Saginaw United Era Begins with Memorable Welcome, Game-Like Atmosphere
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
August 13, 2024
SAGINAW – James King wanted to reward his Saginaw United players Monday for their hard work throughout the summer.
He wanted to make a moment for them on the first day of practice for a new program, so they held it under the lights at Saginaw High and invited the public to come watch.
They deserved it, and for what they’re trying to accomplish, they needed it.
But when the moment came, the first-year coach and former Saginaw Arthur Hill star found it was quite a moment for himself, as well.
“That was probably one of the most emotional walkouts I’ve ever took,” King said. “To go back and come back out and kind of breathe it in was like, ‘Damn.’ This was me at one point, following another coach as a leader of a program that I helped lead and build at Arthur Hill from nothing to (Saginaw) Valley champs and the playoffs two years in a row. But (Monday) was probably my most emotional walkout. I didn’t know my playoff game was going to be my last game, so I didn’t have that emotional walkout. That was very emotional.”
Monday was the opening day for fall sports practices in Michigan, and nearly 100,000 student-athletes were expected to be taking practice fields across the state. Some schools began during the earliest morning hours, going under the lights at midnight, while many others had more typical early-morning or afternoon practices.
In Saginaw, where the new season is also part of a new era with the opening of Saginaw United High School, King created a game-like atmosphere for his players, complete with specialists warming up early and the team running onto the field with music playing and fans cheering them on.
“This is for them,” King said while pointing toward his players. “Everybody is here for them. I told them, ‘You worked all summer to get through Hell Week and once you get through Hell Week, this is it. This is football season. It’s August. Nothing else matters in the world to me. It’s football season.’ And these kids have absolutely bought into that, and this is what those kids deserve. They deserve their community, their family, their friends to be able to come out and support them. This is big for them.”
The energy was certainly there for the players.
“We’re just happy to be here for real,” junior receiver Dion’Quavis Hardy said. “New season, new coaches, so we’re excited to see how this program is going to be this year.”
For the past three seasons, Arthur Hill and Saginaw High have combined forces as a co-op during football season. That co-op has finished a combined 0-27 over the past three seasons, but on Monday, it was stressed that this is a clean slate and a chance to build a program from scratch.
“New coaches, new players, new everything,” junior quarterback Jordan Allen said. “We’re a brotherhood, like a family. One big happy family.”
King added that the program is 0-0, and this group of players represents a beginning, not a continuation of that co-op.
“We’re Saginaw. It’s Saginaw United. We’re the Phoenix. We’re rising,” he said. “This is for Saginaw, and these kids deserve it. This community absolutely deserves it. I’m going to bleed (Arthur Hill) blue and gold for the rest of my life, but on top of that blood now is black and silver, and that will never change. This city will absolutely love what we’re doing, and the Phoenix represents everything that we’re about to accomplish and what we’re doing right now, not only as a football team, but as a community and as a school.”
Saginaw will play in the Saginaw Valley League Red and is listed as a Division 2 school, based on an enrollment count of slightly more than 1,200 students.
With its football complex still under construction, it is practicing and playing at Saginaw High this season. But six of the Phoenix’s nine regular-season games will be played on the road, including the opener Aug. 29 at Freeland.
Turnout has been good throughout the summer, as King said there are about 85 players from freshmen through varsity, and as many as 15 others who could be in the mix as the season starts. He expects the Saginaw United freshmen team to have more than 30 players, a good sign for the future.
While that group has been turning up for workouts, it’s also been showing up the community, as King said the team has participated in 12 events throughout the city during the spring and summer. It’s the program’s way of giving back, and, for King, another way to help his players grow off the field.
“No. 1 for me is our youth,” he said. “And this is our youth, and I’m able to give back the way people gave back to me. Without the coaches I had, I could tell you right now, I wouldn’t be where I’m at. And that’s what I want to be, that’s what all our coaches want to be for them. This coaching staff, I couldn’t ask for more. It’s the most dedicated program I could ask for.”
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) Saginaw United players take to the field at the former Saginaw High on Monday for their first practice as a new school and program. (Middle) United coach James King joins his players in walking out to the field. (Below) Phoenix players play catch during their first practice. (Photos by Paul Costanzo.)
1st & Goal: 2025 8-Player Finals Preview
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 21, 2025
The competition truly will be superior again at Saturday’s 8-Player Football Finals at Northern Michigan University’s Superior Dome.
Three of four teams playing in the two championship games are undefeated – and the one loss among the four came when two played each other during the final week of the regular season.
Blanchard Montabella and Martin will kick off at 11 a.m., and Felch North Dickinson and Portland St. Patrick follow at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $10 and are good for both games, and may be purchased online through NMU or at the door – click for details.
Both games will be broadcast by the NFHS Network:
Audio of both games will be streamed live on MHSAANetwork.com.
Below is a look at all four finalists:
Division 1
BLANCHARD MONTABELLA
Record/Rank: 11-1, No. 2
Coach: Tim Webb, sixth season (32-23)
League finish: First in Mid-State Activities Conference Blue
Championship history: Has never played in an MHSAA Final.
Best wins: 32-28 over No. 3 Norway in Semifinal, 26-0 (Regional Final) and 36-26 over No. 9 Merrill, 64-26 (Regional Semifinal) and 54-18 over Breckenridge.
Players to watch: RB/DB Austin Jensen, 5-10/155, jr. (828 yards/14 TDs rushing, 681 yards/6 TDs receiving); QB Gabe Kauffman, 5-9/160, jr. (1,215 yards/14 TDs passing, 481 yards/9 TDs rushing); RB/LB Brady Kieff, 5-10/160, sr. (1,561/19 TDs rushing); DL Cody Omo, 6-0/160, sr. (95 tackles, 12 sacks).
Outlook: Montabella’s longest playoff run has included its first Regional title and second-straight league championship, The Norway win – during which the Mustangs came back from a 20-point deficit – was Montabella’s only single-digit win, with the lone defeat to Division 2 finalist Portland St. Patrick. Kieff missed all of last season but has led a rushing attack that averages nearly 300 yards and five touchdowns per game. Omo made the all-state second team last season. Junior linebacker Mason Bogart always seems to be around the ball and has 145 tackles.
MARTIN
Record/Rank: 12-0, No. 1
Coach: Brad Blauvelt, eighth season (78-14)
League finish: First in Southwest Michigan 8-Man Football League Red
Championship history: Three MHSAA Finals titles (most recent 2023).
Best wins: 20-8 over No. 5 Kingston in Semifinal, 36-20 over No. 10 Climax-Scotts in Regional Final, 48-26 over Division 2 No. 6 Grand Rapids Sacred Heart, 52-6 over Gobles, 58-20 over Bridgman.
Players to watch: QB/S Haylen Buell, 5-10/175, sr. (1,528 yards/32 TDs rushing, 866 yards/13 TDs passing); WR/DB Weson Elkins, 6-0/170, sr. (408 yards/6 TDs receiving); RB/OLB Seth Toris, 5-3/155, jr. (1,331 yards/10 TDs rushing); OL/DL Peyton Schuring-Harris, 6-3/280, sr. (Statistics through Regional Finals.)
Outlook: Martin is back at Superior Dome after most recently winning back-to-back championships in 2022 and 2023. Buell as a sophomore was among the team’s leading rushers and receivers in the 2023 title game, and he earned an all-state honorable mention last year at linebacker. The Clippers’ closest game this season was the Semifinal win; no other opponent has come closer than two touchdowns. Senior Bryer Watson also has been among offensive leaders, with 562 yards and nine touchdowns rushing and 379 yards and five TDs receiving heading into the Semifinal.
Division 2
FELCH NORTH DICKINSON
Record/Rank: 12-0, No. 7
Coach: Mike Christian, 10th season (37-59)
League finish: First in Great Lakes Eight Conference Central
Championship history: 11-Player Class D runner-up 1998.
Best wins: 44-28 over No. 2 Onekama in Semifinal, 32-12 (Regional Final) and 38-34 over Lake Linden-Hubbell, 40-22 over St. Ignace in Regional Semifinal.
Players to watch: TE/DE Trenton Kramer, 6-4/190, jr. (1,062 yards/18 TDs receiving); FB/LB Jason Graham, 5-8/160, jr. (1,207 yards/17 TDs rushing); QB/DB Brady Jungwirth, 5-10/155, sr. (1,888 yards/28 TDs passing); HB/LB Tyler Fleming, 5-3/110, sr. (612 yards/6 TDs rushing). (Statistics through Regional Final.)
Outlook: North Dickinson has gone from not having a team two years ago to reaching its first championship game in nearly three decades. The Nordics have played only one single-digit game this fall, defeating Lake Linden-Hubbell by four in their season opener before winning the rematch two weeks ago by 20. North Dickinson missed the playoffs last season but did win their final five games, giving them a current 17-game unbeaten streak. Jungwirth’s ability to throw gives the Nordics more balance than most, and Kramer was averaging 19.3 yards per catch heading into last week.
PORTLAND ST. PATRICK
Record/Rank: 12-0, No. 3
Coach: Patrick Russman, 19th season (138-61)
League finish: First in MSAC Red
Championship history: 11-Player Class D champion 1992, five runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 36-15 over No. 4 Deckerville in Semifinal, 51-22 over No. 1 Mendon in Regional Final, 14-7 over No. 9 Morrice, 42-16 over Division 1 No. 2 Blanchard Montabella, 62-12 over Division 1 No. 9 Merrill.
Players to watch: QB/DB Jerryd Scheurer, 5-1/165, jr. (572 yards/10 TDs passing, 306 yards/11 TDs rushing, 32 tackles/7 interceptions); RB/DB Brady Leonard, 6-0/185, sr. (1,263 yards/17 TDs rushing, 55 tackles/10 interceptions); RB/DB Hudson King, 5-8/160, sr. (932 yards/16 TDs rushing); OL/LB Augustus Teachworth, 6-3/190, sr. (85 tackles)
Outlook: St. Patrick most recently finished Division 2 runner-up in 2017, 2019 and 2020 and will make this trip to Superior Dome after navigating arguably the toughest playoff path of any team in 8-player. After defeating Division 1 finalist Montabella in Week 9, the Shamrocks opened the postseason with a 62-16 win over Marion before taking on Mendon and Deckerville, and Morrice is the only opponent this fall to get closer than 21 points. It’s easy to point to the powerful offense, but the defense has given up only 10.2 points per game and been opportunistic with 24 interceptions and seven fumble recoveries.
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