1st & Goal: 2021 8-Player Finals Preview
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 17, 2021
Saturday’s 8-Player Football Finals would struggle to feel more familiar.
After a year away, the Division 1 and 2 championship games will be returning to Superior Dome at Northern Michigan University. Three of four finalists will be playing for titles for the second-straight season – Adrian Lenawee Christian and Powers North Central are returning champions, and Suttons Bay a returning runner-up – while Colon also will play again on the final day after making the Finals in 2019.
Lenawee Christian (12-0) and Suttons Bay (12-0) will kick off the day in Division 1 at 11 a.m., followed by North Central (12-0) and Colon (11-1) approximately 2 p.m. Both games will be broadcast live on MHSAA.tv, and replayed on Bally Sports Detroit’s primary channel Nov. 25 beginning at 7 p.m. Audio of both games will be streamed live on MHSAANetwork.com.
Below is a look at all four finalists. Team “rankings” are based on their playoff-point averages heading into the postseason. Statistics are through Semifinals unless noted.
Division 1
ADRIAN LENAWEE CHRISTIAN
Record/rank: 12-0, No. 1
Coach: Bill Wilharms, ninth season (69-24)
League finish: First in Southern Central Athletic Association A
Championship history: 8-Player Division 1 champion 2020.
Best wins: 36-14 over No. 3 Martin in Semifinals, 41-0 (Regional Final) and 41-20 over No. 6 Britton Deerfield, 47-21 over Division 2 No. 7 Colon.
Players to watch: QB/CB Ashur Bryja, 5-8/150 sr. (1,862 yards/27 TDs passing, 681 yards/15 TDs rushing); RB/DB/K/P Clay Ayers, 5-10/170, sr. (816 yards/16 TDs rushing, 395 yards/5 TDs receiving); WR/LB Elliott Addleman, 6-5/195, sr. (777 yards/12 TDs receiving). OG/DL Jacobus Kegerreis, 5-9/185, sr.
Outlook: Lenawee Christian has yet to lose an 8-player game since switching from 11-player, building a combined 23-0 record over the last two seasons that includes a 47-0 win over Suttons Bay in last season’s Division 1 Final. The closest an opponent has come over those two seasons is 16 points. The Cougars graduated last season’s standout running back and quarterback and haven’t missed a beat, outscoring their opponents by an average score of 51-8. The offense is easy to praise and understandably so, but the defense deserves substantial credit – through the Regional Final, Lenawee Christian was allowing 2.6 yards per rush and teams to complete only 31 percent of their pass attempts. Kegerreis and Ayers were all-state first team selections as juniors, Ayers as a kicker.
SUTTONS BAY
Record/rank: 12-0, No. 2
Coach: Garrick Opie, fourth season (43-4)
League finish: Does not play in a league.
Championship history: 8-player Division 1 runner-up 2019 and 2020, 11-player Division 6 runner-up 2004.
Best wins: 42-36 (OT) over No. 12 Rudyard in Semifinal, 53-18 over No. 4 Indian River Inland Lakes in Regional Final, 49-8 (Regional Semifinal) and 48-18 over No. 16 Mesick, 46-0 over No. 7 Munising, 45-0 over Division 2 No. 3 Marion.
Players to watch: RB/DB Hugh Periard, 6-0/175, sr. (1,028 yards/19 TDs rushing); RB/DB Shawn Bramer, 6-2/200, jr. (1,725 yards/24 TDs rushing, 892 yards/8 TDs receiving); QB/DB Dylan Barnowski, 6-0/155, jr. (1,570 yards/24 TDs passing); OL/DL Cameron Alberts, 6-1/290, sr.
Outlook: Suttons Bay will be playing in the Division 1 championship game for the third-consecutive season, and its only losses over the last two seasons have been in those previous two Finals. The Norseman are coming off their closest game over the last two years, with a late hook-and-ladder play helping to save the day in last week’s overtime win over Rudyard. But even counting the 36 points scored by the Bulldogs, Suttons Bay’s defense is again imposing giving up 12 points per game and no more than 18 to any other opponent. The Norseman had intercepted 12 passes this season heading into the Semifinal; meanwhile, Suttons Bay has thrown for 26 touchdowns with only one interception. Senior tight end Brayden Opie is the most sizable target at 6-3 and has caught seven touchdown passes.
Division 2
COLON
Record/rank: 11-1, No. 7
Coach: Robbie Hattan, sixth season (48-17)
League finish: Second in Southern Central Athletic Association A
Championship history: 8-player Division 1 champion 2019.
Best wins: 42-6 over No. 4 Au Gres-Sims in Semifinal, 29-22 over No. 1 Morrice in Regional Final, 35-13 over No. 6 Portland St. Patrick in Regional Semifinal, 44-24 over No. 12 Climax-Scotts.
Players to watch: QB/DB Simon Vinson, 6-3/185, jr. (1,212 yards/24 TDs rushing, 2,253 yards/37 TDs passing); RB/LB Kaleb Johnson, 5-8/160, sr. (727 yards/10 TDs rushing, 377 yards/3 TDs receiving); WR/DB Justin Wickey, 5-11/160, jr. (1,454 yards/21 TDs receiving).
Outlook: Colon’s first three playoff wins have doubled as the lone losses this season for those opponents, and the Magi face one more opportunity against an undefeated foe Saturday. Their only loss was to Division 1 unbeaten Lenawee Christian, and otherwise only Morrice has come closer than 12 points. Vinson earned an all-state honorable mention last season and has put up passing numbers that rank among the best in MHSAA 8-player history – his 2,253 yards and 37 touchdowns both rank fourth for a single season in their respective categories. Senior Kody Dovey joins Vinson, Johnson and Wickey among two-way starters and has 544 yards and eight touchdowns receiving.
POWERS NORTH CENTRAL
Record/rank: 12-0, No. 2
Coach: Leo Gorzinski, fourth season (41-3)
League finish: First in Great Lakes Eight Conference West
Championship history: Three MHSAA titles (most recent 2020).
Best wins: 73-8 over No. 3 Marion in Semifinal, 65-8 (Regional Final) and 42-0 over T-No. 9 Crystal Falls Forest Park, 64-14 over No. 11 Pellston in Regional Semifinal, 65-0 over T-No. 9 Lake Linden-Hubbell.
Players to watch: QB/LB Luke Gorzinski, 5-9/175, jr. (1,009 yards/17 TDs rushing, 926 yards/12 TDs passing); RB/DT Wyatt Raab, 5-7/170, sr. (925 yards/23 TDs rushing, 3 TDs receiving); RB/LB Alex Naser, 5-8/155, sr. (159 yards, 3 TDs receiving); OT/DE Lane Nehring, 6-0/280, sr.
Outlook: North Central dominated Division 2 in winning the championship last season, and has been even better this fall. Last week’s Semifinal win over Marion pushed the Jets’ average score this season to 62-4, and only Pellston three weeks ago has put up more than eight points on a defense that starts six seniors. The playmakers will be plenty familiar to anyone who watched last season’s championship games. Luke Gorzinski made the all-state first team last season and set a record for total offense in an 8-Player Final with 455 yards passing and rushing combined – also running for four touchdowns and throwing for three more – and Raab scored four times as the Jets set an 8-Player Finals record for scoring in the 70-48 win over Portland St. Patrick.
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Saginaw United Era Begins with Memorable Welcome, Game-Like Atmosphere
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
August 13, 2024
SAGINAW – James King wanted to reward his Saginaw United players Monday for their hard work throughout the summer.
He wanted to make a moment for them on the first day of practice for a new program, so they held it under the lights at Saginaw High and invited the public to come watch.
They deserved it, and for what they’re trying to accomplish, they needed it.
But when the moment came, the first-year coach and former Saginaw Arthur Hill star found it was quite a moment for himself, as well.
“That was probably one of the most emotional walkouts I’ve ever took,” King said. “To go back and come back out and kind of breathe it in was like, ‘Damn.’ This was me at one point, following another coach as a leader of a program that I helped lead and build at Arthur Hill from nothing to (Saginaw) Valley champs and the playoffs two years in a row. But (Monday) was probably my most emotional walkout. I didn’t know my playoff game was going to be my last game, so I didn’t have that emotional walkout. That was very emotional.”
Monday was the opening day for fall sports practices in Michigan, and nearly 100,000 student-athletes were expected to be taking practice fields across the state. Some schools began during the earliest morning hours, going under the lights at midnight, while many others had more typical early-morning or afternoon practices.
In Saginaw, where the new season is also part of a new era with the opening of Saginaw United High School, King created a game-like atmosphere for his players, complete with specialists warming up early and the team running onto the field with music playing and fans cheering them on.
“This is for them,” King said while pointing toward his players. “Everybody is here for them. I told them, ‘You worked all summer to get through Hell Week and once you get through Hell Week, this is it. This is football season. It’s August. Nothing else matters in the world to me. It’s football season.’ And these kids have absolutely bought into that, and this is what those kids deserve. They deserve their community, their family, their friends to be able to come out and support them. This is big for them.”
The energy was certainly there for the players.
“We’re just happy to be here for real,” junior receiver Dion’Quavis Hardy said. “New season, new coaches, so we’re excited to see how this program is going to be this year.”
For the past three seasons, Arthur Hill and Saginaw High have combined forces as a co-op during football season. That co-op has finished a combined 0-27 over the past three seasons, but on Monday, it was stressed that this is a clean slate and a chance to build a program from scratch.
“New coaches, new players, new everything,” junior quarterback Jordan Allen said. “We’re a brotherhood, like a family. One big happy family.”
King added that the program is 0-0, and this group of players represents a beginning, not a continuation of that co-op.
“We’re Saginaw. It’s Saginaw United. We’re the Phoenix. We’re rising,” he said. “This is for Saginaw, and these kids deserve it. This community absolutely deserves it. I’m going to bleed (Arthur Hill) blue and gold for the rest of my life, but on top of that blood now is black and silver, and that will never change. This city will absolutely love what we’re doing, and the Phoenix represents everything that we’re about to accomplish and what we’re doing right now, not only as a football team, but as a community and as a school.”
Saginaw will play in the Saginaw Valley League Red and is listed as a Division 2 school, based on an enrollment count of slightly more than 1,200 students.
With its football complex still under construction, it is practicing and playing at Saginaw High this season. But six of the Phoenix’s nine regular-season games will be played on the road, including the opener Aug. 29 at Freeland.
Turnout has been good throughout the summer, as King said there are about 85 players from freshmen through varsity, and as many as 15 others who could be in the mix as the season starts. He expects the Saginaw United freshmen team to have more than 30 players, a good sign for the future.
While that group has been turning up for workouts, it’s also been showing up the community, as King said the team has participated in 12 events throughout the city during the spring and summer. It’s the program’s way of giving back, and, for King, another way to help his players grow off the field.
“No. 1 for me is our youth,” he said. “And this is our youth, and I’m able to give back the way people gave back to me. Without the coaches I had, I could tell you right now, I wouldn’t be where I’m at. And that’s what I want to be, that’s what all our coaches want to be for them. This coaching staff, I couldn’t ask for more. It’s the most dedicated program I could ask for.”
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) Saginaw United players take to the field at the former Saginaw High on Monday for their first practice as a new school and program. (Middle) United coach James King joins his players in walking out to the field. (Below) Phoenix players play catch during their first practice. (Photos by Paul Costanzo.)