Neighbors Rally, Revive 'Community' Stadium
August 31, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
MOUNT PLEASANT – Josh Wheaton stood admiring the Community Memorial Stadium grass a little less than a year ago, and he knew what was coming next.
The weeks of trampling to come would produce the same result as every year beginning in mid-September.
“I’m looking at it and thinking, I can’t believe a week ago it was exactly the way you’d want your yard to look,” said Wheaton, a varsity assistant coach for Mount Pleasant’s football team. “And now, it’s this. It’s the same every year. I knew it was coming – and by weeks 7, 8, 9, we were going to be playing in a mud pit.”
But less than a year later, as the team prepared for its first game last week, Wheaton and his Oilers – and co-tenant Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart as well – all were enjoying something that defied any expectation: a project pulled off so quickly, it spoke well to the name of the stadium the schools share.
In less than a year, supporters of Mount Pleasant High and Sacred Heart Academy raised $600,000, secured another $300,000 in donated work, and assisted in the transformation of the stadium from an aging landmark built 50 years ago to what should again be one of mid-Michigan’s athletic jewels for years to come.
The schools reopened the stadium Friday for a doubleheader. Sacred Heart fell to rival Beal City in the opener, and Mount Pleasant then defeated Midland Dow to finish a night that saw more than 5,000 fans pass through the new gates and witness the official debut of stunning two-tone green turf that served as the main focus of a renovation that has only just begun.
“It is a community that believes in young people and certainly believes in athletics,” Mount Pleasant athletic director Jim Conway said. “I think being in a college town (with Central Michigan University), there’s that collegiate portion to it where the kids start (here), and many end up matriculating over there. And we sit right here in the middle of the city, and being the shared facility, that is kind of the focal point. We were able to use that and people latched on and wanted to be a part of it, and we’re still going.”
If you rebuild it …
Community Memorial Stadium opened in 1965 as the shared home of the Mount Pleasant High and Sacred Heart football and track and field programs. Prior to its construction, the programs had a variety of homes – CMU’s Alumni Field for the Oilers and at times the Irish, who also played at Fancher Field and at Island Park going back to at least the mid 1930s.
The new stadium construction was funded solely by the community and opened Sept. 25, 1965, for what ended as a 26-26 tie between Mount Pleasant and East Lansing. The field has remained a point of local pride since, with junior high games and the town’s rocket football teams also taking regular turns on the grass.
Most weeks during the fall see the stadium host three or four games. But Wheaton said last fall there were three weeks during which 11 games were played.
It’s not that all the activity tore up the field. But it didn’t allow the grass time to regrow after the older kids did their damage on Fridays and Saturdays.
All of that caused Wheaton to casually suggest last fall to Oilers coach Jason McIntyre that the grass should be replaced with synthetic turf. Never will happen, McIntyre responded. That conversation had been had before – including briefly when a bond was passed eight years ago that led to the repair of the locker rooms, concession stand, press box and track at the stadium – and talks about going to turf had never progressed past the idea stage.
Wheaton told his boss he’d take care of it, but nothing more was said on the topic for a couple weeks … until someone else brought it up, and McIntyre joked that Wheaton was all over it.
This time, he ran with it.
In October, Wheaton formed a committee made up of supporters of both schools. They decided they would need to raise all of the money for turf over six months – by April 1 – and split into sub committees to handle fundraising and construction.
“When I first heard about it, I was a little skeptical,” said Sacred Heart athletic director and football coach Rick Roberts, who like McIntyre is a second-generation football coach in the 26,000-resident town and has led his program for 23 years.
“I wasn’t sure we could raise that much money in that short of a time; the economy isn’t the greatest at the moment. But when I went to a meeting, and saw the energy that was around the table, I knew it was going to happen.”
Pillars of the Community
Mount Pleasant High is a Class A public school with about 1,070 students. Sacred Heart is a Class D Catholic school with about 140 enrolled. In those ways, they couldn’t be more different.
But kids at the schools grow up playing Little League baseball or youth basketball together, and a number of Mount Pleasant High families attend Sacred Heart Parish.
And there was plenty of work for all to do, and do quickly.
With money rolling in, the old grass field would need to be dug out to eight inches below the surface. Materials would need to be brought in to refill the base where the synthetic surface would be laid.
Pennsylvania-based ProGrass did the turf work, but the rest was done with local hands and equipment.
Wheaton made contact with the Isabella County-based Morey Foundation, which pledged to match $200,000 in donations from the community. Committee member Doug Moore is a president with Fisher Companies, which does concrete and asphalt work as well as construction transportation in mid-Michigan, and his company contributed much of the $300,000 in in-kind work.
McGuirk Sand-Gravel, which had also contributed when the stadium originally was built, hauled out the old field, while Malley Construction built the concrete curbs and long jump pits. Contractor Eric Borodychuk constructed the new entrance. Straus Masonry continues to build the wall of bricks and pillars purchased by donors, and other volunteers landscaped the hill near the front gate.
“If you don’t have those kind of people in your community, this doesn’t even get off the ground,” Wheaton said.
“We thought that was there,” Conway said of the support. “This is proof.”
Still work to do
Oilers senior Zach Heeke remembers teammates turning ankles on the old practice fields in holes left over from shot put tosses the previous spring.
Those are more or less a memory now – the varsities for both schools practice daily at the stadium, sometimes splitting the field down the middle. The subvarsity teams still practice on other fields, but the track and field throwing areas are inside the stadium as part of the new construction.
Heeke is more connected to athletics than a typical high schooler – his dad Dave Heeke is CMU’s athletic director – and Zach appreciates greatly what’s gone into his team’s new home field.
“It’s an honor, for sure. It gives us a lot of motivation,” Heeke said. “All the people who donated money to have this happen, we have to show them that we’re good enough and we want to play here, and we’ve got to play for them. It’s awesome to think of all the people who come to our Friday night games, and maybe they’re not showing up in the stands, but they’re on the wall and they’re thinking about us.”
Two members of the original 1965 stadium committee attended a celebration of the new field Thursday. Roberts, who remembers the stadium’s initial construction, believes the original contributors who have since died would be “thrilled” with how the current community has taken up their work and improved upon it.
Bricks and pillars continue to be sold, for as little as $250 and as much as $25,000, as part of the Pillars for the Community fundraising group the renovation committee set up. That money will fund a phase two that likely will include replacing original concrete and possibly adding new bleachers. Both schools are contributing together annually to a fund that will allow for the necessary regular maintenance and then replacement of the turf in 10-12 years.
“(The committee) all wanted the same thing. And when you get a bunch of ex-athletes in a room who all want the same thing for kids in the community, it goes pretty well,” Conway said.
“It’s just been a Mount Pleasant family, if you will."
Geoff Kimmerly joined the MHSAA as its Media & Content Coordinator in Sept. 2011 after 12 years as Prep Sports Editor of the Lansing State Journal. He has served as Editor of Second Half since its creation in Jan. 2012. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for the Barry, Eaton, Ingham, Livingston, Ionia, Clinton, Shiawassee, Gratiot, Isabella, Clare and Montcalm counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) The Community Memorial Stadium turf includes the logos of both its home teams, the shamrock for Sacred Heart and the oil derrick for Mount Pleasant High. (Middle top) Supporters have given to the stadium and the schools' players in multiple ways, from buys bricks and pillars to hanging signs. (Middle below) Sacred Heart runs a play against Beal City during Friday's game. (Bottom) Mount Pleasant High and Midland Dow players warm up before their game Friday night.
A new gate at the north entrance welcomes fans to Mount Pleasant's Community Memorial Stadium. The gate is anchored by pillars highlighting some of the project's largest donors.
The parking lot-side of the stadium pressbox, like field below, includes banners of both teams that share the field.
The uprights are padded specific to the team on the field; red for Sacred Heart's Irish and dark blue for Mount Pleasant High's Oilers.
More than 5,000 fans filled the stadium for Friday's doubleheader, these mostly supporters of Mount Pleasant High after the Sacred Heart game against Beal City had ended.
Drive for Detroit: 11-Player Semis Preview
November 16, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A week from today, Michigan’s best 11-player football teams will be playing, or preparing to play, in MHSAA Finals at Ford Field.
That’s how close we are to dreams coming true for athletes, coaches and communities all over Michigan, many in this way for the first time.
Below is a look at all 16 of this weekend’s Semifinals. All are Saturday except the Division 8 game noted. All 16 will be broadcast either on the FOX Sports Detroit Prep Zone or MHSAA.tv – click for the schedule. The MHSAA Playoffs are sponsored by the Michigan Army National Guard, and “Drive for Detroit” is sponsored by MI Student Aid.
Division 1
Clarkston (10-2) vs. Detroit Catholic Central (8-4) at Walled Lake Western
Last season’s Division 1 runner-up Detroit Catholic Central is attempting to reach the Finals for the second straight season and sixth time in nine years, riding the productive running of senior back Cam Ryan (1,602 yards/17 TDs rushing). Clarkston last reached Ford Field in 2014, when it went on to win Division 1, and also has a standout back in senior Josh Cantu (1,383 yards/22 TDs rushing).
West Bloomfield (10-2) vs. Detroit Cass Tech (9-2) at Troy Athens
Reigning Division 1 champion Cass Tech is hoping to get back to Ford Field for the fifth time in seven seasons and third straight, but West Bloomfield has won its last 10 games as it seeks to get to the Finals for the first time. The Technicians are loaded with the usual collection of college prospects, led by junior running back Jaren Mangham and senior receiver Brandon Gray. West Bloomfield is driven by Division I quarterback recruit Bryce Veasley (3,208 yards/24 TDs passing) and three receivers with at least 800 yards through the air.
Division 2
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central (12-0) vs. Livonia Franklin (10-2) at Grand Ledge
One of these two is going to make its first MHSAA Final in more than two decades. If it’s Forest Hills Central, it could be because of another shutdown performance by a defense giving up only 12.4 points per game in part because it's taken away 37 turnovers. The Rangers will have to stand up against a Franklin offense that has grown up substantially over the last three months. Two of the Patriots’ five games where they scored at least 30 points have come during the playoffs, and four of the five have come over the last five weeks.
Detroit Martin Luther King (11-1) vs. Warren DeLaSalle (10-2) at Hazel Park
King is two wins from a third straight Division 2 title and statistically might have its most impressive defense of the last three seasons. The Crusaders have given up only 45 points over the last five weeks in Detroit Public School League and MHSAA playoff games. Warren DeLaSalle was the last team before King to win Division 2, claiming the title in 2014. Senior quarterback Luke Pfromm jumps out most from an offense that’s gained more than 3,800 yards. He’s thrown 12 touchdown passes and run for 10 scores.
Division 3
Muskegon (12-0) vs. Battle Creek Harper Creek (12-0) at East Kentwood
Muskegon’s aura of invincibility got another boost last week with a 49-0 defeat of previously one-loss DeWitt. Senior quarterback La’darius Jefferson (1,163 yards/20 TDs passing, 1,678 yards/25 TDs rushing) is a player fans statewide are eager to see. Harper Creek, meanwhile, has tied its finest start and single-season record for wins. An offense with more than 3,200 yards on the ground can help the defense too; senior quarterback Jackson Malone and junior running back Jalonty Hervey have combined to run for 1,898 yards and 18 touchdowns.
Riverview (11-1) vs. Farmington Hills Harrison (9-3) at Rochester
The Hawks are doing their best to add to a proud legacy before the school closes in two years, as they’re aiming this weekend to make their first MHSAA Final since 2010. Junior running back Roderick Heard has run for 1,321 yards and 22 touchdowns and also is among the team’s leading receivers. The Pirates’ story just keeps getting better too – 2-7 last year, now playing in their first Semifinal since 2002. With 4,333 rushing yards and only 317 through the air, there’s no secret how Riverview will attack; seniors Cameron Rogers (1,310 yards/18 TDs) and Zach Guthrie (1,133 yards/11 TDs) both average more than seven yards per carry.
Division 4
Grand Rapids Catholic Central (12-0) vs. Escanaba (10-2) at Traverse City Thirlby Field
Escanaba’s first Semifinal run since 1981 has it now facing the reigning champion Cougars for the second straight season; GRCC won their Regional Final 34-0 last fall. Both feature battering backs. Senior Logan Carroll has carried a load for the Eskymos, and three of Escanaba’s five most productive offensive games have come in the playoffs. Meanwhile, senior Nolan Fugate has put up some incredible rushing totals for GRCC including 477 yards and five touchdowns rushing in a regular-season win over Comstock Park.
Edwardsburg (11-1) vs. River Rouge (10-2) at Jackson
Edwardsburg will play in its fourth Semifinal in eight seasons looking to break through with its first MHSAA championship game berth. Senior Nick Bradley leads a rushing attack that’s gained 4,700 yards with 1,210 and 12 touchdowns. Standing in the way is River Rouge, which has played in this round two years in a row and was Division 5 runner-up in 2015. The Panthers have given up only 30 points during the playoffs, with senior safety Reggie Pearson among standouts.
Division 5
Saginaw Swan Valley (11-1) vs. Reed City (11-1) at Greenville
Swan Valley is another program looking to break through to the final weekend for the first time, playing in its fourth Semifinal in 12 seasons and first since 2012. Junior quarterback Alex Fries (1,176 yards/16 TDs passing) starred last week as Swan Valley’s leading rusher missed his second straight game. Reed City is looking to extend its longest playoff run – the Regional title was its first. The Coyotes outlasted one of their toughest defensive challenges last week in winning 46-34 over 2016 Division 5 runner-up Menominee.
Frankenmuth (12-0) vs. Grand Rapids West Catholic (10-2) at Fenton
The Eagles’ path to play in a championship game for the first time must go through four-time reigning champ West Catholic. The Falcons follow an experienced leader in senior quarterback Gaetano Vallone, who has thrown for 2,332 yards and 29 touchdowns and also is the team’s leading rusher with 781 yards and 12 scores. Frankenmuth senior quarterback Zach Jacobs is similarly resourceful. He’s thrown for 1,019 yards and 15 touchdowns on only 88 attempts, and he’s also the leading rusher with 973 yards and 20 touchdowns on the ground.
Division 6
Ithaca (12-0) vs. Traverse City St. Francis (11-1) at Mount Pleasant
The Yellowjackets has return to the Finals for the seventh time in eight seasons. Senior Joey Bentley is the latest in a line of stellar Ithaca quarterbacks – he’s thrown for 1,876 yards and 27 touchdowns and run for 1,418 yards and 24 scores. St. Francis knows this stage of the game as well; the Gladiators are playing to make their first Final since 2009 but have won three Regional titles over the last seven seasons. They’ve given up only 96 points this season and also can grind clock with a rushing game led by senior Joey Muzljakovich (882 yards/15 TDs).
Warren Michigan Collegiate (12-0) vs. Jackson Lumen Christi (10-1) at Chelsea
The reigning champion Titans graduated a 2,600-yard rusher after last season and are right back in the Semifinals this time following senior Sebastian Toland (1,815 yards/21 TDs rushing). Michigan Collegiate is playing in its second Semifinal in 10 seasons as a program and first Semifinal since 2010. The Cougars outlasted another impressive offense from Detroit Central 38-34 in the District Final and haven’t allowed any other opponent to score more than 21 points.
Division 7
Lake City (12-0) vs. Pewamo-Westphalia (11-1) at Clare
Reigning champion P-W graduated one of the leading rushers in MHSAA history in the spring and is back in the Semifinals without a 1,000-yard rusher. But senior quarterback Jimmy Lehman has taken on a starring role in a little bit different way, running for 576 yards and 13 touchdowns but also throwing for 1,430 yards and 18 scores. Lake City is playing in its first Semifinal only a season after finishing 2-7, and of course has set a program record for wins along the way. Junior quarterback Matt Holt (1,821 yards/21 TDs) and senior running back Zack Noren (1,405 yards/23 TDs rushing, 577 yards/8 TDs receiving) key a balanced attack.
Madison Heights Madison (12-0) vs. Saugatuck (9-3) at Lansing Catholic
Both of these programs have been driving for this opportunity for a few seasons. Madison has played in six Regional Finals since last reaching an MHSAA championship game in 2006, but this will be its second Semifinal of that string. Saugatuck played in the Division 8 Final in 2010, but since has experienced first losses of a season in the playoffs three times. Madison is paced by junior quarterback Austin Brown (2,572 yards/31 TDs passing), while Saugatuck junior running back Bradley Dunn has run for 904 yards and 10 touchdowns and caught a team-high 31 passes for 550 yards and eight scores.
Division 8
Saginaw Nouvel (12-0) vs. Iron River West Iron County (11-1), Friday at the Superior Dome
Nouvel will play in its first Semifinal since its perfect season of 2011, when it won the Division 7 title. Senior quarterback Tate Hausbeck can hurt defenses multiple ways; he’s thrown for 2,377 yards and 25 touchdowns and is the team’s leading rusher with 584 yards and 13 scores on the ground. West Iron has broken through to earn its first Semifinal appearance since 1977. The Wykons’ 11-game win streak is the result in part of a rushing attack approaching 3,000 yards this season. Senior Jayce Brockhagen has run for 1,348 yards and 19 touchdowns.
Mendon (12-0) vs. Ottawa Lake Whiteford (12-0) at Howell
A common past opponent gives this matchup extra intrigue. Mendon eliminated four-time reigning champion Muskegon Catholic Central two weeks ago, then just got past rival Climax-Scotts 14-6 in the Regional Final. Whiteford lost to MCC in last year’s championship game and has surged back seeking a return to Detroit. Both run over opponents. Mendon has 3,940 yards on the ground and just 346 passing, with senior Wyatt Cool and sophomore Austin Rensi combining for 2,399 yards and 40 touchdowns on the ground. Whiteford has gained 4,572 yards on the ground versus 1,150 through the air; junior Logan Murphy has run for 1,599 yards and 23 touchdowns, and senior quarterback Thomas Eitniear is back with 1,150 yards and 14 touchdowns passing and 785 yards and 13 scores on the ground.
Second Half’s weekly “Drive for Detroit” previews and reviews are powered by MI Student Aid, a part of the Student Financial Services Bureau located within the Michigan Department of Treasury. MI Student Aid encourages students to pursue postsecondary education by providing access to student financial resources and information, including various student financial assistance programs to help make college more affordable for Michigan students. MI Student Aid administers the state’s 529 savings programs (MET/MESP) and eight additional aid programs within its Student Scholarships and Grants division. Click for more information and connect with MI Student Aid on Facebook and Twitter @mistudentaid.
PHOTO: Grand Rapids West Catholic's Gaetano Vallone scans the field during last week's Regional Final win over Portland. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)