Drive for Detroit: Semifinals in Review

November 25, 2013

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

We finally have answers to some of the questions that have been asked all season. 

Four 2012 MHSAA champions earned the opportunity Saturday to play for titles again this weekend. Five teams that finished runners-up at Ford Field last season will get another chance to finish the job. 

We'll have two Finals rematches, in Divisions 2 and 7. And Clarkston and Clinton will play in the season's final games for the first time. 

Read on for a few details from all 16 Semifinals, plus coverage of each from our statewide media. 

Division 1

Clarkston 61, Flint Carman-Ainsworth 26

Clarkston (12-1) has earned its first MHSAA championship game berth in its fourth Semifinal try, thanks in part to 355 yards and six touchdowns rushing from senior running back Ian Eriksen. Flint Carman-Ainsworth finished its best season ever in its first Semifinal and with a final record of 11-2. Click to read more from MLive Detroit.

Detroit Catholic Central 28, Detroit Cass Tech 0

The rematch of the last two Division 1 Finals went the opposite way this time as DCC (11-2) cruised against the two-time reigning champion Technicians. The loss ended an 18-game winning streak for Cass Tech (12-1), which hadn’t been shut out since 2009. Click to read more from the Oakland Press.

Division 2

Muskegon 41, Portage Central 35

Big Reds quarterback Deshaun Thrower was the hero again, scoring with just under a minute remaining to put his team back in the Division 2 Final after Muskegon (12-1) finished runner-up a year ago. Portage Central (12-1) capped its best season since making the Semifinals in 1977 with its best record ever. Click to read more from the Muskegon Chronicle.

Birmingham Brother Rice 43, Detroit Martin Luther King 20

Brother Rice has set a school record for points with 450 this season. But its defense was equally key in getting the Warriors (13-0) back to Ford Field as it seeks to win a third straight MHSAA title. King (10-2) had averaged 33 points per game this season and scored fewer than 20 only three times. Click to read more from the Detroit News.

Division 3

Zeeland West 42, Stevensville Lakeshore 7

The Dux’ offense continued to rumble in carrying West back to Ford Field for the second time in three seasons – the Dux will be attempting to add to their Division 4 title won in 2011. But the defense has to be applauded as well after holding Lakeshore (9-4) to its season low points; in fact, it was only the second time West (12-1) held an opponent to fewer than 13 this fall. Click to read more from the Holland Sentinel.

DeWitt 21, St. Clair 20

The Panthers (13-0) are headed back to the MHSAA Finals for the first time since 2004 after ending St. Clair’s longest run in program history. St. Clair (11-2) drove to DeWitt’s 5-yard line during the final minutes but could get no closer to a go-ahead score. Click to read more from the Lansing State Journal.

Division 4

Grand Rapids South Christian 20, Comstock Park 6

The reigning champion Sailors (12-1) booked a return trip to Detroit by dispatching of Comstock Park (12-1) in a Semifinal for the second straight season. South Christian scored twice in the fourth quarter to earn the final advantage. Click to read more from the Grand Rapids Press.

Marine City 12, Lansing Sexton 7

Marine City (12-1) is headed to the Finals for the third time in seven years after ending Sexton’s best season. Defense reigned as both held the other to their respective season low points totals. The Big Reds finished 12-1. Click to read more from the Port Huron Times Herald.

Division 5

Menominee 59, Muskegon Oakridge 28

The Maroons (13-0) are one win from their fourth MHSAA title and first since the retirement of legendary coach Ken Hofer two seasons ago. Menominee gave up its most points this season to Oakridge (11-2), but jumped to a 49-0 halftime lead and never looked too far back. Click to read more from the Eagle Herald Extra.

Grand Rapids West Catholic 35, Livonia Clarenceville 0

It’s been brought up plenty over the last month, but West Catholic’s season has come nearly full circle – the Falcons (9-4) are back in the Division 5 Final for the second straight season after losing to Portland by three in last year’s championship game and then barely squeaking into the playoffs this fall. Clarenceville (12-1) did complete its best season since 2001. Click to read more from the Grand Rapids Press.

Division 6

Ithaca 21, Montrose 20

Never during Ithaca’s 55-game winning streak has an opponent come so close to ending it – in fact, the Rams (12-1) were the first to come within 10 points of the Yellowjackets since the 2011 Regional Final. Ithaca (13-0) also stopped a last-minute drive into its territory to earn a chance to play for a fourth straight MHSAA title. Click to read more from the Lansing State Journal.

Clinton 49, Shelby 3

Clinton will play for an MHSAA championship for the first time after winning in its first Semifinal appearance since 1990. The Redskins (13-0) scored 35 points during the first half to set the tone and keep the best season in program history going one more week. Shelby (11-2) also was seeking its first championship game berth. Click to read more from the Adrian Daily Telegram.

Division 7

Ishpeming 44, Harbor Beach 10

Ishpeming (13-0) earned the opportunity to repeat as Division 7 champion by eliminating the reigning winner in Division 8. The Hematites' defense continued to shine – it’s now given up a combined 23 points in four playoff games this fall – while Harbor Beach (11-2) scored its fewest points since the 2011 Regional Final. Click to read more from the Marquette Mining Journal.

Detroit Loyola 52, Homer 7

Loyola (13-0) earned a Finals rematch against Ishpeming with another incredible offensive performance – the Bulldogs have outscored their playoff opponents by a combined 205-14. The Semifinal appearance was a first for Homer (11-1). Click to read more from MLive Detroit.

Division 8

Beal City 34, Crystal Falls Forest Park 18

Forest Park (12-1) did hold Beal City to a season low in points and scored the second most of any opponent. That’s how good the Aggies (13-0) have been this fall, and they’ll get a chance to finish the run after falling to Harbor Beach in last year’s Division 8 Final. Click to read more from the Mount Pleasant Morning Sun.

Muskegon Catholic Central 45, New Lothrop 14

The Crusaders (11-2) are headed to the Finals for the first time since 2008 and in search of their ninth MHSAA championship. New Lothrop (12-1) was the second straight previously-undefeated team to have its season ended by Muskegon Catholic Central. Click to read more from the Muskegon Chronicle.

PHOTO: DeWitt defenders swarm a St. Clair ball carrier during the Panthers’ 21-20 Division 3 Semifinal win Saturday at Goodrich High School. (Photo courtesy of Matt Stehouwer.)

Tradition-Filled Tri-County Conference Kicking Off Final Season of 11-Player Football

By Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com

August 20, 2024

The bus driver went too fast.

Southeast & BorderIt was fall of 1979, and Ottawa Lake Whiteford football coach John Hoover had come up with a plan for his Bobcats to dress in their own locker room, warm up on their own field and arrive at the Petersburg Summerfield football field for a Tri-County Conference battle just moments before kickoff.

The plan was working, except the bus driver went a little too fast.

“I don’t remember when I decided we would do it,” Hoover said. “But the night before our game, I got in my car, and I drove about the speed that I thought the bus driver would take from Whiteford to Summerfield. I had a stopwatch to time it just right. I didn’t tell anybody.”

The ploy was meant to rattle the opponent, perhaps make the other team lose focus on the game at hand.

“It’s only like 20 minutes between schools, so warming up at Whiteford and driving was no different than warming up at Summerfield and walking out to the field and waiting through the national anthem and the coin toss,” Hoover thought.

The scheme was working to perfection, but when Hoover determined the arrival would be too soon, he had the bus driver pull over just outside of Petersburg. Finally, the bus made its final trek and arrived.

On the first play from scrimmage, Summerfield fumbled, Whiteford recovered and scored a few plays later – the only touchdown of the game in a 7-0 Bobcats win.

Thomas Eitniear was the quarterback and Jason Mensing head coach at Whiteford when the Bobcats became the first school in Tri-County Conference history to win an MHSAA Finals football championship.“I don’t know if it worked,” Hoover said. “But, when the bus got near, when we were driving up the road where the Summerfield stadium was, the head coach (LeRoy Wood) was out in the middle of the street, looking down the road, looking for us. I knew right then that it probably worked. It wouldn’t have worked if we had cell phones like they do today.”

Summerfield and Whiteford have played some spirited games over the years as rivals in the Tri-County Conference. Unfortunately, the season that starts next week will be the last one for 11-player football in the TCC.

With the makeup of the league changing over the last decade or so and the move to 8-player football for three league schools, this is the final season for TCC football after 51 years of small-town competition.

The league has just three remaining schools playing 11-player football – Whiteford, Summerfield and Erie Mason. There is no TCC football schedule for 2025 and beyond, although the league itself will stay together for other sports.

“The 2024 season will be the last season that a TCC football champion is recognized in the current league format for football,” Britton Deerfield athletic director Erik Johnson said.

It will be the end of an era in southeast Michigan.

The league was formed in 1973 with schools from Washtenaw, Lenawee and Monroe Counties.

Several schools have taken turns at the top of the conference. Sand Creek has the most league championships, winning 15 between 1977 and 2011 – 14 of them under head coach Ernie Ayers. Morenci (9), Whiteford (7), Summerfield (7) and Clinton (7) have hoisted their fair share of league football trophies. Ayers is the winningest coach in league history, going 174-71 in league games over 38 seasons. Sand Creek left the TCC in football only after last season and will compete in the Big 8 Conference this season.

Whiteford is the only league school to win an MHSAA Finals football championship, but Sand Creek, Morenci and Clinton all have appeared in state championship games.

Both times Clinton played in Finals, Mathew Sexton was the star. Sexton would go on to play four years at Eastern Michigan University and has been in multiple NFL training camps and played in the XFL. He’s the league record holder for touchdowns and points scored.

Ernie Ayers coached at Sand Creek for 38 years and won 14 Tri-County Conference championships.“I loved being in the TCC,” Sexton said. “It was great competition and was always a blast. Played with some great players, coaches and love the atmosphere each game would bring. Clinton and the TCC made me who I am today. I’m thankful for the experience it gave me.”

Summerfield graduate Jamie LaRocca was an all-state running back in the league, coached in the league and later watched his sons play football in the league as student-athletes at Whiteford.

“There were some great games, great battles,” LaRocca said. “Most of all, it was competitive. Sand Creek was good, Summerfield had good teams and Morenci had some great teams. Different teams always seemed to make their run.”

Britton and Deerfield were two charter members of the TCC, along with Ann Arbor St. Thomas (now known as Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard), Summerfield and Adrian Madison. During the 1990s, however, Britton and Deerfield formed a co-op and became Britton-Deerfield. They later officially combined high schools to become Britton Deerfield

BD had a dominating run on the football field in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Among the players who played for BD teams were Dan Musielewicz and Dustin Beurer. Beurer is now the head coach at Division II Northwood University while Musielewicz is head coach at Division III University of Olivet.

Beurer said he remembers as a high school student going to class with others from rivals Sand Creek or Madison at the Lenawee County Vocational Tech school all week, then playing against them on Friday nights.

“I get goosebumps thinking about those days,” he said. “It was small-town football at its finest back in the day.”

Brad Maska, now the head boys basketball coach at Onsted, was the BD quarterback when that team won multiple TCC titles.

“It is sad,” Maska said of the end of the TCC football era. “It truly was a great conference that produced a lot of great teams, coaches, and players throughout the years.

“The best part of the conference was the small-school pride from the communities. Friday night playing at Sand Creek or Whiteford when I was in school was always the only thing going on in town and the communities always got around us, and the atmosphere for small-school football was amazing.”

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) Clinton’s Mathew Sexton scored more touchdowns in Tri-County Conference games than any player in league history. (Middle) Thomas Eitniear was the quarterback and Jason Mensing head coach at Whiteford when the Bobcats became the first school in Tri-County Conference history to win an MHSAA Finals football championship. (Below) Ernie Ayers coached at Sand Creek for 38 years and won 14 Tri-County Conference championships. (Photos courtesy of the Adrian Daily Telegram and Monroe News.)