Transformed Shores Continues to Rise
September 8, 2015
By Tom Kendra
Special for Second Half
This is not your father’s Muskegon Mona Shores football team.
Or even your older brother’s.
This is not the team that went its first 51 years of football without making the MHSAA playoffs and whose only traffic jams leaving its parking lot occurred early in the third quarter – when the band was done performing.
Heading into one of the state’s marquee Week 3 matchups at home against perennial Division 1 powerhouse Rockford, Shores is looking to snap a 10-game losing streak against the Rams, which has included some forgettable affairs like a 49-7 loss in 2000 and 10-7 loss last fall, the Sailors’ lone regular-season defeat.
“Great job tonight,” Mona Shores coach Matt Koziak told his huddled players last Thursday night, allowing them a few seconds to enjoy their 2-0 start and a dominating 55-14 win over host Fruitport, before quickly shifting gears.
“But now we have Rockford coming to our place. We can’t make the mistakes we made tonight, or they will make us pay for it. We have to play top-notch.”
The emergence of Mona Shores as a power has changed the landscape of football, not only in the Muskegon area, but West Michigan as a whole. As other Muskegon-area schools struggle with declining enrollment – most notably Muskegon High, Muskegon Heights and Muskegon Catholic Central – Mona Shores is now the largest school in Muskegon County and a legitimate force, bursting onto the state scene with a memorable run to last year’s Division 2 championship game at Ford Field.
After putting up 55 points in back-to-back wins over Holland West Ottawa and Fruitport to open the season (and with their defense not allowing a single point), the Sailors are showing that the 2014 season was far from a flash in the pan.
“Last year we were the hunters; now we’re the hunted,” explained senior quarterback Tyler Trovinger, who set a school record with six TD passes in the Week 2 win over Fruitport. “We have to be great because no one is looking past us anymore.”
The Sailors’ fortunes, and attitudes, began to change in 2011 with the hiring of Koziak as head football coach. He turned out to be the perfect choice, as a 1994 Mona Shores graduate who cut his coaching teeth at Muskegon High School under Tony Annese, serving as offensive coordinator when the Big Reds won MHSAA titles in 2006 and 2008 and as head coach for one year in 2009.
His words upon taking the Mona Shores job in 2011 were prophetic:
“I'm tired of people badmouthing my school,” Koziak told The Muskegon Chronicle at that time. “I’ve heard people say the Shores kids are cake-eaters. It’s not true. There are a lot of blue-collar kids and families there. I’m excited to change the football culture.”
While Koziak knew Shores football history, he also was smart enough to recognize changes that needed to be made – beginning with the installation of the spread option, veer attack which was so effective across town at Muskegon High.
The most notable player was quarterback Tyree Jackson, who Koziak inserted into the starting lineup as a 5-foot-9 freshman. After struggling mightily and making people question whether the new coach was running the wrong system, Jackson sprouted to 6-4 and started throwing to targets like Asantay Brown and Marquon Sargent.
Brown is now a starting safety at Western Michigan University, Sargent is at Grand Valley State University and Jackson is a freshman quarterback at the University of Buffalo, but the Mona Shores system and the athletes haven’t missed a beat.
Trovinger (5-11, 200 pounds) has stepped into Jackson’s big shoes and possesses a cannon for an arm and terrific running ability.
Trovinger’s passing options are nothing short of an embarrassment of riches. Three of the starters in the Sailors’ four-wide attack have already made Division I college commitments – Hunter Broersma (6-2, 190) and Darece Roberson (5-9, 165) to Western Michigan and Kobe Burse (6-3, 205) to Miami of Ohio – with the fourth starter being dangerous Deandre Oakes-Owens (6-0, 175), an all-league selection as a defensive back last season.
“We have a ton of weapons, no doubt,” Trovinger said. “When we’re all focused, we’re a force to be reckoned with.”
The defense is led by two more senior standouts who could possibly sign with Division I schools. Dom Shermeta (6-0, 215) is a Chris Spielman clone at middle linebacker and a battering-ram fullback, and Christian Boyd (6-2, 280) is a run-stuffer at left defensive tackle.
Koziak said a big part of the Shores turnaround is the supportive administration, notably seventh-year athletic director Ryan Portenga, the outspoken, energetic and unapologetic leader of the Shores athletic program.
Portenga has written a book about the Mona Shores football turnaround and the storybook 2014 season, entitled: “Flipping Football: A True Story of Resilience and Transformation.” The book, which costs $20, will be released Friday, in conjunction with the Rockford game.
“It’s a story that needed to be told,” said Portenga, who noted that half of the proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the Shores athletic program.
So … with all of this talent, all this excitement, all this momentum (even a book!), are the Sailors ready to take the next step and knock off the biggest kid on the block – Rockford? Or will the Rams’ mystique win out again?
It’s the same question Muskegon-area residents were asking last October, when the upstart Sailors traveled to historic Hackley Stadium to face the Big Reds, which had downed Shores 14 games in a row. Shores matched the athletes for Muskegon and made believers out of many in a convincing 48-27 victory.
While every eye in Muskegon was on that game, many eyes from around the state will now be on Sailor Stadium when a senior-laden Rockford team comes to town Friday, looking to swat away the latest challenger to its perch atop the West Michigan football heap.
Rockford (1-1) is coming off a 47-0 romp over visiting Holt, and will bring its usual big offensive line, bevy of running backs and unparalleled special teams – especially senior kicker and punter Quinn Nordin, who has committed to sign with Penn State University.
The Rams have extra motivation as coach Ralph Munger has 299 career coaching victories over his 36-year career, the first 12 spent at Frankenmuth and the past 24 at Rockford. His next win would make him the 11th coach in state history to register 300 wins.
Shores is not motivated to deny Munger, but rather to avenge last year’s 10-7 loss at Rockford. In that game, Roberson scored on a 79-yard run on the first play from scrimmage, but failed to score again, fumbling twice in the fourth quarter.
With a huge crowd expected for the rematch, Koziak said his players will be motivated to come out and not let another game against the Rams slip away.
“We talked about how Rockford beat us last year,” said Koziak, who is assisted on the varsity level by Brian Sikkenga, Holsey James and Aaron James, Chris Hilliker and Kyle Brott. “They have that in the back of their minds that they let one get away, and that’s motivation for them.
“I think there’s a new energy for football with what we’ve been able to build the last four years. The community has waited forever for this. They’re ecstatic.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Mona Shores’ Darece Roberson strides for additional yardage during last season’s MHSAA Division 2 Final against Warren DeLaSalle. (Middle) Tyler Trovenger, surrounded by teammates, celebrates his third-quarter touchdown catch at Ford Field. He moved to quarterback this fall.
Meet Jared Smith, P-W's Record Setter
November 10, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
WESTPHALIA – Jared Smith saw the parking lot full and cars lining Clintonia Road to the west and Centerline Road south of Pewamo-Westphalia’s stadium Saturday as his Pirates prepared to kick off their District Final against Saugatuck.
He knew once again there was no place else he’d rather be.
And that goes to the core of what Smith would tell anyone who might be curious about the senior back making a run at the MHSAA’s career rushing yards record.
Smith showed a little to the statewide audience with 149 yards and a touchdown in P-W’s 22-16 loss to Ishpeming in last season’s Division 7 Final at Ford Field. But with most of his games over the last three-plus seasons played for a 300-student school on rural fields like his on the Clinton/Ionia County line, there are probably a few more eager to see the back they’ve mostly only read about as he’s made his run at 8,000 yards.
“I guess I’m just a hard-working kid from a small town,” he said Monday in explaining how he’d describe himself to those who haven’t seen him play. “I grew up in a great community that loves football, and they’re always out here supporting it. And I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else.”
Smith heads into the Pirates’ Division 7 Regional Final on Saturday at Traverse City St. Francis with five MHSAA football records and ranking second or third in three other categories, and he will graduate in the spring on a short list of the most accomplished high school backs in Michigan history.
He helped carry the Pirates to the cusp of their first MHSAA title last fall with a single-season record 3,250 yards and 53 touchdowns – his scores set records both for total touchdowns and total rushing TDs in one season – on 315 carries, which came out to 10.3 yards per carry and a touchdown every sixth time he ran the ball.
This fall, Smith has only 2,318 yards on 197 carries (11.8 per rush) with 34 scores on the ground – giving him an MHSAA-record 119 rushing touchdowns for his career with at least one more game to play. Total over three seasons and parts of a fourth – Smith came up in Week 6 to back up Ross Wolniakowski as a freshman in 2013 – he has run for 7,930 yards, only 501 shy of the career record set by East Grand Rapids’ Kevin Grady, Jr., from 2001-04.
Another big finish would allow fans outside mid-Michigan and those who follow our smallest schools one more glimpse at the player who will end up all over the MHSAA record book. But in the meantime, here’s a primer based on viewpoints from those who have coached the 6-foot, 205-pound hammer, and those who have tried to stop him.
“I tell them that he is the same kid that he was when I brought him up as a freshman,” P-W coach Jeremy Miller said. “He hasn’t changed. His outlook, his work ethic. He’s a tremendous teammate, a tremendous kid to coach. I’ve never had to say two words to him: ‘Hey, knock it off. Be quiet. Pay attention. You’re not working hard.’ So he’s a tremendously gifted athlete, but he has all the intangibles to be every coach’s dream. He really does.”
Smith came up to varsity as a freshman, again mostly as the scout team back, but he picked up 226 yards and four touchdowns to begin his record book march.
He’ll be the first to explain how much of his last three seasons have been a result of a strong cast around him. Anchor Matt Fox was the only member of last season’s offensive line to graduate – leaving now-seniors Dominic Spitzley, Austin Thelen and Devon Pung and junior Isaiah Schafer to form a veteran nucleus. Thelen suffered a season-ending knee injury on the first play of this season, but senior Nick Jandernoa – pulling off the rare double as a cornerback on defense – took Thelen’s spot at offensive guard, while 6-foot-5 senior Nolan Hagen has moved from tight end last year to play the other guard and senior Jason Smith has taken on that tight end spot key to the blocking scheme.
Smith also has benefitted from last season’s starting tight end, junior Bryce Thelen, now playing fullback, and the return of junior quarterback Jimmy Lehman, a threat through the air. Senior Ryan Smith is an option quarterback who switches in and can pull some of the attention away from his lead back.
But if Jared Smith was just a great small-town back, more programs would have one like him – and only a few players at that level the last few years have been comparable.
One is Saugatuck’s Blake Dunn, who Saturday finished his four-year varsity career with 6,954 yards on the ground. The Indians are one of few teams to play P-W close the last two years, falling 38-28 in a 2015 District Final before being edged 25-19 last week – games in which Smith ran for 300 yards and two touchdowns and then 210 yards and two scores, respectively.
“He has great leg strength, great balance, and then on top of that, his vision and his ability to cut back really make him unique,” said Saugatuck coach Bill Dunn, also Blake’s dad, whose team has navigated the Southwestern Athletic Conference the last two years to go a combined 20-2. “What he did last year versus this year was very similar. His running style was very similar. Our preparation was to not let him cut back, but he’s got a very good offensive line, and you have to give credit to those guys as well.
“(But) absolutely, I think he’d do well in any league. Just with his size alone, and the fact that he can run.”
Laingsburg coach Brian Borgman is among those from the Central Michigan Athletic Conference who have appreciated Smith’s work – but won’t miss trying to stop it. The 15-year Wolfpack coach, who played collegiately at Bowling Green, has watched Smith help the Pirates win 14 straight league games and 27 of 28 over the last four seasons.
After this fall’s 40-7 P-W win over Laingsburg – which won eight games for the second straight season – Borgman told Smith, “Congratulations” and also he was glad he wouldn’t have to plan for him again.
“When he was a sophomore, he basically was just an outside runner, able to take the ball to the edge. They didn’t ask him to take it between the tackles much,” Borgman said. “But as he’s matured, as he’s been lifting, with his strength – he’s become a bear to take down. (And) just his confidence. Our game we played in a downpour. They direct snapped to him and we were able to corral him for a quarter and a half, but you never saw him get worried. He kept his cool, kept his poise and eventually ran right past us” for 271 yards and two touchdowns.
“He is by far the most talented player I’ve had to try to defend,” Borgman added. “His special blend of power, speed, vision and balance make him so dangerous. He gives a lot of credit to the O-line in front of him, as well he should, but I’ve seen him turn a blown play into an 80-plus yard TD all by himself. He is a rare talent, and I wish him well in the future.”
That future is something Smith knows he’ll eventually have to figure out and feels a little bit of pressure to get started – but there’s another potential trip to Detroit to plan first.
Despite his success, while also starting at linebacker – and carrying a 3.97 grade-point average – Smith isn’t getting as much college interest as one might expect. He mixes that physical running style with speed; he made the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Track & Field Finals in the spring for 300-meter hurdles and as part of the 1,600 relay. But his 4.65-second 40 time isn’t considered “top-end” – “But give him the football and see if you can tackle him,” Miller said.
And Smith learns. He scored the first points of the Division 7 Final and had 100 yards by halftime. But what Smith remembers instead is that he fumbled – a rarity at the time, but Smith hasn’t fumbled once this season.
And he’s only improved as a leader too, driven more by team aspirations than trying to one-up his records or add to the growing pile.
“The biggest motivator for me was coming off that loss at states,” Smith said. “Other than that, I just enjoy coming out here and working.
"(The 2015 Final) was just a game where we could've come out and done a lot of things better. We were so close, and just came up a little short. ... Now that's our ultimate goal. Everyone is working for it."
Geoff Kimmerly joined the MHSAA as its Media & Content Coordinator in Sept. 2011 after 12 years as Prep Sports Editor of the Lansing State Journal. He has served as Editor of Second Half since its creation in Jan. 2012. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for the Barry, Eaton, Ingham, Livingston, Ionia, Clinton, Shiawassee, Gratiot, Isabella, Clare and Montcalm counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Pewamo-Westphalia's Jared Smith came into this season with single-season rushing and touchdown records. (Middle) Smith works for yardage against Ishpeming during last season's Division 7 Final. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)