Century of School Sports: Finals Provide Future Pros Early Ford Field Glory
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 26, 2024
For hundreds of Michigan high school athletes, this weekend’s 11-Player Football Finals will provide their first and only opportunity to play any sport where the pros play – in this case, Detroit’s Ford Field.
But for a handful, it could instead be the first of several games to come on the Lions’ home turf.
According to data at Pro-Football-Reference.com, Michigan high schools have produced 791 players from 303 schools who have gone on to play in the NFL. They’ve come from all over, predictably from larger population areas like Detroit but also from several now-closed schools like Stambaugh High School in the western Upper Peninsula, which produced a pair of pros during the 1930s before decades later consolidating with Iron River to become West Iron County.
According to that data, 81 players from 61 schools are currently active in the NFL – topped by five from Detroit Cass Tech, including Jourdan Lewis (32) pictured above making a tackle against Detroit Cass Tech during the 2016 Division 1 championship game. Several more current players experienced Ford Field as a high schooler at the MHSAA Finals – perhaps most notably among them Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner, who caught a touchdown pass in Detroit Martin Luther King’s 41-25 win over Muskegon in the 2018 Division 3 championship game, went on to play at University of Cincinnati and has been an All-Pro after both of his first two seasons as a cornerback for the New York Jets.
(Coincidentally, in that win over the Big Reds, Gardner and King played against another future pro – Anthony Bradford, now a starting offensive lineman for the Seattle Seahawks.)
Gardner and Lewis are among those who have formed rich tradition as well of Detroit producing NFL talent. According to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic and FOX Sports, Detroit was tied for the fourth-most players on NFL opening-day rosters this season with 14 – trailing only Miami, Fla.; Las Vegas, Bradenton, Fla; and tied with Atlanta, Ga. During the most recent NFL draft, Michigan high schools saw seven players drafted over the seven rounds, with River Rouge one of 22 high schools nationwide with multiple players selected – Ruke Orhorhoro (Atlanta Falcons, from Clemson) and Kamal Hadden (Kansas City Chiefs, from Tennessee).
Gardner was selected fourth overall in the 2022 NFL Draft, joining a collection of impressive past Michigan high school stars picked at or near the top of the board. Among recent others: 2008 No. 1 Jake Long (Lapeer West/Michigan/Miami Dolphins), 2022 No. 2 Aidan Hutchinson (Dearborn Divine Child/Michigan/Detroit Lions), 2003 No. 2 Charles Rogers (Saginaw/Michigan State/Detroit Lions), 2005 No. 3 Braylon Edwards (Harper Woods Bishop Gallagher/Michigan/Cleveland Browns), 1984 No. 3 Carl Banks (Flint Beecher/Michigan State/New York Giants) and 1991 No. 5 Todd Lyght (Flint Powers Catholic/Notre Dame/Los Angeles Rams).
From this group, Rogers also played in an MHSAA Final catching a 60-yard touchdown pass as Saginaw defeated Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice 14-7 in the 1999 Division 2 championship game at the Pontiac Silverdome.
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
Nov. 19: Connection at Heart of Coaches Advancement Program - Read
Nov. 12: Good Sports are Winners Then, Now & Always - Read
Nov. 5: MHSAA's Home Sweet Home - Read
Oct. 29: MHSAA Summits Draw Thousands to Promote Sportsmanship - Read
Oct. 23: Cross Country Finals Among MHSAA's Longest Running - Read
Oct. 15: State's Storytellers Share Fall Memories - Read
Oct. 8: Guided by 4 S's of Educational Athletics - Read
Oct. 1: Michigan Sends 10 to National Hall of Fame - Read
Sept. 25: MHSAA Record Books Filled with 1000s of Achievements - Read
Sept. 18: Why Does the MHSAA Have These Rules? - Read
Sept. 10: Special Medals, Patches to Commemorate Special Year - Read
Sept. 4: Fall to Finish with 50th Football Championships - Read
Aug. 28: Let the Celebration Begin - Read
PHOTOS Clockwise from top left: (1) Jalen Mayfield (74) exits the Ford Field tunnel with Grand Rapids Catholic Central in 2017. (2) Muskegon's Anthony Bradford (75) makes a block during the 2018 Division 3 Final. (3) Orchard Lake St. Mary's Allen Robinson eludes an East Grand Rapids defender in 2009. (4) Detroit Cass Tech's Jourdan Lewis (32) makes a tackle in 2016. (5) Detroit Martin Luther King's Ahmad Gardner catches a touchdown pass against Muskegon in 2018. (6) Lansing Catholic's Cooper Rush throws a pass during the 2011 Division 5 Final. All were on NFL rosters at the starting of training camp this summer.
St Mary's Scores 3-Peat on Late TD
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
November 26, 2016
DETROIT – Orchard Lake St. Mary’s has been bitten before by teams that made last-second winning plays.
This time St. Mary’s bit back.
Ky’ren Cunningham’s 18-yard touchdown reception with four seconds left gave the Eaglets a thrilling 29-28 victory over Muskegon in the Division 3 Final on Saturday at Ford Field.
St. Mary’s (10-4) began its last drive on its 20-yard line with 1:55 left. A pass interference penalty by Muskegon and Rashawn Allen’s 22-yard run placed the Eaglets in a good position to go for the winning score.
On 3rd-and-3 from the 22, quarterback Caden Prieskorn scrambled for four yards and a first down. An incomplete pass preceded the winning score.
“It was a pistol right,” Prieskorn said. “All we knew was we were going to have man-on-man coverage.”
Make no mistake. This was desperation, and it was a makeshift play. Cunningham is a starting running back. The last time he lined up as a receiver was in the first game this season against Macomb Dakota. Coach George Porritt ditched that plan afterward. Cunningham would stay in the backfield.
But not this time. St. Mary’s had five wideouts and to confuse matters more, Cunningham went to the slot, then switched spots with Clay Antishin, with Antishin moving inside.
“I play running back,” said Cunningham, a junior. “It was one-on-one and the safety didn’t come over the top. Caden just threw it. He just made the read.
“My body felt so weak (when I caught it). I don’t remember much.”
If Cunningham was stunned, Muskegon was more so.
The only loss the Big Reds (12-2) had this season was to a team from Illinois (Lincolnshire Stevenson). They rolled through the playoffs with their Semifinal game against Edwardsburg (19-8) the only close one.
“I just didn’t do a good enough job of teaching coverage,” Muskegon coach Shane Fairfield said.
“People say we can’t win the big one," he added. "We won a lot of big games to get here. The football game doesn’t define you. It’s what you do and the way you act afterwards that defines you.”
It was Muskegon’s fourth loss in a Final since winning its last title in 2008. Meanwhile, the championship was St. Mary’s third straight and eighth overall.
Muskegon took a 21-20 lead on its second possession of the second half. It took the Big Reds 1:48 to go 50 yards with senior quarterback/running back Kalil Pimpleton going the final 18 to give Muskegon the lead with 11:21 remaining.
St. Mary’s then went on one of its patented long, time-consuming drives to retake the lead. The Eaglets took 12 plays to go 47 yards, and Ben Fee set an MHSAA Finals record with a 49-yard field goal to give his team a short-lived 23-21 lead with 4:47 left.
Clinton Jefferson, Jr., returned the ensuing kickoff 49 yards to midfield to give the Big Reds great field position, and they made it count. Jefferson carried five times on the drive for 32 yards, including the last three for a touchdown with 1:55 left.
As it turned out, that was too much time to leave for St. Mary’s.
“Cade made some big throws against DeWitt (in a Regional Final),” St. Mary’s coach George Porritt said. “What amazes me is we were 5-4 at one point, and we battled back.”
St. Mary’s is the fifth team to win an MHSAA football title having lost four games.
Muskegon led 14-13 at the end of an entertaining first half.
The Big Reds went 70 yards during the opening drive and took a 7-0 lead on Pimpleton’s 18-yard touchdown run. Pimpleton’s 27-yard pass to Jefferson helped set up the score.
St. Mary’s then went 69 yards, but its drive stalled and Fee kicked a 32-yard field goal.
La’darius Jefferson took over at quarterback for Pimpleton in the second quarter, and Muskegon increased its lead to 14-3 as Jefferson completed an 80-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run. He carried five times on the drive for 25 yards. His 54-yard pass to Pimpleton was the key play.
After another Fee field goal, Muskegon had possession late in the half. But on 3rd-and-9 Jefferson handed off to Pimpleton, who threw a halfback pass that was intercepted by Shermond Dabney, who returned it 30 yards to the Muskegon 30. On St. Mary’s 3rd-and-9, Prieskorn threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Antishin, who made a diving catch in the end zone with 35 seconds left before the break.
Allen was a workhorse in the backfield, and ran with determination. A junior, he rushed for 136 yards on 25 carries, and Cunningham had 15 carries for 46 yards. Prieskorn was 13 of 21 passing for 200 yards and two touchdowns.
For Muskegon, Pimpleton had three receptions for 88 yards, was 3 of 4 passing for 58 and rushed nine times for 56 yards and two touchdowns.
The MHSAA Football Finals are sponsored by the Michigan National Guard.
PHOTOS: (Top) St. Mary’s Ky’ren Cunningham (12) celebrates his game-winning touchdown. (Middle) Muskegon’s La’darius Jefferson breaks around his blocker Saturday.