Lumen Repeat 'Club' Inducts Newest Class
November 24, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
DETROIT – The challenge came one more time over text Thursday night, from a pair of assistant coaches who had something their players desperately wanted.
Tony Panici and Tyler Aldridge were part of Jackson Lumen Christi’s repeat Division 5 champions in 2003 and 2004, and they had one question for today’s Titans: “Do you have what it takes to join the back-to-back club?”
“That really stuck with us,” Lumen Christi junior linebacker Nick Thomas said. “And I think it gave us that little edge to be able to come out and leave everything on the field, and just join that club.”
Panici and Aldridge – who also were part of the 2005 runner-up team – sent along photos of their championship rings as well. And now the program will need to mint another 80 or so more.
Indeed the Titans won their 10th championship Friday at Ford Field, for the second straight season in Division 6, completing their first repeat since Panici and Aldridge’s sophomore and junior years more than a decade ago. And Lumen Christi did it by holding off arguably the state’s most successful program of the last decade – five-time champion Ithaca – by holding on for a 40-34 win.
The Titans led by 20 midway through the fourth quarter before the Yellowjackets pulled to within six with 2:27 to play. Lumen Christi (12-1) was able to run off those final minutes but needed every last yard – securing the victory by getting two on a 4-and-1 dive by senior Kyle Minder with under a minute to play.
It was a symbolic way to end the final rally. The Yellowjackets (12-1) have won their five titles over the last eight seasons with offenses led by dynamic dual-threat quarterbacks, and made this run led by senior signal-caller Joey Bentley – who ended the fall with 2,144 yards and 31 touchdowns passing and 1,656 yards and 27 scores rushing.
Lumen Christi’s attack is far more old school, a grind-it-out style that this season headlined senior Sebastion Toland with Minder mostly blocking in front of him and behind a powerful offensive line. The Titans didn’t throw a pass during the second half Friday, aside from a two-point conversion try, mostly because they were able to follow up Ithaca’s defensive stops with long runs – Minder ripped off scoring sprints of four, 43 and 63 yards over the final two quarters, and Toland had an 80-yarder to make the lead 19 points just more than a minute into the fourth.
“The offensive line really came off the ball in the second half,” said longtime Lumen Christi coach Herb Brogan, who finished his 38th season running the program. “We felt all year long that offensive line was the strength of our team, and we’ve got some pretty good people to run behind them. I really thought they asserted themselves in the second half and took control of the line of scrimmage.”
The Titans ran for 514 yards on 67 carries, averaging 7.7 yards per attempt. The carries were the second most by one team in an MHSAA championship game.
Toland finished with 244 yards on 33 carries, and Minder had 206 on 23 attempts. Both made the MHSAA record book list for rushing yards in a Final, Toland’s total tying for seventh highest. He had 176 of those yards during the second half. Thomas also scored his team’s first touchdown on a 72-yard reverse.
“They’re a fantastic team offensively, and we knew that. Our challenge was getting off the field,” Ithaca coach Terry Hessbrook said.
“Our defense is fast, but obviously we’re not very big. They asked me at halftime on TV what (Lumen’s) adjustment was going to be. And I said I expected a lot more power running game from them in the second half, and unfortunately that’s exactly what we got.”
A 51-yard touchdown run by Bentley gave Ithaca a 13-8 lead it carried into halftime. Lumen Christi swung the score 24 points to take a 31-12 advantage into the fourth quarter, but the Yellowjackets remained dangerous. Three of Bentley’s four touchdown passes came over the final 9:36.
He finished 11 of 21 passing for 240 yards and those four scores, and ran for 89 yards and one touchdown. Senior Adam Culp caught five passes for 70 yards and two of those scores.
“I’m glad the clock ran out when it did,” said Brogan, also the fifth winningest coach in MHSAA history with a 343-83 record. “They’re really explosive.”
Senior linebacker Ethan McCormick led Ithaca with 15 tackles, while senior nose guard Nathan Bellinger had 11 and senior linebacker Zach Hessbrook had 10.
The Yellowjackets have won 118 of their last 123 games.
“All I can say is this: When you coach a team, all you ask from them is that they play as hard as they can possibly play,” Terry Hessbrook said. “My kids do that. They do that for me, for my coaching staff.
“I told those guys at halftime, Jackson Lumen Christi has never a team like Ithaca High School, because we have no quitters. These kids, I’m so proud of them for it.”
Minder and Thomas both had six tackles to pace the Titans.
The MHSAA Playoffs are sponsored by the Michigan Army National Guard.
PHOTOS: (Top) Lumen Christi’s Sebastion Toland works to break away from a tackler during the Titans’ Division 6 Final win Friday. (Middle) From left: Cameron White, Joe Barrett, Luke Stanton and Hunter Richmond celebrate with the championship trophy.
Awe Working to Reignite Three Rivers, Bring Best of Past to New-Look Home
By
Scott Hassinger
Special for MHSAA.com
September 11, 2024
THREE RIVERS – Jeff Awe had always been content as an assistant during his 30 years coaching high school football.
All that changed in early April when Awe accepted the head varsity position at Three Rivers. Awe had spent 27 of those years as a Wildcats assistant before taking over the program.
"Becoming a varsity football coach was never on my radar," said Awe, who spent the last three years as head coach of the Wildcats junior varsity, guiding them to an 8-1 record last fall.
Awe felt he could help rejuvenate a program that stumbled to a 1-8 record in 2023 and suffered its first losing season since 2020.
“With the kind of season we had I could see, at least in my mind, exactly what needed to be done to turn this program around,” Awe said. “I wanted to bring some positivity back to Three Rivers football. The timing and circumstances made it the right time to pursue it.”
Awe, who played for and coached under former Three Rivers coaches Scot Shaw, Jeff Zonyk and Tom Foghino – all members of the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame – has brought back some of that positivity already with increased participation. More than 80 players came out for the sport between the varsity and JV teams.
Three Rivers defeated Charlotte 36-0 in the season opener two weeks ago at newly-renovated Armstrong Field, avenging a 52-22 loss from 2023. The Wildcats are 1-1 overall after losing a hard-fought 10-7 decision Friday at Adrian. Three Rivers hosts 2023 league champ and Regional finalist Niles in Friday's Wolverine Conference opener.
Shaw, coincidently, is currently the head coach at Niles.
Awe played for Shaw, Three Rivers' head coach from 1986-2004, and was a standout receiver and cornerback earning first-team all-conference his senior year.
Three Rivers finished with back-to-back 9-0 records in Awe's freshman and sophomore years. Awe was a starter as a senior on the first Wildcats team to make the playoffs in 1986.
"In my junior year we went 8-1 but lost our last game to Coldwater and didn't make the playoffs under the old system," Jeff Awe recalled. Three Rivers finished the 1986 regular season 8-1 as well on the way to that first playoff berth.
Awe is graduate of Western Michigan University and a long-time science teacher at Three Rivers Middle School. His long-range vision for the football program is to combine the old-school mentality from when Three Rivers was the most physical and disciplined football team every week with new-school principles.
"I want to build a bridge from our youth flag football program all the way up to the varsity level. I want to be able to put a coaching staff in place that can take over the program someday when I am done and keep it going strong," Jeff Awe said.
Three Rivers, mainly a spread offense team for several years, has returned to its old-school I-formation principles. But the passing game will remain a big part of the Wildcats' attack.
"We're going to have multiple looks on both sides of the football. With the way high school football is played now, we have to ready to adjust and adapt every week," he said.
"Right now I want our seniors to have a great year. We're excited and ready to go, and I like the way the summer went. Now we have to win some games and compete against some very good football teams on our schedule."
Awe feels fortunate to have been influenced by a number of great football minds over the course of his career like Zonyk, Foghino, Shaw and J.J. Wagner at Three Rivers, along with Mendon's John Schwartz and the late Bob Critz.
"We all did a lot of good things together. All of those guys taught me a great deal about the game," Awe said.
However, the lessons he learned as a player from Shaw have really stuck with him.
"Scot is a master at motivating his players, getting teams ready mentally, and he knows how to make you feel like a million bucks with just a comment or two. He can get his athletes to run through a wall and do things you thought were impossible,” Awe said. “I loved playing and coaching for him, and now I'll be coaching against him.”
Awe worked tirelessly over the summer promoting the Three Rivers football tradition.
"I've worked hard by having former players and coaches who have been successful in life come in and speak to our kids. There is a huge legacy here about what it means to put that Wildcat jersey on. I'm bringing the old nameplates back. The front of the uniform sports the name of the community you play for, and the name on the back is your family," Awe said.
"When you learn how to go out on the field and work hard and be disciplined, those are life lessons these kids will take with them into adulthood and beyond. I want them to understand that whatever number they wear there are people all over the country who once wore that number who are paying attention. They want to see if the individuals on this team are doing the correct things to make themselves successful."
Three Rivers features much more experience on the field than in the past. Brayden Carpenter and Aiden Williams are the lone sophomores on a 38-player varsity roster that features 17 seniors. Senior cornerback Jace Gray and two-way lineman Sam Reynolds, along with junior quarterback Mason Awe (Jeff’s son), have emerged as three of the team’s leaders on and off the field.
Gray, a 5-foot-9, 190-pound linebacker, has 18 tackles over two games after a team-high 12 against Adrian.
"Jace is the heart and soul of our defense. He is incredibly instinctive and has a knack for forcing turnovers,” Jeff Awe said. “He is a big reason we hope to be greatly improved on defense this season.”
Reynolds, a three-year varsity letterman, helps anchor much-improved offensive and defensive lines with his 5-10, 240-pound frame. "Sam is one of our best players and leaders. He is our strongest kid and anchors both sides of our line. We are looking forward to a big year from him," Awe said.
Mason Awe (5-11, 190) completed 4-of-5 passes for 57 yards against Charlotte. "Mason is smart, athletic and one of our leaders on offense. He can make plays with his arm, legs and brain and is a complete player at the quarterback position," Jeff Awe said.
Senior tailback Lamonta Stone leads Three Rivers in rushing with 34 carries for 267 yards and three TDs over those first two games. Other impact players on defense include senior linebackers Tre Rohrer (5-10, 185) with 16 tackles and a fumble recovery, and Landon Moreland with 16 stops.
Senior Max Burg (6-6, 260) is another key returning starter on the Wildcats' offensive line.
Reynolds sees a much different attitude from teammates this season.
"Everyone wants to be at practice this year. Coach Awe has created a camaraderie in our program that hasn't existed for a while,” said Reynolds, who aspires to become a coach and math teacher.
“My varsity experience has helped me with the physicality and the speed of the game. We got a bad taste in our mouth last year and aren't going to settle for a losing season.”
Gray feels he and his teammates are more connected with one another.
"The experience I bring back is valuable, and it gives me an advantage on the field. My strength and senior leadership are factors I hope contribute to us winning more games and making the playoffs," Gray said.
Mason Awe enjoys the special relationship he has as a son of the head coach.
"It's special because off the field I can go home and talk with him about how the practice or game went, the plays and what is working or not working. We have a good relationship, and we think alike on the field," Mason Awe said. "Our team wants to be the toughest and most gritty one out there. That's a trademark of old Three Rivers teams and we want to go back to that. I like being a big part of the offense, making plays and helping the team win. Confidence is a big key coming off last year. It will be the defining factor. This is a strong group, and we've been playing together for a while."
Awe's coaching staff consists of Mitch Walters, Nate Foley, Drew Bosma and Zac Robare at the varsity and JV levels, along with Scott Muffley, Toby Gose and Al Schmucker at the middle school level.
Armstrong Field introduces improvements
Three Rivers has played its home football games at Armstrong Field since 1951. Voters approved a bond in 2019 for upgrades to the stadium and the 40-year-old fieldhouse that was built during the early 1980s.
The renovations also included construction of a new weight room at the high school (completed in 2022), along with the installation of a new track, video scoreboard, artificial turf and new gating.
"We compete in the Wolverine Conference where over half of our schools play their football games on artificial turf,” said Three Rivers athletic director Matt Stofer. “It's been a long five years, but it’s cool to see it finished. Our community and alumni, along with our student-athletes have been great about everything, and the stadium looks great."
Finding a safe playing surface and one that could withstand multiple uses were major factors.
"We wanted to find a surface that other schools had a lot of success with. We traveled to and took a look at fields in St. Joseph, Chelsea, Olivet College and some other schools," Stofer added.
The high school soccer teams, band, physical education classes and youth football program also will have access to the facility.
Two of the biggest changes inside the facility are new gating and a new sound system.
"Before the renovations you could just pull into Armstrong Field, and you were right there. You can still drive in, but now you have to physically get out of your car to pay and enter the stadium through one of the two new gates located at the end near the concession stand," Stofer explained. "These changes allow us to lock up the facility now when we need to."
The new video scoreboard, purchased by an anonymous donor, will include a new sound system.
"It's been quite a busy summer,” Stofer said. “We've traveled to Stevensville Lakeshore and up to Holland West Ottawa to work with their video crew in a few training sessions. We're very excited about what we can use it for once we learn everything. Our goal for now is just to get it up and running.”
Scott Hassinger is a contributing sportswriter for Leader Publications and previously served as the sports editor for the Three Rivers Commercial-News from 1994-2022. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph and Branch counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) From left: Three Rivers varsity football coach Jeff Awe and players Mason Awe, Jace Gray and Sam Reynolds. (Middle) A new video scoreboard complete with a sound system is among new features fans will see this season at Armstrong Field in Three Rivers. (Below) Three Rivers Community Schools superintendent Niki Nash gathers with students, school officials and community members near midfield Aug. 29 to cut the ribbon prior to the first home football game played on newly-renovated Armstrong Field. (Top photo by Scott Hassinger; scoreboard and ribbon-cutting photos by Matt Stofer.)