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Bear Lake Coach Invited to NFL Forum
January 25, 2019
By Chris Dobrowolski
Special for Second Half
BEAR LAKE — Samantha Mullet lives and breathes football.
Mullet figures to be right in her element then when she takes part in the National Football League’s “Women’s Careers in Football Forum” over Feb. 26-27 in Indianapolis.
The Bear Lake assistant football coach is among a select group of 40 invitees to the event, which is in its third year and includes panel discussions, presentations and breakout sessions in an effort to connect female candidates for positions as coaches, trainers, officials, scouts and front office personnel. The forum was developed as part of the NFL’s interest in expanding diversity and providing opportunities for women in football.
“It’s a really big honor,” said Mullet, who has been the Lakers’ offensive coordinator the last two years. “I’m really grateful for the opportunity to go and learn more about football — all aspects of the game at different levels and be able to bring that back to Bear Lake.”
Bear Lake athletic director Karen Leinaar was contacted by the NFL in November about having Mullet apply to attend the forum. The league then selected the 40 invitees from a collection of nationwide applicants. Leinaar believes the publicity Mullet received from video features done by Fox Sports Detroit and local CBS affiliate WWTV tipped the NFL to extend the offer for Mullet to apply.
“Between those two things, that caught the eye of someone at the NFL front office,” said Leinaar. “I had never heard of this forum. They contacted me and asked if I would give them Sam’s information, and I said, ‘Oh my gosh, yes.’ Here’s a young lady who loves the game and has literally sunk her soul into the game. It’s amazing, and this is a great opportunity for her.”
Mullet is a 2013 graduate of Bear Lake, where she played basketball, golf and ran cross country. But the school didn’t get its own football program until an 8-player squad was established in 2017 — just as Mullet was returning home after earning a bachelor’s degree in English from Concordia University-Ann Arbor.
She approached her high school science teacher, John Prokes, who had been named the head coach of the program and asked him if she could help in any capacity. Prokes surprised Mullet by inviting her to help design the new team’s offense. She followed through with so much proficiency that Prokes extended an offer for her to join his coaching staff.
“I said, ‘Here’s an offense I’m thinking of running; can you outline this and tweak it? Let’s go over it and help me organize this offense,’” Prokes recalled. “It started from there. Next thing you know, she took over. She started incorporating her ideas and just running with it. It was a no-brainer. I told her, ‘You’re good at this. You’re hard-working on it. You take it to that 11th level. You run our offense.’”
Mullet has proven to have a great football mind in the two years she’s been with the program, added Prokes.
“I’ve encountered a lot of people, and I’m not just saying this because she’s my assistant coach and working with me, but she’s one of the most knowledgeable people in football that I know,” he said. “When I found out she was selected for this, and she had the opportunity to share experiences and network with other people in the field, I was extremely excited and pumped for her.”
Despite not playing on the gridiron, football has always been a part of Mullet’s life. Her family has had season tickets to Michigan State games for the past 20 years, and she picked up a great deal of knowledge about football along the way.
“We always went to football games as a family,” she said. “Football is something I’ve loved forever, for as long as I can remember. I’m really grateful to be able to turn a passion into a career. A lot of people don’t get the opportunity to do something they love for work. I’m really grateful that football has become for me something I can do and something I can share with other people because the game means a lot to me.”
Mullet’s passion for football has only deepened through coaching, as has her understanding of the game.
“I spend all my time now watching film and researching different things,” she said. “My knowledge has definitely increased, even more than I thought it could. I just love the game in so many more ways, seeing all the different levels that you don’t see being in the stands.”
Besides coaching football, Mullet also serves as Leinaar’s assistant in the athletic department and is the school’s yearbook advisor. Her dream job, however, would be to become an offensive coordinator in the NFL.
“I think that would be the ultimate thing,” she said. “Just to gain that perspective from that sideline and all the things that happen in a week there. To be completely immersed in football all the time and not have to have a different part-time job, to be completely absorbed in football would be amazing.”
Leinaar thinks the connections Mullet could make at the upcoming forum might open new doors in the world of football, perhaps even allowing Mullet to someday get a position at the highest level of the sport.
“I’m hoping that she gets an opportunity to keep going in football,” said Leinaar. “I think the sky is the limit for her. She would truly like to see what’s there at the next level and how they do some of the things they do. I think if somebody gave her an opportunity to work in one of their front offices, she’d be there in a heartbeat.”
Chris Dobrowolski has covered northern Lower Peninsula sports since 1999 at the Ogemaw County Herald, Alpena News, Traverse City Record-Eagle and currently as sports editor at the Antrim Kalkaska Review since 2016. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
VIDEO: Fox Sports Detroit featured the Bear Lake 8-player football program during its first season in 2017. The above photo is taken from that video.
![Powers North Central’s Lane Gorzinski (6) and Dylan Plunger (10) celebrate an early touchdown Saturday at the Superior Dome.](/sites/default/files/2022-11/221119_D2f_2H.jpg)
North Central Extends Dominance with 37th-Straight Win, 3rd-Straight Title
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
November 19, 2022
MARQUETTE – What a run it’s been for North Central.
The Jets haven’t lost a game over the last three years and very few, if any of those games, have been close. They’ve won them all by multiple touchdowns and just three games have finished with a margin under 30 points. Most have been won by a lot more.
Their opponent in Saturday’s Division 2 championship game, Mendon, brought a strong tradition of its own, with 12 previous Finals appearances.
But this is North Central’s era, and that’s no secret. So imagine what it must do to a team’s psyche when that juggernaut returns the opening kickoff and adds another touchdown before a full minute runs off the clock.
The Jets turned that 14-0 lead into a 66-26 win for their third consecutive – and fifth total – 8-player championship Saturday at the Superior Dome. They also won a state-record 37th straight game.
“It’s gotta be part of the mystique and part of what these kids built,” North Central coach Leo Gorzinski said. “You want to have a two-touchdown lead in their head before you get off that bus. When you come out there and do that, set that tone, of course it’s going to get in their mind.”
And North Central did it with standout quarterback, and reigning Associated Press Player of the Year Luke Gorzinski, playing through what the Jets suspect is an ACL injury.
It was Elijah Gorzinski who returned the opening kickoff 85 yards to put North Central on the board just 11 seconds into the contest. Mendon muffed the ensuing kickoff and North Central’s kicker, Adrian Mercier, recovered. Two plays later, Lane Gorzinski caught a 14-yard Luke Gorzinski pass for a touchdown and a 14-0 Jets lead 50 seconds into the game.
And North Central didn’t let up.
The Jets scored two more touchdowns in the first quarter, one on a 36-yard run by Dillon Raab and the other a 36-yard pass from Luke Gorzinski to Lane Gorzinski to make it 28-0.
Luke Gorzinski threw two TD passes in the second quarter, a 30-yarder to Dylan Plunger and another 20 yards to Jordan Messenger for a 41-6 lead at the half.
That opening kick return that set the tone came after North Central waited and waited for the D-1 title game to get over. The Jets went from amped up to play to the concession stand getting brats.
“We were flat; they were ready to take a nap,” Coach Gorzinski said. “Once that (return) happened, it was game on from there.”
That made four touchdown passes in the half for Gorzinski, who is explosive getting to the edge normally, but not Saturday with his injury. Leo said he wouldn’t get it checked out before the game because he just wanted to play, but Leo fears it will be an ACL injury once diagnosed.
“Thank God they didn’t catch on for a whole half that Luke Gorzinski can’t run,” Coach Gorzinski said. “He never ran a single time, and they never adjusted or blitzed him. I’ll praise God for that. Because if they would have blitzed him, I would have pulled him. That, for me, was the single thing – we knew they had a weak pass defense.”
Gorzinski ran for one touchdown in the second half, from a yard out. He caught a 33-yard TD pass and Lane Gorzinski ran 38 yards for six.
Jacob and Lane Gorzinski picked up the slack running the ball with 132 yards and 90 yards, respectively, with both getting eight carries. Four receivers caught touchdowns – Lane Gorzinski, Plunger, Messenger and Luke Gorzinski.
“If you watch what Jacob Gorzinski did today (on the ground), that’s Luke to a T, that’s Luke’s specialty. With Jacob Gorzinski stepping up, with Lane stepping up, with Dylan Plunger stepping up, the heart that Dillon Raab showed up there tonight, all of them, Max Nason, Jordan Messenger, Andrew Weber,” Coach Gorzinski said.
Luke Gorzinski finished the day with the single yard on the ground, and only that one carry, but he was 13 of 24 passing for 207 yards and four touchdowns.
He didn’t want to talk about how much it hurt.
“It’s Luke, man, he can play through anything,” Jacob Gorzinski said. “He’s a tough kid.”
Any way you slice it, Luke helped boost his team to a third-straight title.
“You come into this game knowing we could probably get the edge on these guys and we had good running out of our trip set, but with a bum wheel, we were limited,” he said. “We came out throwing a little more and put faith in our pass catchers, and they got it done.”
They made so many big plays, the kick return, long runs by the other guys, those big pass plays. It’s hard for an opponent to keep up.
“We did a lot of good things; we just gave up too many big plays. That’s really been our Achilles in our losses is giving up those big plays. But I give them a lot of the credit – they made the plays, they were making plays, ” Mendon coach Robert Kretschman said. “(Gorzinski) can sling the ball, he just put the ball on the money. They’re physical on the edge. That was probably one of the best perimeter blocking teams I’ve seen in a long time, 11-man, 8-man, they get after it. … Their physicality on the edge is something I don’t think we were quite prepared for.”
Mendon had an explosive player of its own in junior back Jack McCaw. He ran for three of the Hornets’ touchdowns, a 30-yarder in the second quarter to get on the board, a 58-yard rush to start the second half and a 70-yard score a few minutes later. Evan Lukeman scored Mendon’s final TD.
“We have Jack coming back. We’re excited about that,” Kretschman said.
North Central wants to keep its run going next year, but it won’t be easy after losing such a decorated group of seniors headlined by Luke Gorzinski.
Now they can savor all that they’ve done the last three years.
“We came out here to do it again; that was the goal for this season,” Jacob Gorzinski said.
And nobody was able to stop them.
PHOTOS (Top) Powers North Central’s Lane Gorzinski (6) and Dylan Plunger (10) celebrate an early touchdown Saturday at the Superior Dome. (Middle) Mendon’s Jack McCaw (21) bursts into an opening. (Below) The Jets line up on offense, led by quarterback Luke Gorzinski. (Photos by Cara Kamps.)