Eriksen, Clarkston Finish 'Dream' Run
November 30, 2013
By Bill Khan
Special to Second Half
DETROIT — Ian Eriksen's senior season was slipping away.
And so was his lifelong dream.
Eriksen and his football-playing buddies in Clarkston talked about earning an MHSAA championship back when they were in elementary school and winning the Super Bowl of the Northern Youth Football League in Oakland County.
But after rushing for 2,167 yards and 33 touchdowns as a junior, Eriksen came into his senior year with Achilles and ankle injuries, then underwent arthroscopic surgery for a partially torn meniscus in his right knee on Sept. 19.
Four Friday nights passed with Eriksen in street clothes, unsure of when — or if — he'd ever rejoin his teammates in pursuit of their shared dream.
"That was really tough, because I've never been injured that seriously," Eriksen said. "It could've been a lot worse. I tried to be positive. All you can do is be positive rather than mope over it."
One positive out of the situation may be that Eriksen was fresh enough by the end of the playoffs to take on a heavy workload and help carry the Wolves to their first MHSAA football title.
Eriksen ran 32 times for 237 yards and three touchdowns in Clarkston's 32-14 victory over perennial power Detroit Catholic Central in the MHSAA Division 1 championship game Saturday at Ford Field.
He also had a 30-yard catch to extend Clarkston's first touchdown drive, and a sack. In Clarkston's last two games, Eriksen ran 76 times for 592 yards and nine touchdowns.
"He gave us a lot of problems," said veteran Catholic Central coach Tom Mach, who has built a dynasty with the power-running game. "He was a very good running back. He would be a good running back in our program. We would've loved to have him. We had a lot of trouble tackling him. He got the extra yard and put in the extra effort.
“They kept the ball away from us, getting those first downs, getting those first downs, getting those first downs. That's frustrating on a team, especially when you do get the ball when you're a ball-control offense like us."
Bringing Clarkston its first MHSAA championship was the fulfillment of a dream for Eriksen and his teammates after the program reached three Semifinals and made the postseason 16 times under 27-year coach Kurt Richardson.
"In Little League, there's a Super Bowl," Eriksen said. "We won the Super Bowl together in 2006 when we were in fourth and fifth grade. The next thing we started talking about was winning a high school championship if we could do it. We knew we could."
Eriksen and some of the players who delivered that championship were in the stands at Troy Athens four years ago when Clarkston lost by two points in a Semifinal to Sterling Heights Stevenson.
"I remember when that happened," Eriksen said. "Everyone in the community was just so upset about that. Me and the other guys were like, 'That's not going to happen to us when we get there.'"
Clarkston made Catholic Central settle for a third straight runner-up finish by stealing a page from the Shamrocks' script.
Led by Eriksen and an outstanding offensive line, the Wolves ground out 288 yards on 45 carries. They had a 27:58 to 20:02 advantage in time of possession.
"The offensive line doesn't get enough credit," Richardson said. "They deserve it for this one."
After a punt and interception ended Clarkston's first two drives, the Wolves scored touchdowns on their next five possessions.
Both teams had promising drives end with interceptions deep in the opponent's territory before Clarkston broke through for the game's first score with 13 seconds left in the first half.
Converting three times on third down and once on fourth, Clarkston moved 91 yards in 17 plays, taking 6:36 off the clock, before D.J. Zezula hit Shane Holler with a 15-yard touchdown pass on a post route. The extra point failed.
The key play on the drive was a 30-yard pass to Eriksen on third-and-12 from Clarkston's 15-yard line.
"We knew we had to score, because we got the ball to start the second half," Zezula said. "It was 0-0 and we knew we had to get up on CC. They brought in an extra (defensive back). The play-action with Ian helps me out a lot with time and the O-line helps me a lot with time. We knew the play-action would work."
Catholic Central's best drive of the first half came following the opening kickoff. The Shamrocks marched to the Clarkston 24 before Tim Cason intercepted a pass, only the second pick thrown by Catholic Central all season.
Jack Van Acker made two big plays to keep Clarkston out of the end zone on the Wolves' second possession. First, he made a touchdown-saving tackle on a 35-yard run by Eriksen to the Shamrocks' 10-yard line. Then, two plays later, he picked off a pass in the end zone after Clarkston moved to the 6.
A 63-yard punt by Zach Bock pinned Clarkston at its own 9-yard line with 6:49 left in the second quarter before the Wolves drove for the only touchdown of the first half. Clarkston's average starting field position on three first-half possessions was its own 10.
Armed with a lead and momentum, Clarkston took the opening kickoff of the second half and marched 80 yards in eight plays, taking a 12-0 lead on a 37-yard run by Eriksen with 8:18 left in the third quarter.
The lead reached 18-0 on a 1-yard run by Eriksen with 3:59 left in the third.
Catholic Central got on the board when Dylan Roney scored on a 2-yard run with 45 seconds left in the third quarter, cutting Clarkston's lead to 18-7.
The Wolves responded with a seven-play, 71-yard drive that ended on a 47-yard pass from Zezula to Caine Watlington with 8:35 left in the game.
The Shamrocks scored again on a 48-yard pass from Sean Birney to Alexander Bock with 5:46 left, but Clarkston again had an answer, with Eriksen scoring on a 12-yard run to cap the scoring with 4:06 left.
Zezula was 10 for 15 for 154 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Birney was 13 for 23 for 166 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Clarkston won its final 13 games after a season-opening loss to Rochester Adams, a loss the Wolves avenged in the playoffs.
"A lot of these kids have been playing together since fifth grade," Richardson said. "They've played Chiefs together, so they've come up through the junior ranks. We all felt this could be a special season. We had some issues at the start. We talked to the kids at the time about turning a negative into a positive. You're going to get slapped in the face in life. We got slapped in the face in the first game. They learned from it. It was a huge coming-together point for us as a team."
Catholic Central (11-3) became the third team to finish runner-up three straight years. Utica Eisenhower was the Division 1 runner-up from 1999-2001 and Crystal Falls Forest Park was the Division 8 runner-up from 2004-06.
The Shamrocks' 2012 runner-up team was led defensively by sophomore middle linebacker David Widzinski, who had a game-high 15 tackles. Less than two weeks later, he died in his sleep.
Tributes to Widzinski were visible at Ford Field. Catholic Central's uniforms had a patch with his No. 33 inside a shamrock. In the student section, some students wore white and formed a 33 within a field of blue shirts worn by the others. Widzinski's jersey hung on the wall on the Catholic Central sideline.
"We brought up David a lot," Mach said. "He was a force behind our team all year long. Every day after practice, we would say a prayer for him and the people in our community who are suffering. It was a real learning experience for our kids to put something bigger than themselves in place of winning and losing."
PHOTOS: (Top) Clarkston players trade high fives with fans as they march off the Ford Field turf with their first MHSAA championship trophy. (Middle) Clarkston running back Ian Eriksen runs through the reaching arms of Detroit Catholic Central defenders Saturday. (Click to see more from Terry McNamara Photography.)
Deckerville Completes Title-Clinching Comeback with Unforgettable 'Drive'
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
November 23, 2024
MARQUETTE — Deckerville was used to being in a tough spot.
The Eagles were behind for the duration of the 8-player Division 1 championship game against Pickford on Saturday until finally taking a 30-28 lead eight seconds into the fourth quarter.
When they got the ball back after a brief Panthers possession, they still had that lead. They were just pinned at their own 1-yard line.
Coach Bill Brown had three thoughts.
The first was, “Oh, no.”
The second centered on getting out of there without surrendering a safety or turning the ball over near the end zone.
The third was “The Drive” from back in 1987 when quarterback John Elway took the Denver Broncos 98 yards in the late stages of the fourth quarter to tie the AFC Championship game, which they eventually won.
“I was like, ‘Hmm, I wonder if we can have the drive and we can call that The Drive,’” Brown said.
Saturday’s drive will certainly be remembered in Deckerville for a long time. The Eagles didn’t score, but they did run out the clock – all nine minutes, 14 seconds of it.
That cemented their 30-28 championship victory at the Superior Dome. After falling behind by two touchdowns early, the Eagles rallied back by holding onto the football and keeping Pickford’s electric quarterback, Tommy Storey, on the sideline.
“It’s a dream come true,” Deckerville senior linebacker Corbin Sharbowski said. “I’ve been dreaming since I was a little kid. I think in seventh grade, we were all on the same team, we had a pretty good season and we were like, ‘Yeah, we might be able to do this.’”
Saturday’s game started out as a nightmare, in part thanks to an epic performance by Storey.
The 5-foot-9, 175-pound senior ran for touchdowns of 44, 70, 57 and 34 yards in the first half to give the Panthers 16-0 and 28-16 leads. He ended the half with 282 rushing yards, just 70 off the record for a full 8-player championship game.
He only recorded 22 yards during the second half. To be fair, he was rarely on the field after halftime.
Deckerville got the ball first in the second half. The Eagles used 15 plays to go 71 yards while taking more than 7½ minutes off of the clock.
They converted two fourth downs, including a 4th-and-9 when standout quarterback, Hunter Garza, ran 17 yards for a first down at the 1. Parker Merriman ran the last yard to pull Deckerville within five of Pickford’s lead, 28-23.
The Panthers followed with a four-and-out, as the Eagles stopped their 4th-and-3 play for no gain.
Deckerville took its first lead on the ensuing possession, with Brandon Salowitz grabbing a 36-yard touchdown pass from Garza. Mark Donker’s extra point kick made it 30-28 Eagles with 11:52 left in the game.
Brown said that was the first time they ran that play all season, and it was likely the only one Pickford hadn’t seen from them during pregame prep.
“I (had) seen Brandon, I knew he was 1-on-1, so I just threw it up and he did the rest,” Garza said.
Storey ran for 12 yards on the first play of Pickford’s next possession. A false start doomed that drive, though, and Pickford took two timeouts before deciding to punt from its own 49 with 9:25 left.
The Panthers executed the punt well, downing the ball at the 1-yard line.
They just never saw the ball again. Seventeen rushing plays by Garza and Merriman – only one of which went for more than 10 yards, an 11-yard gain by Garza – ate up all of that clock. Deckerville converted on three third downs. Garza rushed five yards on 4th-and-5 at the Pickford 30 to seal it.
“There wasn’t, ‘Hey, let’s keep the ball,’” Brown said. “No, it’s let’s go score because we’re going to have to outscore them sooner or later.”
Pickford ran just nine offensive plays during the final two quarters. Deckerville went 5-for-5 on fourth downs and had the ball for 19 minutes, 3 seconds of the 24-minute second half.
“That’s the game we like to play,” Pickford coach Josh Rader said. “We like to keep their offense off the field. They did that to us. They ground and pounded it. They got first downs when they needed to.”
Eagles also defended the physical runner Storey well the few times he touched the ball in the second half. “I thought we could run at him a little more, maybe wear him down a little bit more running at him,” Brown said.
Storey finished with the second-most rushing yards 8-Player Finals history, 304 on 21 carries with the four first-half touchdowns. Pickford ended the season at 12-1.
“Proud of our guys,” Rader said. “Like I mentioned after the game, it hurts right now. As we get time to get away, they’re going to realize how fun it actually was to be in this game.”
Deckerville, meanwhile, finished a perfect 13-0.
“It’s so surreal I can’t even grasp what’s happening right now,” Brown said.
The title was Deckerville’s second in 8-player and first since 2012.
“It’s a crazy experience to even go to the state finals,” said Garza, who finished with 225 yards on 37 carries with two touchdowns, “but to win it is just awesome.”
PHOTOS (Top) Deckerville's Brandon Salowitz celebrates his second-half touchdown reception Saturday at the Superior Dome. (Middle) Pickford quarterback Tommy Storey (8) breaks away for his second touchdown run of the first half. (Below) Deckerville quarterback Hunter Garza (7) begins to cut back during his first-half touchdown sprint. (Photos by Cara Kamps. Click for more.)