Finals Flashback: Remembering the '9s'
November 29, 2019
By Ron Pesch
Special for Second Half
This weekend’s MHSAA 11-Player Football Finals at Ford Field will conclude another decade for the most played and watched high school sport in Michigan.
We’ll roll into this year’s games remembering some decade-enders of the past from 1979, 1989, 1999 and 2009.
Redemption
The 1979 season marked the first playoff appearance for Norway, which had failed to qualify for the MHSAA postseason in 1975 and 1976 despite undefeated seasons.
However, the scoreless first half of the Knights’ Class D championship battle with Schoolcraft wasn’t proceeding as planned.
“We went into the locker room at halftime and made a few offensive changes,” said Norway coach Bob Giannunzio. “Our running game wasn’t working, so we decided we would pass more in the second half.”
The Norway defense forced six second-half turnovers that led to three touchdowns and a 21-6 win over Schoolcraft. Quarterback Chuck Soderlund connected on 6-of-14 passes for 110 yards including a 45-yard TD pass to Gregg Noordhoff to break the scoreless deadlock. Nordhoff added a second score from four yards out early in the in the fourth quarter for a 14-6 lead. Soderlund added a game-sealing TD on a QB sneak with 1:30 remaining.
It was the first of back-to-back titles for Giannunzio and the little Upper Peninsula school located near Iron Mountain. Since that season, Norway has advanced as far as the Semifinal round twice, in both 2002 and 2006
“We said if we ever got here we’d win it, said Giannunzio to the Detroit Free Press. “We wanted to start off right for the U.P. It’s a big burden playing for the whole Upper Peninsula.”
The Greatest
In Class B in 1989, Farmington Hills Harrison scored a 28-27 victory over DeWitt in what many still consider one of the greatest games of the MHSAA’s 45-year playoff history. The reigning Class B champion and top-ranked Hawks had their hands full. Tied 7-7 after one quarter, the Panthers grabbed a two-touchdown lead in the second quarter on 32-yard run by fullback John Tellford and a 35-yard pass play from Tellford to John Cowan. Harrison responded with a Matt Conley one-yard run to cut the margin to 21-14 at the half.
Hawks quarterback Mill Coleman knotted the score at 21-21 with a dazzling 16-yard run early in the fourth quarter, but DeWitt stormed back again driving 75 yards on 13 plays. The series was highlighted by tight end Dave Riker's 24-yard, one-handed catch to the Hawks’ 3-yard line. Two plays later, quarterback Chris Berkimer slipped over from the 1, and DeWitt again took the lead 27-21.
With 2:12 remaining and the ball at the Harrison 33, Coleman went to work. Three quick completions moved the ball to the DeWitt 16, and then Coleman let his legs do the rest. Following a Hawks timeout, Coleman dashed right for seven more yards to the Panthers’ 9. Facing a 2nd-and-3, Coleman dropped back to pass, escaped the rush at the DeWitt 17, then scampered up the middle and dove into the end zone for the tying points. Steve Hill added his fourth PAT of the game with 1:34 remaining for the final margin, then secured the victory with an interception on the next series.
Electrifying
Charles Rogers, perhaps the most electrifying high school receiver to ever touch the carpet at the Pontiac Silverdome, caught a single pass in the 1999 Division 2 title game, but he was the difference maker in Saginaw’s 14-7 win over Birmingham Brother Rice. The reception, defended by a single back, was a 60-yard touchdown reception from Brandon Cork on Saginaw’s first possession. Rogers broke a pair of tackles on the way to the end zone to open the scoring. The point-after attempt was blocked.
It was one of only six pass attempts by Saginaw on the day, and the only completion. But after that, as Mick McCabe of the Detroit Free Press wrote, “If Rogers would have gone up to the concourse for a hot dog, I’m sure a couple of Rice defensive backs would have been there to wipe the mustard off his chin.”
“He’s a big-time player, he should be in the NFL,” Rice coach Al Fracassa told McCabe. “He reminded me of Randy Moss. He’s always a threat just having him out there.”
A Saginaw fumble on the first play of the second half was recovered by Rice’s Tony Gioutsos at the Trojans’ 31. Eight plays later, Gioutsos scored from five yards out. Ross Ryan added the extra point for a 7-6 Rice lead.
Saginaw’s defense was aggressive, with constant pressure on Rice quarterback Mark Baker, sacking him twice while holding the Warriors to 78 yards rushing on 36 attempts.
Saginaw took advantage of the extra attention received by Rogers. Terry Jackson pounded out 106 yards on 18 carries, including 60 of Saginaw’s 84 yards on their game-winning drive in the fourth quarter. With Rogers drawing triple coverage, Jackson dashed opposite side for a 17-yard TD with 7:03 to play. Jackson also added the 2-point conversion for the game’s final margin.
A Wild Ride
Farmington Hills Harrison picked up its 10th state title with a 42-35 win over Grand Rapids Creston in a 1999 Division 3 championship game filled with wide-open play. Creston opened the title contest with a recovered onside kick and then drove 49 yards in five plays, ending with an Andrew Terry’s touchdown from a yard out. Harrison rebounded with a field goal, followed by a three-yard TD run by Kevin Woods off a pass interception for a 10-7 lead.
Creston responded with a four play, 79-yard touchdown drive that consumed a little over two minutes. Featuring a 41-yard pass play from QB Carlton Brewster to Lanard Latham near the end of the first quarter, the Polar Bears opened the second with a 25-yard run to the end zone by Terry. Odene Pringle’s extra point gave Creston a 14-10 lead.
Harrison then went 68 yards in six plays and under three minutes as Woods scored again from a yard out to regain the lead for his team 17-14.
The fireworks continued following another pass interception by the Hawks and another three-yard TD by Woods that upped the lead to 24-14. By halftime it was 27-21.
Harrison’s lead was short-lived as coach Charles “Sparky” McEwen’s Creston squad went 80 yards in 2:27 following the kickoff, capped by a Brewster to Latham 11-yard scoring strike. Pringle’s kick made it 28-27.
The Hawks responded on the next drive. It was 35-28 at the end for three quarters, then 42-28 when Woods scored again near the beginning of the fourth. In total, he would finish with 153 yards on 33 carries and four touchdowns, tying then-Final scoring marks for touchdowns and points.
Creston struck again with a 56-yard touchdown pass to Richard Gill from Brewster with 7:00 remaining to pull within a seven, 42-35. The Polar Bears regained the ball with 57 second remaining, but a final Hail Mary fell incomplete, ending one of the tournament’s most entertaining games.
Thriller
In 2007, the East Grand Rapids-Orchard Lake St. Mary’s championship battle was a 5 OT affair.
In 2009, it was again anybody’s guess who would emerge as the winner between the schools. The Pioneers entered undefeated, while Orchard Lake St. Mary’s carried four losses into the contest. They began the year with two defeats for the first time since 1991. The first was to this same East team, 21-7. Two others were to Division 1 Detroit Catholic Central, 27-0 and then 7-0.
The opening quarter of the Division 3 Final was scoreless. Orchard Lake opened the scoring early in the second. Quarterback Robert Bolden hit Gary Hunter for a 49-yard completion, and three plays later Bolden broke a pair of tackles to ramble across the goal line from 13 yards out. The Pioneers tied the game at 7-7 with 30 seconds remaining before the intermission, when 6-foot-7 Colin Voss caught a five-yard pass from Ryan Elble and snaked the last two yards into the end zone. St. Mary’s nearly answered in the time remaining as Hunter returned the kickoff 63 yards to the Pioneers’ 24. A false start penalty sent the ball back to the EGR 29, but then Bolden completed a pass to Allen Robinson for 28 yards to the Pioneers’ 1-yard line. Two rushing attempts by St. Mary’s were stopped at the goal line as time expired in the half, the last by Bolden that was ended by East’s Joshua Laarman.
Orchard Lake had opened a 21-17 lead with 9:12 remaining in the game following a three-yard TD by Cortez Riley and an extra point by Nathan Perry. With 4:01 left, that score still stood as the Pioneers took possession at their own 13 following an Eaglets punt. Kirk Spencer dashed for 38 yards to the Orchard Lake 49 on the first play. But with 2:49 remaining, East faced desperation at 4th-and-14. The ensuing pass, intended for Voss, slipped off his fingertips, but was caught by Spencer for a gain of 27 yards to the St. Mary’s 26. With 1:14 to play, Elble found Deon Jobe in the end zone from 15 yards out. Bobby Aardema’s kick gave East Grand Rapids a 24-21 lead.
“But it wasn’t quite over until we heard from Laarman and Spencer one more time,” wrote McCabe about play after the touchdown. “Bolden completed two passes to get to East’s 44 when he took off running. Earlier he scored on a breathtaking 83-yard keeper (giving St. Mary as 14-10 lead in the third quarter).
“The first thing Laarman thought of when he saw Bolden take off was: here we go again.”
Laarman caused a fumble on his attempted stop, and Spencer came up with the ball to seal victory. The win gave East Grand Rapids its fourth consecutive championship. East Grand Rapids would win five straight Division 3 titles between 2006 and 2010.
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.
PHOTO: Farmington Hills Harrison scored late to edge DeWitt 28-27 in the 1989 Class B Final. (Photo courtesy of the Lansing State Journal.)
Hanover-Horton Earns Best Start, 1st League Title During Record-Setting Run
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
October 15, 2024
Hanover-Horton’s football team is in uncharted territory.
The Comets had never won a playoff game, never won a Cascades Conference championship and never started the season with seven straight victories before this fall.
Two of those milestones were reached Friday when Hanover-Horton shut out Addison 42-0 for its seventh consecutive victory that also clinched a share of the Cascades Conference West title.
The third milestone is still possible as well with the playoffs beginning in three weeks.
“There are a lot of firsts for everybody here,” third-year Comets head coach David Messer said. “Our plan is to just keep it one play at a time.”
Hanover-Horton’s best previous start to a season was 4-0.
“When we got to 5-0, the kids celebrated that,” Messer said. “We talked about getting to 5-0. But I told them we are only going to celebrate over the weekend because Monday we had to get back to work.”
Hanover-Horton went 2-7 last season and 3-6 the year before. The last time the school won seven games in a season was 2014 when they went 8-2, setting a school record for victories that the Comets can equal with a victory over Brooklyn Columbia Central on Senior Night this Friday when they also can clinch the league title outright.
“We aren’t looking past that game,” Messer said.
The Hanover-Horton seniors are on cloud nine about this football season, guaranteed to be the first winning one for the Comets since that 2014 campaign.
“They are on top of the world, but they are not strutting down the hallways or anything,” Messer said. “They are keeping everything in perspective.”
Hanover-Horton has eight seniors. Luke Soper is the quarterback and a two-way starter. Gavin Berkeypile is a physical player who has a nose for the ball. Center Bryant Hamisfar is a captain and makes the calls for the offensive line. Jackson Johnson and Jack Wooster are split ends on offense who have turned into excellent blockers, and Wyatt Ashworth has developed into a solid two-way starter.
The Comets defense is led by junior Adam Ley, a third-year starter despite being only a junior.
“We brought him up as a freshman out of necessity,” Messer said. “He’s really become a great football player. The play of our defensive front has been so strong, it has helped Adam be able to make a lot of tackles from his linebacker spot. Last year he had offensive linemen in his face every play. This year, he’s able to fill the gaps and make plays.”
Ley made 19 tackles last week against Addison during Hanover-Horton’s third consecutive shutout and fourth of the season, also a school record.
On offense, the Comets already have set the single-season school scoring record. Soper directs an offense that has been heavy on the run through the first seven games with multiple backs, including freshman Austyn Hocter.
“We are still finding our way on offense,” Messer said. “We try to be a little more balanced. Luke is a heck of a quarterback who has a really good arm. We want to find ways to be more balanced.”
The offense is averaging 43 points a game, while the defense is allowing just 8.4.
“I don’t really look at how many points we score or give up,” Messer said. “I will look at those kinds of things after the season when we have a chance to sit down and assess how things went. We are really focused on the next play, next play.”
Messer comes from a football background rooted in success.
“I’m a Hudson guy through and through,” Messer said. “I was born in Hudson, played football at Hudson and coached for 15 years at Hudson.”
He coached for several years under Hall of Fame coach Chris Luma, and coached defense with current Hudson head coach Dan Rogers.
“Every step of the way, I’ve had some great coaches to help me,” Messer said. “Chris was a tremendous mentor. I know I can still pick up the phone at any time and give him a call.”
One of the first things Messer did at Hanover-Horton was work on the physical strength of the team.
“When I first got here, it was obvious to me that we weren’t a very physical football team,” he said. “The weight room part of it did not come quickly. I’ve had old-timers here tell me they’ve never had so many kids in the weight room. That was one of the things we needed to turn around.”
There already have been several big wins this season for the Comets, but close ones over Michigan Center (21-20) and Jonesville (21-18) made Messer particularly proud.
“We’ve had some moments this year where we reverted to the Hanover-Horton of old, but I’m so proud of the guys to overcome that and stay focused,” Messer said. “That third quarter against Jonesville things weren’t going our way, but we held on. Our goal is to just keep it one play, one drive at a time and make this a historic season.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) From left, Hanover-Horton’s Luke Soper (5), Jack Wooster (11), Braden Cogan (71) and Bryan Hamisfar (77) take the field together arm-in-arm. (Middle) Comets coach David Messer talks things over with his players. (Top photo courtesy of the Hanover-Horton athletic department; middle photo courtesy of JTV.)