Tradition-Filled Tri-County Conference Kicking Off Final Season of 11-Player Football
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
August 20, 2024
The bus driver went too fast.
It was fall of 1979, and Ottawa Lake Whiteford football coach John Hoover had come up with a plan for his Bobcats to dress in their own locker room, warm up on their own field and arrive at the Petersburg Summerfield football field for a Tri-County Conference battle just moments before kickoff.
The plan was working, except the bus driver went a little too fast.
“I don’t remember when I decided we would do it,” Hoover said. “But the night before our game, I got in my car, and I drove about the speed that I thought the bus driver would take from Whiteford to Summerfield. I had a stopwatch to time it just right. I didn’t tell anybody.”
The ploy was meant to rattle the opponent, perhaps make the other team lose focus on the game at hand.
“It’s only like 20 minutes between schools, so warming up at Whiteford and driving was no different than warming up at Summerfield and walking out to the field and waiting through the national anthem and the coin toss,” Hoover thought.
The scheme was working to perfection, but when Hoover determined the arrival would be too soon, he had the bus driver pull over just outside of Petersburg. Finally, the bus made its final trek and arrived.
On the first play from scrimmage, Summerfield fumbled, Whiteford recovered and scored a few plays later – the only touchdown of the game in a 7-0 Bobcats win.
“I don’t know if it worked,” Hoover said. “But, when the bus got near, when we were driving up the road where the Summerfield stadium was, the head coach (LeRoy Wood) was out in the middle of the street, looking down the road, looking for us. I knew right then that it probably worked. It wouldn’t have worked if we had cell phones like they do today.”
Summerfield and Whiteford have played some spirited games over the years as rivals in the Tri-County Conference. Unfortunately, the season that starts next week will be the last one for 11-player football in the TCC.
With the makeup of the league changing over the last decade or so and the move to 8-player football for three league schools, this is the final season for TCC football after 51 years of small-town competition.
The league has just three remaining schools playing 11-player football – Whiteford, Summerfield and Erie Mason. There is no TCC football schedule for 2025 and beyond, although the league itself will stay together for other sports.
“The 2024 season will be the last season that a TCC football champion is recognized in the current league format for football,” Britton Deerfield athletic director Erik Johnson said.
It will be the end of an era in southeast Michigan.
The league was formed in 1973 with schools from Washtenaw, Lenawee and Monroe Counties.
Several schools have taken turns at the top of the conference. Sand Creek has the most league championships, winning 15 between 1977 and 2011 – 14 of them under head coach Ernie Ayers. Morenci (9), Whiteford (7), Summerfield (7) and Clinton (7) have hoisted their fair share of league football trophies. Ayers is the winningest coach in league history, going 174-71 in league games over 38 seasons. Sand Creek left the TCC in football only after last season and will compete in the Big 8 Conference this season.
Whiteford is the only league school to win an MHSAA Finals football championship, but Sand Creek, Morenci and Clinton all have appeared in state championship games.
Both times Clinton played in Finals, Mathew Sexton was the star. Sexton would go on to play four years at Eastern Michigan University and has been in multiple NFL training camps and played in the XFL. He’s the league record holder for touchdowns and points scored.
“I loved being in the TCC,” Sexton said. “It was great competition and was always a blast. Played with some great players, coaches and love the atmosphere each game would bring. Clinton and the TCC made me who I am today. I’m thankful for the experience it gave me.”
Summerfield graduate Jamie LaRocca was an all-state running back in the league, coached in the league and later watched his sons play football in the league as student-athletes at Whiteford.
“There were some great games, great battles,” LaRocca said. “Most of all, it was competitive. Sand Creek was good, Summerfield had good teams and Morenci had some great teams. Different teams always seemed to make their run.”
Britton and Deerfield were two charter members of the TCC, along with Ann Arbor St. Thomas (now known as Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard), Summerfield and Adrian Madison. During the 1990s, however, Britton and Deerfield formed a co-op and became Britton-Deerfield. They later officially combined high schools to become Britton Deerfield
BD had a dominating run on the football field in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Among the players who played for BD teams were Dan Musielewicz and Dustin Beurer. Beurer is now the head coach at Division II Northwood University while Musielewicz is head coach at Division III University of Olivet.
Beurer said he remembers as a high school student going to class with others from rivals Sand Creek or Madison at the Lenawee County Vocational Tech school all week, then playing against them on Friday nights.
“I get goosebumps thinking about those days,” he said. “It was small-town football at its finest back in the day.”
Brad Maska, now the head boys basketball coach at Onsted, was the BD quarterback when that team won multiple TCC titles.
“It is sad,” Maska said of the end of the TCC football era. “It truly was a great conference that produced a lot of great teams, coaches, and players throughout the years.
“The best part of the conference was the small-school pride from the communities. Friday night playing at Sand Creek or Whiteford when I was in school was always the only thing going on in town and the communities always got around us, and the atmosphere for small-school football was amazing.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Clinton’s Mathew Sexton scored more touchdowns in Tri-County Conference games than any player in league history. (Middle) Thomas Eitniear was the quarterback and Jason Mensing head coach at Whiteford when the Bobcats became the first school in Tri-County Conference history to win an MHSAA Finals football championship. (Below) Ernie Ayers coached at Sand Creek for 38 years and won 14 Tri-County Conference championships. (Photos courtesy of the Adrian Daily Telegram and Monroe News.)
Drive for Detroit: Week 11 in Review
November 10, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A total of 16 MHSAA football teams in Divisions 1-5 entered the postseason with playoff-point averages above 100 – an impressive number indicating those teams not only had strong records, but played plenty of tough competition as well.
Three of those 16 teams lost their playoff openers, joined by eight more over the weekend as more of the top achievers during the regular season were overtaken by those raising their games with only a few more to play.
The top playoff-point teams in Division 3 (DeWitt) and Division 5 (Marine City) both suffered their first and only losses this season, and 10 more undefeated teams saw their seasons end with lone defeats of the fall.
Read on to see some of the key results that whittled the playoff field to 68 that will play in 11-player Regional Finals and 8-player Semifinals this week.
DIVISION 1
Clinton Township Chippewa Valley 28, Macomb Dakota 27
This has been anticipated as a top Macomb County matchup for a few years – but instead, Dakota had beaten the Big Reds (8-3) in 16 straight dating back to 2004 and including six times in the playoffs. Dakota (8-3) had beaten Chippewa Valley 42-21 in Week 2 and in the playoffs both of the last two seasons. Junior Stefan Clairborne blocked a late extra-point attempt to highlight a game-changing special teams performance. Click for more from the Detroit News.
Also noted:
Clarkston 23, Lapeer 20 – The reigning champion Wolves (11-0) survived the third three-point game of their 24-game winning streak, handing Lapeer (10-1) the only loss of its inaugural season.
Hudsonville 37, Rockford 15 – The Eagles (7-4) avenged their one-point Week 4 loss to Rockford (8-3), and then some, to claim a second-straight District title.
Detroit Cass Tech 28, Dearborn Fordson 21 – One of these had to fall for the first time this season, and the Technicians (11-0) hung on to claim their fifth straight District championship while ending the best season for Fordson (10-1) since 2008.
DIVISION 2
Muskegon Mona Shores 41, Midland Dow 14
In what seemed like an instant, this one belonged to Mona Shores. The Sailors (10-1) jumped out to a 21-0 lead in handing Dow (10-1) its lone loss this season. Mona Shores quarterback Tyree Jackson was at the center of the offensive effort as usual, but this time on the ground with three rushing touchdowns. Dow hadn’t given up more than 21 points in a game. Click for more from the Muskegon Chronicle.
Also noted:
Farmington Hills Harrison 10, Walled Lake Western 9 (OT) – These former longtime rivals hadn’t played each other since 2001 and battled to 3-3 before Harrison (9-2) prevailed in part by blocking an extra-point attempt by Western (9-2).
Southfield 14, Oak Park 13 – The Bluejays (8-3) won a rematch of these teams' 2012 District Final, which was won by Oak Park (8-3) also close, 19-12.
Wyandotte Roosevelt 28, Brownstown Woodhaven 21 – Roosevelt (9-2) will play this weekend for its fourth straight season of at least 10 wins, but this time ended the best ever for Woodhaven (10-1) by handing the Warriors their only loss.
DIVISION 3
Mason 30, DeWitt 14
Few gave Mason (8-3) much chance against the reigning Division 3 runner-up Panthers (10-1), who entered the postseason with the highest playoff-point average in this division. But the Bulldogs, who entered the season with an experienced group of playmakers, have improved significantly around them after opening 1-3. DeWitt won their first meeting 25-10 in Week 3, but Mason has clamped down particularly on defense in earning this first Regional Final berth since 1995. Click for more from the Lansing State Journal.
Also noted:
Petoskey 20, Mount Pleasant 14 – The Northmen (9-2) earned their first Regional Final berth since 1998 by handing to Oilers (7-4) their second loss this season by six or fewer points.
Zeeland West 30, Stevensville Lakeshore 28 – Most of Friday had to be a little scary for the reigning champion Dux (11-0), who had beaten Lakeshore (8-3) in last season’s Semifinal by a much more comfortable 42-7.
New Boston Huron 44, Trenton 27 – The Chiefs (10-1) set a team record for wins and doubled last season’s total in beating Trenton (7-4) for their first District title.
DIVISION 4
Lansing Sexton 41, Saginaw Swan Valley 20
Swan Valley running back Alex Grace finished one of the most incredible three-year varsity careers in MHSAA football history with 198 more rushing yards and three touchdowns to give him 2,426 and 36 this season and 7,551 yards and 99 rushing touchdowns for his career. His career yards rank third all-time and his TDs are second. But every time Grace made a play Friday – offensively and defensively as well – the Big Reds (11-0) seemed to respond. Sexton senior Ja’Von Wray ran for 235 yards and five touchdowns as his team scored more than the Vikings (10-1) had given up in any two games combined this fall. Click for more from the Lansing State Journal.
Also noted:
Whitehall 41, Comstock Park 36 – Some termed the Vikings’ win “miraculous” as Whitehall (9-2) came back from 23 points down to win their first District title since 2003 and end the Panthers’ run at 6-5.
Edwardsburg 34, Vicksburg 6 – The Eddies (10-1) avenged a 16-14 loss to Vicksburg (8-3) in Week 3 to push into double-figure wins for the first time since 2010 and second time in program history; Vicksburg’s record was its best since 1993.
Eaton Rapids 20, Battle Creek Harper Creek 10 – The Greyhounds (8-3) have gone from never making the playoffs before 2013 to making their second Regional Final in a row, this time over near-annual playoff team Harper Creek (6-5).
DIVISION 5
Almont 35, Marine City 7
The run to the 2011 Semifinals makes it tough to call this the best win in Almont history – but it has to be a close second to that season's Regional Final win over Jackson Lumen Christi. Marine City was the reigning Division 4 champion, in Division 5 for this fall’s playoffs, and 23-1 over the last two seasons with more than 1,000 points scored during that time. Almont held the Mariners (10-1) to their fewest points since the 2011 Division 4 Final and has given up a meager 56 points this season. The Raiders, meanwhile, ran for 294 yards and scored the most points Marine City had given up since last season’s championship game at Ford Field. Click for more from the Port Huron Times Herald.
Also noted:
Reed City 22, Remus Chippewa Hills 21 – For the second straight week, Reed City (9-2) faced a rematch against a league rival, and Chippewa Hills (8-3) made this one much closer than the Coyotes’ 60-32 win in Week 8.
Flint Powers Catholic 19, Frankenmuth 15 – The Chargers (8-3) held on, on the road, in a rematch of the 2012 District Final in which they beat Frankenmuth (9-2) 34-0.
River Rouge 42, Ida 14 – The Panthers (10-1) reached double figure wins for the second time in three seasons and second time ever in ending the longest run for Ida (8-3) since 1990.
DIVISION 6
Madison Heights Madison 32, Flint Beecher 6
Madison eliminated Beecher (10-1) for the second straight season to earn its fourth Regional Final berth in six seasons – and the opportunity to end Ithaca’s 11-player nation-best 67-game winning streak this week. Madison (9-2) scored 20 unanswered points in the second half to pull away while grounding a Beecher offense that hadn’t been held to single digits since 2012. Click for more from the Royal Oak Daily Tribune.
Also noted:
Leroy Pine River 34, Sanford Meridian 27 – Pine River (8-3) won a combined 11 games from 2009-13 and had never won a playoff game before two weeks ago; Meridian (8-3) did finish with its best record since 2009.
Watervliet 28, Schoolcraft 21 – Last season Watervliet won 10 straight before falling to Schoolcraft 28-26 in the District Final; this time Watervliet (10-1) has won 10 straight since falling opening night and avenged that loss to the Eagles (7-4).
Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central 50, Clinton 15 – The Falcons (10-1) won their sixth District title in seven seasons against last year’s Finals runner-up Clinton (10-1), which is 32-3 over the last three seasons.
DIVISION 7
Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary 46, Whittemore-Prescott 0
Offensive firepower has gotten more attention during Seminary’s best season since 1994 – and Seminary scored 40 or more points for the seventh time this season. But Seminary (10-1) also has five shutouts and has given up only 96 points, particularly impressive this time given Whittemore-Prescott hadn’t been shut out since 2010. Whittemore-Prescott (10-1) also had beaten all of its opponents by at least 10 points this fall in earning its best record since 2002. Click for more from the Saginaw News.
Also noted:
Ishpeming 20, Iron River West Iron County 7 – It had been nearly a year since a team had given Ishpeming (10-0) this much of a challenge, a positive for the Wykons (9-2) in falling to the Hematites in the District Final for the second straight season.
Pewamo-Westphalia 34, Hudson 27 – The Pirates (9-2) eliminated a league champion for the second straight week, this time Lenawee County Athletic Association power Hudson (9-2).
Bridgman 17, Cassopolis 14 – The Bees (8-2) set a program record for wins in claiming their first District title and ending Cassopolis at 7-4 for the second straight season.
DIVISION 8
Harbor Beach 39, Waterford Our Lady 21
The Pirates (11-0) are 46-4 over their last 50 games and earned their fourth straight District title against their toughest opponent this fall to date. Harbor Beach had given up only 31 points total entering Saturday’s tilt. But despite allowing a few more, the defense also came through with two touchdown returns off turnovers. Our Lady finished 9-2, one win better than last season. Click for more from the Oakland Press.
Also noted:
Munising 24, St. Ignace 6 – The Mustangs (10-1) have double-digit wins for the first time since 1980 and another highlight after handing St. Ignace (10-1) its lone loss.
Beal City 53, Johannesburg-Lewiston 27 – The Aggies (9-2) have topped 50 points in both of their playoff games and ended the season for Johannesburg-Lewiston (9-2) for the third time in five years.
Morenci 42, Ottawa Lake Whiteford 22 – The Bulldogs (10-1) continued their best run since reaching the 1996 Finals by finishing a sweep of Tri-County Conference rival Whiteford (7-4).
8-PLAYER
Cedarville 28, Rapid River 0
The Trojans (10-1) will play in their first 8-player Semifinal after eliminating rival Rapid River (10-1), last season’s 8-player runner-up and the Bridge Football Alliance champion ahead of Cedarville the last two seasons. Cedarville fell just short against the Rockets, losing 20-19 in Week 6, but came on big in the rematch with a touchdown in each quarter. Click for more from the Escanaba Daily Press.
Also noted:
Deckerville 72, Kingston 22 – Deckerville (9-2) won its second Regional title in three seasons by beating Kingston (7-4) a second time this fall; the Eagles won their first meeting only 14-8 in Week 2.
Peck 56, Morrice 8 – The Pirates (11-0) set up a Semifinal rematch with Lawrence by ending the first 8-player season for Morrice at a solid 6-5 – the Orioles’ best record since 2006.
Lawrence 50, Battle Creek St. Philip 14 – Lawrence (11-0) beat St. Philip (9-2) for the second time in three weeks and by scoring at least 50 points for the 10th time this fall.
PHOTO: Warren DeLaSalle, on offense, downed Detroit East English 21-14 in their Division 2 District Final. (Photo courtesy of Detroit Public School League.)