Farnums Taking Lead as Young Shores Navigates Way Among D2 Elite
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
October 5, 2022
Dahmir Farnum takes his role as a captain on the Muskegon Mona Shores football team VERY seriously.
“As a captain, my teammates are following my energy, so every time I touch the ball I’m trying to score a touchdown,” said Dahmir, who is averaging 120 rushing yards per game, despite playing less than a half in three this fall.
He nearly achieved his goal Sept. 23 against visiting Grand Rapids Union, scoring four touchdowns on his first five carries (all in the first quarter) in a 64-14 victory.
While Dahmir was running wild in that game, his brother – fellow senior Ke’Waun Farnum – was equally dominant in that same first quarter on defense with two interceptions, the second one going for a pick-six.
“It’s a blessing to have two kids who are not only great athletes, but unselfish teammates and hard-workers,” said 12th-year Mona Shores coach Matt Koziak. “Their roles have been elevated on both sides of the ball this year. They almost never come off the field.”
The Farnums have brought stability and leadership to the young Sailors, who are breaking in new sophomore quarterback Jonathan Pittman as well as many new faces on the offensive and defensive lines.
Mona Shores, 5-1 and ranked No. 3 in Division 2, has been dominant in every game this fall – except for the final 16 minutes against undefeated Rockford, when the host Rams rallied from a 27-7 deficit for 24 straight points in a 31-27 win.
“We have to keep that high level of play for four quarters and not take our foot off of the pedal,” explained Ke’Waun.
The Sailors appear to have learned their lesson, impressively defeating quality opponents the past two weeks. Against Union, the offense took center stage, scoring 43 points in the first quarter. Last week at Zeeland West, Shores allowed a long touchdown drive on the opening possession, then completely shut down the Dux’ wing-T the rest of the night in a 34-6 win.
The Farnum brothers showed their versatility and strength in that win at Zeeland West, which was undefeated and ranked No. 4 in Division 3 at the time. Dahmir, who plays outside linebacker, was moved inside due to an injury, and Ke’Waun was shifted from cornerback to his brother’s outside backer spot.
“They both played lights-out,” explained Koziak, who works primarily with the offense along with offensive coordinator Aaron James, while Dave Check is the defensive coordinator. “People talk about their speed all the time, but they are both big-time weight room kids who are very strong. They proved against Zeeland West that they are both willing to do anything that we ask them to help our team win.”
Dahmir (5-foot-9, 200 pounds), who Koziak calls the best running back he has coached in 12 years at Shores, has carried 66 times for 715 yards, an average of 10.8 yards per carry, with 12 touchdowns. He also has 21 tackles and one sack.
Ke’Waun (5-9, 175), who Koziak ranks as one of the best cover cornerbacks he’s had at Shores, has 10 receptions for 177 yards and three TDs from his slot receiver position. He also has two rushing touchdowns and returns punts and kickoffs. On defense, he has 11 tackles and two interceptions.
“They are two totally different players,” explained Koziak. “It is unbelievable, as a coach, to have two brothers like these two who give you so much. They do whatever we ask them to do.”
The Farnums are both three-year starters who played key roles as sophomores during the Sailors’ undefeated 2020 season, which culminated with a 25-19 win over Warren De La Salle Collegiate for their second-consecutive Division 2 championship. That season was particularly special, as Dahmir and Ke’Waun played on the same team with their older brother, Elijah.
Last season was disappointing, at least by Mona Shores’ current lofty standards, as the defense allowed too many big plays and 40-plus points in losses to Detroit Martin Luther King, Muskegon and Caledonia. The Sailors’ season ended with that defeat against Caledonia in a Division 2 District Final.
“I was out for that (Caledonia) game with COVID, and it was a helpless feeling watching them take it to us,” said Ke’Waun. “We started getting ready for this year as soon as that game was over.”
Shores hosts Zeeland East this week, then closes the regular season on the road with crosstown rivalry games against resurgent Muskegon Reeths-Puffer (5-1) and Muskegon (4-2).
Dahmir is the more vocal of the two brothers, while Ke’Waun keeps to himself and leads more by example.
Both are considered Division II college football prospects – Dahmir as a running back and Ke’Waun as a cornerback. They know it is a possibility that they could end up at the same college, but chances are their many years of playing on the same team – going all the way back to elementary youth football – will likely be coming to an end next month.
“I love everything about high school football, including being able to play with my brother,” said Dahmir, who goes to Buffalo Wild Wings with his brother and their father, Willie Farnum, after every game. “We are very close and we are very competitive. We are going to enjoy every minute that we get playing together.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTO Mona Shores senior Ke'Waun Farnum, left, celebrates his first-quarter interception against Grand Rapids Union on Sept. 23, along with his brother, Dahmir Farnum. (Photo by Eric Sturr, courtesy of the Local Sports Journal.)
Sparked by Offense Switch, Summerfield Sets Record-Breaking Scoring Pace
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
October 29, 2024
Dylan Szegedi might only be in his second season as a head varsity football coach, but he knows when to pull the plug on an offensive scheme.
A change from the veer to a version of the gun-T has been the catalyst behind Petersburg-Summerfield’s 8-1 season, the best at the Monroe County school in more than a decade.
“I really love the veer. I’ve seen it work very well,” Szegedi said. “It just didn’t work for us. We always say we were trying to put a round peg through a square hole. It just didn’t jell with our guys, and we were smart enough to realize it.”
The Bulldogs went 5-4 last season but missed the playoffs for the second straight. With several second- and third-year starting seniors back, Szegedi decided to change offenses despite having spent nearly all his years coaching the veer. He and his coaching staff started researching offenses and landed on one that is the mastermind of a coach in Alabama that puts a lot of YouTube videos together and travels around the country talking about his offensive concepts.
“This offense is perfect for our guys,” Szegedi said. “It’s a good mix of running and passing. It’s a good mix of spread but still some downhill-style run concepts. It fits our athletes to a T. It is a spread-T concept, wing-T running concepts with a spread flair to it. It was exactly what we needed.”
Heading into Friday’s home Division 8 playoff game against Manchester – the first hosted by Summerfield since 2015 – the Bulldogs are one point shy of the school record for points scored in a season. Since a 20-14 win over Ottawa Lake Whiteford in Week 5, Summerfield has scored 48, 62, 70 and 58 points in victories. The 70 points against Vanlue, Ohio, was a single-game school record.
“It’s come together seamlessly. The proof is in the pudding. We have done great, and hopefully we will continue to do so,” Szegedi said.
The new offense suits quarterback Trace Secor much better.
“I like this one,” Secor said. “It fits our style of play and the players we have. It complements us.”
Secor has passed for 1,248 yards and 21 touchdowns.
Senior receiver Tyler Dafoe has 743 yards and 12 touchdowns receiving. Bruising tight end Brenden Myshock has six touchdown receptions, and big-play Eli VanHuysen has caught 18 passes for 391 yards and another six touchdowns.
Senior running back Mitchell Gomulinski has had a tremendous season as well. Through nine games, he has rushed for 1,398 yards, averaging more than nine per carry. He has scored 17 touchdowns.
“Mitchell is he is our emotional leader,” Szegedi said. “He keeps everybody going and is the guy the other people look for to set the example. He’s worked very hard. I’m just proud of what he was able to do.”
The Summerfield defense has been rock-solid too. Since halftime of the Whiteford game, the Bulldogs have allowed just two touchdowns over 18 quarters. Gomulinski has 80 tackles. Dafoe and Gabe Ostrosky have five interceptions apiece.
The biggest win came against Whiteford, which played in MHSAA Finals in 2022 and 2023. It propelled the Bulldogs to the Tri-County Conference championship.
“When we beat Whiteford, that really changed the attitude of a lot of our guys,” Szegedi said. “Not that they didn’t believe before, but after that victory, I think we just started believing even more. It gave them affirmation that if we could beat them, we could hang with anybody. It gave them the belief that, ‘Hey, maybe we are pretty good.’”
The community has rallied behind the team. At a watch party Sunday when the MHSAA released the playoff pairings, about 150 parents, students and other community members met in the high school cafeteria.
“There is talk about how they are going to decorate the town and decorate the stadium,” Szegedi said. “Last Friday the stadium was packed. That’s the way it should be.”
The Oregon, Ohio, native graduated from Toledo St. Francis in 2011 where he played football and was on the Knights swim team. He then continued at Wayne State University and was a two-time Division II national champion diver, earning All-America honors eight times. He was the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Diver of the Year multiple times and was inducted into the Wayne State Athletic Hall of Fame.
After college he came home and decided he wanted to get into coaching football. He called his former freshman coach at St. Francis, Geoff Skibinski, and joined the coaching staff.
Since then, he and Skibinski have coached at multiple stops together. When Szegedi was hired at Summerfield in 2023, his first call was to Skibinski, who runs the Summerfield offense.
“He and I work well together,” Szegedi said. “We have a good trust in one another.”
Summerfield’s 8-1 record is the best for the school since 2010, which was also the last time the Bulldogs won a conference championship.
Szegedi is glad to see the success the 11 seniors are enjoying.
“These are guys who have played a ton of varsity football,” he said. “It’s fun to see all of the time they spent in the summer running and all of the extra lifting pay off. They are guys who deserve it. They’ve worked very hard and deserve the success they are now experiencing.”
Doug 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) Petersburg Summerfield’s Mitchell Gomulinski (23) prepares to take on a defender from Erie Mason this season. (Middle) Bulldogs quarterback Trace Secor considers his options from the pocket. (Below) Summerfield coach Dylan Szegedi. (Action photos by Kendra Dafoe; Szegedi photo by Doug Donnelly.)