Title IX at 50: Royal Oak's Finch Leading Way on Football Field
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 3, 2021
Elyse Finch started playing football when she was 9 years old. She came up through the community league, played junior varsity as a freshman and sophomore and joined the varsity toward the end of sophomore year on the way to moving up as a junior this fall.
So playing the “boys” sport isn’t new to her, and it’s not as rare as many still think.
True, the girls who play high school football in Michigan make up a very small percentage of the more than 32,000 participants in the sport each fall. But 138 girls played in 2020, the fifth straight season with more than 100 taking part.
And Finch’s contributions to the Royal Oak football team are providing a path forward in more ways than one.
She just completed her first season as a starting offensive guard for a Division 1 school with more than 1,500 students, in part helping to open up running lanes for her teammates carrying the ball.
“I do feel kinda special sometimes, knowing I’m doing something that a lot of people have been reluctant to do,” she said. “I just really want to change that, change the view of how people see females in a sport like this.”
Her mom made the initial suggestion to give football a try, and Finch fell for the sport right away as she learned the game at the youth levels. The jump to high school a few years ago was similarly smooth.
Among family, Grandma was nervous – but Finch’s two older brothers also have given her tons of support.
As soon as Elyse met her coaches, she realized how much she adored them. “They believe in my every day, and they tell me they believe in me, and that makes the sport that much better,” she said.
Finch had grown up with some of her teammates, and “they treat me just like everybody else.”
And Finch’s other friends “haven’t seen me any other way.”
Just like any offensive guard, she loves the satisfaction of getting a good block. She loves pulling – running around the line and ahead of a play instead of blocking straight ahead – and finding that defender waiting and “just coming and blowing them up and ruining their day is just so much fun.”
But she does want people to see female football players differently – until they see everyone on the field the same.
“I feel like when people first look at me or just any girls on a football team, their first baseline thought is doubtful; they doubt her/me,” Finch said. “But then a lot of the time I or any girls on the football team, we prove them wrong.
“I want to change the view so when you first see them on the football team, you’re like, ‘Dang, she must be awesome.’ I want to change the view so that instead of starting it off being negative … the expectation is no different than for a guy.”
Second Half's weekly Title IX Celebration posts are sponsored by Michigan Army National Guard.
Previous Title IX at 50 Spotlights
Oct. 26: Coach Clegg Sets Championship Standard at Grand Blanc - Read
Oct. 19: Rockford Girls Set Pace, Hundreds After Have Continued to Chase - Read
Oct. 12: Bedford Volleyball Pioneer Continues Blazing Record-Setting Trail - Read
Oct. 5: Warner Paved Way to Legend Status with Record Rounds - Read
Sept. 28: Taylor Kennedy Gymnasts Earn Fame as 1st Champions - Read
Sept. 21: Portage Northern Star Byington Becomes Play-by-Play Pioneer - Read
Sept. 14: Guerra/Groat Legacy Continues to Serve St. Philip Well - Read
Sept. 7: Best-Ever Conversation Must Include Leland's Glass - Read
Aug. 31: We Will Celebrate Many Who Paved the Way - Read
PHOTOS courtesy of Fenech Photography (top action photo) and Elyse Finch.
Hastings at Home in Interstate 8, Preparing to Begin Next Title Pursuit
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
August 22, 2025
HASTINGS – Jamie Murphy remembers the decision as relatively simple.
The decision to move to a fourth conference in 29 years was of particular interest to a Saxons football program which had struggled badly during stints in the Ottawa-Kent Conference White and O-K Gold. So Hastings finally pulled the trigger on moving from the O-K Gold to the Interstate 8 Athletics Conference in 2016, and the results have been no less than stunning for the team.
"I encouraged it," said Murphy, the Saxons' coach since 2013. "This conference is more like the Hastings community. There are towns with one high school, one middle school, three or four elementary schools and the schools are all public … . There are similar dynamics with all of them."
While switching conferences naturally effects all of a school's teams, the results are often most judged by what happens under Friday Night Lights. There the decision to move from 21 years in the O-K White and O-K Gold has been like night and day for Saxons teams. Hastings went 16-26 in six years in the O-K White before compiling a 35-59 mark in the O-K Gold. Over two decades in those leagues, Hastings football teams had only six winning seasons and three of them were with 7-2 regular-season records from 2009-2011.
But that's all changed with inclusion in the Interstate 8, which was formed in 2016. The conference includes four old rivals – Coldwater, Battle Creek Harper Creek, Battle Creek Pennfield and Marshall – which were part of the Twin Valley with Hastings from 1977-94. Saxons football teams went 67-58 over 18 years in that conference.
After a slow start in the Interstate 8 which included a 9-19 conference mark from 2016-19, Saxons teams have won 28 of 31 games the last five years. Included are four straight league titles from 2020-2023, with only a 32-0 loss to Battle Creek Harper Creek a year ago keeping Hastings from a fifth championship. That stretch includes one torrid string where Hastings, which opens conference play Sept. 12 against Jackson Northwest, won 21 of 22 league games from Oct.16, 2000, to Oct. 18, 2024.
"Teams are very similar and there are ups and downs with any high school football team," Murphy said. "But we've been competitive in a league which has always been competitive in the state playoffs. How well you do there speaks volumes for how good programs are."
Interstate 8 teams are a respectable 18-18 in the MHSAA Tournament since 2019, including a 6-5 mark from Hastings.
Murphy said one of the most appealing aspects of the conference is a tight relationship between coaches. Virtually all, he said, have similar philosophies which include an emphasis on supporting multi-sport athletes, work in the weight room in March and April, modest summer programs and making the players a priority during the season. Murphy said coaches freely communicate via meetings, texts and emails with each other up to 10 months a year. Contrast that, Murphy said, with the O-K Conference where a select board determines which schools play in what divisions.
"We all want to keep the sport popular and alive," said Murphy, named a national 2025 Semper Fidelis Coach Award winner for his work upholding the U.S. Marines standard of excellence while developing teen leaders.
First-year Hastings athletic director Mike Mohn wasn't a part of Hastings' decision to move to the Interstate 8, but like Murphy he likes the idea of the similarity between schools, including an emphasis – but not overemphasis – on football programs. Athletic departments rely on income derived from football, and Hastings is no exception. Like many Interstate 8 schools, Hastings' home field, Baum Stadium at Johnson Field, can hold between 2,500 and 2,700 fans, with the home side featuring room for up to 1,600. Mohn said a typical Friday night crowd well exceeds 1,000 fans.
"We have like-minded schools in the Interstate 8," he said. "One of our goals is to build relationships, and we've done that. I think our games are well-attended, we can pack our side of the stadium and they can see a good product on the field. Year-in and year-out, we've been competitive and we're proud of that."
There is good reason to believe Hastings will be in the hunt for a fifth conference title in six years. The team returns 17 letterwinners, including six starters on offense and five on defense. The roster could include five sophomores and help from last year's 5-3 junior varsity club. Among the returnees is junior quarterback Mason Tossava, who ran for 300 yards and passed for 500 more as a sophomore. Hastings lost its top running back from its Wing-T offense, but does return 1,000-yard rushers Cardale Winebrenner and Tyler Frazier. Defensively, two all-conference returnees include cornerback Spencer Wilkins and tackle Trapper Reigler.
"Every year our goal is to win the league and make the playoffs," Murphy said. "That's who we are."
PHOTOS (Top) Hastings coach Jamie Murphy takes a moment for a photo during his team’s weight training session earlier this month. (Middle) Cardale Winebrenner (standing) spots for teammate Trapper Reigler; both are captains this fall. (Photos by Steve Vedder.)