River Rouge Ends 2019 with Stunning Finish
November 30, 2019
By Tom Kendra
Special for Second Half
DETROIT – River Rouge wasn’t intimidated by Muskegon’s national acclaim or 859 football victories, the most by any Michigan high school.
If anything, the chance to knock off the unbeaten and top-ranked Big Reds brought out the absolute best in the Panthers.
After spotting Muskegon a 7-0 lead, Rouge scored the final 30 points to claim a 30-7 victory in the Division 3 championship game Saturday night at Ford Field.
“We are known for basketball, but now we have a football title,” said 10th-year Rouge coach Corey Parker, who lauded his team for playing fearlessly on both sides of the ball. “Now we have a football title, and 20 years from now these guys are going to be talking about it.”
All the talk coming into the game centered on Muskegon senior quarterback Cameron Martinez, the two-time MLive Player of the Year who had rushed for more than 2,000 yards. But the talk afterward was about a different QB – River Rouge’s Mareyohn Hrabowski.
Hrabowski, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound junior, answered an early score by Martinez with three rushing touchdowns of his own, finishing with 15 carries for 175 yards – an average of nearly 12 yards per carry. He also completed 6-of-12 passes for 45 yards.
“I just had to follow my blocks,” said Hrabowski. “I had faith in myself and my team, and we came out on top.”
It was the first Finals appearance and championship for Rouge, which has qualified for the playoffs all 10 years under Parker. Rouge lost its opener this fall to Friday’s Division 4 champion Grand Rapids Catholic Central before reeling off 13 straight wins. The Panthers were ranked No. 5 in Division 3 entering the playoffs
The other storyline Saturday was the Rouge defense, which held a Muskegon team averaging 49 points per game to a season-low seven.
The Panthers did it with an ultra-aggressive strategy, sometimes with all 11 defensive players within three yards of the line of scrimmage just daring Martinez to throw the ball.
Instead, Muskegon kept trying to find a way to break Martinez through the initial wall and into the clear, but it never happened.
Martinez, a 5-11, 190-pound senior who has committed to Ohio State, finished with 108 rushing yards, but it took him 34 carries to get there – at 3.2 yards per carry. He also did not complete a single pass, going 0-for-5 through the air.
“We just didn’t play our game, really,” said Martinez, who faced relentless pressure every time he dropped back to throw. “We have played great for 13 weeks, and we picked a bad time to play bad.”
Hrabowski scored on runs of one and 40 yards in the second quarter, as the Panthers took a 14-7 lead into halftime.
Rouge (13-1) kept its foot on the accelerator during the second half, with Rmontaye Caldwell returning the third-quarter kickoff 36 yards to the Muskegon 35-yard line. On the next play, Hrabowski went 35 yards on a keeper and the lead was 21-7.
The score remained the same until the fourth quarter, when Rouge rounded out the scoring on a 31-yard field goal by Avery Burch and a 33-yard run by Deandre Bulley.
Bulley, a 6-2, 245-pound senior who is being heavily recruited by schools at the Division I level, came into the game needing just 80 yards to reach 2,000 for the season. He came up five yards short, with 15 carries for 75 yards, but Hrabowski more than made up the difference.
Rouge used extremely wide splits on the offensive line to open up running lanes for Hrabowski, who stunned the stingy Big Reds’ defense with his vision and deceptive speed in the open field. On two of his scoring runs he faked a jet sweep handoff and ran straight ahead behind guard Deshawn Smith and tackle Chance Moore through the left side of the line and eventually into the end zone.
The final stats bear out Rouge’s dominance.
The Panthers held a 330-180 edge in total yards, including a 45-0 edge passing. Rouge outrushed Muskegon 285-180.
Darieon Jones, a 5-8, 190-pound senior defensive back, was everywhere for Rouge, registering a game-high 14 tackles, including 10 solos. Linebacker Deshawn Walker had eight tackles, and Tyron Jones and Chastin Cross each made six stops.
River Rouge has been known around the state as a basketball school, winning 12 Class B state titles under legendary coach Lofton Greene during the 1960s and 1970s. But now the Panthers, who are part of the Michigan Metro Athletic Conference, are making a name for themselves on the gridiron.
Rouge made a statement by dominating Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 49-14 in the Regional Final, then overcame a 7-0 fourth-quarter deficit in last week’s Semifinal to knock off Chelsea 14-7.
The Panthers rode that momentum into the Final.
Muskegon, led by senior linebacker Tarran Walker and senior safety Tyreese Oakes with nine tackles apiece, added another layer of frustration to its Ford Field troubles.
The Big Reds have played in a championship game at Ford Field seven of the last eight years. But the lone victory, and the lone Finals title for 10th-year head coach Shane Fairfield, came with a 28-10 victory over Farmington Hills Harrison in 2017 for the Division 3 championship.
“That’s the way it happens,” said Fairfield, who last week became the second-winningest coach in Muskegon High School history. “We won 13 games and made 13 other teams feel this way. This is the risk you take. You could lose early or not even make the playoffs and never experience this.”
Muskegon, which had won 40 of its past 41 games entering Saturday night, is the winningest program in state history with 859 victories, a total which also ranks seventh nationally.
PHOTOS: (Top) River Rouge quarterback Mareyohn Hrabowski rolls out and finds a receiver as Muskegon’s Billy Johnson Jr. (42) and Dwight McKinney close in. (Middle) River Rouge defenders including Rmontaye Caldwell (17) surround Big Reds quarterback Cameron Martinez.
Burns Taking Turn in Family Tradition By Leading Tecumseh to Memorable Start
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
September 13, 2022
TECUMSEH – At a recent Tecumseh football practice, head coach Greg Dolson watched his senior quarterback Jake Burns make the right read on run-pass option play, and Dolson turned to assistant coach Al Romano.
“I said, ‘I’m really going to miss that kid,’” Dolson recalled.
The Tecumseh coaching staff isn’t rushing anything yet. They are hoping to have Burns at the helm of the offense for the rest of the regular season and hopefully into the postseason. Tecumseh is 3-0 and off to its best start since 2012, playing with a stacked deck on offense, with numerous weapons but perhaps none more important than the multi-sport athlete Burns.
He’s the glue that bonds the Tecumseh line with the backs and receivers and has the team scoring about 47 points a game.
“Jake has really matured,” Dolson said. “He doesn’t like the spotlight. You could see last year he really started coming into his own. This year he is playing at such a high level. It’s exciting watching him grow.”
Burns, 17, is a senior and Tecumseh through-and-through. His grandfather and his grandfather’s family played sports at Tecumseh. His dad Brian played at Tecumseh. Now, Jake’s turn to wear No. 2 – just like his dad – and represent the family on Friday nights under the lights.
“There’s been a long line of Burnses going through Tecumseh,” the senior QB said.
Jake Burns might be the best of them before he’s through.
“He is poised to take us on a playoff run,” Dolson said.
Under his leadership, Tecumseh is hoping to keep things rolling Friday against rival Adrian and make some noise in the Division 4 playoffs.
“It’s a great feeling,” Burns said. “We all worked really hard in the offseason. We worked really hard in the weight room. It’s a great feeling to be where we are at.”
Burns has played a huge role in each of Tecumseh’s first three wins.
Against Michigan Center he threw for 132 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 79 yards and a score. In Week 2 against Richland Gull Lake, Burns threw four touchdown passes and had nearly 300 yards of total offense. In the Southeastern Conference White opener last week against Pinckney, he had 120 yards rushing and 116 yards passing. He scored on an 81-yard run.
Tecumseh went 4-5 last year, and Burns said that left a bad taste in the players’ mouths.
“We all want to win,” Burns said. “Last year didn’t fit our standards. We all knew we couldn’t settle. We got the younger kids involved in the weight room and active, and it’s really awesome to see it pay off.”
Tecumseh runs the spread offense that is directed by Romano, a Hall of Fame coach who guided Erie Mason to the Class C championship in 1987 and has coached at the high school and college levels for years. He returned to high school football a couple of seasons ago to become Dolson’s offensive coordinator. It’s been a perfect fit with he and Burns.
“I enjoy playing quarterback. I couldn’t be more thankful for Coach Romano,” Burns said. “He’s always looking out for me and helps me so much. It’s great to have a mentor like that.”
Romano and Dolson have put together a great offense in Tecumseh. Junior running back A.J. Bryan is a threat to score every time he touches the football, and receivers like Ryder Zajac, Gavin Chenevey and Jobe Benschoter have already proved their value to the team this season.
“Every play we run I have the ability to hand it off, keep it myself or throw it,” Burns said. “It’s just a matter of making the right read. We have weapons all over the field.
“Coach Romano spends a lot of time talking to me and watching film. He is always pulling tricks out of his bag.”
Dolson said Burns tries to stay out of the spotlight, but it’s tough for the standout to elude.
“He plays in the neighborhood with all of the little kids, throwing the ball around and stuff,” Dolson said. “He’s in leadership classes at the school and is like a 3.7 student. He goes out of his way to be nice to everyone. He hangs out with his offensive line. Nothing about him is fake, either. He’s genuine.”
Burns is an elite baseball player as well and hasn’t decided which sport he will play at the next level.
“Football is special,” he said, “but I love baseball, too. I love both sports. It’s going to be hard to decide.”
Adrian (2-1) travels to Tecumseh on Friday and is typically its biggest rival on the football field. A win puts Tecumseh in great position with key SEC White battles coming up with Chelsea and Jackson.
“The game always brings some sort of buzz and hype,” Burns said. “We just want to play the game and get the job done.”
Burns said this year’s team has a different feel than previous ones he’s played on. Everyone gets along and is working toward the same goals.
“I think the team leadership is different,” Burns said. “Everyone is friends. We all mesh really well. We enjoy ourselves at practice. We try and have fun. At the end of the day, it’s a game. We want to have fun with it. We believe in each other.”
Burns is making Tecumseh fans believers, too.
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 Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Tecumseh quarterback Jake Burns outruns the Michigan Center defense during a season-opening win. (Middle) Burns works to elude a Gull Lake rusher during a Week 2 victory. (Photos by John Discher.)