Whitens Leads Jets' Pursuit of Record Run
December 13, 2016
By Dennis Grall
Special for Second Half
POWERS – Jason Whitens stands rather nonchalantly, but there is no doubt he is focused on his assignment.
It is not as easy to see his steely resolve in football because of the helmet and distance from which a fan watches Whitens prepare for the next play. It is much easier to see his features in basketball, where fans are almost as close to him as the defender.
In either sport, he scans the defense, then decides the best mode of attack. In both sports, he is efficient and effective, to such a degree that he has helped North Central win back-to-back MHSAA championships in 8-player football and Class D basketball.
The Jets brought a 55-game winning streak into the current basketball season, after extending their 8-player football mark to 26 straight wins. Whitens has been an integral part of each notable run.
He ran for an astounding 359 yards in the football finale as North Central throttled Deckerville 58-21. Deckerville had allowed only 50 points over its previous 12 games. Whitens also passed for 100 yards, but this game his running skills were needed as he averaged 20.7 yards per carry while scoring six touchdowns,
Last week Whitens entered basketball season with a school-record 1,410 points in three seasons, with an outside shot at reaching the year-old Upper Peninsula career mark of 2,178 points owned by Gage Kreski of St. Ignace.
Basically, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound senior is a threat to beat an opponent in a variety of different ways. That skill set has made Whitens an attractive college recruit in both sports, with interest from Division I and Division II schools such as the University of Wisconsin, Michigan State University, Central Michigan, Lake Superior State and Grand Valley State.
That attention is understandable since he is a two-time 8-player state Player of the Year from The Associated Press in football and was basketball’s Class D state Player of the Year last season as well. He is also Michigan’s representative for the Wendy’s Heisman Award as a scholar/athlete.
While all of those accolades are fantastic, Whitens remains a down-to-earth senior who has one primary goal as he approaches his final months in high school. Like his teammates, he wants to win another Class D basketball title.
And he spreads the credit around. “The surrounding cast has been phenomenal,” Whitens said, referring to teammates, family, friends and coaches.
“That has prepared me and my teammates for what we have done, how all of this has been given to us so we could perform. The best part of it has been all of us being together.”
That togetherness began before this group of players was born. Gerald Whitens and Tim Bilski, dads to senior teammates Jason and Dawson, played on North Central’s 1984 Class D championship basketball team and were part of a 33-game winning streak that ended in the 1985 Semifinals.
“Sports bring people together; you make friends and create bonds,” said Jason Whitens. Noting what helps make it fun, he added, “We don’t talk about the game as much as we talk about the guys.”
Many of these Jets have been playing backyard games together since pre-school days, with only the rewards changing.
“When we were younger, we all dreamt of this and knew we could do it,” Whitens said in a recent interview at school. “That is why it is not a shock to do it. Now we are basking in it, we’re just going to enjoy it and say ‘that was fun.’”
He recalled traveling various distances to 3-on-3 tournaments as youngsters. “That is what separates us from other schools,” he said. “We’ve played together for so long we know where each other is and how each other plays.”
And did we mention their highly competitive spirit?
“You will never meet a more competitive group than us,” said Whitens. “We want to win; that is our number one goal (in ping pong or anything). We always want to one-up each other, but there is no ill will because you beat someone. We always want to beat each other.
“We are always competing; there is no backing down from a challenge.”
North Central football coach Kevin Bellefeuil, who officiates basketball with Gerald Whitens, touched on that competitive level about his quarterback.
“The guy competes every time he is on the floor, on the field, on the diamond, every minute he is out there. If you want him to lie down, then take him out of the game,” Bellefeuil said.
“His dad is a pretty good competitor; his mom (Faye) is a competitor as well.”
His mother is a Granquist, and that family has been very athletically accomplished at North Central. Tom Granquist, Jason’s uncle, held the school basketball scoring record that Whitens broke last year. His cousin, Rob Granquist, was an all-star quarterback and cager just ahead of Whitens, and is No. 3 on the school’s basketball point chart.
“As a group, they all have a competitive spirit,” said Bellefeuil.
Jason Whitens, noting how it was important to keep up and surpass his relatives, said “there was always something to strive for, something you tried to do better. I was always motivated. I never just settled on doing something today or tomorrow.
“It is something I had to get intrigued about myself. It was second nature. I was always around it, I wanted to be a part of it. It just inspired me to be the best I could be,” Whitens said.
“Hopefully I can set an example and make (younger relatives) better than me. That would be selfish if I didn’t want that for my family.”
That competitive spirit and deep will to win may have reached a notable mark when Whitens was a freshman.
Playing in the basketball Class D Quarterfinal in Marquette, Whitens missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw set with no time left that sealed an 81-79 loss to Cedarville. That was the last time the Jets have lost on the hardwood.
A basket by Whitens at the buzzer was denied after the officials conferred and decided he had to shoot free throws.
“That was a huge impact as a basketball player and as a human being, as a person,” Whitens said in reflection. “I look at basketball in a whole new perspective now. It is not life or death. When I’m around family and friends, that is real.
“That (situation) helped set the bar. I didn’t want to feel or be put in a position where I would let my team down. I matured a lot from that point. I realized you can’t always play perfect. You are always going to make mistakes. That did inspire me to become better.”
The Jets have won 57 straight games since that loss. Surpassing the mark of 65 straight wins set by Chassell from 1956-58 “is in the back of our mind. It is a process, and we’re taking one game at a time. The most important thing is having fun and being prepared as the ride goes along,” Whitens said. “It is hard to do it yourself. It is great to do it together as one.”
Next up is Carney-Nadeau on Thursday, with Menominee providing a possible substantial challenge Monday.
He is also going through his senior season pondering his future in sports. “Where to go and what to play (football or basketball), that is mixed up right now. What (sport) to commit to and who to commit to. I’m not really close deciding where to go or what sport to play,” he said.
“It is a wild, crazy and confusing ride.”
Denny Grall retired in 2012 after 39 years at the Escanaba Daily Press and four at the Green Bay Press-Gazette, plus 15 months for WLST radio in Escanaba; he served as the Daily Press sports editor from 1970-80 and again from 1984-2012. Grall was inducted into the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and serves as its executive secretary. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for the Upper Peninsula.
PHOTOS: (Top) Jason Whitens high fives during last season’s post-basketball championship celebration at Powers North Central High School. (Middle) Whitens looks for an opening during the Class D Final win over Waterford Our Lady. (Below) Whitens runs away from a Deckerville defender during last month’s 8-Player Football Final. (Top photo by Paul Gerard; bottom photo by Dennis Grall.)
Where's Cros-Lex? Among Hoops Best
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
February 16, 2021
Conversations about Croswell-Lexington basketball have long been common in Lance Campbell’s barbershop.
Hearing them on the opposite side of the state, though, is something new.
“It’s nice to go on Twitter and have people talking about Cros-Lex,” said Campbell, the Cros-Lex boys coach whose full-time job is running Campbell’s Cuts in Croswell. “It hasn’t been something that’s happened. It’s nice to get the statewide attention. A friend of mine went to a showcase in Grand Rapids, and said he was sitting in the stands and people were like, ‘Who the (heck) is that Croswell whatever? Where the (heck) are they?’”
To answer the question: Cros-Lex is a few miles inland from Lake Huron in the southern half of the Thumb. But the folks on the west side were talking because they had already found Cros-Lex – near the top of the Division 2 boys basketball rankings.
The Pioneers were 20-1 a year ago, spending most of the season in the top five of the polls. They were ranked No. 25 in all divisions by MLive heading into the postseason and were picked by multiple writers and followers of the sport to make the school’s first run to the Breslin Center for the MHSAA Final Four.
The online chatter never had a chance to turn into more, as the season was ended prior to the District Final because of COVID-19. But with much of the team back, led by four-year standouts Hunter Soper and Tyler Johnson, the Pioneers are looking to prove all the talk was justified.
“Last year felt perfect,” Soper said. “It’s hard to think about it, and going to bed every night with a ‘What if?’ Everything felt like it was clicking for us. We’re trying to get back to that this year. We’re hoping to make a deep run again and not end on a ‘what if,’ but a ‘we won.’”
Campbell, a Cros-Lex graduate himself, won’t say outright that he saw this coming. But he also won’t say that he didn’t.
While he’s in his fourth year as varsity coach, he’s been coaching at some level in the program since the early 2000s, when his former coach Don Roberts asked him to come aboard. He watched the players who now make up his team grow up as athletes on the basketball court, baseball diamond and football field.
“Five or six years ago, we kind of looked and thought this could be a special class, but I’ve seen that happen multiple times and you never know how it will work out,” Campbell said. “When I was in eighth grade, I think four of the five starters didn’t even play basketball by the time we were on varsity. This senior class, Joey Noll was a role player, he was the eighth or ninth kid on the eighth-grade team, now he’s a starter. Two kids who started on that eighth-grade group aren’t playing anymore. We kind of envisioned this being a special group, but again, I’ve seen where it doesn’t always work out.”
There was also a question as to whether the talented group would turn its focus to one sport over another. Many of the Campbell’s current players grew up playing baseball together on travel teams. As they reached high school, however, the multi-sport focus has only increased. Campbell said each member of main rotation is a multi-sport athlete, many of them playing three sports. That’s a source of pride for Campbell, who is also the school’s golf coach.
“When we had four-man workouts, I was like, ‘Basketball is not even on your radar right now. Focus on things football related,’” he said. “We have to collectively work together. (Football coach Mike LeGrow) did a good job this year, and hopefully that will continue. I know some of these kids are starting to throw some baseballs. We also tell them to not overdo it. We’re going six days a week right now, three days of games, three days of practices, and once in a while you have to be a kid. You have to stay home and play PlayStation or Xbox. If you have a girlfriend, you have to take her to the movies. You have to spend some time with your parents.”
The players also weren’t sure of what could come, even though Soper and Johnson were showing early signs of being special on the court, having moved up to the fifth-grade team as third graders.
“I think back then we were mostly focused on baseball,” said Johnson, who is still weighing playing baseball and basketball in college. “We were part of a really good travel baseball team. It wasn’t until our sophomore year that we thought, ‘OK, basketball could be it.’ That was our first summer playing AAU.”
Johnson said playing multiple sports together has brought the team closer together, referring to his teammates as brothers. It’s also helped to build chemistry on each field of play.
“I feel like it helps out a lot with the different roles everyone plays on the baseball diamond or football field,” Soper said. “You get to understand what guys do, and their tendencies.”
Soper and Johnson are the unquestioned stars on the basketball court. Both stand at 6-foot-5 and are dangerous from anywhere on the court. While neither has signed with a college, they both plan to play at the next level. Soper was the Blue Water Area Conference MVP a year ago, and Johnson was runner-up.
As Cros-Lex has rolled to a 3-0 start this season, Soper is averaging 17.3 points per game and Johnson 14. Soper also has set the school record for career rebounds.
But the Pioneers have shown they go much deeper than their two stars as they are winning by an average of 40.6 points per game. Juniors Saige Slanec and Jake Townsend have also contributed double-figure scoring games. Seniors Noll and Nolan Durand continue to play major roles on both ends of the floor, and sophomore point guard Trey Kolakovich has meshed nicely with his older teammates in his second varsity season.
“Collectively, we’ve got so many kids that do things that kind of get overlooked,” Campbell said. “The great thing with our team is, I had a guy send me a message after the game (Saturday against Brown City) and he said there were instances in the fourth quarter when we had some bench players on the floor and they did things well and everyone on the bench was up and cheering. I always tell them that I was all-area in high school, but no one remembers that. If we would have been good enough to put up a championship on a banner, then everyone would see it. If we do things collectively, as a team, that’s something not anybody can take away from you.”
The Pioneers have never won a Regional title, something this year’s team hopes to end. But they know it won’t be easy, and after last year, they are simply embracing the opportunity.
“I feel like every practice, every time we’re together and every time you’re on the court, we don’t take it for granted,” Soper said. “Especially for a senior, everybody talks about how fast it goes, but you don’t really know until you live through it.”
They’re also not taking the online chatter and recognition for granted, even if they’re much more interested in showing the state how good they are in person.
“It’s really cool that a little town in east Michigan in the Thumb and on the lake can get all this recognition, and that people are talking about us,” Johnson said. “We see most of it, and we talk about it, but it’s not like we freak out about it. Coach keeps us pretty under control. You can look at this stuff, but it doesn’t mean much. You just have to keep playing.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Croswell-Lexington’s Saige Slanec looks into the post during a game this season. (Middle) Trey Kolakovich brings the ball up the floor. (Below) Croswell-Lexington’s bench anticipates a teammate’s 3-pointer. (Photos courtesy of Mike Gallagher/Sanilac County News.)