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Ida Builds Greatest Season 'Brick by Brick'

By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half

November 5, 2015

By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half

IDA – As the greatest football season in Ida High School history rolls into the second week of the MHSAA playoffs, it could be said that winning isn’t even the best thing the Bluestreaks have done this year.

Winning certainly hasn’t been the most important thing they did this season.

With the community strongly backing the program throughout its undefeated season to date, which continues tonight in a Division 5 District Final at home against Dearborn Heights Robichaud, the team has given back – while building a collection of memories they will cherish no matter how long this history-making trip rolls on. 

From hosting a fundraiser that hit much closer to home than they anticipated, to welcoming back a beloved member of the program after a health scare – and all while putting together the most successful run in school history – Ida has had a season to remember, even as it works to add more moments before the run is done.

Supporting a new teammate

The regular-season finale was designated as a fundraiser for childhood cancer awareness, and the game against rival Erie-Mason raised more than $4,000 for the St. Baldrick's Foundation, a private institution in California that gives grants to children who are battling cancer.

“I had seen something on Facebook and looked into it and decided that we needed to do something other than just get ready for football games,” Ida coach Tom Walentowski said. “We scheduled our Game 9 as a gold-out game with one of our rivals, Erie-Mason, and we raised money for childhood cancer awareness. The kids got big into that.”

Unknown at the time of the decision to raise funds for childhood cancer awareness, Chloe Arnold, a 5-year-old resident of the Ida community, was battling leukemia.

The close-knit Bluestreaks had room in their hearts to join another team. They joined Team Chloe. And in the regular-season finale, Team Chloe also was able to raise money through sales of merchandise.

One unique item was a helmet that had an Ida decal on one side and an Erie-Mason decal on the other. Players from both teams signed the helmets, which then were donated to Team Chloe for a silent auction that raised $665. A total of $2,315.42 was raised that night for Team Chloe.

“Gold is the color for cancer childhood awareness, and gold is in our school colors and it’s also in Erie-Mason’s school colors, so that’s why we decided that would be the game to do the gold-out,” Walentowski said. “We sold over 500 T-shirts. The kids were really into it.” 

The greatest season

Entering the 2011 season, Ida had made the playoffs just three times and finished a regular season undefeated just once – in 1971. The Bluestreaks suddenly have made making the postseason a habit, going 6-3 before losing in the first round in 2011, just missing the postseason at 5-4 in 2012 and then returning to the playoffs each of the past three seasons. Last year, the team finished 8-3, tying the program record for victories with its most since 1991.

That is quite a turnaround for a program that had just three winning seasons from 1999-2010. The reversal of fortunes has been impressive. Prior to 2013, Ida had never scored more than 259 points in a season. The Bluestreaks scored 346 in 2013 and 349 in 2014, and they already have scored 428 this year.

This isn’t just an offensive juggernaut, either. Ida has allowed only 87 points through 10 games.

When asked what has made the difference, Walentowski opened the door to the weight room, where the players were busy doing their lifting on a Monday afternoon, and simply said, “These guys.”

Ida steamrolled its first seven opponents by a combined score of 310-40. Then, in the eighth week, Ida was tested. The Bluestreaks trailed Hillsdale 7-0 at halftime and pulled out a 20-17 victory in double overtime.

“I think when you come out at halftime and you’re down 7-0 and you win the game, obviously that helps your confidence,” Walentowski said. “They never got rattled, they just went about their game.

“When you do that, it just reaffirms to them that you just keep playing your game and things will be fine.”

Ida completed the perfect regular season with a 63-7 victory over Erie-Mason and then won its first playoff game 35-23 over Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard. It was just the second home playoff game in school history, and tonight’s game will be the third.

“I love hearing all of our fans roar when we get a first down or a touchdown,” senior quarterback David Kolakowski said.

Needless to say, the Ida community has gotten behind the winning football team in a big way.

“We hear from a lot of coaches from other teams that they have never known a football team that had such a good community like we do,” senior guard/linebacker Mike Zlonkovicz said. “We drove into town on playoff day, and there was the score from every game on the light posts.

“It was really touching to see that. We’re not only representing the entire school but the entire town.”

The Bluestreaks run an odd-front defense and an offense that so heavily relies on the running game that Walentowski said the old saying of “three yards and a cloud of dust” offense applies to this team in phrase only.

“We don’t like three yards, though,” he said. “We prefer to average eight or nine.”

Ida boasts a pair of 1,000-yard running backs in Eric Bugg and Nick Levicki. Bugg broke the single-season rushing record and also has scored the most touchdowns in school history. Levicki is second on the all-time touchdown list.

“Eric is, I guess for lack of a better term, he’s the poster boy of this team,” Walentowski said. “He is really a good young man. He’s a 3.5 student, he’s solid in the classroom, he’s a great citizen, he’s humble, he just works hard. He doesn’t particularly care for all the fanfare.”

Bugg said the pressure from last season’s success weighed on his mind this season.

“I didn’t know how to live up to it since we did so well last year,” he said. “We’re just trying to beat how we progressed last year, and so far we have.

“We have to get past districts and keep doing what we’re doing.”

Brick by brick

Defensive line coach Gary Deland delivers a motivating speech prior to every game. His topic this week was “brick by brick.” The players listen to him, and that message had extra importance because Deland is experiencing it in his personal life.

Midway through the season, Deland had to undergo emergency triple-bypass heart surgery, but he is back on the sidelines coaching the team and progressively getting better from week to week. In his words, he is improving brick by brick.

“He didn’t know it at the time, but in the first half of our first game against Jefferson, he was having a heart attack,” Walentowski said of Deland. “He got through the game and said his chest was bothering him, but he thought it was indigestion.

“A couple of weeks later it was still kind of bothering him on and off, and he said he should get it checked. We were getting ready to play Blissfield, which was Game 4, and he went to the hospital on Wednesday morning, and they said you’re not leaving, you are having open-heart surgery Thursday morning.”

A week after triple-bypass heart surgery, Deland was back, giving a motivational speech to the players.

“It was a great talk,” Walentowski said. “He has quite a personality, and the kids love him. For us, it was like we hadn’t better screw anything up before Coach D gets back here. I think we all had that attitude.

“The following week, he was back on the sidelines.”

It seemed like nothing was going to keep Deland from returning to his boys.

“It was a blur,” Deland said. “I was less than a few weeks out of surgery, and I was back on the sidelines. My doctor did not approve, but he knew I was going to be on the sidelines and he wasn’t going to be able to stop me.

“I was there; I was with my team. These are a great group of kids. They work hard, and they deserve everything the coaching staff can give them, and that’s why I wanted to be there for them. They have been there for this school and this community all year long.”

Although Deland said he blocks out thinking about his health on the sidelines, the players remain very aware of it.

“The kids have gone out of their way to protect me on the sidelines,” he said. “When a play is coming out of bounds, I have to get out of the way. I cannot get run over. So they do protect me on the sidelines so I don’t get run over by any play out of bounds.

“The doctor doesn’t want me to get too excited, and I try not to. Each week I can feel the momentum of my strength coming back, and I get a little more vocal and a little more animated on the sidelines.

“I have a passion for football, and the kids know it. They know I can blow up at any time, or I can be the grandfather for them.”

And, every week, he is the motivator with his speeches.

“From that very first practice in the summer to the last game as a senior, everything is built brick by brick,” Deland said. “I can draw a correlation between that and my recovery, what I’ve gone through. It’s the same thing. It’s brick by brick.

“You might take two steps forward, and you think you’re getting on to where you want to be as a team, and I might be getting on to how I want to feel, and the next thing you take that giant step backwards. You don’t feel so great, or all of a sudden you were praised by the coach the day before and now you’re screwing up every which way.

“But you’re still going forward, and that is how I paint my recovery, brick by brick, the same as this team. They will progress in the season and the playoffs brick by brick.”

Nobody knows how the season will end, but it already is the greatest football season in school history. The Bluestreaks are giving back to the community with their work for childhood cancer awareness, and they are banding together to win football games.

It is the time of their young lives.

“Being a quarterback was not always my intention,” Kolakowski said. “I was a wide receiver, but in my JV season I had to play quarterback. Then, in the playoff game, I was like, ‘It would be so sweet to be able to run this offense,’ and now I’m getting to live out my dream, which is awesome.”

It is a season that has been building, excuse the expression, brick by brick.

“I think these guys have had a lot of goals,” Walentowski said. “Six of the seniors were with us as sophomores, and there were two freshmen who were with us back then, so those eight kids, they’re still here, and they’ve been building every year.

“They expected to work hard and do well, and that’s what they’re doing. They don’t just like to play football, they like to play football together. There’s a big difference.”

Chip Mundy served as sports editor at the Brooklyn Exponent and Albion Recorder from 1980-86, and then as a reporter and later copy editor at the Jackson Citizen-Patriot from 1986-2011. He also co-authored Michigan Sports Trivia. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.

PHOTOS: (Top) Ida running back Nick Levicki attempts to run through tacklers during his team's win over Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard last week. (Middle) Head coach Tom Walentowski, far left, and assistant Gary Deland talk things over with the team looking on. (Below) Fans hung a sign supporting Deland upon his return. (Top and middle photos by Ray Leighton. Bottom photo by Kim Farver.)

Drive for Detroit: Week 5 in Review

September 30, 2019

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

In case you missed it: The rain showed up again this weekend, turning the Week 5 football schedule into a two-day trudge for about 200 teams across Michigan.

But that’s not what we’ll remember most.

The midpoint of this regular season was filled with great rivalry matchups, many decided by only a few points and one that finished with a 3-2 score. We also saw marathons that had nothing to do with thunderstorms – like Livonia Franklin navigating three overtimes to get past rival Churchill and West Bloomfield needing a fourth to edge Lake Orion.

All of it served to set up what’s next to come – a raft of teams clinching league championships over the final month, and a number of teams this week joining our first playoff qualifiers of 2019: Berrien Springs Farmington, Flint Hamady and Jackson Lumen Christi.

"Drive for Detroit" is sponsored by MI Student Aid.

Bay & Thumb

HEADLINER Frankenmuth 23, Saginaw Swan Valley 20 For the second straight week the Eagles (5-0) sent another Tri-Valley Conference East co-leader into second place, this time Swan Valley with a win that took two days to complete. The Eagles now sit alone atop the East standings with Freeland, Swan Valley (3-2) and this week’s opponent Essexville Garber all tied for second with one league loss. Click for more from the Saginaw News and see below for highlights from WJRT.

Watch list Harbor Beach 29, Ubly 14 The Pirates (5-0) pulled within a win of claiming a piece of the Greater Thumb Conference East title after sharing it last season and winning it outright in 2017. Harbor Beach is putting up numbers like its MHSAA title contending days of last season and earlier this decade, outscoring opponents by a combined 226-31. Ubly (4-1) hadn’t given up more than 19 in a game until this one and was averaging 40.5 ppg.

Remember this one Goodrich 32, Ortonville Brandon 26 The Martians (4-1) set up a title-deciding matchup with Lake Fenton this week in the Flint Metro League “Lower” division by handing Ortonville Brandon (4-1) its first defeat. Brandon shared last year’s Metro title when the league was still unified for football before adding schools (including Goodrich) and splitting into divisions for this fall.

More shoutouts Fenton 35, Flint Kearsley 13 The Tigers have emerged as the lone first-place team in the Metro League “Upper” after sending Kearsley (4-1) into a tie for second with Linden and Flushing, Fenton’s opponents over the next two weeks, respectively. Saginaw Heritage 50, Midland Dow 15 The Hawks (3-2) just missed last season making the playoffs for the first time since 2007, but breaking a decade-long losing streak to Dow (2-3) might be the difference-maker this time.

Greater Detroit

HEADLINER West Bloomfield 59, Lake Orion 52 (4OT) The Oakland Activities Association Red has three teams at 4-1 midway through the season, and these are two of them after West Bloomfield prevailed in a matchup that tied for ninth highest-scoring overtime game in MHSAA history. The Lakers moved into first place alone in the league standings after coming back from a 10-point halftime deficit and with quarterback CJ Harris throwing for more than 200 yards and running for more than 190. Click for more from the Oakland Press.

Watch list Clinton Township Chippewa Valley 27, Macomb Dakota 21 The Big Reds (5-0) won their fifth straight over rival Dakota (3-2) and hold the top spot alone in the Macomb Area Conference Red as they look to continue their 19-game winning streak.

Remember this one Detroit Catholic Central 7, Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice 3 The Detroit Catholic League Central season is only a week old for DCC and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, but those teams now have a one-game lead with the Shamrocks (3-2) handing Rice (4-1) its first defeat and the Eaglets edging Warren De La Salle Collegiate 16-14.

More shoutouts Brownstown Woodhaven 21, Allen Park 20 The Warriors (5-0) shared the Downriver League title last season despite losing to eventual third-place Allen Park (3-2), and now sit atop the league alone by avenging that defeat. Grosse Pointe South 35, Port Huron 0 Since falling Week 1 to Birmingham Groves, South (4-1) hasn’t lost – or given up a point – and handed Port Huron (4-1) its first defeat this week.

Mid-Michigan

HEADLINER Portland 21, Lansing Catholic 20 The Raiders (5-0) extended their Capital Area Activities Conference White winning streak to 24 in part by blocking an extra point during the final minutes that would’ve tied this game with the rival Cougars (4-1). The win also ran Portland’s streak in the series to five – something to keep in mind later as these two have met again in the playoffs the last two seasons. Click for more from the Lansing State Journal.   

Watch list East Lansing 21, DeWitt 2 The Trojans (4-1) followed up their impressive Week 4 win over Portage Northern with another that could eventually earn them a league title. DeWitt (3-2) was the reigning CAAC Blue champ and downed East Lansing 37-0 last season. But the Trojans now sit alone atop the standings after just two league games, having ended a DeWitt league winning streak that stretched back to 2008 and across the Panthers’ time in the CAAC Blue, Red and Gold.

Remember this one Clare 3, Sanford Meridian 2 It’s a good guess those involved will not soon forget being part of such a low-scoring game that also meant a ton in the Jack Pine Conference standings. Clare (5-0) now sits tied with Beaverton for first place after stopping two drives by Meridian (4-1) deep into Pioneers territory during the final 10 minutes.

More shoutouts Mason 46, St. Johns 7 The Bulldogs are 5-0 for the first time since 2009 and set up a CAAC Red decider this week against Fowlerville by shutting down the Redwings (3-2). Breckenridge 38, Merrill 0 Since falling to Beaverton in Week 1, Breckenridge also is unbeaten and has outscored its last four opponents by a combined 178-8. Merrill (3-2) was averaging 32 ppg entering the weekend.

Northern Lower Peninsula

HEADLINER Charlevoix 37, Frankfort 15 With four wins this season, Charlevoix (4-1) has equaled their totals from the last two years combined. This week’s victory over Frankfort (2-3) was the first since 2014 and kept the Red Rayders tied for first in the Northern Michigan Football League Leaders title race with Week 8 opponent Maple City Glen Lake. Click for more from the Traverse City Record-Eagle. 

Watch list Johannesburg-Lewiston 26, Tawas 14 The Cardinals (5-0) earned arguably the best win of a fast start and got some final prep for back-to-back games with Charlevoix and NMFL Legacy leader Harbor Springs. Tawas (3-2), playing eight games, must win two of the next three to guarantee a return to the playoffs.

Remember this one Houghton Lake 34, Lake City 14 The Bobcats (3-2) fell to Highland Conference leader Beat City in their Week 2 league opener, but kept pace in second place by getting past the Trojans (2-3).

More shoutouts Cadillac 26, Lake Odessa Lakewood 6 Like Charlevoix discussed above, Cadillac (3-2) has won as many games this fall as the last two combined and has a chance to make a run at a playoff spot. Mancelona 46, Elk Rapids 6 The Ironmen (3-2) are in position to make a run at their best finish and first playoff appearance since 2014.

Southeast & Border

HEADLINER Jackson Lumen Christi 21, Marshall 14 The Titans (5-0) took a big step toward wrapping up the Interstate 8 Athletic Conference title, bumping the Redhawks (4-1) out of a tie for first and with their final three league opponents a combined 4-11. Marshall kept pace for most of the game, with Lumen scoring the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter before the teams held each other scoreless during the fourth.

Watch list Chelsea 13, Jackson 0 The Bulldogs (5-0) drew a step closer to clinching the Southeastern Conference White title by shutting out the reigning champion Vikings (3-2), which won the 2018 meeting 29-20. Chelsea’s final three league opponents are a combined 2-13.

Remember this one Hillsdale 10, Hudson 6 The Hornets (5-0) remain tied with Blissfield atop the Lenawee County Athletic Association standings after downing what has to be one of the state’s top 2-3 teams in Hudson, which has lost those games by a combined 32 points to teams a combined 13-2 this fall.

More shoutouts Pinckney 40, Ypsilanti Lincoln 14 The Pirates avenged last season’s loss to Lincoln to move to 4-1, eclipsing last year’s three victories while sending the Railsplitters to 2-3. Adrian Lenawee Christian 49, Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian 8 Lenawee Christian (4-1) handed NorthPointe (4-1) its first defeat, and aside from a Week 2 loss to Sand Creek has outscored its other four opponents by a combined 201-8.

Southwest Corridor

HEADLINER Battle Creek Lakeview 35, Kalamazoo Central 7 The Spartans (5-0) clinched a share of the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference East title, avenging last season’s 21-13 loss to last season’s league champion Kalamazoo Central (2-3). Lakeview can finish an outright title run Week 8 against Kalamazoo Loy Norrix. Click for more from the Battle Creek Enquirer.

Watch list Portage Central 14, Stevensville Lakeshore 13 Both are chasing co-leaders Portage Northern and St. Joseph in the SMAC West and may not catch them. But both also are trying to extend playoff streaks – Central has made the postseason seven straight, and Lakeshore must win out to guarantee running their streak to 22 seasons. The Lancers are tied with Lumen Christi for the third-longest active playoff streak and sixth longest all-time.  

Remember this one Schoolcraft 67, Delton Kellogg 14 The Eagles (5-0) are averaging nearly 60 points per game and turned up the offense to start the Southwestern Athletic Conference Valley season against a playoff regular the last few seasons in Delton (3-2).

More shoutouts Benton Harbor 28, Battle Creek Central 21 After three straight playoff seasons and a run of state and national recognition, Benton Harbor fell to 3-5 last fall – but has bounced back and improved to 3-2 with this win. Cassopolis 33, Decatur 11 The Rangers (5-0) gave up their first points of the season, but against a Decatur team that despite falling to 2-3 has a solid chance to earn its seventh playoff berth in nine seasons.

Upper Peninsula

HEADLINER L’Anse 14, Lake Linden-Hubbell 0 The Purple Hornets (4-1) will have to win at least one more game to have a shot at making the playoffs for the first time since 2013, and their final four opponents are a combined 16-4. But L’Anse has set itself up for success just about as well as possible, this shutout its first in two seasons and against a Lakes team that at 3-2 is in a similar boat as it works to get back to the postseason. Click for more from the Houghton Daily Mining Gazette.

Watch list Menominee 35, Boyne City 0 Last season was the rarest of rare for the Maroons, who finished below .500 and didn’t make the playoffs both for the first time since 1995. But Menominee has rebounded substantially, its only loss to a Kaukauna, Wis., team that is 5-1. Boyne City fell to 2-3, but is tied for the lead in the NMFL Legends division.

Remember this one Negaunee 40, Ishpeming 20 After a pair of losses to still-unbeaten Iron Mountain and Calumet to start the fall, Negaunee (3-2) has won three straight with its largest margin yet coming against the Hematites (3-2).  

More shoutouts Sault Ste. Marie 24, Ogemaw Heights 12 The Blue Devils (4-1) are a win shy of equaling last year’s 5-4 finish and a candidate to make the playoffs for the first time since 2015, while Ogemaw Heights remains in the hunt for its first postseason berth since 2013. Escanaba 31, Kingsford 8 The Eskymos (4-1) bounced back from a painful loss to Marquette with their second-best defensive performance of the season in locking down the Flivvers (2-3).

West Michigan

HEADLINER Muskegon Oakridge 15, Montague 13 (OT) One of the best rivalries in Michigan just keeps getting better. This time, Oakridge (5-0) emerged victorious by stopping Montague’s 2-point conversion try to tie in overtime. This close finish follows Montague’s one-point win a year ago and is the fourth meeting over the last five between these two to be decided by seven points or fewer. Oakridge and Ravenna now sit atop the West Michigan Conference standings, with Montague (4-1) one game back. Click for more from the Muskegon Chronicle and see highlights below from State Champs Sports Network.

Watch list Byron Center 23, Zeeland West 22 We’ve talked up Byron Center (5-0) a bit in the early going this fall, but this win over Ottawa-Kent Conference Green powerhouse Zeeland West (4-1) is another major sign this could be a special season. This was the Bulldogs’ first win over the Dux since 2016, when Byron Center finished 10-2.

Remember this one Grandville 22, East Kentwood 21 The Bulldogs’ star continues to rise, and winning close against reigning O-K Red champion East Kentwood (3-2) could end up one the most important wins of the season as Grandville (5-0) looks to contend.

More shoutouts Zeeland East 42, Holland Christian 39 (OT) The two-time reigning champion Chix (4-1) just got past Holland Christian (2-3) to also remain undefeated in O-K Green play. Sparta 48, Grand Rapids West Catholic 7 The Spartans (4-1) took a serious step toward making the playoffs for the first time since 2013 and also can eye winning more than five games for the first time since 2011. Additionally, they hampered West Catholic’s hopes of extending its 16-year playoff streak. The Falcons (1-4) will have to win out to have the opportunity.

8-Player

HEADLINER Colon 42, Climax-Scotts 0 This was our featured 8-player matchup in Friday’s preview, and as noted then Climax-Scotts (4-1) had beaten Colon in 11-straight 11-player games before Colon switched to 8-player beginning with the 2018 season. The Magi (5-0) showed their superiority in this format, leaping a major hurdle as they run for a second straight Southern Central Athletic Association A championship. Click for more from JoeInsider.com. 

Watch list Mio 32, Hillman 14 The Thunderbolts have gone from 17 straight losses in 11-player to a 4-1 start in 8-player and handing Hillman (4-1) its first defeat of this fall. The Tigers had beaten Mio in four straight before they took a year off when Hillman moved to 8-player a year ago.

Remember this one Cedarville 48, Brimley 6 The Trojans (3-2) kept themselves in the mix in what looks like a strong Great Lakes Conference East, bouncing back from a loss to Rapid River by handing Brimley (4-1) its lone defeat.

More shoutouts Bellevue 30, Camden-Frontier 12 The Broncos gave themselves a chance in the SCAA A with a second-straight big win heading into this week’s matchup with Colon. Camden-Frontier (3-2) gets Colon in two weeks. Tekonsha 56, Waldron 54 (OT) Tekonsha (3-2) held on to stay on top in the SCAA B as it looks to repeat, with Week 7 opponent Burr Oak the only other team unbeaten in league play.

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PHOTO: Muskegon Oakridge's Leroy Quinn (20) breaks through the line during his team's 15-13 win over rival Montague. (Photo by Tim Reilly.)