Hearts Heavy, St. Mary's Keeps Promise
November 29, 2014
By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half
DETROIT — The most important football game in Brandon Adams' life suddenly didn't seem so important.
At a time when excitement should've been rising within the Orchard Lake St. Mary's junior, he was holed up in his bedroom, coming to grips with the lowest moment in his young life.
Football? Who cares about something as trivial as football — even a state championship game — when your mother just died two days earlier?
Playing a game may not have been important, but fulfilling a promise to his mother and continuing to live as she would have wished helped him to get up, get out of his room and move forward.
"At first, I didn't think I was going to play this game," said Adams, whose 1-yard run with 5:42 left in the first quarter was the only touchdown in the Eaglets' 7-0 victory over Muskegon in the MHSAA Division 3 Final on Saturday night at Ford Field.
"Thursday, after she passed, I was sitting in my bed at home. My dad walks in and says, 'I don't want you to sit here and sulk,' so I went to practice Friday. We had a team meeting at 1 before our practice at 2. All the guys gave their condolences and said, 'We're not losing this game. We're making a promise to God, to my mom and to the team that we're gonna win,' and we did. I don't know. It's just ..."
Adams' voice trailed off as he held the game ball, standing before reporters and bravely articulating his feelings while still in the midst of grief.
His mother, Katie, was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer three months ago. She continued to follow her son's team, all the way up through the Semifinal victory over New Boston Huron just five days before she died on Thanksgiving.
"All the guys came to the hospital, because she was in hospice for her last hours," Adams said. "The one thing she was saying to all the guys was, 'I'm going to watch the game on TV and I want you guys to bring me back the trophy. Well, she's not here, but we did. It was a promise my brothers made to me and to my family and to each other that we would win the game.
"She never missed a game. Even with her chemo, she was sick as a dog and she'd come sit in her car and come watch. This was the first game in my football career she's missed."
In a time of tragedy for the team, St. Mary's coach George Porritt saw inspiration in the way Adams was supported by his teammates.
"The last 48 hours have been a whirlwind," Porritt said. "What's great is watching kids take care of kids when there are tough times. This team rallied behind this kid. Last night was special."
From a football standpoint, Porritt supported Adams by giving him two straight carries after his fumble nearly ended the game's only scoring drive.
Adams broke through the line and appeared primed to scamper into the end zone on a 4-yard run from the 6-yard line, but he lost the ball, only to recover it himself.
Adams got the next carry, moving the ball one yard closer to the end zone, before going untouched around the left side to cap a nine-play, 34-yard drive.
Adams was appreciative of the opportunity to get the next two carries following his fumble.
"My coaches are very persistent on hanging on to the ball," he said. "After that fumble, it's human nature to get down on yourself and hang your head, but my coaches kept preaching, 'Hold your head up, we'll get through it,' and they gave it back to me again. I knew I was going to get into the end zone."
Porritt insisted that Adams wasn't given the chance to bounce back just because he was going through a hard time in his life.
"Sometimes we like the kid to get the ball right away, get it right back in his hands," Porritt said. "We had to have him."
Real life beyond the football field was also the theme for Muskegon as coach Shane Fairfield addressed his players after the Big Reds lost in an MHSAA Final for the third straight year. They lost to Birmingham Brother Rice in the last two Division 2 title games.
"It's not going to be easy," Fairfield told his team. "It hurts. It should hurt, because it means so much. ... We have to continue the pursuit of greatness in our lives."
Adams tempted fate with his early fumble, but wasn't as fortunate in the second quarter. On second-and-goal from Muskegon's 2-yard line, Alezay Coleman popped the ball loose from Adams' grasp and Taron Smith recovered for the Big Reds with 10:53 left in the first half.
Having escaped a possible early 14-0 deficit, Muskegon's offense began to click after its first three possessions resulted in only four yards on eight plays. The Big Reds marched 95 yards in 14 plays, taking 6:56 off the clock, but came away with no points when they also failed to score from the 2-yard line.
Those missed opportunities by each team from the opponents' 2-yard line would be the closest either would come to scoring after the Eaglets opened up with a touchdown.
The defensive standoff was surprising, given the fact St. Mary's averaged 47.5 points and Muskegon 37 in four playoff games.
"You never know what kind of game it's going to be," Porritt said. "We know we have a great defense and they have a great defense. So, that's what happens. The defenses were a little bit better than the offenses today."
The Eaglets nursed their 7-0 lead through a scoreless second half by not allowing Muskegon to get closer than 31 yards from the end zone.
The Big Reds had four possessions after halftime, with two ending in interceptions. Tyler Cochran picked off a pass on the first play of Muskegon's second possession of the third quarter. The key interception came with 6:37 left in the game when Dwayne Chapman came up with an errant pass on fourth-and-three from the St. Mary's 31.
Muskegon would never touch the ball again. St. Mary's ran out the final 6:37 by getting four first downs on a 14-play possession that covered 49 yards.
When time expired, St. Mary's had its sixth MHSAA title, while the Big Reds had to settle for the runner-up trophy for the third year in a row.
"A lot of teams around Muskegon can't say they've been there three years in a row," Muskegon senior lineman Rowland Sharp II said. "I've been here since my sophomore year. I'm very proud to say I made it to Ford Field. As I go into my career, I'll be able to say, yes, I played at Ford Field; that's an NFL stadium I played in."
Muskegon's explosive ground game was held to 109 yards on 33 carries. St. Mary's also struggled with its trademark running game, gaining 133 yards on 45 carries.
PHOTOS: (Top) Orchard Lake St. Mary’s hoists its Division 3 championship trophy after the final football game of the 2014 MHSAA season Saturday. (Middle) St. Mary’s Josh Ross (5) breaks through the line as Muskegon defenders pursue. (Click for action photos and team photos from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:
BIG REDS GOAL LINE TAKEAWAY - Early in the second quarter, Muskegon forces an Orchard Lake St. Mary's fumble, which is recovered by Alezay Coleman.
EAGLETS THWART MUSKEGON'S LAST CHANCE - Muskegon's last offensive chance came near the midpoint of the fourth quarter, where on a fourth down play, a Big Reds pass by intercepted by Orchard Lake St. Mary's Dwayne Chapman. The Eaglets then ran out the clock and won the Division 3 championship game, 7-0.
Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Everett 'family' sticks together, wins together
October 19, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
At the end of Thursday’s practice, another chance at history only 24 hours away, Lansing Everett’s football team met for a players-only “family meeting” in the shadow of Archie Ross Stadium’s high concrete bowl.
These brief night-before-game gatherings have become a staple of the Vikings’ best season in more than a quarter century.
With seniors Jaleel Canty and James Mills leading, the players discuss expectations for the team as a whole and each other individually.
This is what was missing two seasons ago when Everett, with 16 of these players on the roster, finished 0-9. The transformation began to take root last fall as the Vikings finished 4-5. Tonight, they can end the regular season 9-0.
“We knew what we could do. We knew our abilities. We’ve known each other since sixth or seventh grade,” Canty said. “We knew that all it took was a little hard work. Everyone dedicated themselves, and we stuck together.
“Honestly, I think it’s because we’re like brothers. We say ‘family’ when we break the huddle, and everyone on this team loves each other. We argue, we fight all the time, but we love each other. We always stick together.”
Everett gets a Second Half High 5 this week because it's one of the top football teams in the state, but also for pulling off a tremendous turnaround – and against a schedule this fall that included annual powerhouses Grand Ledge, Holt, Lansing Sexton, East Lansing and nonleague foe DeWitt.
The Vikings have outscored opponents by a combined 234-64, after being outscored 223-102 during that winless season of 2010. Four this year's seniors joined the varsity as freshmen in 2009, and 15 plus junior quarterback Lucas Barner played significant roles on that winless squad.
History, recent and ancient
Don’t try to stump the Vikings on their family history. They’ve already scoured the Internet to figure out the context of what they’ve accomplished so far – and the meanings behind two important dates:
1986 – The last season, before this fall, that the Vikings won a league championship. The clinched a share of the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue title by beating Sexton last week, and can win it outright tonight at Jackson.
1954 – The last season Everett finished the regular season without a loss, although Canty was quick to point out that team played only eight games. His can finish 9-0.
“They’re excited. They know they’re doing something – or they’re close to doing something,” coach Marcelle Carruthers said.
“We wanted to know if we could make history,” Canty added. “It’s really crazy, seeing where we came from.”
Carruthers said only a handful of players are familiar with the stars that led to Everett’s resurgence last decade – like quarterbacks Mike Canfield and Reggie Williams and receiver Michael Stevenson.
But none are old enough to remember what Carruthers tackled when he took over the struggling program in the spring of 2000.
The streak
From opening night 1995 until Sept. 17, 1999, Everett didn’t win a game. The streak reached 39 losses, and in eight of them the Vikings didn’t score.
Coach Fred Ford shepherded Everett as it finally won that September night and then the next week too before closing 1999 with four more losses. A mission accomplished, he stepped down after the fall – and was at the press conference to greet Carruthers, considered by many the best quarterback and perhaps best player ever from the Lansing area.
Three more losing seasons followed, running that streak to 16 in a row. But the Vikings were making visible strides. Finally, they broke through with a 6-4 finish in 2003 that included the first of four playoff appearances over six seasons before having to hit the restart button again with a 2-7 record in 2009.
As mentioned above, four of these seniors played on that team as freshmen. They were joined by 11 more classmates and Barner among underclassmen in 2010. The record turned ugly, but the experience resulted in 19 returning starters heading into 2011. Everett finished last season 4-5, but with two losses by a combined eight points. Those taught the players what was necessary to finish a winning effort.
“You're always aware of where you came from, and how good it feels now,” said Carruthers, a Lansing Eastern grad who then played and coached at Central Michigan. “But you also have to know the trials and tribulations too, which makes you humble. You appreciate it and you stay humble because you know how (difficult) it is to stay up; you can go right back down.
“So I think about it all the time. I do.”
More to accomplish
Carruthers told his players Thursday how proud of them he is for sticking together and sticking it out.
That often doesn’t happen when programs hit bumps in the road like Everett did the last three years. Players quit, or move to other schools, or keep playing but keep struggling.
But this team always had talent. Canty, a receiver and defensive back, will sign this winter to play next fall at the University of Cincinnati. He's just one of a large group of standouts with Mills, Barner and running back/linebacker Anthony White other names that have been written and said frequently this fall. Senior Alec Cambric has been a pleasant surprise in his first season with the team, emerging as one of the Lansing area’s top running backs.
Regardless of what happens tonight, Everett will make its sixth playoff appearance ever next week. The Vikings have won playoff games only twice, and have never advanced beyond the District Final.
So there are more goals to achieve. And be sure those will be discussed at the next family meeting, as a large group of players who grew up together look to make history one more time.
“We aren’t having any of that playing around, any of that joking. We’re taking it real seriously,” Canty said. “And that’s one of the things we didn’t have our sophomore year when we went 0-9, someone to push us and let us know what we needed to do. And we’ve been there before, as far as losing.
“But we haven’t been here before. This is a first.”
PHOTO: Lansing Everett's Jaleel Canty will sign this winter with the University of Cincinnati and is arguably the top player in the Lansing area this fall. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com).