiming the Division 7 title. Laker has given up only 47 points this season with impressive shutouts of Ubly and Central Montcalm.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Linden (5-1) at Fenton (4-2) WATCH, Bay City John Glenn (4-2) at Freeland (5-1) WATCH, Reese (4-2) at Harbor Beach (6-0) WATCH, Ithaca (5-1) at Saginaw Nouvel Catholic Central (5-1) WATCH.
Greater Detroit
Gibraltar Carlson (6-0) at Brownstown Woodhaven (6-0) WATCH
Carlson brings a combined 34-3 record in Downriver League play this decade as it seeks a fifth-straight league title – and fifth-straight win over Woodhaven, which last won the Downriver in 2019. The Marauders spent their lone nonleague week doubling up reigning Division 5 champion Pontiac Notre Dame Prep 42-21 in Week 3, and a week later they avenged last season’s lone Downriver defeat by edging Trenton 17-14. Woodhaven also working to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2022 and hasn’t had a game closer than 24 points this fall.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Clarkston (5-1) at West Bloomfield (5-1) WATCH, Detroit Central (5-1) at Detroit Pershing (4-2), Almont (6-0) at Richmond (6-0) WATCH, Detroit Edison (5-1) at Harper Woods Chandler Park (5-1).
Mid-Michigan
Fowler (5-1) at Pewamo-Westphalia (5-0) WATCH
These longtime rivals have split their last four games against each other, Fowler claiming last year’s 14-11 on the way to the Central Michigan Athletic Conference title. This time they’ll meet in a league schedule finale, with a winner-take-all for the title guaranteed. The lone loss between them this fall was Fowler’s to still-undefeated Hudson in a season opener, and the Eagles have not given up more than seven points in a game since. The Pirates haven’t given up more than six points in a game all season and had an extra week to prepare for this one with an open date last week.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Kent City (6-0) at Central Montcalm (5-1) WATCH, Montrose (6-0) at New Lothrop (5-1) WATCH, Grand Ledge (6-0) at DeWitt (6-0) WATCH, Battle Creek Harper Creek (5-1) at Hastings (5-1) WATCH.
Northern Lower Peninsula
Mancelona (4-2) at Charlevoix (6-0) WATCH
Charlevoix has clinched an outright championship in the Northern Michigan Football Conference Leaders division, while Mancelona is tied for first in the Legacy with two league games to play and the big one a Week 9 date with co-leader Maple City Glen Lake. The Rayders certainly will provide some prep as the Ironmen ready for that deciding matchup, but there’s plenty at stake for Charlevoix too as it’s downed Mancelona in eight straight and is one of only six Division 7 teams still undefeated this fall.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Kingsley (4-2) at Cheboygan (3-3) WATCH, East Jordan (3-3) at Harbor Springs (3-3) WATCH, LeRoy Pine River (4-2) at Manton (4-2), Bay City Western (3-3) at Traverse City Central (3-3).
Southeast & Border
Hudson (6-0) at Clinton (5-1) WATCH
Undefeated and with all of its games against Division 5, 6 and 7 opponents, Hudson has the highest playoff-point average in Division 8 by a comfortable margin and can add to it against Division 7 Clinton. More importantly, they are the only two teams undefeated in Lenawee County Athletic Association play, and the winner this weekend clinches a share of the championship. They’ve split their last two meetings, Hudson claiming last year’s 22-6 during an outright championship run and after Clinton handed the Tigers their most recent league loss, in 2023.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Riverview (4-2) at Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central (6-0), Leslie (4-2) at Napoleon (4-2), Harper Woods (6-0) at Saline (6-0) WATCH, Adrian (5-1) at Ypsilanti Community (3-3).
Southwest Corridor
Portage Northern (5-1) at Portage Central (6-0) WATCH
The winner clinches a share of the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference West title. Northern also is seeking its first win in the rivalry since 2022, and they almost assuredly will meet again in the playoffs next month with Central fourth in Division 2 playoff-point average and Northern No. 13. Central also has given up only 10 points this season – all coming over the last two weeks – giving Northern another potential spoiler goal coming off last week’s 42-36 win over St. Joseph and having scored at least that many in four straight games. To that end, Central has yet to score fewer than 41 this season.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Kalamazoo Central (3-3) at Battle Creek Central (4-2), Dowagiac (4-2) at Buchanan (4-2) WATCH, Bronson (5-1) at White Pigeon (6-0) WATCH, Springport (6-0) at Quincy (4-2).
Upper Peninsula
Gaylord (6-0) at Escanaba (6-0) WATCH
Neither of these teams made the playoffs in 2024, much less competed for the Big North Conference title. But they did play one of the league’s closest games, a 19-15 Gaylord win, and this time the victor will clinch a share of the league title and keep an undefeated season going. Escanaba is coming off breaking a seven-game losing streak against rival Marquette with last week’s 38-20 victory – while Gaylord started league play with a 28-27 win over the Sentinels a month ago.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Iron Mountain (4-1) at Bark River-Harris (4-1) WATCH, L’Anse (4-2) at West Iron County (2-3) WATCH, Petoskey (3-3) at Marquette (3-3) WATCH, Negaunee (4-2) at Menominee (6-0) WATCH.
West Michigan
East Kentwood (5-1) at Hudsonville (6-0) WATCH
East Kentwood faded just a bit from the Ottawa-Kent Conference Red spotlight after a 21-14 Week 4 loss to Rockford, but can reclaim it almost entirely with a win over the Eagles – who themselves are coming off a 35-28 win over the rival Rams. When last these two met, Hudsonville edged East Kentwood 25-23 in a District opener last fall. A Falcons win this time could result in up to four teams being tied for first in the league, while a Hudsonville win would put them one away from clinching a repeat title.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Grand Rapids South Christian (3-3) at Zeeland East (4-2), Grand Rapids Catholic Central (6-0) at Holland Christian (4-2) WATCH, Whitehall (4-2) at Ludington (6-0), Belding (5-1) at Muskegon Oakridge (5-1) WATCH.
8-Player
Deckerville (6-0) at Kingston (6-0) WATCH
No one should be stunned if both of these rivals end up playing for 8-player championships next month at Superior Dome; Deckerville is No. 4 in Division 2 playoff-point average, and Kingston is No. 5 in Division 1. But first they must face off in what may turn end up one of the best 8-player games this regular season, with a share of the Big Thumb Conference Blue title on the line. Deckerville swept last year’s meetings, winning by 44 and then 34 points on the way to a perfect season and Division 1 title. Kingston has reached 64 points in four games this season and will face an Eagles defense that hasn’t given up more than 20.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Breckenridge (4-2) at Gaylord St. Mary (6-0), Rogers City (4-2) at Mio (5-1) WATCH, Norway (6-0) at Newberry (5-1). SATURDAY Gogebic (6-0) at Lake Linden-Hubbell (5-1) WATCH.
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PHOTO A pair of Holland Christian defenders pursue an East Grand Rapids ball carrier during the Pioneers' 41-21 win last week. (Click for more by MI Sports Photo.)