Farewell Silverdome; Our Memories Live On
By
Ron Pesch
MHSAA historian
November 28, 2017
Farewell Pontiac Silverdome.
In early December, more than 15 years after the Detroit Lions played their last game beneath its air-supported Teflon-paneled roof, the “Dome” will take a last breath and then depart.
Finally.
The last few years have been cruel to the stadium that was once a gem and the home of dreams.
The Lions arrived at the newly opened “Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium” (or “Ponmet” as it was called by enthusiasts of the new structure) in August 1975. It was renamed “Pontiac Stadium” later in the year by the city council, and in October of 1976 the Pontiac council again re-christened the building as the “Pontiac Silverdome.”
“We feel the new name better conveys the image of our facility,” said Charles McSwigan, Jr., stadium executive director, at the time. “It certainly lets everyone around the country know we have a modern year-round domed stadium.”
The move was primarily marketing motivated. “The other three giants, Super, Astro and King, get all the publicity,” added McSwigan, further explaining the change. “Promoters call them, but they don’t even come near us.”
Launched in 1975, the MHSAA football championship games were played outdoors at college stadiums that first year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. While deemed a success, the games were played at two different sites. That had presented challenges.
Following that first year, consideration was given to the new structure in Pontiac.
“There are some problems,” remarked Al Bush, MHSAA executive director, explaining the logistics of a possible move to the NFL stadium. “For instance, it would be difficult to play four games on the same day. We would have to start early in the morning, and the last game would have to start late at night.”
Competition for attendance with various events, including deer hunting season, and college football – especially the televised University of Michigan-Ohio State game – were factors to be considered. The high school football playoffs were still a new product without a tradition. Finances also were an area of worry. It was estimated that a crowd of between 20,000 and 25,000 would be needed to make the jump economically feasible.
So, it was with great caution and trepidation that the move was made indoors to Pontiac. Initially, the contract was for a single year. The games would be played on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. By all measures, to the delight of all involved, the 1976 championships were a huge success.
“The four state championship games, which were played in the Silverdome in two sessions on Saturday, drew a paid attendance of 29,423 fans,” said Associated Press writer Harry Atkins in a follow-up piece following the games, “bringing smiles of relief and joy to MHSAA Executive Director Al Bush and his assistant, Vern Norris. The attendance figure was almost double the number of fans who turned out last year in ice box-like weather at two sites – Western Michigan University and Central Michigan University.”
With that, a new contract was signed, and for 29 years the city of Pontiac served as home to the MHSAA 11-player football championships. “Goin’ to the Dome” soon became the goal of every high school in Michigan that offered the sport.
Following a 15-10 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in early January 2002, the Lions departed the Silverdome for Ford Field, located in downtown Detroit. The high school Finals stayed put for three more years before moving to Ford Field.
Twelve seasons after following the Lions from Pontiac to Detroit, countless memories and several MHSAA championship game records still stand from those years under the Dome.
Four championship games were played at the Silverdome to close each season from 1976-90. In 1991, the playoffs were expanded to eight classifications and the Finals expanded to eight games over a two-day showcase.
For many across Michigan, those 176 high school state title games were their first live exposure to the building many had only seen on television. For football fans, the MHSAA Finals provided an affordable and unique chance to visit the stadium and watch the game between the 20-yard-lines at ground level. An NFL game, concert, or in later years a Pistons basketball game at the Silverdome was far from an intimate experience for most. Seating 80,311, it was the largest stadium in the NFL until 1997.
For thousands of athletes and coaches, the playing surface was their first exposure to artificial turf. It was an honor to set foot on the field. After all, who didn’t want to run on the same canvas on which Lions legend Barry Sanders painted?
Who can forget the Mill Colemen-led comeback drive to title glory in the final minutes as Farmington Hills Harrison downed DeWitt for the Class B title in 1989, or “The Catch” by Muskegon Reeths-Puffer’s Stacy Starr that broke the hearts of Walled Lake Western players and fans in the final seconds in Class A in 1992? Who remembers the wild 91 points (and 883 yards in total offense) posted in Belding’s 50-41 victory over Detroit Country Day in Class B in 1994, when Belding trailed by 19 points at the half? The combined final score remains the record for most points tallied in a title game by two teams.
Farmington Hills Harrison and coach John Herrington won five consecutive finals in Pontiac (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001), and 12 of their 13 MHSAA Finals titles at the Silverdome. A total of 12 of Detroit Catholic Central’s 17 trips to the Finals meant a bus ride to Pontiac.
One record performance set in the opening game of the 1976 championships still stands in the MHSAA championship record book. With the evolution of the game, it may never fall.
Despite the climate-controlled environment afforded by moving indoors, Crystal Falls Forest Park threw only three passes against Flint Holy Rosary in the Class D title game, completing one for a net -3 yards. By default, that total established a record for pass defense in a title game. It remains the zenith.
Forest Park had little need for the pass that day. The Trojans rolled up 234 rushing yards on 48 carries, including a 74-yard touchdown run off left tackle by all-state running back Marty Ball with 4:36 to play in the first quarter. Less than two minutes later, a fumble recovery by Forest Park’s Charlie Davis was returned 25 yards for a score, and the Trojans led, 14-0. Holy Rosary passed for 204 yards including an 18-yard pass from Ron Fray to Dan Lehoux in the second quarter, but couldn’t overcome that first quarter deficit, falling 14-6. A crowd of 14,879 attended the day’s first session, comprised of the Class D and Class A games.
Other long-standing record performances at the Dome still can be spotted in the record book.
Josh Wuerfel’s 46-yard field goal in the second quarter gave Traverse City a 10-0 halftime lead and aided the second-ranked Trojans’ 24-14 defeat of top-ranked Detroit Catholic Central in the 1988 Class A contest. The kick stood for 28 years as the title game record before finally being exceeded (twice!) at the 2016 championships played at Ford Field. Liam Putz of Grand Rapids West Catholic shattered the mark with a 47-yarder against Menominee in the Division 5 title game, before Ben Fee of Orchard Lake St. Mary’s topped the kick in the eighth game of the weekend. Fee’s 49-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter helped St. Mary’s down Muskegon 29-28 in the Division 3 thriller. The boot was his third field goal of the game. Combined with two extra points, he finished as the Eaglets’ top scorer.
Paul Gross of Jackson Lumen Christi established a new mark for extra points against Livonia Clarenceville in the 2001 Division 5 game, connecting accurately on all seven of his attempts. The record has been matched twice since the move to downtown Detroit.
Nick Williams’ 90-yard touchdown dash on Farmington Hills Harrison’s first play from scrimmage in the 1994 Class A game, a 17-13 victory over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, still tops the record book category for longest run play in a title game. An 89-yard TD run by Constantine’s Jim Schragg sits directly behind the Williams’ mark. Schragg rolled up 307 yards in a 34-13 win over Suttons Bay in the 2004 Division 6 game, during the final year at the Silverdome. His total established the pinnacle for rushing yards in a game.
Ravenna’s Benny Clark carried the ball 49 times (including 29 rushes in the second half) for 212 yards as the Bulldogs topped Morenci 30-14 in the 1996 Class C contest. The total, which exceeded the previous mark of 40 set by Dan Lato of Crystal Falls Forest Park in 1977, has yet to be matched or exceeded.
The fastest championship game passing touchdown came 15 seconds into the 2003 Division 5 Final, when Jackson Lumen Christi‘s Tyler Aldridge found wide-open Matt Russell on a reverse pass on the second play from scrimmage. The Titans defeated Muskegon Oakridge 23-0 for the title.
Quarterback Tony Koshar tossed a short pass to Jim Steinman, “who shed a tackler and managed to stay in bounds as he took off for the end zone on a 96-yard scoring play,” as Gobles grabbed a 31-22 upset victory over top-ranked Crystal Falls Forest Park in the 1984 Class D title game. The reception for the longest pass play lasted 24 years before it was finally topped in 2008.
Kirk Williams’ 15 pass receptions for DeWitt against East Grand Rapids in the 2002 Division 3 contest still stand the test of time, as does Brad Johnson’s 87-yard punt return for a touchdown for Schoolcraft against Frankfort in the 1988 Class D championship game.
The 1991 title games saw two defensive marks set, both on the same day. On Saturday, November 30, Rick Marcotte of Lake Linden-Hubbell scooped up a fumble and dashed 79 yards for a touchdown and a new Finals record versus Mendon in Class DD. Less than 16 hours earlier Nate Cierlak of Muskegon Catholic Central had set the mark with a 56-yard return for a TD against Harbor Beach. In that year’s Class CC Final against Negaunee, Jason Livengood of Battle Creek Pennfield set the one mark that statistically can never be topped when he returned a pick-six for 100 yards.
Eight punts by Muskegon’s Jason Crago in the Big Reds’ 16-13 victory over Detroit Martin Luther King in the 1989 Class A title game was unmatched until 2007, when Aaron Hudson of Blissfield equaled the total. On Saturday, Clarkston’s Jermaine Roemer also tied the record in the Division 1 Final.
Between 1976 and 2004, more than 1.5 million fans attended the games in Pontiac, with a peak of attendance of 71,156 in 1995.
Soon the site will be cleared, with plans for redevelopment. Not far down the road, The Palace of Auburn Hills, once home to the MHSAA Basketball Finals and longtime home to the MHSAA Individual Wrestling Finals, will be scrubbed from the earth. Along with them, the structural evidence of the home of countless accomplishments will disappear.
Change is constant, and time moves on. Still those achievements, and several others, live on in the pages of the MHSAA record book, in the memories of those who competed and the recollections of those who played witness.
Ron Pesch has taken an active role in researching the history of MHSAA events since 1985 and began writing for MHSAA Finals programs in 1986, adding additional features and "flashbacks" in 1992. He inherited the title of MHSAA historian from the late Dick Kishpaugh following the 1993-94 school year, and resides in Muskegon. Contact him at [email protected] with ideas for historical articles.
PHOTOS: (Top) Constantine and Suttons Bay played in the Division 6 Final at the Silverdome as part of the last weekend of MHSAA games in the building in 2004. (Top middle) The 1976 program welcomed Finals fans to the Dome for the first time. (Bottom middle) The author's children during a trip to the Silverdome before the Finals moved to Ford Field. (Below) The 1986 Finals ticket got fans into two games at the Silverdome for $4. (Photos courtesy of Ron Pesch and MHSAA files.)
Inside Selection Sunday: Mapnalysis '19
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 27, 2019
This will be the final MHSAA Football Playoffs under the format created in 1999, with significant changes coming beginning with the 2020 season.
But the soon-to-be old way isn’t going out without a bang.
From a record number of additional qualifiers, to a first-ever coin flip to determine the final team in the 11-player field, to a series of maps that arguably included the toughest to draw at least this decade, this year’s “Selection Sunday” was jammed with notable moments that will play out in 10 divisions over the next five weeks.
Below, we explain how we made many of the most difficult decisions – and follow with a few points of interest that immediately jump out from this season’s brackets.
This process actually begins in April, when we start collecting schedules for the upcoming season – this time for 607 teams, from which 531 ended up eligible for the 11-player playoffs and 71 were eligible in 8-player. And of course, now that the brackets are drawn the major lifting begins – assigning officials for every game, gathering potential Semifinal sites in 11-player and working with our Finals hosts to again create once-in-a-lifetime experiences (for most) when our 8-player finalists face off Nov. 23 at Northern Michigan University’s Superior Dome and our 11-player finalists play for titles Nov. 29-30 at Ford Field.
So let’s dive in. Those familiar with this “Selection Sunday” recap will recognize first a refresher on the playoff selection process, followed by “Observations & Answers: 2019.” That’s followed by thoughts after a glance at this year’s brackets, and be sure to visit MHSAA.com to see all of the pairings in full.
Ground Rules
Our past: The MHSAA 11-player playoff structure – with 256 teams in eight divisions, and six wins equaling an automatic berth (or five wins for teams playing eight or fewer games) – debuted in 1999. An 8-player tournament was added in 2011, and in 2017 a second division of 8-player football was introduced.
The first playoffs were conducted in 1975 with four champions. Four more football classes were added in 1990 for a total of eight champions each fall. Through 1998, only 128 teams made the postseason, based on their playoff point averages within regions (four for each class) that were drawn before the beginning of the season. The drawing of Districts and Regionals after the end of the regular season did not begin until the most recent 11-player playoff expansion.
In early years of the current process, lines were drawn by hand. Dots representing qualifying schools were pasted on maps, one map for each division, and those maps were then covered by plastic sheets. Districts and Regionals literally were drawn with dry-erase markers.
Our present: The last few scores of this regular season were added to MHSAA.com by 8 p.m. Saturday. Re-checking and triple-checking of enrollments, what schools played in co-ops and opted to play as a higher class start a week in advance, and more numbers are crunched Sunday morning as the fields are set.
This final season of 6-wins-and-in (or five wins playing eight games or fewer) produced 202 automatic qualifiers for the 11-player field with a record 54 additional qualifiers then selected by playoff point average – that group of additional qualifiers easily blowing past last year’s then-record total of 43. Additional qualifiers were selected from each class in order (A, B, C, D) until the field was filled. There were only two Class D additional qualifiers with 5-4 or 4-4 (playing eight games) records from which we could choose, and likewise there were 16 additional qualifiers available in Class C – so with those 18 spots filled, we added 18 teams from both Class A and B to fill out the field.
Here’s where the tie-breaker was forced into play. Among Class B teams, Durand and Imlay City tied for the 18th spot with playoff point averages of 42.667. They did not play each other during the regular season – so the first tie-breaker of head-to-head result couldn’t be used. The next tie-breaker is opponents’ winning percentage – and both teams’ opponents won 45.7 percent of their games this season. So we went to the coin flip, and Durand was awarded the final spot in the field.
Those 256 11-player teams were then split into eight equal divisions based on enrollment, and their locations were marked on digital maps then projected on wall-size screens and discussed by nearly half of the MHSAA staff plus two representatives from the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association. Only the locations themselves were marked (by red dots) – not records, playoff point averages or names of the schools or towns. In fact, mentions of those are strictly prohibited. Records and playoff points are not part of the criteria. Matchups, rivalries, previous playoff pairings, etc. also DO NOT come into play.
The 8-player process is different for team selection and similar for designation of Regionals. We take the top 32 teams in 8-player based on playoff point average as our field, then re-sort those 32 by enrollment – the 16 biggest make up Division 1, followed by the next 16 in Division 2. There are no automatic qualifiers by record for 8-player, and those fields remain in flux right through the last Week 9 games. For example: Colon as recently as after Week 7 was slated for Division 2. But the Magi after this weekend ended up in Division 1 with the second-highest playoff-point average but the 16th-highest enrollment – meaning Colon (160 students) and Cedarville (154) were the line between Divisions 1 and 2 this year.
Our future: 11-player divisions determined in March. More bonus points awarded in losses. Read all about it: Comparison of old and new playoff formats
Geography rules: This long has been rule number one for drawing MHSAA brackets in any sport. Travel distance and ease DO come into play. Jumping on a major highway clearly is easier than driving across county-wide back roads, and that’s taken into consideration. Also, remember there’s only one Mackinac Bridge and hence only one way to cross between peninsulas – and boats are not considered a possible form of transportation. When opponents from both peninsulas will be in the same District, distance to the bridge is far more important than as the bird flies.
Tradition doesn’t reign: Every group of 32 (or in 8-player, 16) dots is a new group – these 32 teams have not been placed in a bracket together before. How maps have been drawn in the past isn’t considered – it’s hard to say a division has been drawn in a certain way traditionally when this set of 32 teams is making up a division for the first time.
Observations & Answers: 2019
We always start with CONGRATULATIONS: Detroit Leadership Academy, Detroit Communication Media Arts, and Pellston will be making their debuts in the MHSAA Playoffs this week, taking the list of teams that have never qualified for the postseason down to 11. Beal City and Crystal Falls Forest Park will make their MHSAA-best 35th playoff appearances. Five teams will be playing in at least their 17th consecutive playoffs – Rockford (25), Forest Park (23), Jackson Lumen Christi (22), Macomb Dakota (20) and Climax-Scotts (17).
Head-to-head rules: As noted above, it’s the first tie-breaker and comes into play immediately this week. In Division 3, East Lansing and DeWitt have identical playoff point averages, and East Lansing will host their first-round game thanks to a 21-2 Week 5 win. If Portland and Lansing Catholic both advance to an 11-Player Division 5 District Final, Portland will host thanks to a 21-20 Week 5 win over the Cougars. Same in 8-player Division 2, where if Powers North Central and Pickford meet in a Regional Final, the Jets will host thanks to their 20-14 win when the teams met in Week 3.
Traverse City traveling: Many years, we have to pay special consideration to ease of travel when we have one of 32 teams from a division in the Upper Peninsula. This year, we spent a lot more time discussing Traverse City schools – notably how to position Traverse City West in Division 1 and Traverse City Central in Division 2. There are three main north-south highways in the Lower Peninsula, with U.S. 131 the thoroughfare out of Traverse City. We also used it as the defining line in Division 1, with West going west with Grand Haven, Grandville and Hudsonville instead of staying with a more northern group that would’ve included Rockford and split Grandville and Hudsonville – which are six miles apart down I-196. In Division 2, we brought U.S. 127 into the mix, figuring it made more sense for travel to use that and 131 in grouping Traverse City Central with Muskegon Mona Shores, Midland and Midland Dow instead of creating a western District stretching from Traverse City to south of Kalamazoo.
Avoid the crisscross: Sometimes Districts drawn on the maps look perfect – but we run into trouble putting them together for a logical Regional. Sometimes we know eight dots should be a Regional, but there’s no reasonable way to split them into two four-team Districts. We do everything possible to keep a team from driving past a different District (or in 8-player Regional) on the way to its first or second-round game. The 8-Player Division 1 map probably looks a little odd with Deckerville possibly playing Morrice in the second round and the Orioles driving past Mayville or Kingston from another Regional to get there. However, there is a distinct northeast-to-southwest line separating those four schools – and if the Regional had been drawn to keep Deckerville with Mayville and Kingston, it would’ve meant Regional champs “jumping” over each other for their Semifinal matchup.
North/South vs. East/West: There isn’t one guiding directional when creating these Districts and Regionals. The 11-player Division 7 map has a little bit of both, with a pair of Districts along I-94 on the south side of the Lower Peninsula, but then Madison Heights Bishop Foley grouped with three Thumb-area teams for a north-south grouping. The other option was sending Bishop Foley northwest toward Flint and Lansing, but that would’ve left the Thumb schools and Beaverton maneuvering around Saginaw Bay.
At the end of the day …
Here’s my annual reminder: We draw these maps not knowing which schools are represented by the dots. The Division 5 and 6 maps were so easy to draw, I had no idea which schools were matched up until checking out the brackets hours later to put together this report.
But with all of that in front of me, here’s a glance at what jumps off the page:
• The Division 1 District made up of unbeaten Belleville and Brownstown Woodhaven, Saline (8-1) and Ann Arbor Pioneer (5-4) is obviously loaded. Belleville and Saline both made the Semifinals last season, and Saline’s only loss this fall was to reigning Division 1 champion Clinton Township Chippewa Valley. Woodhaven finished the regular season unbeaten for the second time in six years and its seeking its first District title.
• Last season’s Division 4 champion Edwardsburg has won 23 straight games and is back in the Division 3 bracket – the Eddies played in Division 4 the last two seasons and most recently in Division 3 in 2016. A possible return to Ford Field starts this week with St. Joseph and could include a trip to Zeeland West and matchup with also-unbeaten Mason.
• Hudsonville Unity Christian is another reigning champion in a new division, moving into Division 4 after winning the championship in Division 5 last fall. Unity begins with Otsego and would play either Grand Rapids Christian or South Christian with a win.
• Make way for Division 7. Unbeaten New Lothrop is the reigning champion and shares a District with undefeated Beaverton and a Regional with also-undefeated Pewamo-Westphalia. Iron Mountain, Lawton, Jackson Lumen Christi and Clinton also have yet to lose a game this season. Lumen Christi has won the last three Division 6 championships and 31 straight games.
• Math can lead to some unpredictable situations, including the occasional undefeated road team during the first round. Almont defeated Richmond 28-10 in Week 7 on the way to the Blue Water Area Conference title and a perfect regular-season record. But the Raiders will travel this week back to Richmond because the Blue Devils finished with a better playoff point average – Almont’s two nonleague opponents finished a combined 1-17, and Richmond’s both made the playoffs with a combined 13-5 record. That difference made the difference in playoff point average by about nine-tenths of a point in Richmond’s favor.
• This year’s 8-player brackets are loaded with intrigue, especially with 2018 Division 2 champion Rapid River not in the field and last year’s Division 1 runner-up Pickford in Division 2 this time. Morrice is the reigning Division 1 champion and could see undefeated Deckerville in a Regional Final. Pickford has to get through another 8-1 team in Engadine this week but could see undefeated Powers North Central in a Division 2 Regional Final.
• And it should shock no one if a team entering the playoffs 4-5 makes it to NMU. Gaylord St. Mary had to forfeit four victories but still made the playoffs with that record. Undefeated Suttons Bay is a possible Regional Final opponent, and St. Mary won their Week 6 matchup on the field 48-47 before later forfeiting that game.
That’s the start of what we’re looking forward to over the next five weeks. The steps taken today were just a few along the way as memories are made for thousands of Michigan high school football players this November.
PHOTOS: (Top) The Division 5 map, with clear-cut Districts, received quick support from the selection committee. (Middle) The Division 1 map split Grand Rapids-area teams along U.S. 131.