Forest Park Meets Expectations, Adds to Tradition with 5th Championship
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
December 5, 2024
MARQUETTE — They came. They saw. They conquered.
The Crystal Falls Forest Park Trojans did what they set out to do this season, earning their first MHSAA Finals title in seven years in a 42-20 triumph over the Morrice Orioles in the Nov. 30 8-player Division 2 championship game at Northern Michigan University’s Superior Dome.
Forest Park sits fourth all-time with 15 championship game appearances over the 50 years of MHSAA Football Playoffs. This was the program’s first championship since winning Division 2 in 2017 and came after six straight seasons of reaching the postseason but losing during the first or second round.
“My brother (Kevin) and I been talking about this since we were little,” Trojans sophomore quarterback Vic Guiliani said. “When (Morrice) got within 35-20, we just had to keep our foot on the pedal. They responded very well, but we kept our composure.
“It’s crazy motivation. Every year you lose a lot of good seniors, but we still have the heart. We want to get back here.”
The victory enabled the Trojans to finish 12-1. Their only loss took place in a regular-season finale Oct. 25 when they dropped a 45-34 decision to Powers North Central.
That defeat cost Forest Park the Great Lakes Eight Conference West championship. But the Trojans stormed back to avenge it with a 34-12 win over the Jets two weeks later to clinch a Regional title.
“There were a lot of little things,” sophomore running back Dax Huuki recalled of the first North Central matchup. “That was our worst game of the season, but that was probably the best thing that happened to us. That was a nice little reality check, but we weren’t going to put up with it. Everyone on the team really wanted this. That’s what got us here. Our seniors told us what we needed to do and ‘we’re not going to take a play off.’ They held us accountable.”
Forest Park’s successes in the championship game against Morrice were consistent with what the Trojans did well all season. Huuki ran 19 times for 136 yards and two touchdowns, finishing this fall with 162 carries, 1,560 yards and 22 scores on the ground. The team’s 291 rushing yards total for the game pushed the Trojans to 4,004 for the season – but Giuliani also completed all four of his passes for 60 yards, giving him 968 for the season and pushing the team total to an importantly complementary 1,049. Seniors Grayson Sundell (918 yards/18 TDs rushing) and Nick Stephens (11 TDs) were among other top runners for the Trojans.
Seven players started on both sides of the ball, and holding Morrice to just 194 yards of total offense fell in line with the team’s average of 201 average yards allowed entering the game.
After giving up 45 points to North Central in Week 9, the Trojans gave up a combined 56 over four playoff games.
“We definitely felt the sting of losing in our last regular-season game,” Forest Park coach Brian Fabbri said. “Five turnovers and 10 penalties didn’t help.
“It feels great to be state champions. I know how it feels to walk off the field on the other side. I experienced that twice. It’s not a good feeling.”
Fabbri became the fourth coach in Forest Park history to win one of the program’s five overall championships. He also played on a pair of Trojans teams that finished Finals runners-up in 2004 and 2005.
He’ll graduate seven of the 23 players on the postseason roster, including also two-way starters Matthew Showers, Brody Starr, Nate Bradish and Kevin Giuliani. The 6-foot-5, 270-pound Giuliani had made the all-state second team as a junior and will continue as an offensive lineman at Michigan Tech.
“Expectations were very high,” Fabbri said. “Our senior leadership was amazing. They kept us in the game.”
John Vrancic has covered high school sports in the Upper Peninsula since joining the Escanaba Daily Press staff in 1985. He is known most prominently across the peninsula for his extensive coverage of cross country and track & field that frequently appears in newspapers from the Wisconsin border to Lake Huron. He received the James Trethewey Award for Distinguished Service in 2015 from the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.
PHOTOS Forest Park’s Nik Stephens (22) gets to the pylon for one of his three touchdowns Nov. 23 at Northern Michigan University. (Middle) The Trojans’ seniors take a photo with the program’s fifth championship trophy. (Photos by Cara Kamps.)
Seeing is Believing as Confident Britton Deerfield Playing for Finals Trip
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
November 12, 2024
A little confidence can go a long way. A lot of confidence could get you to the state championship game.
Britton Deerfield is enjoying a remarkable turnaround season this year and will host Morrice for an 8-Player Division 2 Semifinal on Saturday.
Last year at this time, head coach Erik Johnson was shaking off the pain of a 2-7 season.
“It’s a great story,” Johnson said. “You go 2-7 and, really, last year, the last five weeks of the year we weren’t even in the game. We were getting blown out by halftime in most of those games.
“For those kids to have the resolve and come back and have the kind of success they are having this year is just great to see.”
Britton Deerfield is in its fourth season of 8-player football and having its best season yet. The Patriots have won nine straight games heading into Saturday’s Semifinal against Morrice and have set a school record for points scored in a season. Over the last six weeks, they are averaging 60.3 points per game and set the school’s single-game scoring record.
Senior Luke Wiser said the difference from last season is the team’s confidence.
“It’s all in the mindset,” Wiser said. “Last year we didn’t have the great confidence we have now.”
BD struggled early this season until that confidence kicked in. The Patriots defeated Pittsford in Week 1 but gave up 58 points. They lost in Week 2 to Mendon, giving up 66 points.
Johnson went to the defensive drawing board and challenged his players to get better.
“We talked a lot about the mental aspect of tackling,” he said. “They’ve been tackling since middle school. They’ve been through every tackling drill you can do. Now, it’s about the mental part of football, wrapping up and making the play.”
Over the next two weeks BD held Colon and Concord to one touchdown each.
The new Patriots offense started to soar as well. Johnson had favored a spread offense with a lot of jet sweeps and the quarterback alternating running and throwing the ball. In the offseason, he made a change.
“I knew we were going to have a stable of kids who could run the ball and a couple of different kids who could throw the ball, so I started to think of how I could maximize their efforts,” he said. “We went to more of a single wing offense. I watched a video series about the single wing and worked on ways to adjust that to make it work for our 8-man game.”
The single wing look requires the center to snap the ball to one of three backs and none playing the traditional role of quarterback. The results have been great.
The Patriots have rushed for 68 touchdowns this season and average 7.9 yards a carry. Wiser has rushed for 1,549 yards and scored 27 touchdowns. Caden Freeman has rushed for 806 yards, Caden Kubacki 666 and Cayden Allshouse 569.
Wiser credits the BD offensive line.
“It’s almost like I’m not running,” he said. “I follow my blocks and break off a run, but I think they really do an outstanding job, and our offense moves through them.”
Johnson said as the linemen settled in this season, they started to come to him to suggest different things.
“You know things are going well when the kids see something on the field and come talk to the coaches about it,” he said. “I’ll just say, ‘Yeah, let’s give that a try.’”
On defense, seniors Hunter Kniffin and Jayden Brooks lead the Patriots in tackles. Junior Liem Roe has eight interceptions.
In the first round of the playoffs, BD knocked out Adrian Lenawee Christian, which had won three Finals championships over the last four years. That, in itself, turned some heads.
“To beat LCS was huge for our confidence,” Johnson said. “We have been able to beat some teams that have had our number. LCS had handled us in every game we have had with them until this year.”
BD has eight seniors who have stepped into leadership roles. Juniors who played a lot as sophomores are contributing too.
“We had some younger guys in the backfield last year, but those guys have all grown up,” Johnson said. “The seniors have done an outstanding job of being there, ever since summer. When all of your seniors are there, that feeds down through the program. Other kids see that.”
Johnson said four years ago he couldn’t have predicted the current group of seniors would be where they are today.
“Some of those kids didn’t even play when they were a freshman,” he recalled. “It’s been a pleasant surprise to watch that group mature, and to see them now have success is awesome.”
The Patriots captured the first Regional championship for the program since Britton and Deerfield combined to form one high school in 2010.
From 1993 to 2010, the two schools played a cooperative football program and reached the 11-Player Semifinals in 1999 and 2000. A photo hangs in the school showing a huge crowd ringing the field during the playoff runs those seasons.
The team plays in a new stadium, just a few hundred yards from the old stadium, which is now the practice field.
“The crowd was great,” Johnson said of the Regional championship win over Pittsford. “They were into it. They stayed until after the trophy presentation and celebrated. It was great.”
If Britton Deerfield wants to get to the Division 2 championship game Nov. 23 in Marquette, the Patriots will need that crowd and confidence when they face the 10-1 Orioles this weekend.
“Our kids are really confident,” Johnson said. “That’s a good thing. You get that feeling like you can’t be stopped, and you can win every game you play. That’s good to have.”
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) Britton Deerfield’s Caden Kubacki, with the ball, stretches forward for extra yardage against Adrian Lenawee Christian. (Middle) Luke Wiser (4) takes on a Pittsford tackler. (Top photo by Deloris Clark-Cheaney. Wiser photo by John Discher.)