2011 8-Player Final: Carsonville-Port Sanilac Wins Inaugural Title

December 16, 2011

MARQUETTE – Carsonville-Port Sanilac sophomore Dan Rickett emerged from his team’s final huddle of this season, pulled close to an assistant coach and said, “This one says MHSAA this time.”

His Tigers also celebrated a championship last season – a perfect season in fact, but unofficial title because the MHSAA has not yet instituted playoffs for the now 3-year-old sport.

This year, the first playoffs were held. And that made Friday’s 59-20 win over Rapid River at the Superior Dome – and the trophy C-PS then received – mean so much more.

The Tigers are the first MHSAA 8-player football champions.

“All the people saying last year was nothing, this will shut them up,” C-PS senior quarterback Hayden Adams said. “It means a lot more because we actually had to make a run in the playoffs. It’s that much harder, and we had to play that much better every game.

“I think we topped it off at the end of the season.”

A total of 1,433 fans – most wearing Rapid River’s purple and yellow – cheered on the teams in the inaugural game. C-PS finished 12-1 overall to move to 21-1 in coach Tim Brabant’s two seasons. The Rockets finished 11-2 in their first season of 8-player.

The sport was added by the MHSAA in 2009 to provide another option for schools with enrollments so small they had difficulty fielding an 11-player squad. Playoffs were added this season after the necessary 20 schools announced they’d be sponsoring 8-player teams.

That was not lost on either team, even for Rapid River in the loss. The Rockets had won one game each of the last two seasons playing 11-player teams.

“We had never played in the postseason at all since I’ve been here,” Rapid River senior running back Jacob Berglund said. “To make it this far, it’s awesome.”

Offense has reigned in the early stages of the MHSAA 8-player game. The Final kept to that standard.

The teams combined for 901 yards. Adams completed 12 of 17 passes for 324 yards and five touchdowns, and ran for 130 more yards and two scores. Two of his scoring passes were to his brother Trevor Adams, also a senior, including a 43-yarder on the second play of the game. Rickett ran for 78 yards and a touchdown on five carries, and also caught six passes for 133 yards and two scores.

The Tigers jumped out to a 19-0 lead and pushed it to 27-6 by the end of the first quarter. But in 8-player football, a 21-point advantage generally is not a safe one.

Rapid River outscored C-PS in the second quarter to get within 39-20 by halftime. After completing just one pass during the first quarter, Rockets sophomore quarterback Jake Pearson threw for 144 yards and two scores during the second.

But then something somewhat unimaginable happened. The Tigers held the Rockets scoreless the rest of the game.

“At halftime we made some adjustments on what we should do when they motioned. We picked it up real fast,” said C-PS senior linebacker Steven Koehler, who finished with a game-high 20 tackles, including 12 solos.

“I think that the fact they had 10 seniors, and the speed. They’re a year older, two years older in some cases,” Rapid River coach Steve Ostrenga listed as reasons his team had difficulties. “You get two more years of development in that respect as far as strength, and their speed was noticeable. I think that was the big key, their speed.”

Half of C-PS’s players were seniors who had served large roles on this and last season’s teams.

“It’s very fun to watch when we have a group of kids who are that athletic, hard working, and very polite. It’s hard for me to send these guys off,” Brabant said. “I get emotional just thinking about it. But … I know they’re going to be very successful in life.”

The Rockets, meanwhile, graduate just seven players, and also had seven freshmen and three sophomores this fall. Said Pearson, “It was a great learning experience. We know what we have to do for next year now.”

“Now all the teams are going to see what we do,” Adams said. “And they’re going to start doing all the things we do.”

Final Stats and Play-By-Play

Hanover-Horton Off to Record-Setting Start, with More Program 1sts Possible

By Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com

October 15, 2024

Hanover-Horton’s football team is in uncharted territory.

Southeast & BorderThe Comets had never won a playoff game, never won an overall Cascades Conference championship and never started the season with seven straight victories before this fall.

One of those milestones was reached Friday when Hanover-Horton shut out Addison 42-0 for its seventh consecutive victory. The other two are still possible.

“There are a lot of firsts for everybody here,” third-year Comets head coach David Messer said. “Our plan is to just keep it one play at a time.”

Hanover-Horton’s best previous start to a season was 4-0.

“When we got to 5-0, the kids celebrated that,” Messer said. “We talked about getting to 5-0. But I told them we are only going to celebrate over the weekend because Monday we had to get back to work.”

Hanover-Horton went 2-7 last season and 3-6 the year before. The last time the school won seven games in a season was 2014 when they went 8-2, setting a school record for victories that the Comets can equal against Brooklyn Columbia Central on Senior Night this Friday.

“We aren’t looking past that game,” Messer said.

The Addison win also clinched a share of the league's West division title, which the Comets can claim outright Friday. The West and East divisions winners will play for the overall Cascades Conference championship in Week 9. 

The Hanover-Horton seniors are on cloud nine about this football season, guaranteed to be the first winning one for the Comets since that 2014 campaign.

“They are on top of the world, but they are not strutting down the hallways or anything,” Messer said. “They are keeping everything in perspective.”

Hanover-Horton has eight seniors. Luke Soper is the quarterback and a two-way starter. Gavin Berkeypile is a physical player who has a nose for the ball. Center Bryant Hamisfar is a captain and makes the calls for the offensive line. Jackson Johnson and Jack Wooster are split ends on offense who have turned into excellent blockers, and Wyatt Ashworth has developed into a solid two-way starter.

The Comets defense is led by junior Adam Ley, a third-year starter despite being only a junior.

“We brought him up as a freshman out of necessity,” Messer said. “He’s really become a great football player. The play of our defensive front has been so strong, it has helped Adam be able to make a lot of tackles from his linebacker spot. Last year he had offensive linemen in his face every play. This year, he’s able to fill the gaps and make plays.”

Ley made 19 tackles last week against Addison during Hanover-Horton’s third consecutive shutout and fourth of the season, also a school record.

On offense, the Comets already have set the single-season school scoring record. Soper directs an offense that has been heavy on the run through the first seven games with multiple backs, including freshman Austyn Hocter.

Comets coach David Messer talks things over with his players.“We are still finding our way on offense,” Messer said. “We try to be a little more balanced. Luke is a heck of a quarterback who has a really good arm. We want to find ways to be more balanced.”

The offense is averaging 43 points a game, while the defense is allowing just 8.4.

“I don’t really look at how many points we score or give up,” Messer said. “I will look at those kinds of things after the season when we have a chance to sit down and assess how things went. We are really focused on the next play, next play.”

Messer comes from a football background rooted in success.

“I’m a Hudson guy through and through,” Messer said. “I was born in Hudson, played football at Hudson and coached for 15 years at Hudson.”

He coached for several years under Hall of Fame coach Chris Luma, and coached defense with current Hudson head coach Dan Rogers.

“Every step of the way, I’ve had some great coaches to help me,” Messer said. “Chris was a tremendous mentor. I know I can still pick up the phone at any time and give him a call.”

One of the first things Messer did at Hanover-Horton was work on the physical strength of the team.

“When I first got here, it was obvious to me that we weren’t a very physical football team,” he said. “The weight room part of it did not come quickly. I’ve had old-timers here tell me they’ve never had so many kids in the weight room. That was one of the things we needed to turn around.”

There already have been several big wins this season for the Comets, but close ones over Michigan Center (21-20) and Jonesville (21-18) made Messer particularly proud.

“We’ve had some moments this year where we reverted to the Hanover-Horton of old, but I’m so proud of the guys to overcome that and stay focused,” Messer said. “That third quarter against Jonesville things weren’t going our way, but we held on. Our goal is to just keep it one play, one drive at a time and make this a historic season.”

Doug DonnellyDoug 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) From left, Hanover-Horton’s Luke Soper (5), Jack Wooster (11), Braden Cogan (71) and Bryan Hamisfar (77) take the field together arm-in-arm. (Middle) Comets coach David Messer talks things over with his players. (Top photo courtesy of the Hanover-Horton athletic department; middle photo courtesy of Karson Durocher/JTV.)