Highlight Reel: Division 1 Semifinals
November 25, 2014
The Clarkston football defeated East Kentwood 35-13 and Saline defeated Detroit Cass Tech 30-15 on Saturday in Division 1 football Semifinals. Click the headings below for highlights:
WOLVES STRIKE DOWN THE MIDDLE - Clarkston got two first-quarter TD passes from D.J. Zezula against East Kentwood. Here's the first, a 40-yard streak down the middle to Jacob Fisher.
EK CONNECTS ON FOURTH DOWN - A key play in East Kentwood's first drive for points against Clarkston was a fourth-down pass from Kyle Friberg to Bret Patton.
SALINE'S SLATTERY SCORES ON A PICK SIX - Early in the final period, Saline's Stephen Slattery picked off a Detroit Cass Tech pass and returned it eight yards for a score.
HALL FINALS VANCE - Detroit Cass Tech pulled close midway through the fourth quarter on this 8-yard pass from Rodney Hall to Demetric Vance.
Watch the entire Clarkston/East Kentwood game and order DVDs by Clicking Here and the Saline/Cass Tech game by Clicking Here.
Moment: Comets Make Last Minute Count
October 8, 2020
By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
A hop and a wave.
That’s what it took for Grand Ledge to pull off the most unlikely of comebacks in the 2000 Division 1 MHSAA Football title game at the Pontiac Silverdome, doing what no team has ever done – scoring two touchdowns during the final minute to claim a 19-14 victory over Utica Eisenhower.
The game was your typical large-school, heavyweight fight, tied at 7-7 with less than five minutes to play when Eisenhower’s Chris Hoover broke loose for a 36-yard scoring run. But Grand Ledge bounced right back, mounting an 80-yard drive following the ensuing kickoff, capped by quarterback Matt Bohnet’s five-yard scramble to the end zone.
With just 53 seconds left on the clock, Comets coach Pat O’Keefe, already known as one of the state’s most successful baseball coaches, decided he had to gamble. Go for two.
“We were tired,” O’Keefe told the Lansing State Journal after the game. “I thought the momentum was there for us and I didn’t want to play overtime.
“We thought about it a little bit, and I saw it in the kid’s faces. I asked Matt (Bohnet) what he wanted to do and he said, ‘Let’s go for the win.’”
But the conversion play broke down. Bohnet couldn’t find an open receiver and was tackled short of the goal line.
Everyone in the Silverdome knew what was coming next. No one could have seen, however, what was going to happen.
The onside kick by Nick Sandy took a textbook hop, and Colin O’Keefe flew through the air to grab it and give the Comets new life.
Two plays later, Bohnet was scrambling again – and a wide-open Tim George was downfield waving at him. Bohnet connected with George at the 15-yard line, and after shaking off one would-be tackler, George headed for the end zone, finishing with a pylon dive that gave the Comets the lead. It was the second TD catch of the game for George.
“I caught the ball and got bumped,” George told The Detroit News. “I saw the goal line and I knew I had to get there. I didn’t even think about going out of bounds.”
You can watch the final moments of the FOX Sports Detroit coverage of the 2000 Grand Ledge-Utica Eisenhower game below.
PHOTO: Grand Ledge's Tim George dives for the winning touchdown during the final seconds of the 2000 Division 1 Final at the Pontiac Silverdome. (Photo by Gary Shook.)