With Seasoned Seniors in Lead, Deckerville Set to Begin Another Title Pursuit

By Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com

October 30, 2024

Preston Holman was an eighth grader when his family moved to Deckerville from the west side of the state, but it didn’t take long for him to realize how much football meant to the community.

Bay & Thumb“Instantly, it was all clear to me that Deckerville was a powerhouse program around here, and if you’re going to play for them and Coach (Bill) Brown, you needed to be the best version of yourself,” said Holman, now a senior and all-state two-way lineman for the Eagles. “It was really cool. I remember my eighth-grade year, Deckerville lost to Mayville on Homecoming. I remember how upset the players were. I could tell in the atmosphere that Deckerville does not like to lose. But it was really cool to see how the community supported the program.”

Holman and the Eagles have set themselves up to have that support through the 8-Player Division 1 Semifinals, should they keep winning, as the highest-rated team by playoff points in the bracket.

Deckerville, which finished a 9-0 regular season with a win over previous No. 1 Alcona in Week 9, will open the postseason at home Friday night against Bay City All Saints.

“It’s been great,” senior quarterback Hunter Garza said. “We’ve been taking it one game at a time and preparing all season for this, and I think the hard work is showing and paying off. This started three years ago, when we were all sophomores and freshmen, and the hard work is all paying off.”

When Garza and Holman were sophomores, they were part of a core group in that class who were playing key roles on the varsity. That group went 7-4 and won a playoff game in 2022, and Brown was starting to see the potential for something special in the future.

Hunter Garza eludes an Alcona defender last week. A run to an 8-Player Division 2 Semifinal the next year proved him right.

“We have six kids that started when they were sophomores that are now seniors, and last year, our defense was one freshman, three sophomores and four juniors, so our whole defense is back,” Brown said. “So we knew we had a lot of potential there. We knew we had something going on, even back then. We knew when they were sophomores, even though they were pretty young. The next year, we got halfway through the season, and they were juniors that were starting to play like seniors.”

Knowing what he had coming back, and what a Deckerville crowd could bring during a playoff run, Brown set out to build a schedule that could guarantee the Eagles homefield advantage through the first three weeks of the postseason. That meant scheduling All Saints in Week 1 and Alcona in Week 9. Even had the Eagles lost those games, the benefit of playing a tougher schedule would have been a net positive. Of course, they won them, getting the best of both worlds.

“We play some tough competition in our conference,” Brown said. “But to get to 9-0, that’s pretty special.”

The Eagles outscored opponents, on average, 49-14 on their way to the program’s first unbeaten season since 2019, and fifth in Brown’s 32 years as head coach. 

“I think we’ve played very good defense,” Brown said. “Last week (a 50-42 win against Alcona) was tough, but we were playing one of the best teams in the state. Sometimes you have to outscore someone. I think, defensively, we match up and are able to defend a lot of people. Then, being able to turn around and Hunter Garza is having a great year at quarterback – he can run, and he can throw – so I think we’re a little more diverse offensively.”

Garza has rushed for 1,134 yards and 21 touchdowns on 104 carries this season, leading an Eagles’ offense that is averaging 304.9 yards per game on the ground. Senior Parker Merriman had added 859 yards and 11 TDs.

Eagles coach Bill Brown, in headset, checks his chart on the sideline.Garza also has thrown for 747 yards and nine touchdowns on just 76 pass attempts. 

Defensively, the Eagles specialize in getting teams out of sync, as they have recorded 42 tackles for loss as a team, led by Holman’s 17. He also has nine sacks, while sophomore Brandon Halowitz leads the team with 83 tackles, including 13 for loss and five sacks.

Being a defensive stalwart is nothing new for the Eagles. When they joined the 8-player ranks in 2012, they brought a smashmouth style to what had been a wide-open division, and won a Finals title. The score of that championship game against Bellaire: 14-12.

They’ve made the postseason in each of the 12 years since, advancing to Finals in 2016 and 2017. 

“Our goal each year is to win the state championship,” Brown said. “Maybe those seem like lofty goals for many, but I think you have to do that. And, as it goes, right now we’re peaking at it. Last year, nobody would have thought we were going to make a run and get to the Semifinal. I would say the expectations are high for us, and I think that gives our team the drive to always be better than the team that did it before.”

Managing to chase those goals while remaining grounded in the day-to-day work necessary to reach them can be tough. But with senior leaders like Garza and Holman, Brown is confident his team will stay on the right path.

“Deckerville has such a good winning tradition, that it does put a lot of pressure on us, but Coach always says, ‘Just because you’re Deckerville, you’re not guaranteed to make the playoffs,’” Garza said. “Just because you wear the D, doesn’t mean you’re going to make a run in the playoffs. You gotta go out and work for it. You have to go out and win it.”

Paul CostanzoPaul 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) The Deckerville defense converges on a Kingston ball carrier during this season’s 44-0 victory. (Middle) Hunter Garza eludes an Alcona defender last week. (Below) Eagles coach Bill Brown, in headset, checks his chart on the sideline. (Photos by Mike Gallagher/Saranac County News.)

Century of School Sports: Fall to Finish with 50th Football Championships

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

September 4, 2024

We’ve only just begun to celebrate the MHSAA’s 100th anniversary – a “Century of School Sports” dating back to our start Dec. 13, 1924.

This celebration just happens to coincide with another major milestone this fall – the 50th season of MHSAA Football Playoffs.

After decades of football champions being determined by media polls, the MHSAA offered its first postseason for football in 1975 – 16 teams qualified to compete across Class A, B, C and D. Livonia Franklin, Dearborn Divine Child, Ishpeming and Crystal Falls Forest Park, respectively, hoisted those first championship trophies.

The first year’s Finals were played at Central Michigan University and Western Michigan University, two games at each site, before moving to the Pontiac Silverdome the following season – the home for MHSAA football championships until their move to Ford Field in 2005.

Meanwhile, the playoff field grew to 32 teams – eight per class – in 1977, and again to 64 teams over four classes in 1985. Classes AA, BB, CC and DD were added in 1990, bringing the number of 11-player football championships to its current eight. The 11-player field and format expanded one more time in 1999, doubling to 256 teams total – 32 per division – with a fifth week of postseason games bringing the playoff schedule to its current five weeks.

As more small schools began to have difficulty sustaining their programs during the first decade of the 2000s, the 8-player format began to grow with the first playoffs for that division in 2011. The 8-player bracket was split into two divisions in 2017.

Football remains the most played sport in this state, and its playoffs the most attended MHSAA postseason tournament. As of this writing, an estimated 35,000 athletes representing 601 varsity teams are vying for championships this 2024 season. This year's Finals are Nov. 23 for 8-player and Nov. 29-30 for 11-player. 

Now, for the fun facts:

  • A total of 24 teams have qualified for the MHSAA Football Playoffs at least 30 of the first 49 seasons. Beal City and Crystal Falls Forest Park lead the way with 38 qualifying seasons, followed by Mendon with 37 and Fowler and Traverse City St. Francis with 36. Forest Park and Mendon’s totals include appearances in both the 11 and 8-player brackets. Farmington Hills Harrison remains tied for seventh on the list with 34 postseason appearances despite closing at the end of the 2018-19 school year. NOTE: The totals above do not include the 2020 season, when all schools were entered into the tournament as the regular season was shortened due to COVID-19.
  • Rockford has the longest overall and active streaks of qualifying for the playoffs at 28 straight seasons, again not counting 2020 when all teams were added to the bracket. Forest Park at 26 seasons, Jackson Lumen Christi at 25 and Muskegon at 23 seasons are the next four on the overall and active streak lists (Muskegon is tied on the overall list with Felch North Dickinson’s run from 1991-2013).
  • Farmington Hills Harrison still has the most appearances in 11-Player Finals, with 18, but with Detroit Catholic Central just one back and Lumen Christi with 16. Lumen Christi has won the last two Division 7 titles to move into a tie for the lead on the total 11-player championship list with 13, the same number won by Harrison during its mighty history.
  • On the 8-player side, Powers North Central leads with five appearances in Finals and five championships having won all of them.
  • The Jets also own the longest championship streak in 8-player, with three straight titles from 2020-22. Grand Rapids West Catholic from 2013-17, Harrison from 1997-2001 and East Grand Rapids from 2006-10 all have won five 11-player championships in a row, with eight more 11-player programs having won at least three consecutive titles.

This is but a glance at the playoffs’ past. MHSAA historian Ron Pesch has written several exceptional pieces on the MHSAA Football Playoffs for MHSAA.com, and these are a few of our favorites:

You also can check out a list of all-time playoff qualifiers and 11 and 8-Player Finals records by visiting the MHSAA Football Record Book.

Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights

Aug. 28: Let the Celebration Begin - Read

PHOTOS Clockwise from top left: (1) Oxford’s Carl Reaves (5) breaks a tackle during Oxford’s 20-13 overtime win over Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills in Class BB in 1992. (2) A Crystal Falls Forest Park ball carrier is wrapped up by a New Lothrop tackler during New Lothrop’s 34-13 win in Division 8 in 2006. (3) Muskegon and Detroit Martin Luther King players collide during the Crusaders’ 41-25 victory in Division 3 in 2018. (4) Schoolcraft’s Paul Garrison (75) applies the pressure during his team’s 42-7 win over Frankfort in Class D in 1988. (5) A Farmington Hills Harrison ball carrier pushes toward the end zone against Midland Dow in 1976; Dow would prevail 36-27.