#TBT: Gross Leads Beal City to Class D Title
November 27, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
On Friday, coach Brad Gross will bring Beal City to the Division 8 Football Final at Ford Field to take on Reading as the Aggies play for their first MHSAA title in this sport since 2009.
But while this will be the Aggies' first championship game appearance since 2013 – it won't be the first time Gross has led a Beal City team seeking football glory.
In 1994, Gross quarterbacked the Aggies to a 35-14 Class D championship game win over Litchfield at the Pontiac Silverdome. He threw for 183 yards and two touchdown passes, both to Wes Wilson.
Click to see the box score, and see below for highlights from the MHSAA's broadcast.
Moment: Johnson Follows Purple Wall
October 15, 2020
By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
Brad Johnson saw the wall and was off to the races.
The star do-everything player for Schoolcraft had already scored one touchdown on the day in the 1988 Class D Football Final against Frankfort at the Pontiac Silverdome, and back in a punt return mode in the second quarter, he faked a reverse, saw the wall and he was gone.
An 87-yard punt return, the longest in state finals history by a good 25 yards.
“After making my fake, I looked up and there was a wall,” Johnson told the Detroit Free Press. “All I had to do was outrun everybody.”
The play gave the Eagles a 21-7 lead at the time and broke the game wide open. Schoolcraft cruised to a 42-7 victory to finish the season at 13-0.
PHOTO by Gary Shook.