Chance Paying Off Big for Sturgis Again
By
Wes Morgan
Special for MHSAA.com
September 30, 2020
The entirety of 2020 thus far has been a matter of conjecture. Trying to predict anything with any degree of certainty – including the sporting world – has proved to be a worthless expenditure of time.
That the Sturgis High School varsity football team would have as many victories in the first two weeks of the season as it had in the previous two years certainly wouldn’t have been the most absurd thought for Trojans fans. But based on recent history, it surely didn’t seem like the most likely scenario.
And it wasn’t the kind of lofty expectation anyone wanted to throw on the back of first-year head coach Chance Stewart, who was hired June 4.
The 2-0 start is the first for Sturgis since 2003. The 25-21 win over rival Three Rivers to start the year broke a seven-game losing streak for the Trojans, who finished 4-23 over the last three years.
Toss in the fact that the season itself almost didn’t materialize due to COVID-19 restrictions in the state, and that like every other program in Michigan, Sturgis will participate in the playoffs following an abbreviated regular season – and there’s a much louder buzz around town these days.
It will be only the Trojans’ third postseason appearance since Stewart’s final prep game at quarterback in Orange and Black in 2013 — a 16-0 Pre-District loss at St. Joseph. He went on to a brief stint at Western Michigan University and a phenomenal career at Hillsdale College, which yielded a G-MAC Player of the Year award, a single-season school and league record of 3,588 passing yards en route to a conference championship in 2018 and finishing with a school-record 10,064 passing yards. Stewart also recorded 73 career touchdowns in his 41 games played for the Chargers.
At just 24 years old, he’s not that far removed from the young men he’s now charged with overseeing at Sturgis. And in such bizarre times with protocols no one could have imagined just a year ago, Stewart is obviously pleased with how September unfolded.
“These kids are playing extremely hard right now,” Stewart said following the team’s 36-6 win over Allegan this past weekend. “The effort has been outrageously great for us the last two weeks. Finally getting the opportunity to come back after football was taken away from them, the effort was one thing we were hoping we wouldn’t have to worry about. And we didn’t have to. They came out ready to get after it.”
A total of 15 seniors are on the squad this year, but the roster changes weekly as Stewart has given junior varsity players an opportunity to play their way into Friday night spots with the new five-quarter rule instituted by the Michigan High School Athletic Association. Still, it’s the veteran group that mostly has fueled Sturgis so far.
“We have a great senior class here that’s leading the way for the rest of the guys, saying this is how things are going to be done now,” Stewart said. “That senior class really wants to go out on top and they really set the tone the first two weeks.”
Captains Rylee Cain (tight end/linebacker) and Brady Webb (quarterback, linebacker) were selected by their peers, and their production on the field has been solid. Webb threw for 81 yards and two touchdowns in the opener against the Wildcats. Defensively, Webb has logged 11.5 tackles (four for loss), and Cain has 13 tackles (four for loss) and an interception through the first two weeks, which included limited time on the field as the Trojans downed Allegan 36-6. Webb’s 28-yard hookup with Xander Cosby was a game-winner with 43 seconds remaining against Three Rivers.
Stewart also pointed out the crucial play of senior Julian Alldridge, a right guard who will begin lining up at right tackle, and Jaden Bodi, who prepared in camp to play receiver and linebacker but was moved to right guard and defensive end.
“Alldridge has done a phenomenal job so far with helping out,” Stewart said. “From three weeks ago to now, (Bodi) is in two new positions with no questions asked. He just wants to do whatever he can to help the football team.”
Following Jimmy Lamb’s resignation from the head coaching position last year to focus on his new duties in an administrative role in the district, Sturgis athletics director Mark Adams believed Stewart, despite being green behind the ears, had enough experience on the field and the leadership skills to take over.
“That’s something you really need if you’re going to be a good coach,” Adams said. “When my son was growing up, Chance had his own football league at his house and teams from around (St. Joseph County) would come to it. He’s just that kind of guy. He’s organized, he’s imaginative, and talking to him in his interview about his X’s and O’s, I learned a lot of football from him then. He’s young and energetic and has a lot of great ideas, not just for football, but for the community and other things.”
Stewart always hoped to get an opportunity like this, he just didn’t expect it to come so quickly.
“It was special (playing quarterback here),” he said. “It’s special because my dad got to do it back in the 80s. Playing out here, wearing the Sturgis jersey has been really special to us.
Bigger than that, I think was just what the program was able to do for me to help me grow from just a 14-year-old scrawny kid into the person I am now. It’s because of those relationships I created out here. I was lucky enough to play for two coaches that really cared about their players in Coach (Bill) Keim and Coach Lamb — two guys to this day I still look up to. Now I get to give back in that same role that those guys were able to help me.”
Wes Morgan has reported for the Kalamazoo Gazette, ESPN and ESPNChicago.com, 247Sports and Blue & Gold Illustrated over the last 12 years and is the publisher of JoeInsider.com. He can be reached at wmorgan@joeinsider.com with story ideas for Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph and Branch counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) A Sturgis ball carrier follows his blocks in Allegan territory during Friday’s win. (Middle) Chance Stewart has returned home to coach the high school program for which he starred at quarterback less than a decade ago. (Top photo by Scott Rains; middle by Wes Morgan.)
VanderVelde Officiating Tree Branches Into 2nd Generation, Top-Tier College Football
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
February 28, 2025
Mike VanderVelde always knew the apple wasn't going to fall far from the tree.
The longtime West Michigan football and basketball official correctly guessed that his son, Michael, who had accompanied his father to countless Friday night football games before he was even out of elementary school, would eventually pick up the family mantle of officiating. VanderVelde said he saw in his young son many of the key attributes an official must possess: a keen eye for details, an overwhelming desire to improve, patience and a love of sports.
Put it all together, and VanderVelde has seen his son evolve into one of the nation's top NCAA football officials.
"I think it was just like with any kid, he liked the competition," said Mike VanderVelde, who retired three years ago at the age of 78 after officiating in the Grand Rapids area for 61. "I guess it would be crazy to say now, but even then there was something about Michael that was going to make him a good official. It wasn't (following) me."
Michael, a Grandville High School and Hope College graduate, has gone from working middle school football games to make extra money in college to officiating eight college bowl games, including this year's Sugar Bowl national quarterfinal Jan. 2 in New Orleans and the semifinal Jan. 9 at the Orange Bowl in Miami. VanderVelde's first bowl game was the 2017 Bahamas Bowl, and he also officiated the 2024 Rose Bowl, the national semifinal between eventual champion Michigan and Alabama.
Before reaching those heights, Michael said some of his earliest sporting moments came when he was a ball boy jogging along the sideline while his father was working on the field. VanderVelde figures he was barely 8 years old, but he remembers being taught by his father to pay attention to detail. He also considers his father a major influence in his decision to pursue football officiating at the highest level.
"I'd buy that, absolutely. I loved spending time with my dad on Friday nights. That was definitely a common bonding time,” Michael VanderVelde said. “I'd see the smile on his face and see his passion for football. I'd see subtle little hints, and I'd pick up on that. The seed was definitely planted.”
Even as a youngster who was yet to see middle school, Michael said he understood the necessity of being where he was supposed to be as a ball boy. It was one of his first lessons in accepting responsibility and that actions had consequences.
"I would hand the ball to the umpire and pay attention to the game, and do what they needed me to do," he said. "And then I'd hang out with the crew after the games. Just being around the game and watching and being close to it, I loved it."
Both VanderVeldes entered officiating on the ground floor. Mike began doing YMCA fifth and sixth grade and church league basketball games at Grand Rapids' Franklin Park during the 1950s. He eventually graduated to working about 75 high school football and basketball games a year along with officiating Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association football games. VanderVelde also coached football, tennis and junior high basketball at Wyoming Kelloggsville High School for 30 years.
"I've always been involved with athletics; I've really enjoyed it," Mike said. "I always thought of (officiating) as a challenge. I wanted to see what I could do. It intrigued me, trying something new. It just clicked with me, and I kept going and I never really stopped."
The younger VanderVelde also started at the youngest levels, officiating fourth through sixth-grade football games before he graduated from high school in 2003. Then to make extra money while in college, VanderVelde took on freshman, junior varsity and his first varsity football game at Saranac. He eventually worked high school basketball games before moving to Colorado and doing Southland Conference games for three years beginning in 2013. VanderVelde went on to work for three years in the Mountain West Conference and now officiates Big 12 games while living in Louisiana.
While many fans often fail to grasp the pressures an official faces while working major college football bowl games, VanderVelde said he's thrilled to reach that elite level of officiating.
"It's a blast," he said. "To be there with other officials and doing things like working with the replays, getting the calls correct, 11 on 11 football and being on the biggest stage, I love it."
As for the recently completed college season, VanderVelde was honored that the NCAA – in a rare break from tradition – chose his crew to work back-to-back Notre Dame games in the Sugar and Rose Bowls. The NCAA typically will not assign the same crew to the same team two weeks in a row. It was an extraordinary gesture signaling the high esteem in which the crew is held, not only by the NCAA but with the blessing of all teams involved.
"It's tough to work back-to-back games like that, but I think the crew did an excellent job," he said. "There was no controversy, and I think we felt comfortable being assigned those games."
Considering his officiating success, VanderVelde said there is one step yet to take, one more hurdle to leap: the NFL. VanderVelde. who works United Football League games in the spring, has been part of the league's Mackie Development Program for the last two years. He's already worked Hula Bowl games and would gladly consider moving along to working on Sundays.
"I'd love to have that opportunity if it was ever presented to me," he said. "It'd be cool, but there are no guarantees. You know that snap by snap, you're only as good as your last game. But it's something I'd like to do some day.
"In football all you can do is look at your next assignment and try to do it well. It's exciting, but you're always trying to go on to the next game without a hitch."
PHOTOS (Top) Longtime MHSAA official Mike VanderVelde, left, and son Michael share a moment during Michael’s officiating assignment at the 2021 Outback Bowl in Tampa Bay, Fla. (Middle) Mike VanderVelde officiates a Grandville High school game. (Below) From left: Mike VanderVelde, Michael VanderVelde, and Michael’s son Hayden. (Photos provided by the VanderVelde family.)