8-Player Powers Converge in Greenville
November 15, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Friday’s second-ever MHSAA 8-player football championship game will feature teams representing different stages of the new division’s development.
Coming down from the north is Bellaire, one of the first schools to jump on the new format in 2009 and a major success since doing so. Traveling west from the Thumb is Deckerville, a solid 11-player program in years past that has gotten smaller over the last decade and made the switch this fall.
Together, they should bring an exciting conclusion to the 8-player season at Greenville High School’s recently-built Legacy Field, a tremendous structure comparable to a small college stadium.
Tickets for the 8-player Final cost $8. Can’t make the trip? Watch it live on Fox Sports Detroit Plus (Comcast channel 901, check local listings for other providers). Kickoff is 7 p.m.
Here’s a look at the teams squaring off:
BELLAIRE
Record: 9-3
Coach: Ron Bindi, fifth season (25-24)
League finish: Fourth in Bridge Alliance Conference
Championship history: Has never appeared in an MHSAA Final.
Best wins: 28-16 and 20-16 (Semifinal) over Rapid River, 48-0 over Owendale-Gagetown (Regional Final).
Players to watch: RB/CB Chase Small, 5-8/170, soph. (185 carries, 1,574 yards, 24 TDs rushing); QB Zach Smith, 5-11/158, sr. (29 for 73, 676 yards, 7 TDs passing; 389 yards, 15 TDs rushing); OL/DL Drew Bailey, 6-4/200, sr. (73 tackles), LB/C James Campis, 5-10/195, jr. (171 tackles), SE/CB Wes Villafane, 5-8/151, sr. (14 caches, 514 yards, five TDs, four interceptions).
Outlook: After finishing a combined 1-16 in its final two seasons in 11-player football, Bellaire is 23-8 since making the switch. The Eagles’ quick start included representing their conference against Mid-Michigan 8-Man League winner Carsonville Port-Sanilac in a non-MHSAA championship game at the end of the first 8-player season. This year’s team started 0-2 before hitting its stride. There’s no question Bellaire is a running team, with 3,413 rushing yards this fall led by Small’s 1,574. The team has thrown for 823 yards, with Villafane catching nearly half the team’s passes. Campis and junior Hunter Walsh are the big hitters for a defense giving up only seven points per game during the postseason.
DECKERVILLE
Record/rank: 11-1
Coach: Bill Brown, 20th season (154-60)
League finish: First in North Central Thumb League
Championship history: Has never appeared in an MHSAA Final.
Best wins: 32-12, 48-39 and 42-39 (District Final) over Carsonville-Port Sanilac, 24-18 over Peck, 36-30 (2OT) over Portland St. Patrick (Semifinal).
Players to watch: QB Nick Pagel, 5-10/170, jr. (132 carries, 824 yards, 11 TDs rushing; 31 of 63, 463 yards, six TDs passing), RB Corey Wagester, 6-0/165, sr. (136 carries, 820 yards 12 TDs rushing), FB/LB Chris Wolfe, 5-10/170, sr. (151 carries, 1,580 yards, 14 TDs rushing).
Outlook: This is Deckerville’s first season of 8-player football. But unlike a lot of others that have made the switch, the Eagles had plenty of success in 11-player with four seasons of at least 10 wins beginning in 2000 – when they made the Division 8 Semifinals and fell six points shy of reaching the Pontiac Silverdome. Their lone loss this season came in Week 2 to powerful Cedarville; Deckerville has rolled since although it had two close calls during the playoffs. The Eagles also focus on the run led by two strong backs and two-way quarterbacking threat Pagel, and will have a hefty size advantage thanks to guys like senior Kevin Hammond (6-foot-1/235 pounds), sophomore Cody Mausolf (6-2/240) and senior Zachary Bowerman (6-0/210) up front.
Flashback 100: Before Leading Free World, Ford Starred for Champion GR South
October 25, 2024
The only U.S. president from the state of Michigan, Gerald Ford also is the only person to become president without winning an election to become either president or vice president.
But before a career in politics, Ford starred on the gridiron at Grand Rapids South High School. South opened in 1917 and closed as a high school in 1968. Ford graduated in 1931, playing as a senior on a football team that would go undefeated and eventually be named a state champion according to statewide media – whose rankings determined champions before the creation of the MHSAA Playoffs in 1975.
Ford's final game was a scoreless tie played against cross-town rival Grand Rapids Union, a game Union would later forfeit for using ineligible players.
Ford also played basketball and ran track at South. After high school, he attended the University of Michigan and played football for the Wolverines. In 1934, his senior year, he was named team MVP. Following that, he attended law school at Yale and was an assistant football coach for the Bulldogs.
Ford was elected to Congress in 1948 and served 13 terms in the House of Representatives. When Spiro Agnew resigned as vice president in 1973, President Richard Nixon selected Ford as the new VP. A year later, after Nixon resigned, Ford assumed the presidency – becoming the 38th president of the United States.
Ford was inducted into the State of Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1977 and the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in 1978. He died in 2006 at the age of 92. The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids is the presidential museum and burial place of Ford and his wife Betty.
Previous "Flashback 100" Features
Oct. 18: Mercy Links Legend Becomes World Golf Hall of Famer - Read
Oct. 11: Fisher Races to Finals Stardom on Way to U.S. Olympic First - Read
Oct. 4: Lalas Leaves High School Legacies on Ice & Pitch - Read
Sept. 27: Tamer's History-Making Run Starts in Dexter, Continues to Paris - Read
Sept. 20: Todd Martin’s Road to Greatness Starts at East Lansing - Read
Sept. 13: James Earl Jones, Dickson High Hoops to Hollywood Legend - Read
Sept. 6: Pioneers' Unstoppable Streak Stretches 9 Seasons - Read
Aug. 30: Detroit dePorres Rushes to 1995 Class CC Football Championship - Read
PHOTOS (Top) Clockwise from top left: Gerald Ford headshot from 1929. (2) Ford appears in a team photo with Grand Rapids South that fall. (3) Ford stands in football pants in 1930. (Middle) Ford appears in his uniform in 1928. (Photos courtesy of The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.)