Second Half Starts Your Football Drive
August 31, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Just like that, the first weekend of MHSAA football season 2014 is in the books.
But we've got three more months of exciting stories to follow as September kicks off Monday.
Here's a brief breakdown of regular features to come this season on Second Half:
- A Game for Every Fan: Weekly looks each Friday at the best games to be played in every corner of the state.
- Drive for Detroit: Weekly reviews each Tuesday at the most significant results from the weekend across both peninsulas.
- Be the Referee: Weekly series from our director of officiating, Mark Uyl, that will include a number of football topics during the fall.
- This Week on MHSAA.TV: We'll fill you in on all the games available on-demand on MHSAA.TV from the week before and let you know which coming up can be watched live on a subscription basis.
- Inside Selection Sunday: Our annual explanation of how playoff pairings are chosen and some of our toughest decisions when building brackets in October.
- Live from the Finals: We'll cover all nine MHSAA Finals, beginning with the 8-Player championship game and through two days of 11-player title contests during Thanksgiving weekend.
- Records Report: Each week we'll fill you in on our latest additions to the MHSAA record books, including for football, which has our largest set of listings.
- All the scores, schedules and standings: Keep an eye on "Scores & Schedules" on MHSAA.com for scores every weekend as we receive them, and visit your favorite team's page for all results from this fall plus league standings, the rest of the schedule to come and playoff point averages.
Lenawee Christian Earns 1st Title Triumph
January 16, 2021
By Tim Robinson
Special for Second Half
BRIGHTON — Adrian Lenawee Christian coach Bill Wilharms liked his team’s chances going into the 8-Player Division 1 Playoffs.
When the championship game was switched from outdoors in Midland to indoors at the Legacy Center in Brighton, he liked them a whole lot more.
“We’ve got power, but speed is what we base ourselves on,” he said. “And the whole thought of basketball-on-grass when we’re on offense helps.”
The Cougars (11-0) took advantage, overwhelming Suttons Bay from the start in a 47-0 win in Saturday’s Division 1 Final.
Lenawee Christian put that speed to good use early, getting its first touchdown after a blocked punt by Jameson Chesser, and picking up its second with a 36-yard punt return for a touchdown by Ashur Bryja.
The Cougars never looked back, putting the game out of reach on the arm and legs of quarterback Landon Gallant, who threw two touchdown passes to Chesser, of 57 and 22 yards, and ran one in himself to give Lenawee Christian a 33-0 halftime lead.
Meanwhile, the Cougars’ defense was seemingly everywhere.
Suttons Bay had just 52 yards in total offense, and completed only 2 of 14 passes while getting sacked seven times.
“They closed on the ball very well,” Norsemen coach Garrett Opie said. “They’re fast, they’re athletic and they did a great job. We were trying certain mixtures in plays and feeling things out at the beginning of the game, and they did so well against many of our looks.”
The Cougars, meanwhile, piled up 400 yards in total offense, 289 of that through the air. Gallant completed 14 of 21 passes for 267 yards, while Bryja was 4-for-4 for 22 yards.
Chesser finished with four catches for 127 yards while also rushing for 52 yards. Elliott Addleman had four catches for 116 yards.
In fact, Suttons Bay’s biggest play came late in the game via its defense, when Michael Wittman picked up a fumble and returned it 37 yards before Bryja knocked him out of bounds, preventing a touchdown.
It was the first title for Lenawee Christian, which completed its first season of the 8-player format.
“it feels great,” said linebacker Brandon Scott, who led the Cougars with 10 tackles. “To do it with this team makes it a lot better. All the things we went through, all the pauses, who’d have thought we’d be finishing high school football in January? And indoors?”
“It’s tremendous for the Adrian community,” Wilharms said. “In Lenawee County, we’re pulling for Clinton next week to win it in (11-player) Division 6. We’re a brotherhood. It means a lot to us.”
Opie, an Adrian High School graduate who went to school with Wilharms' wife and sister-in-law, saw his team lose in the Division 1 Final for the second year in a row, but took the loss philosophically.
“They’re a phenomenal team,” he said of Lenawee Christian. “They had a lot of talent on their team and did a fantastic job. I’m very proud of our team for our 10-0 season. This is a very tough loss. We don’t want to go out this way, but it’s a privilege to be here, so we’ll take it with us and be very happy about it."
PHOTOS: (Top) Adrian Lenawee Christian’s Clay Ayers breaks through an opening during Saturday’s Division 1 Final. (Middle) The Cougars’ Elliott Addleman hauls in a pass. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.