Forest Park's Playoff Tradition Began with Statement-Making Title Run

By Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com

November 29, 2024

CRYSTAL FALLS — The Crystal Falls Forest Park football team played in its 15th Football Final last weekend, tying it for fourth-most championship game appearances in MHSAA history.

The first came back in 1975, the very first year the MHSAA conducted a football postseason tournament.

The Trojans already had a strong tradition before that, but champions were only mythical then, based on records, strength of schedule and opinions.

Forest Park players were excited to hear about the chance to prove it on the field, said Bill Santilli, the team’s standout running back that season.

“We had high expectations,” said Santilli, who also took the Trojans to seven Finals as their coach, leading them to the Division 8 title in 2007. “The team that we had put together my senior year, I felt we had a lot of really good athletes and our school had a strong tradition of football back then through the 60s and early 70s.”

Only four teams in each class made the MHSAA Playoffs that first year. So when Forest Park lost to Norway – a physical team that finished the season undefeated – 14-13 during the regular season, the Trojans thought their playoff hopes were pretty dim.

Their schedule, though, was made up of mostly larger schools and the point system rewarded them for it, making Forest Park the region’s Class D representative.

The Semifinal final game against Posen was scheduled to be played in Traverse City on Nov. 15, the first day of deer season. One of the coaches joked they had never missed a first day and he was going hunting.

The only hunting they did that day was for a spot in the state title game, and they traded bagging a buck for blanking Posen 67-0.

“Their credit was they had a strong running game,” Santilli said. “They had been beating teams by quite a margin throughout the season. We just played and did a great job of what we had to do by our game plan.”

Up next was Flint Holy Rosary in the Final at Western Michigan University the next Saturday.

“I would say we had a confidence as a team, based on the confidence of our coaching staff, based on the confidence of our Semifinal victory,” Santilli said. “We were ready to play.”

Beyond seeking the thrill of a championship, the Trojans wanted to prove how good the football was in the Upper Peninsula. Players kept track of high school football results throughout the state – this being well before the internet made finding news and results so easy, they looked to the Detroit Free Press — and found teams in the larger metropolitan areas were more highly-touted.

“We wanted to prove that there were some good football teams in the Upper Peninsula that in my opinion seemed to get overlooked,” Santilli said. “I think it was not only our mission to win that first state championship, but also our mission to make a statement that we play good football.”

Forest Park won 50-0. 

“Just the feeling to play and win the inaugural event, to be able to have the memories, to talk about it, to play so well and to hold onto that state championship trophy, the real, true state championship trophy, we didn’t think there was anything better in our lives,” Santilli said.

No team reached 50 points in a championship game again until 1994; no one exceeded it until 2002. 

“We played extremely well,” Santilli said. 

The Trojans led by that score going into the fourth quarter. They were able to put the second unit in and watch those teammates preserve the shutout.

“We just had a good group of athletes, we all got along, we had guys that knew their role, they were all very good at their positions and we just gelled as a group,” Santilli said. “We had really good linemen, we had tough hitters on defense, we had defensive backs who could cover a pass and yet had the speed to come up and make tackles on the line of scrimmage. We had an offensive running game that I would describe as consistent and powerful. And if we needed to throw, we had a good quarterback and receivers.”

Santilli, a 5-foot-9 senior, was double and triple-teamed, according to MHSAA accounts of the game, and he still rushed for 178 yards and three touchdowns on 37 carries. He finished with 226 points for the season, including 46 in the Semifinal, setting an MHSAA single-season record at the time. Quarterback Rich Mettlach tallied 148 yards through the air, with 103 to Bryan LaChapelle.

Forest Park’s defense was dominant, holding Holy Rosary to minus-32 yards rushing, 78 passing and just four first downs.

“They told us the competition got tougher the farther south we got,” coach Richard Mettlach said afterward. “We like it down here and may come back next year.”

Santilli was the first Class D player to earn a spot on the Detroit Free Press all-state Dream Team, according to the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame, which welcomed Santilli in 2005. His 1,865 rushing yards were a state record, the Hall of Fame indicated.

He said he received much of the recognition that season because he was the ballcarrier, but he credited his teammates with making it all possible.

“I got the recognition only because of the other guys with the jerseys with the same team name on them,” he said.

Forest Park football has been good ever since.

They beat Flint Holy Rosary again the next year in the Class D title game, although the score was closer, 14-6. Rosary came out on top in 1977 with a 21-20 win over Forest Park, and the Trojans fell 38-14 to Detroit St. Martin dePorres in the 1978 finale.

PHOTO From left: Forest Park’s Bryan LaChapelle, coach Dick Mettlach, Dick Mettlach Jr., and Bill Santilli pose with the first Class D championship trophy Nov. 22, 1975, at Waldo Field in Kalamazoo. (Photo by Bill Santilli.)

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.

Mike VanderVelde officiates a Grandville High school game.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.

From left: Mike VanderVelde, Michael VanderVelde, and Michael’s son Hayden."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.)