Grand Haven Playmakers Rising to Challenge After Loss of Senior Standout
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
September 9, 2026
Grand Haven was expected to have one of the state’s best backfield duos this season in seniors Andrew Willemsen and KV Korenstra.
That duo became singular in July, when Willemsen tore his ACL for the second-consecutive year, a gut-punch both for him and the Buccaneers’ coaching staff – which was planning on handing the ball to Willemsen 20-plus times per game.
Despite that emotional setback, Haven is off to its first 2-0 start since 2018, as the team’s many other offensive standouts – notably Korenstra and senior quarterback Easton Hintz – have stepped up their games.
“We all feel so bad for Andrew, and it just makes us appreciate things so much more,” said Korenstra, a Ferris State commit who rushed for 519 yards and caught 26 passes for 291 yards last fall.
“It’s good for our morale to be 2-0, but we all know that we can play so much better and that we have to play so much better, especially on offense.”
Grand Haven (2-0) heads into the gauntlet of its schedule the next three weeks, starting with Friday night’s Ottawa-Kent Conference Red opener at defending league champion Hudsonville, followed by East Kentwood at home and at Rockford.
The Bucs have found a way to win two tight games, a 35-34, triple-overtime thriller over visiting Spring Lake in the opener and then a hard-fought, 17-14 road win at Muskegon Reeths-Puffer last week.
“It hasn’t always been pretty, but we have been able to finish games out, which hasn’t been the case in the past,” said fourth-year Grand Haven coach Andrew Biedenbender, a Mount Pleasant native who played offensive line at Grand Valley State. “We can’t puff our chests out. We understand what’s ahead of us, but going into it with the confidence we now have is big.”
Senior quarterback Easton Hintz has been the catalyst, completing 28-of-42 passes (67 percent) for 359 yards and four touchdowns, with no interceptions. The dual-threat playmaker also has rushed for 168 yards and a score.
Hintz employs a variety of receiving options, starting with 6-foot-2 wideout Amani Frierson, another Ferris State commit, who has 11 catches for 151 yards and a touchdown.
An emerging weapon for the Bucs is junior tight end Grayam Beyer (6-6, 225), who had a breakout game against Spring Lake with four catches for 43 yards, including two TDs. Beyer already has five Division I college offers and visited Ohio State last Saturday.
If those weapons draw excessive attention, Hintz often hooks up with shifty junior slot receivers Lennon Jorgensen and Drew Hammerle.
Korenstra has been solid, if not spectacular, with 157 rushing yards and two TDs through two games. Korenstra, who finished third at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals in the 100-meter dash last spring (10.79), has been slowed by a sprained ankle which he suffered early in the opening game.
“If you saw him early last week, you would have never thought he could play a football game,” said Biedenbender of the senior speedster, who was clocked at 4.28 seconds in the 40-yard dash this summer.
“So he has been fighting that ankle but still has hit a couple of 15- or 20-yard runs, but we’re waiting for him to break off a couple of 40- or 50-yarders.”
While he waits for Korenstra to get back up to full speed, Biedenbender occasionally allows himself to imagine what might have been this fall if Willemsen had stayed healthy.
The three-sport standout and athletic freak burst onto the scene as a sophomore with 1,321 yards and 11 TDs. He missed his entire junior year after tearing his ACL during summer workouts but came all the way back and was part of two school-record sprint relay teams in track this spring.
His recovery was so impressive (running a 4.3 40-yard dash and squatting almost 500 pounds early this summer) that he was offered a scholarship at Grand Valley. Willemsen was working out at GVSU in July when the unthinkable happened – a full tear of his other ACL.
“It’s like having a sports car in your garage that you never had a chance to drive,” said Biedenbender, whose main assistants are Matt Naber (offensive coordinator) and Eric Rozema (defensive coordinator). “He’s one of the best athletes ever at Grand Haven that no one’s going to know about. He has some great football ahead of him but, unfortunately, it won’t be for us.”
The Buccaneers still possess a variety of weapons that other teams would love to have, with an experienced senior quarterback in Hintz directing the show. Hintz (6-0, 185) threw for 975 yards last fall despite missing about one-third of the season with an injury, but is now on pace to easily eclipse the 1,000-yard passing plateau.
Haven’s 2-0 start also has put the team in position to make some noise in the conference race and compete for five wins and the school’s first playoff berth since 2019.
The quick start is a continuation of success at Grand Haven, which won the Division 1 boys volleyball title in the spring, to go along with a Finals appearance in softball and a fifth-place team finish in boys track.
“So much of it comes down to belief,” said Hintz, a crafty left-hander who is just as comfortable throwing on the run as he is in the pocket. “Our aiming point is making it to the playoffs and then winning a playoff game, which is something that hasn’t been done at this school in a long time. I believe we have the team to do it.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Fourth-year Grand Haven coach Andrew Biedenbender celebrates with wideout Amani Frierson (1) during last week’s victory over Muskegon Reeths-Puffer. (Middle) KV Korenstra (12) follows his blockers against Spring Lake. (Below) Senior quarterback Easton Hintz (9) prepares to take a snap against Reeths-Puffer. (Photos by Josh Walters/JWaltVisuals.)
Hudson Paying 50-Year Tribute to Winning Streak Record-Setters, Supporters
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
October 14, 2025
It’s a little over two hours’ drive from Mount Pleasant to Hudson. But the November 1975 bus ride seemed to take forever.
The Hudson football team had just lost in the Class C state championship game to Ishpeming, ending a national record 72-game winning streak, and was on the way home.
“It was a really long ride,” said Ray Curran, an assistant coach for the Tigers. “A quiet ride.”
After the game, Hudson head coach Tom Saylor let his players know they had played hard and he was proud of them, but there were plenty of tears.
“We tried to tell them it wasn’t the end of the world,” Curran said.
For nearly everyone except maybe a few coaches, it was the first, and probably last, time they rode the bus home after a loss.
Hudson’s streak still stands today as the record for consecutive wins by a varsity football team in Michigan. From Week 2 of the 1968 season until the Class C Final in 1975, the Tigers never tasted defeat.
As disappointing as it was to lose, what happened on that bus ride home had a huge impact on the program for years to come.
“When we got close to town, we started to see fire trucks and cars lining the streets,” Curran said. “We lost, but the fans still showed up for us. We had tremendous community support from parents and families and community members. I think that made a lot of the players feel like everything was going to be okay.”
Everything was okay. In fact, Hudson went 9-0 the next season, although the Tigers failed to qualify for the MHSAA Playoffs (which had a field of only four teams in each classification, 16 teams total, at the time).
To mark the end of that incredible 72-game win streak, Hudson is inviting back everyone who had a part in those undefeated teams during the 1960s and 1970s – players, coaches, cheerleaders, band and members of the flag corps are all expected to take part in the ceremony before Friday’s final home game of the regular season at Thompson Field in Hudson.
Bill Mullaly, who played for Hudson during that streak and has become a historian for the Tigers, said this celebration will be the last one.
“This is it,” Mullaly said. “It’s been 50 years, and this is the last one we are planning.”
Curran went to see Saylor a few weeks before he died, at the family’s request. Saylor had been in declining health and had dementia. Curran said when they got together, they talked football.
“We were talking about some of the games, some of the players,” he said. “He definitely remembered. It was a good visit.”
Hudson’s football team this season is undefeated, ranked No. 1 in Division 8 and gearing up for what the Tigers hope is another historic playoff run. Head coach Dan Rogers said the record streak remains an important piece of the community’s history, and the celebration Friday and recent passing of Saylor have brought it all back to the forefront.
“It’s definitely a big part of the community,” Rogers said. “I grew up here, and I’ve heard stories about it. You don’t live it, but you are part of it. I think it has helped mold our community, and it has been a way to identify the community. The streak is definitely alive and well.”
To commemorate this season, current Hudson players will be wearing a throwback uniform Friday – black and white jerseys with orange pants and the same design of socks the players in the 1970s wore. The helmet sticker will be the same one used during the streak.
“It’s all been very positive, all season,” Rogers said. “Some of the kids have grandpas that played in the streak, which is great. They weren’t around, but I think it’s my job to pass all of that along to a new generation. We have embraced it.”
Rogers said he’s gone back and talked to former players and coaches, and Hudson plans to pattern much of its pregame routine on the Tigers’ during Saylor’s regime.
“We have people coming back who haven’t been to a Hudson football game since they played here,” Rogers said. “They had a lot of cool traditions back then. We want them to be proud.”
One of the current assistant coaches is Chris Luma, who played on that 1975 team. Luma was Hudson’s head coach before Rogers took over six years ago. He and Saylor were close. Luma will speak at Saylor’s memorial service later this month.
“It just seemed like with Tom you were learning life lessons along with how to win football games,” he said. “He installed discipline in all of us. What he had us go through was the things you needed to know to go through life.”
Mullaly also played for Saylor.
“He didn’t put Hudson on the map, but he took it to another level,” he said. “He was a great coach and a great man. His legacy is with Hudson football.”
Rogers said after Saylor died, more RSVPs started coming in for Friday’s event.
“It’s brought it to another level,” he said. “There are people flying in from all over the country to be a part of it. This is the final one. After this, it’s only the stories.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) A wall in the Hudson press box tells of the football program’s rich history. (Middle) Tom Saylor, top, was the longtime coach of the Tigers dynasty, while Tim Decker (18) was among standouts during the streak. (Below) Hudson players come together for a quick photo on a game night this fall. (Wall photo by Doug Donnelly. Saylor photo courtesy of Todd Saylor; Decker photo courtesy of Jackson Citizen Patriot/Hudson Historical Museum. Current team photo by Rachel Stiverson.).