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The Drive is Complete: Finals in Review

December 4, 2013

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

A crowd of more than 52,000 fans – 5,000 more than in 2012 – plus countless others watching on Fox Sports Detroit witnessed the end of one era, the beginning of another and the continuation of one of the most impressive in the nation while watching the MHSAA Football Finals over the last two weekends.

Second Half covered all nine championship games, with quick recaps and links to those stories below followed by notations of performances entered into the MHSAA record book and a report on some of the biggest and best stories to emerge from the 2013 11 and 8-Player Finals.

Finals in Review

D1: Clarkston 32, Detroit Catholic Central 14 – Clarkston’s proud football tradition now includes its first MHSAA Finals appearance and championship, thanks in part to running back Ian Eriksen’s 237 yards and three touchdowns rushing. The Shamrocks fell in the championship game for the third straight season and despite avenging the first two losses by beating two-time reigning champion Detroit Cass Tech in the Semifinal. Click to read more.

D2: Birmingham Brother Rice 38, Muskegon 21 – The Warriors sent out longtime coach Al Fracassa with the team’s third straight MHSAA championship and first 14-0 season. Fracassa finished his career with a record of 430-117-7 at Brother Rice and Royal Oak Shrine and the most wins in Michigan football coaching history. Click to read more.

D3: Zeeland West 34, DeWitt 27 – The Dux have now won two MHSAA titles in two divisions over the last three seasons after also claiming the Division 4 championship in 2011. Zeeland West plowed to 441 yards rushing on 6.7 per carry. But to DeWitt’s credit, the Panthers didn’t let down despite an early 22-0 deficit and nearly blocked a punt late that could’ve set up a game-tying rally. Click to read more.

D4: Marine City 49, Grand Rapids South Christian 35 – In arguably the weekend’s most competitive scorefest, Marine City outlasted the reigning champion. The score was tied midway through the third quarter and South Christian pulled within seven points of the lead two minutes into the fourth. Click to read more.

D5: Grand Rapids West Catholic 27, Menominee 14 – Despite just making the playoffs at 5-4 and with a one-point win in Week 9, West Catholic marched through the postseason and beat Menominee for the fourth time in the playoffs in the last four seasons. The Falcons had finished runner-up in 2012, losing 12-9 to Portland. Click to read more.

D6: Ithaca 41, Clinton 22 – Despite trailing as late as four minutes into the third quarter, the Yellowjackets kept their reign going another season with a fourth straight MHSAA title, one short of tying the football record for consecutive championships. Ithaca also added to their 56-game winning streak, which is tied for longest in the nation for 11-player teams. Click to read more.

D7: Ishpeming 22, Detroit Loyola 12 – The highly-anticipated rematch of the 2012 Final ended with the same victor as Hematites quarterback Alex Briones led his team to the championship for the second time by a nearly identical score. Ishpeming won last season 20-14 and entered these playoffs ranked No. 1, while Loyola was No. 2. Click to read more.

D8: Muskegon Catholic Central 35, Beal City 12 – The Crusaders locked down one of the highest scoring offenses in MHSAA history while senior Alex Lewandowski turned in one of the top Finals rushing performances of all-time with 218 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. It was MCC’s first championship since 2008. Click to read more.

8-Player: Peck 67, Rapid River 32 – Peck was 1-8 in 11-player football only two seasons ago before making the switch and ascending to the top of 8-player as the latest power to emerge from the Thumb area. Usually a running team, the Pirates took advantage of size on the perimeter to rule the air against Rapid River, which finished runner-up for the second time in three seasons. Click to read more.

Records Report

A number of team and individual entries have been added to the MHSAA Football Finals record book, found by clicking here. A breakdown:

  • Clarkston’s Ian Eriksen ran for 242 yards (on 32 carries) to place eighth for most rush yards in a Final. Muskegon Catholic Central’s Alex Lewandowski ran 16 times for 218 yards, good for 16th on that list.


  • The Finals featured a number of premiere quarterbacks, but two stuck out most. Birmingham Brother Rice’s Alex Malzone tied for the sixth-most completions, 20, on just 24 attempts. His 263 passing yards ranked 12th for a Final and his four touchdown passes tied for third most. Ithaca’s Travis Smith finished with the seventh-most yards of total offense (370) – adding to a number of entries from his 2011 Finals performance – while joining the lower part of the list for most passing yards with 244. He also threw four touchdown passes.


  • DeWitt quarterback Jake Johnson joined some of his Panthers predecessors in the record listings with 289 passing yards (10th all-time) and 320 yards of total offense (11th). Grand Rapids West Catholic quarterback Travis Russell placed 13th on the total offense list with 309 yards, including 133 rushing. South Christian quarterback Jon Wassink joined a long list of those who have completed at least 18 passes, doing so for 240 yards and three TDs. And Muskegon quarterback Deshaun Thrower found teammate Justin Foster with an 86-yard TD pass, good for the fifth-longest pass play.


  • Menominee’s Devon Harris and Birmingham Brother Rice’s Corey Lacanaria tied for fifth with 10 receptions a piece, Harris for 149 yards and Lacanaria for 125. Grand Rapids South Christian’s Eric VanVoorst tied for seventh on the catches list with nine for 149 yards, and Marine City’s Pete Patsalis became one of eight who have caught a Finals-best three touchdown passes.


  • Marine City’s Olivia Viney tied the Finals record with seven extra-point kicks (see more on her below). Four other kickers made the record book list by connecting on all five of their attempts – Brother Rice’s Jason Alessi, South Christian’s Kyle Haan, Ithaca’s Alex Vanderploeg and Muskegon Catholic Central’s Griffin Seymour.


  • Marine City’s Jarrett Mathison ran for the fourth-longest kickoff return, 91 yards for a touchdown. Clinton’s Mathew Sexton ran for the second-longest punt return, 86 yards for a score.


  • Marine City’s 49 points were good to tie for sixth-most by a team in Finals history.


  • Zeeland West’s offense tied for the fourth-most first downs with 26 and became the 19th team to not punt in a championship game. West’s 66 rush attempts were the second-most in a Final. Brother Rice tied for seventh with 24 first downs and Clarkston tied for ninth with 23.


  • Detroit Catholic Central tied Farmington Hills Harrison for the most championship game appearances, with 16; the Shamrocks have won 10 titles. Brother Rice tied for third with 13 Finals berths and moved to sixth with nine championships – plus became one of six to win at least three straight. Muskegon moved up to tied for 12 with seven Finals appearances, Muskegon Catholic tied for sixth with 12 and South Christian is tied for 14th with six Finals appearances. DeWitt and Ishpeming both joined the lower end of that list, each notching their fifth. Ithaca is now tied for third on the list of consecutive titles with four straight, only one off tying that record. MCC also tied for sixth on the championship list by winning its ninth.


  • A number of entries also were added to 8-Player Finals record book, which although in its infancy boasts some of the most impressive totals for either football format. Peck quarterback Tristen Haener was added for his 379 yards and seven touchdowns passing, plus his 382 total yards and five extra-point kicks. Teammate Kyle Abrego was added for his 236 yards and four touchdowns receiving, with all four of those coming in the third quarter. Rapid River quarterback Jake Pearson was added for scoring 26 points in the game as both teams combined for 99. A number of team totals reflecting some of the same categories also were added.



Stories behind the scores

Ready for a rematch: There were two from the 2012 Finals, and both ended the same way in 2013. Brother Rice repeated against Muskegon in Division 2 with many of the same players as stood out a year ago, and Ishpeming repeated against Detroit Loyola in Division 7 with a number of new faces make big contributions.

7 for 7: Marine City’s Olivia Viney was believed to be the first female athlete to play in an MHSAA football championship game, and she put up a performance that will live on in the MHSAA record book. Viney connected on all seven of her extra-point kicks, tying the MHSAA Finals record. Viney earned a Division 3 all-state honorable mention this spring on Marine City’s girls soccer team.

Good bye, Coach: Longtime Brother Rice coach Al Fracassa retired after the game with the most wins in MHSAA history and sixth-most nationally. He coached at Royal Oak Shrine from 1960-68 before taking over the Warriors in 1969.

Ithaca reigns on: The national winning streak and four straight titles are detailed a little bit above, and next season the Yellowjackets can tie East Grand Rapids and Farmington Hills Harrison with a fifth straight MHSAA title. Quarterback Travis Smith was the only Ithaca player to dress for all four championships, and his brother Jacob is set to take over behind center next fall.

We are the champions: Clarkston has been in the conversation on Division 1 contenders for at least the last 14 seasons, and the Wolves brought home their first title after advancing from the Semifinals for the first time in four tries. They have won at least 10 games six times beginning in 1999 and are 24-2 over the last two seasons.  

Remembering David: Although Detroit Catholic Central’s third straight loss in the Division 1 Final was heart-wrenching for the Shamrocks, their student body pulled off an awesome tribute. David Widzinski was a running back on the team last season and died in his sleep a year ago. DCC’s students, wearing blue and white shirts, created his No. 33 in the Ford Field stands, memorializing him as his jersey hung from the front railing of the section.

PHOTOS: (Top) Nine champions celebrated MHSAA titles over the last two weekends. (Middle top) Clarkston players march off the Ford Field turf celebrating their first MHSAA football championship. (Middle) Ithaca, from right, works against the Clinton defense in the Division 6 Final. (Below) Detroit Catholic Central students, in blue and white shirts, form a No. 33 to commemorate their deceased classmate (Click to see more like the middle photos on the MHSAA Instagram page.)

Finals Four: Ithaca Adds to Title Streak

November 29, 2013

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

DETROIT – As the final seconds ticked down in Friday’s Division 6 Final, Ithaca’s players predictably began throwing four fingers into the air – signifying their fourth straight MHSAA title.

But the Yellowjackets could’ve chosen instead to press a thumb and fingertip together and form a zero – as in how many times they’ve lost during this greatest run in state football history.

Ithaca re-claimed a tie with Iowa City Regina (Iowa) for the nation’s longest active winning streak of 56 straight by climbing back from an early deficit to beat Clinton 41-22 at Ford Field.

The Yellowjackets’ run of perfection also is the longest in MHSAA history to occur entirely during the playoff era. Only Hudson, with 72 straight wins between 1968-75, put together a longer streak – and the Tigers’ included only one playoff win before they fell in the first-ever MHSAA Class C Final.

Also, only two teams have won more consecutive titles than Ithaca; East Grand Rapids and Farmington Hills Harrison achieved five straight apiece.

“We have a huge target on our back, and we all know that. As a team, we handle it pretty well,” said Ithaca senior quarterback Travis Smith, who finished his career 41-0 as a starter and as the only player who dressed for all four Finals wins. 

“We left the whole winning streak for our community to play with. We don’t really think about it too much. We just focus on the task at hand, which is what our coaching staff says all the time. And I’m just so proud of my team and my friends.”

Despite the convincing final score, Ithaca did trail Clinton into the third quarter. Amazingly, the Yellowjackets trailed in all of the final four playoff games this fall. 

Coach Terry Hessbrook, in his 10th season running the program and a former Ithaca standout himself, called three of the running backs his team faced during the run – Maple City Glen Lake’s Trevor Apsey, Negaunee’s Tyler LaJoie and Clinton junior Collin Poore – among the best Ithaca has ever faced. Then there was the more sizable Montrose, which provided the season’s greatest scare before falling to the Yellowjackets by a point in the Semifinal.

“We’ve been behind four playoff weeks in a row. It just does not seem to faze them,” Hessbrook said of his players. “With the big heavy weight, burden, on their shoulders and the bulls eye and the winning streak and all that kind of stuff, I’ve got to believe that a lot of high school kids would crumble under that kind of pressure. 

“These guys are going to go on to do amazing things in life because they’re special people.”

But it was Clinton (13-1) that appeared early to be special enough to end Ithaca’s streak. The Redskins capped their best season ever by making their first MHSAA Final. 

“I came last year to watch Ithaca play. Just coming to play the game is totally different,” Clinton senior quarterback T.J. Baker said. “I knew I was nervous right when I stepped on the first. It was just crazy to play in this game. But at the same time, it was fun. Our community has never been here before, and it was just a fun game to play in.”

After Ithaca jumped to a 14-0 lead, Clinton bounced back with a Poore 18-yard touchdown run and an 86-yard punt return score by sophomore Mathew Sexton. 

That seemed to nudge Ithaca’s offense – which finished this season with 710 points, third most in MHSAA history. Smith threw the second of his four touchdown passes to give Ithaca back the lead heading into halftime, and followed another Poore score at the start of the third quarter with two more scoring passes and a scoring run.

Smith also returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown during the first quarter, giving him a hand in all six Ithaca scores. He finished his high school career with an MHSAA record 104 touchdown passes, and in this game 123 yards rushing and 247 passing. 

“He lived up to his billing,” Clinton coach Scott McNitt said. “We did the best we could against him. And for two and a half quarters, we felt we were right there. And then it just got away from us a bit, and the momentum changed.

“I couldn’t be more proud of a group of young men who overcame a lot of adversity. To make it to the state finals, it’s unheard of where we come from.” 

Hessbrook said everything he feared about Clinton seemed to go wrong for his team during the first half. Poore finished with 125 yards rushing and the team as a whole had 254, taking advantage of its perimeter speed to get around the corner on pitch sweeps and other similar runs for 208 of those yards during the first half.

But the Yellowjackets made the necessary adjustments during the third quarter, taking away that edge while bringing more pressure – Ithaca finished with 13 tackles for losses including seven sacks.

Senior Josh Hafner caught two of the scoring passes from Smith, and senior Eli Villalobos had six catches for 82 yards and a score. Senior Logan Hessbrook also had six catches, for 93 yards and a score, to follow last season’s performance when he stepped in for an injured Smith at quarterback and led the team to the title. 

“You’re playing with your best friends you’ve grown up with your whole life. It’s the best group of friends I’ve ever had and could ask for,” said Hessbrook, who also is the coach’s nephew. “And the coaching staff and the community, it’s amazing. 

“Ithaca’s a special place. Coach says that; everyone says that. And when I get out of college, I’m going to try to come right back to Ithaca, because it’s amazing to live there.”

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS: (Top) Ithaca senior Josh Hafner (14) leaps over two Clinton defenders on the way to one of his two touchdowns. (Middle) Ithaca quarterback Travis Smith holds tight to the ball after a big hit from Clinton’s Mathew Sexton. (Click to see more from Terry McNamara Photography.)