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 2 Preview
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
September 4, 2025
When Ishpeming travels to Crystal Falls Forest Park tonight, it will be the first time the Upper Peninsula powers have met since 2022 – and a matchup of two of the first MHSAA Finals champions, as Forest Park won the first Class D title in 1975 and Ishpeming claimed the first championship in Class C that fall.
Meanwhile, much farther south, we’ll look to our first meeting this season of 2024 champions as Jackson Lumen Christi hosts Pontiac Notre Dame Prep.
Those are just a pair of Week 2 matchups that pop off the page, but there are plenty of note as we start another September. Nearly 75 percent of those mentioned below will be broadcast on the NFHS Network, along with several more, and scores for every game across the state will be posted on the MHSAA Scores page as they conclude.
Bay & Thumb
Ottawa Lake Whiteford (1-0) vs. Harbor Beach (1-0), Saturday at Davison WATCH
This Saturday showdown pits a pair of playoff teams from a year ago that were both expected to face tough matchups in Week 1 – and won their games 56 and 34 points. Harbor Beach has strung together 15 straight regular-season victories and downed Cass City 42-8 after the defeating the Red Hawks by just two points in 2024. Whiteford opened with a 56-0 shutout of a Blissfield team it edged by just seven last season.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Warren De La Salle Collegiate (1-0) at Davison (1-0), Saginaw Swan Valley (1-0) at Frankenmuth (0-1) WATCH, Goodrich (1-0) at Lapeer (0-1), Midland Dow (1-0) at Saginaw Heritage (0-1) WATCH.
Greater Detroit
Detroit Catholic Central (1-0) at Toledo Central Catholic (0-1)
This matchup ended up deciding the Catholic High School League Central championship last year as DCC won their Week 2 meeting 21-7 and carried the league lead through the rest of the regular season. The Shamrocks received some of the greatest attention of any team statewide this preseason and justified it with a 41-7 win over Clinton Township Chippewa Valley last week. Central Catholic, an eventual Ohio state runner-up last fall, took reigning MHSAA Division 1 champ Detroit Cass Tech to the end last week while losing 28-27.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Harper Woods (1-0) at Clarkston (1-0) WATCH, Oxford (1-0) at Birmingham Groves (1-0) WATCH, Grandville (1-0) at Detroit Cass Tech (1-0) WATCH, Port Huron Northern (1-0) at Madison Heights Lamphere (1-0) WATCH.
Mid-Michigan
Williamston (1-0) at Hastings (1-0)
Williamston made some noise starting the season with a 46-14 win over Lansing Catholic, which finished Division 6 runner-up last fall. Hastings will provide a second opportunity for the Hornets to avenge a 2024 loss, as they fell to the Saxons 16-12 a year ago during a 1-5 start that still turned into a playoff berth. Hastings – a District finalist the last four seasons – won its opener last week 31-29 over Middleville Thornapple Kellogg with a field goal as time expired.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Reed City (0-1) at Belding (1-0), Mason (1-0) at DeWitt (1-0) WATCH, New Lothrop (1-0) at Durand (1-0) WATCH, Portland (1-0) at Lansing Sexton (0-1) WATCH.
Northern Lower Peninsula
Traverse City St. Francis (1-0) at Ogemaw Heights (1-0) WATCH
We knew Ogemaw Heights was leveling up with its 2023 win over St. Francis, and although the teams didn’t play each other last year the Falcons are a combined 19-4 over the last three, including a pair of District Final losses. They opened with a big win last week over Flint Hamady, while St. Francis set the tone with a 30-6 victory over Maple City Glen Lake, which like the Gladiators was a league champion last season.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Gaylord (1-0) at Kingsley (1-0) WATCH, Harbor Springs (1-0) at Mancelona (1-0) WATCH, Frankfort (1-0) at Maple City Glen Lake (0-1) WATCH, Kalkaska (1-0) at Oscoda (1-0) WATCH.
Southeast & Border
Pontiac Notre Dame Prep (1-0) at Jackson Lumen Christi (0-1) WATCH
After two games last week across the state featured teams that finished at Ford Field last year, here’s the first between reigning champions as Division 5 Notre Dame Prep looks to add to last season’s 28-24 win over eventual Division 6 title winner Lumen Christi. That proved to be the Titans’ only loss of 2024, and although they opened this season falling 20-16 at Lombard Montini Catholic of Illinois, they’ll surely be amped to attempt to avenge last year’s defeat.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Clinton (0-1) at Adrian Madison (1-0) WATCH, Ypsilanti Lincoln (1-0) at Ypsilanti Community (1-0), Hudson (1-0) at Ida (1-0) WATCH, Traverse City Central (1-0) at Parma Western (1-0).
Southwest Corridor
Hudsonville Unity Christian (1-0) at Schoolcraft (1-0) WATCH
Schoolcraft reached the Division 7 Semifinals last season and has loaded its nonleague schedule with Unity joined by annual matchups against Centreville and Constantine and a Week 9 meeting with Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep. Three of those four opponents won at least eight games last season, and Unity began building on last year’s 10-1 run with a 55-14 win over Whitehall last week.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Plainwell (1-0) at Galesburg-Augusta (1-0), White Pigeon (1-0) at Hartford (1-0), Ithaca (1-0) at Lawton (1-0) WATCH, Edwardsburg (1-0) at St. Joseph (0-1) WATCH.
Upper Peninsula
Bark River-Harris (1-0) at Iron Mountain (1-0) WATCH
As one of the smallest among the best, Bark River-Harris doesn’t always make the conversation when we talk about contenders from the Upper Peninsula – but it should. The Broncos have reached the playoffs eight of the last 11 seasons and last week already avenged a loss from 2024. But Iron Mountain has been a nemesis. The Mountaineers have won all 10 meetings since the teams began playing each other annually in 2018, with a couple of playoff matchups in there as well.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Cadillac (0-1) at Escanaba (1-0) WATCH, Ishpeming Westwood (0-1) at Calumet (1-0) WATCH, Kingsford (0-1) at Houghton (0-1) WATCH, Negaunee (1-0) at Gladstone (0-1) WATCH.
West Michigan
Rockford (0-1) at Muskegon (0-1)
The last time these two both started the season 0-1 was 2015, and this matchup could tell mean a lot moving forward this fall. Granted, a second loss won’t end anyone’s season – but a win will really help. Muskegon has Byron Center, Mona Shores and Cincinnati Moeller among others left on the schedule, and Rockford will see three 2024 playoff teams during league play plus a fourth that upset the Rams last year. Rockford downed the Big Reds in last season’s meeting 28-21 and 27-7 in 2023.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Byron Center (0-1) at East Kentwood (1-0) WATCH, Portage Central (1-0) at Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central (1-0) WATCH, Vicksburg (1-0) at Grand Rapids Northview (1-0) WATCH, Coopersville (0-1) at Grand Rapids West Catholic (0-1).
8-Player
Portland St. Patrick (1-0) at Morrice (1-0)
Morrice’s only loss last season on the way to the Division 2 championship game came in Week 4 against St. Patrick, and the Orioles avenged that 17-point defeat with a 28-22 Regional Semifinal win over the Shamrocks. The rivals are 2-2 against each other since becoming league foes again in 2022, and as usual both are coming off big opening-night wins – Morrice 49-0 over St. Charles and St. Patrick 62-12 over Merrill.
Keep an eye on these THURSDAY Mendon (1-0) at Britton Deerfield (1-0) WATCH. FRIDAY Ishpeming (0-1) at Crystal Falls Forest Park (0-1) WATCH, Newberry (1-0) at Ontonagon (1-0) WATCH, Norway (1-0) at Powers North Central (1-0) WATCH.
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PHOTO A Goodrich defender chases down Frankenmuth's quarterback during the Martians' Week 1 win. (Photo by Terry Lyons.)