Pivotal Playmaking Puts King Back on Top to Close 2021 Season
By
Scott DeCamp
Special for MHSAA.com
November 28, 2021
DETROIT – Past disappointments tucked away in his mind, Dante Moore knew what he needed to do with an elusive Finals title on the line Saturday night at Ford Field.
Detroit Martin Luther King’s junior quarterback needed to make a play to put the game away. And that’s exactly what he and senior receiver Chansey Willis Jr. did.
Pinned against their own goal line, Moore and Willis converted a big third-down play to seal King’s 25-21 victory over last season’s MHSAA Division 3 champion DeWitt in a hard-fought title game.
It was the first Finals championship for Moore, the highly recruited 6-foot-2, 195-pounder, who after the game was presented the State Champs! Mr. Football award. Facing 3rd-and-6 from his own 5 and with his team holding a four-point lead, Moore hit Willis on a 7-yard play to move the chains and enable the Crusaders (13-1) to run out the clock.
Moments earlier, King’s defense stuffed DeWitt (12-2) on 4th-and-goal from the 1 in the back-and-forth contest.
“I just say, ‘Hey,’ I looked at Chansey – how we’ve been all year – ‘I’ll lead my guy, let’s get this pass. They don’t have any more timeouts. We can win this game,’” Moore said. “I gave him my trust throwing him the ball, and he’s going to do what he do: Catch the ball, get down and get the first down.”
The championship was King’s first since 2018 and fourth in seven years.
During Moore’s freshman year in 2019, King lost to Muskegon Mona Shores, 35-26, in the Division 2 Final. Last year, the Crusaders fell in the Regional to River Rouge, which lost a 40-30 shootout to DeWitt in the Division 3 championship game.
“Blessings. Ever since we lost my freshman year to Mona Shores, a shot at that great team; last year we lost in the Regionals to River Rouge. I mean, we’ve been hungry for it,” said Moore, who finished 18-of-24 passing for 228 yards with an interception.
“A lot of seniors on this team have got rings, but a lot of juniors, sophomores and freshmen were really hungry for it. After the start of conditioning in the summer time and being out here right now, we’ve just been really hungry for this moment and we appreciate it.”
King played like it early.
The Crusaders scored in the game’s first minute, as senior Terrence Brown sprinted for a 51-yard touchdown run. They made it 13-0 just 1:18 into the second quarter when junior defensive end Kenny Merrieweather tipped a pass and turned it into a 45-yard pick-six.
“Just being a ball player, trying to just make plays to try to win the game for me and my teammates,” the 6-4, 245-pound Merrieweather said about his interception return.
That was the start of a wild quarter when the teams combined for 33 points. Despite trailing 19-7 with three minutes left in the half, DeWitt stormed back to take a 21-19 lead into the break.
Senior QB Ty Holtz, who led the Panthers to the title last year, sandwiched 6- and 15-yard TD passes to seniors Bryce Debri and Tommy McIntosh, respectively, around a 6-yard scoring run by King’s Brown. Then, in the closing seconds of the half, Holtz electrified the DeWitt crowd by intercepting Moore and returning it 69 yards for a TD.
That put DeWitt in front by two at halftime, a lead the Panthers held until junior Sterling Anderson Jr. scored on a 3-yard run with 8:22 remaining in the game to put the Crusaders back in front, 25-21.
Holtz finished 10-of-18 for 153 yards with two picks. Six of his completions went to McIntosh, the University of Wisconsin commit, who finished with 90 receiving yards.
Holtz guided DeWitt deep into King territory during the game’s final minutes, as the Panthers had 1st-and-goal from the 10, but they could not punch it in.
“I mean, Ty Holtz, I want to give him a shoutout on defense, first of all,” Moore said. “I mean, him being a quarterback and being at safety, eyeing me wherever I go. … He was throwing the ball around to Tommy and the other teammates. It was a great team, a great coaching staff. They were here last year, they won it, so big shoutout to them.”
Brown led all rushers with 113 yards on 11 carries. Willis caught four passes for 111 yards. Senior Blake Bailiff led King with 10 tackles, including stops on each of DeWitt’s final four offensive plays.
It wasn’t Moore’s best game statistically, but King coach Tyrone Spencer was impressed with the way he ran the team.
After losing at Carmel (Ind.), 42-40, on a Hail Mary in the season opener, the Crusaders finished the year with 13 straight wins.
“I just love the way that kid (operates); he’s so poised,” Spencer said about Moore. “He throws an interception, he’s in the locker room, I mean, it doesn’t faze him. He comes back out and he does what he needs to do. They were taking the pass away from him. They had safeties all over the top, bailing out late and we had to stick to the run game. Sometimes, that’s going to take away from what you can do in the air, and that’s fine. We got a win. He found a way for us to win.”
For DeWitt, senior Nicholas Flegler paced his team with 11 tackles and 69 rushing yards.
He is one of 21 Panthers who will graduate in the spring and also played a significant role on last season’s champion.
“They grew up together and played together. They’ve won for a long period of time and they learned from the previous group, and I think that’s something that’s just carried on,” DeWitt coach Rob Zimmerman said. “We’ve got young kids coming up that want to be just like these guys.”
PHOTOS (Top) Detroit King’s Sterling Anderson Jr. (23) jets down the sideline as a DeWitt defender works to wrap him up. (Middle) Chansey Willis Jr. (2) prepares for contact as the Panthers’ Bryce Debri (21) pursues. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Whiteford Returns to Familiar, but Differently
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
August 10, 2020
OTTAWA LAKE – Jason Mensing believes high school football can happen this year safely.
Monday was the first official practice of the 2020 high school football season across Michigan. Thousands of athletes put helmets on and started the journey, including Mensing’s Ottawa Lake Whiteford Bobcats.
Like any other year, Mensing said early-season practices are about finding out the personality of his team and what motivates them.
“Every year is different, without question,” Mensing said. “Every year is a new challenge.”
The start of practice this year is certainly unlike any other. While welcoming players, Mensing was busy going through MHSAA safety protocols, including asking a series of health questions and taking the temperature of every player and every assistant coach. With Covid-19 and the worldwide pandemic on everyone’s mind, the football season still started.
“I think the kids just want to be together,” Mensing said. “That’s the biggest thing. A lot of their travel teams that they played on this summer in other sports, those kids might be friends, but those aren’t their classmates. It’s different.”
While practice started Monday, there are still some questions about the upcoming season. For one, teams won’t be able to put on shoulder pads and equipment other than helmets until Aug. 17. In normal years, shoulder pads and then full pads are added gradually during the first week.
Week 1 games this season are scheduled for the final weekend of August, but the MHSAA has not announced yet if competition is cleared to resume. That announcement will be made by Aug. 20.
As a member of the MHSAA’s Representative Council, Mensing has been part of this summer's discussions about Fall sports moving ahead. He’s also part of the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association, serving as its awards chairperson.
He’s a firm believer in football happening this fall.
“It extends beyond football practice,” Mensing said. “It extends to the school experience, to school sports. We know from the last six months that socially and emotionally kids need this outlet. They need to connect. They need to be with one another and with people for their development.”
Mensing points to research that suggests two-thirds of youth today are depressed.
“That’s not acceptable in my world and I think a lot of others,” he said. “We can address that with outlets like arts and athletic programs.”
Playing high school sports, he said, can help teach student-athletes to be safe, to wash their hands, to wear masks during a pandemic and to social distance – in other words, to take the necessary steps to stop the spread of the virus.
“It’s been very, very apparent to me that our young people, out of their need to socialize and engage with one another, are going to,” he said. “What’s concerning me when it comes to the virus and the transmission of it, is that it’s our job to mitigate that and reduce it so it doesn’t get spread. When there isn’t structure and protocols in place and there isn’t an education about why those structures are necessary, the spread is only going to get worse.
“Through sports and our arts programs, we can establish safe routines to educate people on why we need these protocols and why we need to mitigate and slow the spread of the disease.”
Coaches have a unique opportunity to instill the message into their team members.
“It’s a challenge every day because it’s not what they are doing outside of this,” he said. “It’s definitely a challenge. It’s not natural for people to stay six feet apart or wear a facial mask.”
The Tecumseh native played college football at Adrian College, coached for one year at both Adrian College and Siena Heights University and has been a head coach at Addison, Grayling, Owosso, Tecumseh and is starting his ninth year at Whiteford. His Bobcats won the 2017 Division 8 championship after finishing runners-up the season before.
Among changes to this preseason is the elimination of the scrimmage at the end of the second week of practice. Mensing was fine with that move, he said, because it gives the coaching staff a little more teaching time.
“From an instructional standpoint, I think we can have a little more patience,” he said. “We’re not in such a hurry. Our pace can be a little more reserved. We are three weeks out from playing anyone.”
The Bobcats will be young this season after finishing 5-5 a year ago and making the playoffs for the eighth straight season. They do return three of their top four rushers from last season in senior Devon Shaw (883 yards) and juniors Cole Giesige (668 yards) and Levi Hillard (132 yards). Other returning starters include sophomore quarterback Shea Ruddy, tight end Luke Masserant and all-state offensive lineman Noah Bauman.
“We have a long way to go,” Mensing said.
Returning starters and numbers aside, Mensing is optimistic the season will go forward.
“As long as it’s driven by the science and it’s based around us making sure we are following protocols, yes,” he said. “Ultimately if teams aren’t having transmission of the virus, we will have a safer society. Can it happen? Sure.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Ottawa Lake Whiteford football coach Jason Mensing, right, takes the temperature of Cole Giesige prior to the start of Monday’s first practice of the 2020 season. (Middle) Mensing fills in a questionnaire with Devon Shaw. (Photos by Doug Donnelly.)