Understudy Shines as Shores' Lead Receiver
October 31, 2018
By Tom Kendra
Special for Second Half
The understudy has become the star for the Muskegon Mona Shores football team.
James Gilbert was supposed to be “the other guy” this season, the receiver on the opposite side from Division I recruit Damari Roberson, who has committed to Western Michigan University.
But the cast list changed in June when Roberson, a 3.6 GPA student who at one time had more than 17 college football scholarship offers, tore the ACL in his left knee for the second time in nine months during a non-contact drill.
“That’s when everything changed,” explained Gilbert, who always had considered himself a basketball player on the football field. “The coaches and Damari sat me down and told me that I had to be the man, that I was the only one with the same type of ability that could take his place. They basically challenged me.”
Shores coach Matt Koziak said Gilbert, a 6-foot-2, 181-pound senior, has always had the physical skills. But since Roberson went down this summer, he has been focused, motivated and driven like never before.
The result has been an incredible senior season for Gilbert, who has 51 catches for 1,172 yards and 10 touchdowns. His emergence as one of the top receivers in the state enabled the Sailors to climb all the way to No. 1 in Division 2 in the final Associated Press state rankings.
Mona Shores (9-1) will put its top ranking to the test Friday night in the MHSAA District championship game against visiting Ottawa-Kent Conference Black rival Jenison (7-3). The two teams engaged in a shootout just three weeks ago, with the visiting Sailors escaping with a 49-42 victory.
Gilbert played a huge role in that win, with six catches for 93 yards and a touchdown, coming up big once again when his team needed it most.
“JG has been unbelievable all year,” said Koziak, who has a 60-26 record in eight years as the Sailors’ coach, highlighted by a run to the Division 2 title game in 2014. “With all of the injuries we’ve had, he’s kind of been the one constant. When we’re scratching our heads, we can always throw it up to James.”
Coming into the season, Koziak knew he had senior battering ram running back Sincere Dent (5-11, 217), who has delivered with 118 carries for 1,082 yards and 20 touchdowns. The problem is that Dent has played in only seven games and his playing time was reduced in several others due to shoulder and ankle injuries.
Junior quarterback Caden Broersma (6-3, 206) also has been outstanding, completing 81-of-112 passes (72 percent) for 1,547 yard and 13 touchdowns, with just one interception. He also has rushed for 621 yards and 12 touchdowns.
The most surprising statistic for Mona Shores is that Gilbert has accounted for 76 percent of the Sailors’ receiving yards.
“I’m not surprised, because he’s always had it in him,” said Roberson, who has remained a key part of the team, attending every practice and serving as another assistant coach for Koziak. “I always learned from him in basketball, and I taught him everything he knows about football. With me being out, he’s had more of a chance to show what he can do.”
Gilbert is starting to garner more and more interest from college football programs, with Saginaw Valley State, Ferris, Davenport and Mount Union (Ohio) showing the most thus far.
Gilbert wasted no time proving he would be “the man,” showing his big-play ability with five catches for 159 yards (32 yards per catch) and a touchdown in a big 48-38 win over East Kentwood in the season-opening Gridiron Classic at Grand Valley State University. East Kentwood hasn’t lost a game since.
He also came up big in the cross-town showdown Oct. 12 against unbeaten Muskegon, which is ranked No. 1 in Division 3. Gilbert caught six passes for 118 yards, including a one-handed, 28-yard touchdown grab. He also threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Swick on a trick play in that 55-35 loss.
And Gilbert was at it again in last week’s narrow 34-28 District win over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, catching five passes for 120 yards and a touchdown. He sealed the win with an interception as the Rangers were driving for a potential game-winning score in the final minute.
“It’s been fun, but we know we still have a lot of work to do,” said Gilbert, who has impressed opposing coaches with his ability to come down with big catches in traffic. “Damari and I have been playing with each other and against each other since Little League, so I kind of feel that I’m playing for him this season.”
As for Roberson, he still believes that a season that began with a nightmare injury could have a storybook ending – both for the team and himself.
Roberson (6-2, 194) said his rehabilitation is going great and his possible return date from the injury is during the week of the MHSAA Semifinals. So there remains the possibility, if the team keeps winning, that Roberson and Gilbert could line up as opposite wideouts, like the original plan.
“Stay tuned,” said Roberson, who is on pace to graduate early in December and then enroll at WMU in January. “After all that this team has been through, with all of the injuries, that would be the perfect ending.”
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) Mona Shores senior James Gilbert makes a one-handed catch for a 28-yard touchdown on a pass from Caden Broersma early in the second quarter Oct. 12 at Muskegon. (Middle) Damari Roberson returns a punt last year as a junior against Reeths-Puffer. Roberson has not played this season due to a knee injury. (Photos by Eric Sturr.)
Guy Delivers Champion's Trophy This Time After Sparking Muskegon's Comeback Win
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 26, 2023
DETROIT – M’Khi Guy was going to get his hands on the championship trophy no matter what happened in Saturday night’s Division 2 Football Final.
Handing out the championship and runner-up trophies is one of the perks of being part of the MHSAA Student Advisory Council, of which the Muskegon senior is a member. As much of an honor it would have been either way, Guy wanted to do everything he could to make sure he was handing the bigger wooden mitten to his coach, Shane Fairfield.
After rushing for 215 yards, throwing for 159 and accounting for four touchdowns, Guy got to do just that, placing the Division 2 championship trophy into Fairfield’s hands following Muskegon’s 33-21 victory over Warren De La Salle Collegiate at Ford Field.
“It’s awesome,” Guy said. “Last year wasn’t too fun for me, because I had to give it to the opposing team, Detroit (Martin Luther) King. But this time, I got to give it to my coach, my guy right here, and it made me feel great.”
Muskegon prevented De La Salle from winning a third straight Division 2 title while claiming its seventh Finals championship. It was the first since winning it all in 2017, and in between then and now Muskegon had finished runner-up three times, including a year ago to King.
“Everyone was wanting us to give up and quit and not get here,” Fairfield said. “‘You’re going to lose when you get there.’ And, like I said before we left, people want us to fall apart, people want us to break. I said we will not be broken today. We keep telling these guys to follow us and trust us. As much as they get the naysay, for these young men to believe in this coaching staff and their school district, in each other – words do not describe it.”
Muskegon (13-2) had to muster up some extra belief at halftime as it was down 21-7, and outside of an 80-yard touchdown run by Guy had gotten next to nothing going on offense.
That changed almost immediately in the second half, as Guy ran for a 52-yard score on the first possession of the half, and Muskegon wound up out-scoring the Pilots 26-0 over the final 24 minutes.
“They made plays and we didn’t,” De La Salle coach Dan Rohn said. “We went out there on that first drive and went three and out and gave them the opportunity to have the field. Then we did pin them deep, they hit us with a 90-yard touchdown pass, which is what we want them to do is throw the ball. Then we get an opportunity to get a drive going, we drop a pass, we have a fumble – uncharacteristic of us. We didn’t make those plays in the second half; they did.”
The 94-yard touchdown pass was what tied the game up, as Guy hit Destin Piggee down the middle of the field. Piggee had broken open, and Guy lofted the ball for him to run under. Piggee accelerated toward the ball, somehow kept his feet at midfield, and ran the rest of the way for the score, turning the game on its head midway through the third quarter.
“Really, at first I thought it was overthrown, so I was thinking I was going to dive for it,” Piggee said. “But I was able to keep my ground. As I was running, I was looking up at the screen and I saw (De La Salle defensive back James Wallace) gaining ground on me, so I swerved to the left a little bit and just kept on running.”
The Big Reds didn’t take their first lead of the game until the 2:16 mark of the third quarter, when Guy hit Da’Carion Taylor for a 28-yard score, making it 27-21.
Taylor had set the drive up with a fumble recovery in Muskegon territory and was tended to for an injury afterward. He returned, however, to make the leaping grab in the end zone.
A 12-yard TD run by Jakob Price gave the Big Reds a two-score lead at 33-21 with 10:43 remaining, but it was a later drive that didn’t provide any points that essentially put the game away.
After forcing a turnover on downs at their own 20, Muskegon drove 61 yards on 11 plays, taking 6:36 off the clock. While the score remained 33-21 when the drive ended, De La Salle was left with just 1:26 to score twice.
Even with that, though, Fairfield wasn’t satisfied until the final seconds ticked off the clock.
“When there was 11 seconds on the clock, I still wasn’t ready,” Fairfield said. “I’ve been here before. We were four seconds away from beating (Orchard Lake) St. Mary’s in (2016), and they threw a Hail Mary pass. I was re-living that again.”
Price finished with 86 yards rushing and the one touchdown for Muskegon.
De La Salle was led by Sante Gasperoni’s 249 yards passing and 41 rushing. He had two touchdowns on the ground, and one through the air to Damion King IV. King finished the game with 103 yards on five catches for the Pilots (12-3).
PHOTOS (Top) Muskegon’s M’Khi Guy (3) pulls away on one of his long runs during Saturday’s Division 2 Final at Ford Field. (Middle) The Big Reds’ Destin Piggee (5) stretches to snag the ball on his 94-yard touchdown catch. (Below) Guy presents the championship trophy to his coach Shane Fairfield as part of his duties as a member of the MHSAA Student Advisory Council. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)