Shores' QB Stands Tall During 2-0 Start
September 6, 2017
By Tom Kendra
Special for Second Half
Muskegon Mona Shores certainly has a scary offense, with Division I college receiving prospects on the edges, two powerful running backs and a much-improved offensive line.
If only the Sailors had a taller quarterback.
If seventh-year Mona Shores coach Matt Koziak had a nickel for every time he’s heard some variation of that statement, he’d be an extremely wealthy man.
“People who say things like that don’t know Tristan Robbins,” Koziak said of his 5-foot-10, 173-pound senior quarterback in his second year as the starter. “He is tough, he is fearless and he is a leader – the guys rally around him. We are very happy with our quarterback.”
Robbins has come up big in two impressive wins – completing 7 of 11 passes for 137 yards and rushing for another 47 yards in a 41-23 win over Canton at the University of Michigan on Aug. 26, then turning around and completing 7 of 13 passes for 129 yards, with 90 yards rushing, in a come-from-behind, 42-20 win at Zeeland West last week.
Robbins has the chance to prove the doubters wrong again this Friday, in the first of two blockbuster home games on the Mona Shores schedule this fall.
Rockford, the perennial Ottawa-Kent Conference Red powerhouse, comes to the lakeshore this week, led by 6-5 senior quarterback Jason Whittaker, who has committed to continue his career at Northwestern University. On Oct. 13, the Sailors welcome cross-town rival Muskegon, the winningest program in state history, which features a Division I quarterback of its own in 6-2 senior La’darius Jefferson, who has verbally committed to sign with Central Florida.
Robbins is ready to rise to the challenge.
“I just go out there and do what I can with what I’ve been given,” said Robbins, the middle child and only son of Brent and Jane Robbins. “Our offense has been doing great so far. Now we get a home game and it should be a huge crowd, and that will just add to the excitement.”
Robbins was thrust into the starting role in last year’s opening game as a junior after senior starter Drew Switzer broke his collarbone in the preseason scrimmage. Robbins threw four interceptions as the Sailors struggled to a 1-3 start, which ultimately kept them out of the playoffs for the first time in three years. But since that rough beginning, Robbins has thrown 13 TD passes without a single interception, leading Shores to six wins in its last seven games.
“He has grown more and more comfortable in his role,” explains Koziak, who led Shores to the Division 2 championship game in 2015. “We rely on our quarterbacks to make a lot of reads, before the play and during the play, and he’s done a great job.”
Robbins follows in the footsteps of two standout, pro-style quarterbacks in Tyree Jackson (6-7), who is now the starting quarterback at the University of Buffalo, and Tyler Trovinger (6-1), the starting shortstop on the Oakland University baseball team.
Koziak said Robbins makes up for his lack of size with a series of intangibles.
• First, Robbins is a 4.0 student whose intelligence pays dividends in a complicated offense.
Lining up almost exclusively in the pistol formation, Robbins triggers an offense which features a pair of Division I prospects at wideout in junior Damari Roberson (6-2, 190) and senior Keyshawn Summerville (6-0, 175). Charles Allen and Ke’Sean Sandifer are dangerous in the slot and senior Dee Davis and junior Sincere Dent have been a potent 1-2 punch in the backfield.
Who gets the ball on any given play depends largely on the position of the defense, explains Koziak, and the responsibility of reading the defense falls largely on Robbins.
• Second, he possesses incredible leadership skills.
Understand that Robbins is far from a prima donna quarterback; he’s a wrestler in the winter and played rugby for the first time last spring (“I loved it,” Robbins explained). He regularly inspires his teammates by lowering his shoulder and “laying it out” for his team.
• Third, and perhaps most importantly, what he lacks in size and/or pure athletic ability, he makes up for in an underrated category: grit.
Robbins’ true grit was on display at a critical moment of the Sailors’ victory at Zeeland West on Friday. Holding a slim 21-20 lead midway through the third quarter, Shores faced a crucial 4th-and-4 situation at the Zeeland West 16-yard line. After a timeout, Shores ran its outside veer, where Robbins had the ball with the choice of handing off to Dent, pitching wide to Allen or keeping it himself.
“The linebacker went right for (Dent) and I saw a little room and thought I could get it, so I kept it myself,” explained Robbins. “I was able to get around the corner and make it to the end zone.”
After opening the season with a 340-mile roundtrip to Ann Arbor and 88 miles back-and-forth to Zeeland last Friday, the unbeaten Sailors are expecting a packed house for their showdown with Rockford. This will be the fourth straight season the teams have played; the Rams hold a 2-1 edge in the recent series and won last year 37-23.
Adding to the excitement (and certainly the crowd size), Friday’s game will be the second “Sailor Salute” – a massive tribute to all of those who serve the country and their communities, complete with military responder vehicles, a U.S. Army Lakota Helicopter, 300 motorcycles, elementary students singing the national anthem on the field and even a pre-game performance by a U.S. Army rock band.
Robbins can’t wait to do his “small” part on what could be another huge night for the new-look Mona Shores football program, which made the playoffs for the first time since 2013 but has returned twice and posted four straight winning seasons.
“We do so much work and so much conditioning when no one else is around, which is no fun while you’re doing it, but it pays off on Friday nights,” said Robbins. “I can’t wait for Friday night.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Muskegon Mona Shores quarterback Tristan Robbins finds a crease during his team’s Week 1 win over Canton. (Middle) Robbins drops back to pass during that victory. (Photos courtesy of Muskegon Mona Shores High School.)
Kicker Steps Into Historic Moment
December 8, 2020
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
CLINTON – After what Jonathan Baughey has gone through, kicking a football through two yellow goal posts doesn’t seem like a very big deal.
But, when it came against an undefeated, state-ranked team on the last play of the Division 6 District championship game, it was just that.
“It was definitely a scary moment,” said Baughey, a junior from Clinton High School in Lenawee County.
Baughey’s 22-yard field goal as time expired gave Clinton a 16-13 victory over Blissfield and sent his team into a Regional Final against Warren Michigan Collegiate.
It’s been a long road for Baughey, who thought that after a successful kidney transplant in 2015 that his football career was over. At the urging of a family friend and Clinton middle school coach, however, Baughey tried kicking. It was a good choice as he’s now etched his name into Clinton football lore by making probably the biggest field goal in school history.
“He’s been through so much, and I couldn’t be happier for him,” said Clinton football coach Jeremy Fielder. “We had a lot confidence in him kicking in that situation. There was no hesitation.”
Baughey was born with one kidney functioning at 25 percent and the other at 75.
“From birth he always had kidney issues,” said his mother, Kelly Baughey. “We knew growing up he would need a transplant. They tested his father and I, and we were both matches. His dad (Kevin) decided that he wanted to do it for him. He was his donor.”
Kevin Baughey never hesitated.
“It wasn’t a decision at all,” he said. “I would have given him both if I needed to.”
For years, dealing with the kidney issue was just part of Jonathan’s life. He would tire easier than other kids, but he learned to cope with it.
“I was more of a tired kid,” Baughey said. “When I was younger, it wasn’t about contact, it was about how tired I would get. I couldn’t keep up with a lot of other kids. It was hard.”
He had a kidney removed in December of 2012. After that, he said, “it was a roller coaster.” The transplant didn’t come until June of 2015, soon after he finished the sixth grade.
It took roughly six weeks in the hospital for Baughey to recover from the transplant.
“As soon as I had the transplant, I started feeling better than I had felt,” he said. “I had more energy.”
Baughey played flag football as a kid and had started playing tackle football. But when he neared the time for a transplant, he figured his football days were done. That’s when family friend and Clinton middle school coach Keith Tschirhart suggested he try kicking for the Clinton middle school team.
“I had played soccer and thought it was something I could do, so I tried it,” Baughey said. “I went out with him to the football field to see how I would do. It was pretty rough at the beginning. It took some time.”
He didn’t get much practice that first season.
“We never really kicked extra points,” he said.
Baughey kept working at it though and made it through his eighth-grade season. As a freshman he figured he would continue kicking, most likely for the Clinton JV team. He went to the tryouts.
“I kicked my first football and the coach said I was on the varsity,” he said.
Fielder said Baughey made an immediate impact.
“We didn’t have a kicker,” he said. “We had no one. I even told the coaches, ‘What are we going to do?’ Then, I saw him kick the ball and it was like, ‘He’s our kicker.’”
It was big adjustment for Baughey. Not only had he once thought he would never play football again – but he found himself suddenly on the varsity as a freshman, not knowing anyone on the team. And, being exclusively a kicker, meant he practiced mainly by himself.
“That was the struggle that I went through,” he said. “I didn’t know anyone. The only kids I knew were the snapper and the holder.”
Clinton grad Erik Bouse stepped in to help Baughey. Bouse had been a standout kicker for Clinton for three seasons before graduating in 2017.
“He was the one who I mainly worked with,” Baughey said. “He helped me a lot. He really started me out not creating bad habits and helped with the mental part of it.”
As a freshman, Baughey made 42 of his 50 extra-point attempts and a 21-yard field goal. As a sophomore he made 48 of 54 with a 19-yard field goal. This season he has made 29 of 37 extra-point attempts. The winning field goal against Blissfield was his only field goal of the season, on two tries.
Baughey is exclusively a kicker because of the potential risk of injury following the transplant. He wears a special pad on his stomach under his uniform because that is where doctors put his new kidney.
His mother said the no-contact rule causes some angst for her.
“He knows there is a chance he could get hit,” she said. “He wears a shield for padding. The transplant team has okayed him to play.”
Baughey practices every day, often by himself. He goes to the game field and starts at the extra point yardage and works his way back, making at least two kicks at each distance before moving on to the next level. He’ll use his cell phone to record himself, then watch the videos to make sure he is kicking correctly and not developing bad habits.
“The biggest part for me is to go out and know that I can do it,” he said. “You have to know you are going to kick it through the uprights, not just think you are going to. I like to pick out a small target, even a leaf or something, and just clear my mind and just kick the ball.”
When Clinton got the ball back with just over three minutes to go in the District Final against Blissfield, Baughey started thinking the game might come down to his foot.
“I went to the net and started kicking,” he said.
Clinton drove the ball inside the Blissfield 10-yard line, but did not reach the end zone. Fielder called a timeout on fourth down with only a few seconds left. Baughey jogged onto the field and lined up when Blissfield called a timeout.
“I remember walking to the sidelines and taking a deep breath,” he said. “People came up and talked to me and told me I could do it”
Baughey blocked everything out.
“I was really mentally focused,” he said. “After I made the kick, I started clapping. I turned around and all my teammates were jumping up and down. I ran to our coaches and everyone started hugging.”
His father, his donor, could not have been happier to see the ball go through the uprights.
“I was beside myself happy,” Kevin Baughey said. “Thinking about all of the time he spent working in the offseason, and then seeing the confidence his coaches showed with making the call to go for the field goal ... I was as proud as I could possibly be.”
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) Clinton's Jonathan Baughey connects on a kick. (Middle) Baughey, following through on another kick this season, clinched his team's District title with a game-winning field goal. (Photos courtesy of the Clinton football program.)