As Grayling Navigates Changes, Hunter Provides Reliable Impact in Return
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
September 12, 2025
Changing.
That may be the best description of the Grayling High School football team this year. Fairly big changes have already occurred, more are ahead, and at least one is already scheduled for next fall.
Grayling, off to a 1-1 start, has a new head coach – Michael Kososky, who served as an assistant for the Vikings the past 10 years, has taken over the helm. He started as a defensive backs assistant and became the defensive coordinator in his fourth year. Kososki replaced Eric Tunney, who stepped down after a 2-7 finish last year.
The latest change for the Vikings is losing junior running back Gregory Martin for the season with a neck injury. That happened during last week’s 36-6 win over Benzie Central. The game was stopped with 3:22 remaining after Martin was taken off the field by emergency medical staff. Kososky said he hopes Martin will return for track in the spring and next football season.
What didn’t change much this year is the Vikings’ schedule. They lost five games last year to playoff teams. One of those five is not on the schedule this year, but Maple City Glen Lake, another returning playoff qualifier, has been added. Grayling hopes to compete for the Northern Michigan Football League Legends title one more time, as the Vikings will be playing in the Northern Shores Conference beginning next season.
Perhaps the biggest change for the Vikings this year is senior Daniel Hunter lining up on both sides of the line of scrimmage. That was not the case last year as he battled a complication-riddled ankle injury suffered his during a basketball game as a sophomore center.
The injury, first diagnosed as an ankle sprain, kept him off the basketball court last winter as a junior.
“I ended up finishing that (2023-24) basketball season on it, and I got it checked out again because it was not getting better,” said Hunter, who plays wide receiver and defensive end. “They found out that there was a bone fracture, a talus bone.”
Even though it’s a very small bone, the talus plays a big role in one’s ability to stand and move. Injuries and damage to the talus can take longer to heal and have a higher risk of complications than those to other bones.
Doctors told Hunter he could either play on it and delay surgery or undergo an immediate procedure. Because he was advised he likely couldn’t damage it further, Hunter chose to play summer basketball and football last fall before scheduling surgery.
“I decided to play on it throughout the summer and then into my junior year of football so I wouldn't miss out,” Hunter said. “I got surgery on it after football season and sat out my junior year of basketball.”
That football season was wrought with pain for the Hunter. He played in all but one of the Vikings’ games though.
“I only ended up playing one way — I only played on offense for the season,” he said. “It was pretty tough. Game day adrenaline helped.”
Kososky vividly recalls Hunter overcoming pain to play every down he could.
“He took it as far as he could take it,” Kososky said. “He was a kid that never missed a practice. Even if he decided to sit out that day because his ankle was throbbing, he wasn't taking the day off.”
So far this season, Hunter has six receptions for 71 yards. Now moving from linebacker to defensive end, he also has one tackle for a loss, a forced fumble, two assists and one sack.
“Daniel is an impact player on both sides of the line of scrimmage,” Kososky said. “He put a little bit of size on over the spring and summer. So it suits him real well at defensive end.”
Kososky, who played football for Mio High School and Northern Michigan University, points to Hunter as a shining example of the culture he’s trying to instill in the Grayling football program.
“There are a couple staples that I brought here to Grayling, and I kind of just refocused them this being my first year,” Kososky said. “We have a mantra we talk about each and every day: DEAD. It's dedication, effort, attitude and discipline, and Daniel holds those standards.”
Kososky has significantly reduced the size of the Vikings’ playbook this season.
“The way we do one thing is the way we do everything,” he said. “Instead of running as many plays as possible, we’re focused on being really efficient and perfect at what we have in front of us.”
Grayling has a couple of significant league road games coming up, and both Kososky and Hunter are really looking forward to them. Tonight the, Vikings will take on Kingsley, and next week Traverse City St. Francis.
Kingsley is 1-1 this season, and St. Francis is 2-0. Hunter hasn’t experienced a win over either conference foe during his high school career.
“I think a win over Kingsley would feel really good because I have lost to them every time we played them,” Hunter said. “I did end up sitting out a game last year, and that was St. Francis, and I have to get that win before I graduate.”
Regardless of the outcomes against the Stags and Gladiators, Kososky will keep focused on teaching life skills.
“Wins will help put you on the map and everything like that, but what my kids learn from the program I think is more important,” said Kososky, who also teaches special education and math at Grayling. “I can go back to many seasons that that I've coached and we were 3-6 and 4-5, and I'm going to be honest, the kids out of those groups probably are more successful in life than some of the teams that have gone undefeated. It’s how successful we are after the game of football, not during the game of football.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Grayling’s Daniel Hunter wraps up a Benzie Central player during an incompletion in Week 2. (Middle) Hunter points to his team’s sideline after the play. (Photos by Mylie D’Amour.)
Resilient Shelby Turning Struggles Into Strength During 1st Playoff Run in 12 years
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
November 6, 2025
SHELBY – Not many football teams could sustain back-to-back heartbreaking losses to end the regular season – compounded with losing their senior starting quarterback to a broken hand during the first of those defeats – and still go on a playoff run.
But not many football programs have endured half the adversity Shelby has over the past 10 years.
“Show me a place of struggle, and I’ll show you a place of strength,” said fifth-year Shelby coach Phil Fortier, who started as an assistant in 2009 at the Oceana County school, located near the towering Silver Lake Sand Dunes.
“We struggle with a lot of things here at Shelby, but there is a resilience. These kids don’t quit, and they are used to bouncing back.”
Shelby (6-4) shook off season-ending road losses at Mason County Central and Muskegon Orchard View with an impressive, 20-2 road victory at LeRoy Pine River in last weekend’s Division 7 District Semifinal – the school’s first playoff win in 12 years.
The Tigers will travel a little farther north this Friday to Harrison (8-2), seeking their first District championship since advancing to the Semifinals in 2012 and 2013.
What has transpired with Shelby football since that high-water mark is a case study in what can happen at a small, rural school when things start snowballing in the wrong direction. The Tigers have not won more than three games over the past 11 years, with five winless seasons.
When Fortier stepped up to the head coaching job in 2021, he had his eyes on a dynamic group of middle schoolers who could turn things around.
Among that special group are senior Isaac Garcia and junior Jaylin Henderson, who have led the Tigers’ turnaround season by sharing the crucial quarterback spot in the veer-option offense.
While a two-quarterback system is not unique, one that is split exactly 50-50 certainly is rare. Garcia and Henderson both have attempted 67 passes and completed 35 of them, with Henderson having a slight edge in passing yardage (624 to 620) and Garcia the edge in touchdown passes (6 to 4).
Garcia has leadership skills galore – he is the one his teammates look to in times of trouble, and he is also extremely accurate in the short-passing game.
Henderson, an MHSAA Individual Wrestling Finals qualifier last winter at 157 pounds, has athletic ability coming out of his ears, according to Fortier. He can throw a deadly deep ball on one play, then run over a linebacker on the next.
“I have been watching Tony Annese up at Ferris using all types of different quarterbacks in this offense,” said Fortier, who works closely with offensive coordinator Forrest Courtright. “Here we are with these two super-talented kids who bring different skills to the position, so why not use them both?”
In addition, Garcia was serving as a mentor for his talented, but younger, teammate.
“Isaac has really helped me a lot with my reads,” explained Henderson, who is second on the team with 95 carries for 617 yards and 10 touchdowns. “He gives me feedback and helps me to get better every week.”
The system was working beautifully, as Shelby raced to a 5-2 start, highlighted by a 28-18 win over rival Hart and a 44-8 manhandling of Muskegon Catholic Central.
Then came the first half of the Week 8 game at Mason County Central, when Garcia’s right (throwing) hand got crunched against a helmet on a kickoff, resulting in a broken metacarpal bone.
Just like that, the training wheels were off for Henderson, who is now Shelby’s all-the-time QB and has responded with his legs against Orchard View (19 carries for 144 yards and two TDs) and his arm against Pine River (8-of-14 passing for 155 yards and one TD).
It helps that the Tigers have a pair of 6-3 wide receivers in Trevor Weiss and Evan Waller, dangerous slot receiver DayDay Garcia and the constant threat of junior fullback and leading rusher Brody Fessenden (140 carries for 786 yards and 11 TDs).
“At this point in the season, our chemistry is really good,” said Henderson. “I trust all of our receivers. If I give them a chance, they will make the catch.”
Meanwhile, Garcia has been fitted with a club to protect his right hand and is back starting at safety, where he came up with a huge sack on third down and a pass deflection on fourth down to stop a late Pine River drive during last week’s playoff opener.
His return to the field has energized and motivated his teammates, who are watching their leader refuse to let even a broken throwing hand stop him in his senior year.
“At first, when the injury happened, I was very sad and depressed and didn’t want to leave my room,” said Garcia, a three-sport athlete who also competes in basketball and track.
“Then when they told me that I could play with a club, that brought my mood way up. It’s kind of like our team, we’re not gonna let anything stop us.”
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) Jaylin Henderson celebrates a Shelby touchdown during the Tigers' 28-18 win over rival Hart in Week 3. (Middle) Isaac Garcia waits for the snap as running back Brody Fessenden stands ready. (Below) Garcia and coach Phil Fortier celebrate with the "Blood, Sweat & Tears" trophy after Shelby's win over Hart. (Photos courtesy of the Shelby football program.)