QB Carving Place in Pittsford Tradition
August 31, 2018
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
PITTSFORD – There’s nothing quite like the return of high school football each new season to small towns in Michigan.
There’s something about the way a town buzzes when students, parents and fans put on the spirit wear and make the journey to watch kids they’ve all known since they were born put on the helmet and play football against – usually – a neighboring school district.
Pittsford is one of those towns, and Jake Burger is one of those kids.
If it seems like Burger has been around Pittsford football forever, it’s because he has been around it for all of his life. He is two games into his senior year playing quarterback for the Wildcats – his third season as a starter – but his roots go much deeper. His grandfather, Bob Clement, coached at Pittsford for three decades. His father, Mike Burger, has been the head coach since 2010.
“I used to hang around the sidelines,” Jake said. “I’d be with my friends, and we’d be having fun. But, I wanted to be out there, to be on the field.”
These days, Burger’s grandfather usually watches games from above the Pittsford press box. His uncle, Frank Clement, another longtime Pittsford coach, is closer to the action as the Wildcats’ special teams coach. Burger’s cousin Jesse Clement is a senior linebacker. Burger’s dad – also a teacher, boys basketball coach and athletic director at Pittsford – calls the plays that Burger tries to execute on the field.
“Jake really understands the game,” Mike Burger said. “He grasps concepts quickly, and then is able to put them into action. He just wants to win, and winning with his buddies makes it that much more gratifying.”
Pittsford is coming off a 9-2 season in which it qualified for the playoffs for the 12th time in the last 14 seasons. The Wildcats are members of the Southern Central Athletic Association and reigning league champions after a year when four of the five teams in the conference reached the playoffs.
Pittsford is a community of about 1,500 people and has just 186 students in its high school. Nineteen play football including 11 seniors – an unusually large class.
“I think that helps a lot because we all have a lot of experience,” Jake Burger said. “We grew up together, playing football and basketball. We all just love sports.”
The Wildcats opened the 2018 season by shutting out 2017 playoff qualifier Morenci 28-0, and then shut out Petersburg-Summerfield 10-0 on Thursday. Burger – who also starts at safety – made a key play in the end zone late in the fourth quarter to stop a potential Summerfield touchdown.
“Early season wins are so important in getting to the playoffs,” Burger said. “I think we are going to have a really good year.”
Burger was a tight end in grade school but shifted to quarterback around fifth grade. He’s played the position ever since.
“The coach moved me to quarterback,” he said. “I love the position. I like being the field general – sort of the coach on the field. I like how you get to make decisions on the fly. Hopefully, I make the right decisions.”
Burger’s decisions are usually spot-on. He was an honorable mention choice on last year’s Associated Press Division 7-8 all-state football team after throwing for more than 1,300 yards. He already holds several Wildcats records and entered Thursday’s game with 2,910 career passing yards.
At 6-foot-4, 195 pounds, Burger said he’s also not afraid to take on a would-be tackler. He has more than 1,000 career rushing yards.
“I’m not a traditional type of quarterback,” he said. “I like to pass the ball and move the ball downfield, but I’ll also run the ball. I usually don’t run out of bounds. I’m not going to juke anybody out. I’ll lower my shoulder and take on someone and try and fight for those extra yards.”
Burger grew up about five minutes from Pittsford, which is in Hillsdale County, only a few miles from the Ohio state line. The Wildcats won the 1996 Class DD championship under Clement. With the return of Burger and much of the offense and defense from last year’s playoff team, there are high hopes this season as well.
Mike Burger said it’s been a blessing to coach his son.
“Coaching your son is a tremendous experience,” he said. “I have had such a great time being able to be part of this process. Sure, it can be stressful at times with all the pressures that go with being a varsity coach and coach’s son, but it has been far more rewarding than I could ever had imagined.”
His son agrees.
“He’s always explained things to me,” Burger said of his dad. “It’s been great having him there with me. He’s a great coach. I’m grateful he is my coach.”
The two also have that bond during basketball season. This past spring, Jake developed a routine in which he would get to school by 6:30 a.m. to work on basketball, then go back to school at night to work on quarterback fundamentals. He played AAU basketball this summer and maintains a 3.7 grade-point average. He’s unsure of his college plans at this point but would entertain the idea of playing either sport at the next level – as long as the college he chooses “feels like home,” he said.
“Jake's work ethic is off the charts,” Mike Burger said. “He is a great example of someone who plays multiple sports rather than concentrate on one. I am not sure which sport he loves the most, but I can say he loves playing both games and he plays both with a real joy.”
For Jake Burger, being part of the hometown football and basketball teams seems second nature. He wouldn’t want it any other way. Cars start filing into Pittsford football games early on Friday nights, some fans hopeful for a spot in the front row overlooking the west end zone.
“For our first game, we had a ton of people in our stands,” he said. “It’s a great atmosphere in Pittsford, no matter what sport. For basketball games, the parents and fans will get into the game and cheer and the football games are loud with a lot of fans. It’s a great place to be around.”
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 Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Jake Burger prepares for Thursday’s game against Petersburg-Summerfield. (Middle) Burger follows through on a pregame pass. (Photos by Doug Donnelly.)
Rebuilt Culture Driving Success as Roelens Steps Away at Port Huron Northern
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 13, 2024
The spark that helped ignite the past decade of success for the Port Huron Northern football program came early in Larry Roelens’ tenure, and, ironically, during the one full season that the Huskies finished with a losing record under him.
Northern, which had just three winning seasons over the previous 15, started 0-2 in 2015, but rattled off four straight wins under its first-year coach, who was noticing that things were changing for the better.
“I’ll be honest, Northern wasn’t in a very good state when I got the job,” Roelens said. “But for me and the guys that stayed around (on the coaching staff), I could never have done what I did without the guys on my staff. They’re like family to me and to my kids; they call them uncles. We went in with the mindset that we have to change the culture.
“We started 0-2 that first season, but then won four in a row. We lost three tough games to end the season, but that kind of changed the culture. We built on that, and the next year went 6-3.”
That next season was the beginning of the most successful stretch of football during the playoff era for the Huskies, as they made the postseason nine straight years, tripling the number of playoff appearances they had made during the 40 years prior.
The ninth postseason appearance was the last for Roelens, however, as he stepped down as Northern coach following a Division 2 District Semifinal loss to Warren De La Salle Collegiate on Oct. 24. He has accepted a position as assistant principal at the school, and administrators in the district are not allowed to hold head coaching positions.
“Honestly, that was a very hard decision to make for me,” Roelens said. “I went into education to be a coach and a teacher. But it was very much based on a family decision. I’ll be able to spend more time with my kids (Audrey, 5, and Brady, 3), and coach their teams.”
Roelens leaves the Northern program in as good a place as it’s been, perhaps ever.
He was 69-30 over his 10 seasons, with the nine playoff appearances and four Macomb Area Conference Blue titles. Northern also won four postseason games under Roelens.
Before he took over the program, Northern had three playoff appearances in program history – 1986, 1999 and 2010 – and a single postseason victory.
The program had not won eight games in a season since 1987, but did so four times under Roelens, including with a 10-2 mark in 2018, which matched the school record for wins.
“It’s pretty crazy,” said Northern senior quarterback Ty Fletcher. “He kind of morphed the program to what it is today. … I feel like, when he started getting into the playoffs and they had all those playoff appearances in (consecutive) seasons, that started that trend of winning football. Then we ended up staying there and being a competitive team.”
As it so often does, the success built an excitement around the program that found its way through the youth levels.
“We were all coming up through the youth teams, and we all stayed together on the freshman level, and we always talked about how everyone wants to play for Northern,” Fletcher said. “About how cool it was to play under the lights there.”
A lot of that excitement at the youth level has also been buoyed by a string of Division I college talent that has come through the program during Roelens’ time, led by Braiden McGregor. The defensive end was among the top recruits in the country in 2020 and played a key role on Michigan’s national title team. He is now playing for the New York Jets.
He wasn’t a one-off for the Huskies in terms of DI talent, as Luke Fletcher is now in his second year at Eastern Michigan, and current juniors Amir Morelan and Lincoln Watkins have both received Power 4 offers.
“Braiden’s class, we had a few kids that went on to play college football,” Roelens said. “That right there was proof that, even in a small town, they’re going to find you if you’re good enough. I think that pushed a lot of kids, because they started to understand that if you’re good enough and you work hard enough, they’ll find you.”
Roelens even being at Northern in the first place was a bit of a surprise for those in the area, as he was a star athlete at cross-town rival Port Huron High. Roelens played quarterback at Port Huron and went on to play baseball at Saginaw Valley State after graduating in 2004.
He student taught at Northern during the 2009-10 school year, but even then he helped out with the Port Huron football program.
His journey with Northern athletics began with assistant roles in the basketball and baseball programs later that year, and in the fall of 2010 he became the JV head football coach.
For four of the next five seasons he was on the Huskies staff, before taking over the program prior to the 2015 season.
With his new position, he’ll remain in the school and around the coaches and players in the program. And, while the thrill of coaching was something Roelens cherished, those relationships are what he’s valued most.
“I’ve been very blessed with the people I’ve had around me throughout those 10 years,” he said. “The support I had from Northern, the support of the parents, the Northern community, it’s been a blessing. My family, my wife and kids, they’ve all been tremendous.”
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) Port Huron Northern football coach Larry Roelens, middle, is surrounded by his kneeling players during a postgame huddle. (Middle) Roelens holds daughter Audrey, and wife Kelsey holds son Brady on the field. (Below) Roelens hoists the Brick Fowler Trophy after a Northern win over rival Port Huron. (Photos courtesy of the Roelens family.)