North Central's Jets Take Off in 8-player
October 1, 2015
By Dennis Grall
Special for Second Half
POWERS – Fielding Yost and his "Point-A-Minute" University of Michigan football powerhouse of more than a century ago had nothing on the supersonic Jets of Powers North Central.
In their first season of 8-player football, the Menominee County team is averaging a meteoric 73.6 points a game during a 5-0 start. The Jets, who play Eben Junction Superior Central on Saturday, have outscored their opponents 368-70.
This team is playing at a level not seen in Powers since, well, last March when the boys basketball team won the Class D championship with a 27-0 record. Six members of that team, led by all-state basketball guard and quarterback Jason Whitens, play football.
"When you are winning and you are playing good, it is always fun," said Whitens, a junior who was a wide receiver/defensive back on last season's 3-5 team. "When you come to practice, it is nice to know what it feels like (to win)."
In both sports, Whitens has the ability to adjust and adapt as the game situation dictates. "It is nice to know you can change what you want and get the best possible result," he said.
Coach Kevin Bellefeuil, in his 11th season during a tenure that includes four winning seasons and one postseason victory, said the transition from 11-player to 8 has been seamless and timely.
The Jets have been battling small football turnouts for years, with as few as 13 players available a few seasons ago. This year there are 18 players, which enables full-scale scrimmages under the 8-player version.
"In reality, we're just this little school of 120 kids," Bellefeuil said, noting more students came out for football this season with the change to the 8-player game. The shift also allowed the Jets to retain a junior varsity program, which is playing seven games under the 11-player format and the final two in the 8-player version.
Football began in 1972 at North Central, and the program has just 23 winning seasons. Of those, only nine ended with two or fewer losses, including a 9-0 run in 1980.
Athletic director Joe Pontbriand said, "there were two keys" to installing the 8-player game: number of participants and maintaining a jayvee program. "I think the process is working," he said.
"It becomes unhealthy," Pontbriand said of the injury factor caused in part by fatigue that occurs with small numbers of athletes trying to play 11-player football. "It is not all about winning. Eleven-man with no numbers means a long season."
Bellefeuil said the jayvees haven't played more than three games in any of the past five years, noting several players have been elevated to varsity to replace injured players.
The Jets use basically the same offense this season. Rob Granquist, now the starting quarterback for Concordia University in Chicago, earned all-Upper Peninsula Class D honors last season. Whitens this season has completed 42 of 53 passes for 939 yards and 17 touchdowns while directing a ground attack that has gained 1,297 yards in 129 attempts for a whopping 9.88 average.
The Jets have scored on every offensive possession in the first half this season, a staggering statistic. "The first half of a game we're pretty much 50-50 (run-pass)," said Bellefeuil, noting it is run-oriented in the running clock second half.
Bellefeuil, who calls the plays, indicated the Jets likely would be using more no-huddle offense this season to take advantage of their speed and overall athleticism. He said only five players would be considered linemen.
"We run the same things we have done before," said Bellefeuil. "We play the pistol, shotgun offense. It is a lot of fun calling plays. Having the kind of athletes we have, we can move in-and-out and out-and-in, whatever we want.
"We just dropped the tackles and the slot receiver for eight-man. It has not been different from what we did already. It has not been much of a transition."
Whitens said "we're having a lot of fun. We are all enjoying it."
Senior captain and tight end Brett Baird, who only plays football, said he enjoys the 8-player game more. "Once you get through the first two weeks and know the plays and how everything works, it is just football."
He said the 11-player game is harder because "there are a lot more linemen and there are bigger guys. The eight-man game has more (playing) room. There are strengths and weaknesses both ways. Football is football; it doesn't matter."
The 8-player game is a better fit for the Jets because now they are playing comparable-sized teams and schools. Under the 11-player version the Class D school had games against such Class C opponents as Norway, Manistique, Munising and Newberry.
The change has also been beneficial for the students. Bellefeuil said Morgan Cox, a tight end-defensive end who also plays basketball, has embraced the new format and gained confidence and maturity this year after the MHSAA title run in basketball. "Now he is one of the guys out in front for the drills. He is definitely a leader," said Bellefeuil.
"We talked about going eight-man for a couple of years," he added, noting now the Jets do not have to elevate freshmen or sophomores to the varsity. "You are asking 14-15 year old kids to tackle 18-19 year old kids. They were not ready for that, and it is dangerous."
He said practice does not "seem like drudgery to them" under 8-player football. "They like playing the football brand of basketball they play because it is familiar to them," noting the fast-break basketball style and up-tempo football approach.
Having more depth allows the Jets to have fresh players available for more plays, which also fits the up-tempo style. "Now we get to play all of our kids and we wear teams out, like teams used to wear us out," said Bellefeuil. "A lot of injuries happen when you are tired and fatigued."
Although the Jets are having success in their first season of 8-player, Pontbriand admits the change has not been totally accepted in the school district.
"Not everyone is buying in, but we have to do what is best for the kids," he said. "The varsity team has really bought in."
The carryover from the phenomenal basketball season has also been important. "Carrying that attitude and enthusiasm over to the grass sport can be a deadly combination," Pontbriand said. "Those six kids (from basketball) are born leaders, and the other kids who sit in the front row cheering section now get to be part of that on the front line.
"It definitely sets a tone" in the classroom and community, he said of that success to start the school year. "It builds confidence and gives the kids a sense of entitlement and a chance to succeed. If you're the best on the field, you want to be the best in the classroom."
Denny Grall retired in 2012 after 39 years at the Escanaba Daily Press and four at the Green Bay Press-Gazette, plus 15 months for WLST radio in Escanaba; he served as the Daily Press sports editor from 1970-80 and again from 1984-2012. Grall was inducted into the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and serves as its executive secretary. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for the Upper Peninsula.
PHOTOS: (Top) Members of the North Central football team go through blocking and tackling drills at practice Wednesday in Powers. (Middle) North Central football coach Kevin Bellefeuil indicates a pass route he wants his receivers to take. (Below) Like North Central's helmets indicate, the Jets are flying high in their first season of 8-player, off to a 5-0 start while averaging 73.6 points a game. (Photos by Denny Grall.)
MCC Follows 'Big #77' in 3-Peat Attempt
November 4, 2015
By Tom Kendra
Special for Second Half
Jacob Holt will be in the middle of the action, guaranteed, when two great football traditions collide Saturday afternoon in Beal City.
Holt is a four-year starter up front for Muskegon Catholic Central, which ventures toward the middle of the mitten to Beal City in its quest for a third consecutive MHSAA Division 8 championship.
“We know we have to play our best or it will be our last game,” said Holt (6-foot, 245), a senior guard and defensive end for the Crusaders, who were ranked No. 1 in Division 8 in the final Associated Press state poll. “This is a completely different team than the past two years, but our motivation is to uphold the MCC tradition.”
Holt brings a wealth of size, talent and, perhaps most importantly, experience into Saturday’s showdown. He has started nearly 48 games for MCC over the past four years – leading his team to the Semifinals in 2012, starting all 14 games each of the next two years for back-to-back championship teams, and all nine games this year for the 7-2 Crusaders.
Holt is a force on an offensive line which is very good, but not quite the wrecking machine of a year ago.
MCC lost three players off last year’s offensive line who earned some form of all-state recognition – Jaeden MacPherson (now at Ferris State), Michael Caughey (Benedictine in Atchison, Kan.) and Lamar Jordan (St. Francis in Joliet, Ill.).
The new line showed its youth in this season’s opening game at perennial Division 5 powerhouse Muskegon Oakridge. The Eagles rolled to a 31-0 halftime lead and, eventually, a 45-26 victory, snapping MCC’s 26-game winning streak.
Since that game, the Crusaders’ line has come of age behind Holt, who will likely go down as one of the best pulling guards to ever play for veteran MCC line coach and defensive coordinator Mike Ribecky.
“Jacob is just really coordinated and skilled for his size,” said third-year MCC coach Steve Czerwon, whose team has won seven of its last eight games, with its only loss during that stretch coming Week 8 at Detroit Country Day, the top-ranked team in Division 4. “We try to take advantage of that in different ways. We pull him quite a bit and he has played about 20 snaps this season at fullback.”
In his normal position at guard, Holt anchors the strong right side of the Crusaders’ line, which also includes monstrous junior tackle Brock Johnson (6-1, 280) and senior tight end Nate Jones, who made his 50th consecutive varsity start in last week’s 49-7 win over visiting Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart.
Also missing off those back-to-back championship winners is quarterback Nick Holt, Jacob’s older brother and the unquestioned leader of those powerhouse teams. The Holts also made up the battery of MCC’s MHSAA championship baseball team this spring, with Nick on the pitcher’s mound and Jacob at catcher.
“It’s been weird not having him around this fall,” said Jacob of his older brother, who is now a freshman at Hope College, where he is a pitcher on the baseball team. “I miss riding home with him after every game and every practice and just going over everything. We still text all the time, but it’s not the same.”
Nick Holt had to make a difficult choice between playing baseball or football in college, and Jacob will soon face the same agonizing decision. Among the schools pursuing him in football are Saginaw Valley State, Wayne State, Northwood, Mount Union (Ohio) and Hope, while he is actively being recruited in baseball by Kalamazoo College, Aquinas College and Hope.
Stepping into Nick Holt’s big shoes at the quarterback spot is senior Christian Martinez, who has assumed a more traditional ball distribution role – getting the ball to junior running backs Logan Helton and LaTommy Scott, as well as his favorite aerial target in junior Walker Christoffersen.
Holt gives much of the credit for his success to his parents, Mike and Cathi Holt, who raised their two sons to be both competitive and humble in everything they do.
“My dad has been my coach ever since I was a little kid,” said Jacob, 17, who has a 3.88 GPA and scored a 27 on his ACT. “He taught me how to be a man. The big thing with him was, win or lose, we weren’t going to be poor sports.”
Mike Holt, now in his 16th year as a science teacher at MCC, has influenced more than just his two sons for the Crusaders’ football program. Holt is the Crusaders’ middle school head football coach and, along with former MCC great and Northern Illinois Hall of Famer Frank Lewandoski, has played a big part in the development of the program’s players for the past six years.
This fall, the school district took it a step further with the formation of the Muskegon Catholic Central Youth Football Club, which was organized by current MCC School Board President Andy Riegler, who quarterbacked the Crusaders to a Class C championship in 1990. Czerwon called the club’s first season “hugely successful.”
Those kinds of efforts at the lower levels help explain MCC’s continued success, despite steadily declining enrollment over the past 35 years.
“We’re blessed to have quality coaches at the middle school and the youth levels, who really care about the kids,” said Czerwon, who boasts a gaudy 33-4 record in his three years as head coach.
MCC first broke through in the football playoffs as a Class B school, winning MHSAA titles in 1980 and 1982. The Crusaders won three Class C championships in the 1990s and have won five titles in either Division 7 or Division 8 during the first 15 seasons the 2000s.
With a current enrollment of 177 students, MCC is a Class D school in size, but the standards and expectations for the football program have remained as high as ever.
Many of those young kids aspire to someday be like Jacob Holt, big No. 77, who sets a great example for them both on and off the field.
Holt will need to be at his best against a Beal City program that knows all about physical football and playing in November.
While the Crusaders boast 10 MHSAA titles in the playoff era, Beal City has the edge over MCC and every other team in the state with 33 playoff appearances. Farmington Hills Harrison is second with 32, followed by Crystal Falls Forest Park and Fowler with 31. Muskegon Catholic is eighth with 27 playoff appearances.
Beal City (9-1), which was ranked sixth in the final AP Division 8 poll with its only loss coming Week 5 against Evart, will seek to avenge a 35-12 loss to MCC in the 2013 Division 8 championship game at Ford Field in Detroit.
While the two schools are known for football success, their biggest rivalry in recent years has been on the baseball diamond. Beal City knocked off MCC in Division 4 Regional Finals in 2013 and 2014, with the Crusaders getting the upper hand this past spring.
On Saturday, the two schools will meet on the gridiron for a Division 8 District championship.
“We’ve gotten to know Beal City really well,” said Holt, an all-Lakes 8 Conference lineman the past two years. “It’s a chance for us to show how far we’ve come this year. We lost 18 seniors last year, so it hasn’t always been smooth, but I think we’re playing our best right now.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Jacob Holt recovers a fumble during MCC's dramatic, come-from-behind, 29-26 victory over host Fruitport on Oct. 2. (Middle) Holt shows his athletic ability, leaping high and nearly blocking this punt in a 49-14 victory over visiting Fremont at Kehren Stadium. (Below) Mike Holt, a Muskegon Catholic Central teacher and middle school football coach, is flanked by his sons, junior Jacob (77) and senior Nicholas (3), after MCC defeated Munising last year for its second consecutive MHSAA Division 8 championship. (Photos by Tim Reilly.)