'Next Person Up' Mentality, Super Subs' Success Has Almont Returning to Ford Field
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 24, 2023
Gavin Szymansksi was nervous for about two plays.
The junior was making his first start for the Almont football team in Week 3 against Imlay City, replacing injured Cole Willard at left tackle.
Willard had been hurt in the first half of the Raiders’ Week 2 game against Algonac, and while Szymanski had filled in then, there was less pressure, as his team already had a hefty cushion.
But this was different. A first varsity start, on the opposite side of the line from his more familiar right tackle position.
“It wasn’t too scary in that moment (against Algonac), plus I thought he was going to be back,” Szymanski said. “(Week 3) was kind of scary. But the team was pretty supportive, and they didn’t have any doubt I’d be able to fill in. Then we had a TD on like the first or second play in the Imlay game, and I was fine.”
Szymanski filled in seamlessly for the Raiders, which became a theme throughout the season. As players went down with injuries, both short and longterm, their backups filled in without a hitch.
While every team is banged up throughout a season, for a Division 6 school with just more than 30 players on the varsity roster, it’s a remarkable feat to remain competitive, let alone go 8-1 during the regular season, win the Blue Water Area Conference title, and, for the second time in school history, advance to the MHSAA Finals at Ford Field.
“Our motto is ‘next person up,’” Almont coach James Leusby said. “They literally live by that. You never know when your number is going to get called, but they seem to always be ready.”
Szymanski – who is back in the starting lineup for the Raiders, now as a right tackle filling in for the injured Yousif Abu-Joudeh – and his Almont teammates will play Kingsley at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in the Division 6 Final, looking for the program’s first Finals title.
While the Raiders certainly have star power – junior back Chase Battani had rushed for 1,169 yards and 18 touchdowns – it’s been the efforts of a team that has stretched well beyond it’s starting 22 that put them in this position.
The list of injuries, big and small, is extensive.
It started with Willard and ended with Abu-Joudeh, who was injured in Week 9. Fullback Jacob Stewart, who was averaging 15 yards per carry, was injured in Week 6 and missed a stretch. Matthew Bacholzky stepped up in his place, along with Ayden Ferqueron.
Outside linebacker Eric Haddon suffered a high ankle sprain, and was replaced by Jacob Fuller, who had spent most of the season on the offensive side of the ball. Defensive end and tight end Brent Corneau missed a stretch as well, and Nolan Maxlow, who was a split end and defensive back, had to step up in his place.
And that’s just what Leusby could remember off the top of his head late Tuesday night.
“In Division 6, you don’t have much depth, so the backups have to know multiple positions,” Leusby said. “I think it talks highly of our program and our system and the coaches we have in it. In the playoffs, we’ve started two JV kids at defensive tackle. Our motto is, when we bring our sophomores up, the best kids are going to play.”
Because of that program-wide preparation, players are not only ready, but have confidence in one another when it’s someone else’s time to step up.
“I felt confident in him,” Willard said of Szymanski. “A lot of kids get a lot of reps at practice. And we’ve run the same plays for like five years, so everyone knows them.”
Leusby, who took over at Almont in 2015, credited not just his high school staff, but a youth program that’s bursting at the seams with participants.
Almont is a football community, and while there are no Finals titles listed on the city limits sign, it has a very proud history of success, especially lately.
The Raiders have made the postseason each of the past 14 seasons, and 17 of the past 18. The lone miss was 2009, when they were 5-4. Only the pandemic-shortened 2020 season resulted in a record that wasn’t over .500, and even that one ended at 3-3 with a playoff win.
“I think, all in all, the community, they invest a lot of time into the program, and they expect results,” Leusby said. “You ask anybody, Almont is a football town.”
Leusby and his players are expecting that support to result in a lot of orange and black in the lower bowl of Ford Field on Saturday.
“Everybody has our back and wants us to win,” Willard said. “The whole town is travelling down there.”
They did the same in 2019 when the Raiders made their previous run to Ford Field. That ended with a 31-17 loss to Grand Rapids Catholic Central in the Division 5 Final.
“Honestly, when I was there in 2019, I was just thrilled to get to Ford Field,” Leusby said. “Yeah, it was a game and we wanted to win, but it was just cool to get to the Finals. After it was over, I thought, maybe I had sent the wrong messages. This year, we’ve reiterated that we’re going there to come home with the big daddy. Not second place – we want the big trophy.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Senior Isaiah Bankston (59) leads Almont onto the field before last Saturday’s Semifinal win over Ovid-Elsie. (Middle) Chase Battani (32) followers his Raiders blockers during the Regional Final win over Detroit Edison. (Photos by Maureen Flannery Walton.)
South Christian 2022 Finishes Best in Division 4, Best in Sailors' History
By
Scott DeCamp
Special for MHSAA.com
November 25, 2022
DETROIT – Grand Rapids South Christian’s football team wasn’t perfect Friday night at Ford Field, and it didn’t have to be. Now, the Sailors’ season as a whole – that was flawless.
Even when they faced adversity, they never panicked. They moved on and kept making plays, all the way to a Division 4 championship and 14-0 record.
South Christian shut out Goodrich, 28-0, in the MHSAA Final to become the first group of Sailors in program history to finish a season unbeaten.
“I mean, it’s crazy. We’ve had a lot of great teams at South and just to imagine that we’re the only ones to be undefeated is a great feeling,” said South Christian senior quarterback and defensive back Jake DeHaan, whose squad became the fourth in program history to capture a state title and the first since 2014.
South Christian’s first Finals championship came in 2002, when now-coach Danny Brown was a Sailors player. This is Brown’s first state title as a coach.
South Christian, which made its eighth Finals appearance Friday, also won it all in 2012.
“I think I was more nervous as a coach. I think as a player, at least in my experience, I never really got that nervous,” Brown said. “It was another way to hang out with your friends and play the game you loved. But as a coach, you start thinking about all the what-ifs and things that can happen. You want the kids to win so bad that you kind of take on that pressure.”
It wasn’t easy against Goodrich (12-2), which was making its first Finals appearance, as South Christian scored 14 points in the second quarter and 14 in the fourth.
DeHaan, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound playmaker, finished 14-of-21 passing for 266 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. He ran 12 times for a game-high 99 yards and one TD, plus he finished with four tackles and an interception. DeHaan’s signature moment was his 54-yard scoring run to give South Christian a 21-0 lead midway through the third quarter.
Junior Jake Vermaas, who fractured his collarbone in Week 3 and returned for the Sailors’ playoff opener, was the other “Jake” to make big plays. He made seven receptions for 152 yards and returned an interception 32 yards for a TD to put it away with 5:07 remaining in the game.
“It makes us that much better, right, to have all these playmakers. I mean, every guy can make a play and that’s what makes us so good,” Vermaas said. “We put in so much work to be that good and it shows, right? Fourteen-and-0.
“We’re the best – you can’t be better than that,” he added. “We were the best to do it at South Christian.”
Goodrich senior standout running back Jace Simerson finished with 91 yards on 20 carries. Martians senior quarterback Gavin Hart was 9-of-25 passing for 100 yards with two picks.
South Christian’s bevy of playmakers on offense and athletes with length on defense made it tough on opponents all season, and Friday was no different. Those strengths allowed the Sailors to overcome three turnovers.
“This is just one of those teams, and I know there’s a lot of them out there that no matter what the situation is, no matter what the moment is, there’s never a panic. They just continue to rise to the occasion,” Brown said.
“We felt that Week 6 with the (Grand Rapids) Catholic win, I think that kind of solidified – that was a back-and-forth game – that even when things get tight and there’s adversity, they can step up.”
That, the Sailors did.
In a scoreless game, DeHaan hit senior Nate Brinks on a 3-yard TD pass with 9:48 left in the first half. Four minutes later, he found sophomore Carson Vis on a 23-yard scoring strike.
Veteran Goodrich coach Tom Alward said he felt his team had opportunities to make plays, but the Martians just couldn’t capitalize. He attributed much of that to the Sailors.
“They’ve got athletes galore. They’ve got athletes at every position. I mean, it’s incredible,” Alward said. “You’re trying to match up. We thought we’ve got some athletes as well, but it’s tough to match up everybody.
“They do a good job. They sit there and they look, ‘Oh, that’s a linebacker.’ You run out of defensive backs against these guys. Plus, that quarterback, he’s a special young kid.”
DeHaan directed South Christian to this championship, helping the Sailors survive tests in the previous three rounds of the playoffs.
South Christian put away Hudsonville Unity Christian late, 35-20, in the District Final. In a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in the Regional Final, the Sailors outlasted Whitehall, 28-21. In the icy Semifinal, South Christian held off Edwardsburg, 26-20.
“Our coaches stress (not to panic), which just helps us to keep persevering. And we knew that if we keep going and keep going that eventually our team’s going to come out on top and make plays when we need to make plays,” said DeHaan, who suffered a shoulder stinger late in the game but re-entered a play later.
It was a tough finish for Goodrich, which reeled off 12 straight wins to get to Ford Field after suffering a 27-2 season-opening loss to Frankenmuth, which is competing in the Division 5 Final on Saturday.
Alward said he loves every one of his teams, but this one will always have a special place in his heart.
“This team is exceptional – they’re exceptional,” the 30-year head coach said. “And not just football players, I’m talking about young men.”
PHOTOS (Top) Grand Rapids South Christian’s Jake Vermaas (2) tries to pull away from the grasp of Goodrich’s Owen Deciechi during Friday’s Division 4 Final. (Middle) Vermaas leaps over defender Gavin Valley (32). (Below) A Martians defender bats away a pass intended for the Sailors’ Carson Vis (13). (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)