Port Huron Proud to Wear Perfection After First 9-0 Regular Season Since 1952
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
October 28, 2026
The T-shirts celebrating Port Huron High’s Macomb Area Conference Blue football title came in a little later this year, but for good reason.
They were in need of a design tweak to add another, even bigger accomplishment: the school’s first 9-0 season since 1952.
“It was getting to be six and seven (wins), so I looked it up and I didn’t let anybody know except for the athletic director,” Port Huron coach Dan Perkins said. “We won our league and she shared with me the shirt design. and I said, ‘Well, hold off on those, we might want to add something to it.’ So it’s pretty neat.”
Port Huron defeated rival Port Huron Northern 13-10 this past Friday to finish off its perfect regular season. While the players may not have been aware of exactly how long it had been, they did know they were part of something special.
“It means the most to me, definitely, to do it with these guys and this type of team,” senior linebacker and tight end Aiden Forstner said. “Coming through, I haven’t seen a team do it (go undefeated), and I wanted to be the first to do it. All summer long, that’s what we thrived for. Every day in the weight room, all the conditioning, all the days that sucked, we thrived to be 9-0. Getting that accomplishment means a lot to me. (Beating Northern) definitely made it special, because everyone was expecting a blowout in that game, but it being as close as it was, and it being a nail-biter, it will stay with me forever. It being the school from the north, it made it 10 times better.”
It’s not as though the Port Huron program has lacked success. This year’s playoff berth extends the Red Hawks’ current streak to eight years. The 2019 team won a District title, as did the 2011 group, which came the closest to similar perfection, falling in its final regular-season game to finish 8-1.
“It’s crazy, and Northern’s last one was 1986, so for the whole town that’s quite an accomplishment,” Perkins said. “Doing that is very, very hard. We had a team in 2011 that’s getting inducted into the (Port Huron Sports Hall of Fame) that was a juggernaut, and we just slipped up the one game. It’s quite an accomplishment.”
Led by a suffocating defense, the Red Hawks have been overpowering throughout the season, winning every game outside of Weeks 1 and 9 by at least two scores. For the season, they’ve held opponents to 12.3 points on average while scoring 37.2. The offense is quarterbacked by junior Jaxon Johnston, a 6-foot-2 junior with a big arm who is in his first year in the program.
He’s been able to grow into the system as Port Huron’s defense has been dominant from start to finish. Only Anchor Bay (in overtime) and Madison Heights Lamphere scored more than 14 against Port Huron this season.
“We can hang our hat on our defensive crew, and that’s very nice,” Perkins said. “As long as our field position is right, going 80 yards against us is hard, real hard to do. And running the football has been real difficult for teams; we’re real stout up front. But every one of our defensive backs has multiple interceptions, and as a team we’ve got 19. The whole group has done a fantastic job, and coach (Brandon) Wardlow has done an awesome job with them, and the kids have really just responded. They take on the challenges. That’s been our calling card, and then the offense has been kind of a work in progress and has gotten better throughout the year.”
The defensive line is leading the charge on that side of the ball, paced by tackles Dylan Volpe and Ja’Michael Thomas, who create havoc up the middle. Both are juniors who stand over 6 feet tall and weigh in at 280-plus. Volpe has drawn interest from Division I college programs across the country, reporting offers from Florida State and Eastern Michigan.
And they’re surrounded by even more playmakers up front.
“Our D line is crazy. I think all of us have over three sacks,” Volpe said. “Me, Ja’Michael Thomas, Parrison Rome on the other end, Jayvon Bolar, Hunter Rock and Bryant (Braley), our D line is crazy.”
It’s also making things easier for the rest of the defense.
“It makes it so much easier,” senior linebacker Jaxon Winchester said. “Sometimes the linemen can’t even get to us because they’re putting in so much work. It’s just great to have, especially like Volpe and JT up there, they’re just so fast off the ball. It’s so nice to be part of, and I get some plays out of it.”
The next test for the Red Hawks is a matchup with New Boston Huron on Friday at Memorial Stadium in the opening round of the Division 3 playoffs. A win would give them a school record-tying 10th win and make them the first team in school history to reach 10-0.
Port Huron is the No. 1 seed in its region, meaning any game through the Regional Final would be played on the Red Hawks’ home field. But with Warren De La Salle Collegiate and Detroit Martin Luther King lurking as potential District and Regional opponents, the Red Hawks still feel as though they are doubted.
“I believe we’re very underlooked,” Forstner said. “Even if it’s like, ‘Where’s the competition that these guys have played?’ I feel like we’ve played at the level competition is, and where we need to be, and it will show when those weeks come.”
If they’re able to defend home field over the next three weeks, the Red Hawks would become the first team in program history to advance to a Semifinal, which would probably warrant one more shirt design.
“It would mean so much,” Winchester said. “Senior year, so it’s the last year, and I really think we can do it. We have the team, we have to come in and work every day like we have been all season. Port Huron Red Hawks coming, man. That’s all I have to say.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Port Huron’s Dylan Volpe (64) works against a blocker during his team’s Week 2 win over Marysville. (Middle) Quarterback Jaxon Johnston surveys the field. (Below) Carter Bankston (11) contends for the ball with a Marysville player. (Photos by Ryan Dowd/Blue Leprechaun Photography.)
Southfield A&T, Marshall End Belleville's 2-Year Reign with 1st Finals Championship
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 27, 2023
DETROIT – Isaiah Marshall took a second Sunday night to think about the interception he’d just thrown that led to Belleville taking a late lead in the Division 1 Football Final.
But just a second.
When Marshall and his Southfield Arts & Technology teammates took the field down four points with 4 minutes, 47 seconds remaining at Ford Field, the interception wasn’t on his mind. Neither was the raucous Belleville crowd that had awoken on the home side of the stadium.
He wasn’t thinking about stopping a three-peat or snapping a 38-game Belleville win streak. He wasn’t thinking about the talk he’d heard during the week leading up to the game, that his team was on its way to getting blown out like so many of those previous 38 opponents.
All Marshall was focused on was doing his job.
“As soon as I threw the pick, I knew what I had to do differently,” Marshall said. “I just wasn’t thinking about that last play. As soon as I threw the pick, I just thought about it on the bench, then as soon as I came out, it wasn’t on my mind at all. I just knew I had to go down the field and score.”
Like he had all night, Marshall came through when the Warriors needed him most, leading his team on a 69-yard scoring drive, finishing the final 11 with his legs for the go-ahead score in Southfield A&T’s 36-32 victory against Belleville.
His defense finished the rest, as Dorian Freeman intercepted a pass during the final seconds, sealing the first Finals title for Southfield.
“It’s special,” A&T coach Aaron Marshall said. “It’s special for the community. It’s a long time coming. All week I’ve been getting calls from guys I’ve never met just congratulating the boys on making it. We had never even made it to the championship game, let alone won one. It’s real big for the community. I’m really proud.”
To do it, the Warriors needed to overcome the team that has dominated Division 1 for the past three seasons in Belleville (13-1). The Tigers had won the past two Division 1 Finals, and hadn’t dropped a game since Sept. 10, 2021.
They entered Sunday having outscored opponents this fall by an average of 49-7. They also featured the nation’s No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2025 in quarterback Bryce Underwood.
But Sunday, none of that mattered to Marshall and the Warriors (13-1). Well, except maybe the last part.
“Just a little bit,” Marshall said when asked if he was out to prove he was the state’s top quarterback. “I do think I’m the best player in the state. Me proving that tonight, and showing what I can do on the big stage shows that, I think.”
He finished the night completing 20 of 31 passes for 281 yards with two touchdowns, as well as two interceptions. He also rushed for 134 yards and the go-ahead score, as well as the two-point conversion that put his team up four.
“He came out there and played like I thought he was going to play,” said Belleville star linebacker and running back Jeremiah Beasley, who has committed to Michigan. “He’s a real tough player. Since we were little, he’s always been tough. He came out there and played with all his heart, and they came out on top.”
Underwood certainly had his moments, finishing 11 for 24 for 164 yards and a touchdown to go along with one interception. He also had five rushes for 39 yards.
And A&T was certainly cognizant of what Underwood could do, especially when he got the ball back with 47 seconds to play and a chance to take the lead. But by playing coverage, they didn’t allow the Tigers to push the ball down the field, and eventually pressure from senior defensive tackle Reggie Gardner forced the throw that Freeman intercepted to clinch the game.
“My coaches just told me to spy the quarterback, and whatever he did, I would go,” Freeman said. “Then it was just right in my zone.”
A&T led for most of the game, getting a pair of rushing touchdowns from Mathias Davis during the first half, the second score giving them a 12-7 lead.
After a 31-yard field goal from Belleville’s Brayden Lane made the score 12-10, Marshall engineered an 80-yard drive over the final three minutes of the second quarter to give his team a 10-point lead at the half. He accounted for 79 of the 80 yards with either his legs or his arm, finishing it off with a 13-yard TD pass to Tashi Braceful with 13 seconds remaining in the half. Braceful finished the night with 10 catches for 152 yards.
The Warriors nearly added to that halftime lead, as well, recovering a squib kick at the Belleville 43. Marshall hit Tyjuan Esper for a 38-yard gain on the next play, but he was tackled as the first-half clock expired.
Early in the third quarter, Marshall and the Warriors did stretch their lead when he threw a 19-yard TD pass to Xavi Bowman on a 4th-and-14. DaMario Quarles’ conversion run put them up 28-10 with 3:39 to play in the third quarter.
Of course, Belleville didn’t go away.
The Tigers responded immediately with a 45-yard TD pass from Underwood to Jalen Johnson. And after stopping Marshall on a 4th-and-2 run near midfield, they needed just three plays and 30 seconds to pull within three points of the lead as Beasley scored on a 15-yard run.
On the next A&T possession, Marquis Peoples put Belleville right back in business with an interception that he returned to the 35-yard line. Beasley again cashed in three plays later, with a 22-yard TD run that gave Belleville a 33-27 lead with 4:47 remaining.
Beasley finished the night with 106 yards and the two touchdowns on the ground.
“He’s a senior ball player; he did exactly what he was supposed to do,” Belleville coach Calvin Norman said of Beasley. “He came through in the clutch. When he ran the ball, he did his thing. I have nothing but love for the young man.”
Belleville cornerback Adrian Walker made one of the more remarkable plays of the weekend late in the first quarter, intercepting a Marshall pass deep in A&T territory.
Walker got both hands on the pass, deflecting it up and toward himself as he was spinning up the field. The ball went over his head and Walker reached behind his back to make the catch at the A&T 26.
Four plays later, Belleville was on the board with a 16-yard Colbey Reed touchdown run, and the Tigers led 7-6.
PHOTOS (Top) Southfield A&T quarterback Isaiah Marshall stretches for the game-winning touchdown during Sunday’s Division 1 Final. (Middle) The Warriors ended the night by raising their first championship trophy. (Below) Belleville’s Adrian Walker (2) makes a stunning behind-the-back interception. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)