Logo

Football Follies

October 7, 2014

Notice reached the MHSAA office of a so-called “2014 Michigan Youth Football Classic” that invites youth league teams to “a great weekend of youth tackle football.” For $450 per team, youth football teams will bang bodies for two days – Nov. 8 and 9 – with each team guaranteed at least three games. Three!
No level of football but this – for the youngest players who have the most vulnerable skulls – allows the idiocy of three games in a weekend. Most limit competition to a maximum of one game in a week!
In my opinion, this isn’t a football classic. It’s child abuse.
I wish the foolishness would stop there, but even an organization called USA Football seems to have lost its head. Initially and mostly with funding from the NFL, USA Football was focused on teaching youth football coaches and players safe blocking and tackling techniques. Good.
But now this pseudo-national governing body for amateur football is planning events for various age groups that will extend tackle football practices and games throughout what used to be an off-season. Multiple competitions in tackle football are scheduled for high school age players in January, February and July of 2015.
At a time when professional, college, school and Pop Warner football are all reducing contact during practices in-season, USA Football wants to expand the contact experience out of season. It makes about as much sense as three games in a weekend.

Moment: Montague, Kater Air it Out

October 1, 2020

By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

A lot of people say in any sport that there’s a play, or a sequence of plays, that swings a game – that locks down the outcome.

You might be able to define “swing” with a defensive red zone stop and the longest pass play in MHSAA Football Finals history during the 2008 Division 6 championship game.

Montague quarterback Cody Kater found Anthony Root down the right sideline for a pitch and catch that went for 98 yards and squashed a potential comeback by Leslie in a 41-20 win for the Panthers at Ford Field.

The swing began just three plays earlier, when the Montague defense stopped Leslie on downs deep in its own territory with about four minutes to play in the first half. The Blackhawks were knocking on the door, looking to cut into a 21-6 lead when a 4th-and-goal pass fell incomplete. 

The Panthers were backed up, but they didn’t back down.

“They thought they had us and, boom, we’re 98 yards the other way,” Kater said to the Detroit Free Press.  “I think the ball had even gotten tipped a little bit, but Anthony made a great play.” The pair had already connected for a 46-yard scoring pass in the first quarter.

Montague continued the swing moments later with a pass interception by Jordan Degen with a minute to play that led to a TD run by A.J. LaRue, which gave the Wildcats a 35-6 halftime lead.

Kater was an efficient 4 of 6 passing for 175 yards in the game, while Root accounted for 144 of that total with his two scoring catches. The Wildcats defense forced four turnovers.

PHOTO: Montague's Cody Kater launches a pass from his team's end zone in 2008 that turned into a 98-yard reception, the longest in MHSAA Finals history.