Highlight Reel: Saturday Football Finals
November 28, 2015
By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director
The 2015 Fall sports season concluded Saturday (Nov. 28), with four more champions crowned at the 11-Player Football Finals – presented by the Michigan Army National Guard – at Ford Field in Detroit.
Below are highlight clips from every game plus links to watch them in full.
Division 7
Ishpeming 22, Pewamo-Westphalia 16
Smith’s Record Setter – Pewamo Westphalia scored first on this 25-yard run by Jared Smith, his 53rd of the season, a new MHSAA record. He also set a record in 2015 for single-single rushing yardage with 3,243 yards.
Ozzy Does It All – After scoring all three of his team's touchdowns, Ishpeming's Ozzy Corp makes the defensive play of the game by batting away a fourth-down pass in the end zone.
Watch the whole game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Division 1
Romeo 41, Detroit Cass Tech 27
Tanner Breaks Free For TD – Romeo's Bradley Tanner rushed for 130 yards and three TDs in the Division 1 Final against Detroit Cass Tech. Here's his second score, in the second quarter.
Cass Tech Gets Back In The Game – Detroit Cass Tech pulls within a score of Romeo midway through the fourth quarter on this 36-yard pass from Aaron Jackson to Donovan People-Jones.
Watch the whole game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Division 5
Grand Rapids West Catholic 40, River Rouge 34
Fox On The Run – David Fox rushed for 152 yards and three touchdowns to lead Grand Rapids West Catholic in its Division 5 Final with River Rouge. Here’s the first of those scoring plays – a 64-yard run at the end of the first quarter.
Burgess TD Pass to Vinson – River Rouge QB Antoine Burgess passed for 354 yards and three TDs in the Division 5 Final against Grand Rapids West Catholic. Here’s a third-quarter pass that went 63 yards for a score to Aaron Vinson, who had 162 yards receiving in the game.
Watch the whole game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Division 3
Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 29, Chelsea 12
Tabone & Hamler Team Up For Eaglets – The combination of QB Brendan Tabone and WR Kahlee Hamler connected for two TDs in Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Division 3 Final against Chelsea. Here’s the first score in the opening period.
Bulldog Trickery – Chelsea got on the board in the second quarter on a halfback pass covering 47 yards from Graham Kuras to Noah Vanreesema.
Watch the whole game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
The MHSAA Football Finals are sponsored by the Michigan National Guard.
PHOTO: Romeo's Bradley Tanner makes a move toward the end zone during the Division 1 Final as teammate Paul Hurley appears to signal the touchdown to come.
Stevenson's Travels Following Lake Orion Success Include Space Force, Penn, NYC
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
July 17, 2025
It certainly isn’t hard for Marques Stevenson to pause and turn back the clock, even if sometimes it’s in the middle of the night.
Once a star running back at Lake Orion High School, Stevenson was arguably the MVP of what still stands as the only Dragons team to win an MHSAA Finals football championship.
Even though it will be 15 years this fall since that magical run in 2010, the memories remain as fresh as if they happened yesterday.
“I get the nostalgia, and I’ll cut on some highlights of that year,” he said. “I’ll tell my girlfriend at 3 in the morning, ‘Hey watch this, we were so good in high school.’ At least twice a year I’ll find myself cutting on the old game film or watching ‘MHSAA Rewind’ and watch the championship game over again.”
Nobody could blame Stevenson, given he capped off a sensational senior year by rushing for 186 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries in Lake Orion’s 21-13 win over Plymouth in the Division 1 championship game.
Stevenson also rushed for 288 yards and four touchdowns in a District Final that year against Grand Blanc, and for 190 yards in a Semifinal win over Detroit Cass Tech.
Even more impressive is that late in that playoff run, opponents knew Lake Orion was going to ride its offensive line and Stevenson – and still couldn’t stop them.
Starting quarterback Sean Charette suffered a season-ending injury in their Regional Final, and while backup Cole Schaenzer definitely wasn’t a liability and did a good job filling in, it was no secret Lake Orion’s best route to scoring points was handing the ball to Stevenson.
“When (Charette) went down, it was a tough loss,” Stevenson said. “But we all felt like it was next man up and that we truly trusted each other.”
Stevenson finished the season with 1,966 rushing yards and 25 touchdowns, the former still a Lake Orion record.
"The season was special because going into that year, I don’t think any of us thought that was going to be the outcome,” said Stevenson, adding he vividly remembers the strong support given to the team by the Lake Orion community. “We all, day after day and week after week, started to believe in ourselves more. By the end, it came into fruition. It was a special run.”
After graduating from Lake Orion, Stevenson went on to the Air Force Academy, studying and also playing football there until deciding not to play his senior year.
Following graduation, he served six years in the Air Force, conducting satellite command and control for the U.S. Space Force while stationed in Denver and Los Angeles.
Once he finished his service, Stevenson obtained a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and he now works as a strategy consultant in New York City.
“I don’t think any of that would have been possible without Lake Orion and that football experience,” Stevenson said. “That got the ball rolling for the journey I’ve been on now. I’ve been able to see the world, moved around a lot and had different experiences. Most of those experiences are attributed to the opportunity I got at Lake Orion.”
Stevenson is listed a few more times in the Lake Orion football record book, ranking third all-time in career yards (3,122) and touchdowns in a season (25).
“His senior year, with his work, his speed, his vision and his knowledge of our offense, it almost looked easy for him,” said current Lake Orion head coach and athletic director Chris Bell, who also was the head coach of the 2010 championship team. “His work and preparation made him one of the best we ever had. He was a 4.0 student, a high-character young man and just a lot of fun to coach and be around.”
Stevenson said he’ll come back into town a couple times every year, but there might be a special reason to do so this fall – a 15-year celebration of the championship season.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there wasn’t a 10-year reunion in 2020.
“I would love to do a proper reunion of that team,” Stevenson said. “I should probably reach out to Coach Bell and Coach (John) Blackstock and those guys.”
If a reunion does happen, no doubt it will be more reason to get out the clips from that 2010 season again.
“That whole run and experience resonates with me,” Stevenson said. “And I don’t think that’s ever going to change.”
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Marques Stevenson carries the ball for Lake Orion during his senior season in 2010. At right, Stevenson today. (Middle) Stevenson takes on a Troy defender in 2008. (Action photos courtesy of the Oakland Press; headshot provided by Marques Stevenson.)