Wassink, Sailors Take Back Championship
November 28, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
DETROIT – The first time Jon Wassink led Grand Rapids South Christian to Ford Field, he spent the 2012 MHSAA Division 4 Final on the sideline with a broken collarbone as his back-up took the team the rest of the way to a title.
Wassink brought the Sailors back to Detroit in 2013 – but they couldn’t keep pace with Marine City despite his three touchdown passes and two scoring runs.
Friday night against Lansing Sexton was Wassink’s last chance to be part of an MHSAA football champion – and play a physical part in a championship game win.
And he didn’t let it slip by. The Sailors' senior quarterback threw for 179 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 122 and another score as South Christian edged Sexton 28-27 for its second Division 4 title in three seasons.
Oh, and Wassink also had four tackles and an interception from his defensive back spot and averaged 39.8 yards on six punts.
“Two years ago when we won it, I was just happy for the team and the community. Part of me obviously wanted to play too, so that was really disappointing but (I was) really happy at the same time,” said Wassink, who was injured in the Semifinal win that season.
“(Last year) was the driving force behind our whole season. We just didn’t want to end our season like we did last year.”
But Sexton came so close to sending Wassink to Western Michigan University with another runner-up finish instead.
The Big Reds (13-1), undefeated on the way to their first MHSAA Final appearance, scored on the game’s opening drive, 2 minutes and 22 seconds into the first quarter.
South Christian (12-2) scored the next two touchdowns, and Sexton then answered. The Sailors took a 21-13 lead into halftime after a Wassink touchdown pass with seven seconds to go before the break and extended the advantage on his 68-yard touchdown run 13 seconds into the third quarter. But the Big Reds battled back with two more scores to pull within a point of the lead with 10:43 to play.
“They’re a scary team. They have all of those great athletes and big bodies,” South Christian coach Mark Tamminga said. “We knew going in they scored a lot of points during the second half and wear you down with all of those big bodies. Our kids just stepped up and made plays when they had to.”
The first set of offensive plays didn’t result in a score – but burned 5:16 off the clock to give the Big Reds only 5:25 to work with as it drove to take the lead.
The second set of difference-making maneuvers actually came on the same play – and on defense. Sexton had a new set of downs at its 38-yard line when senior linebacker Sam Heyboer burst into the Big Reds' backfield for a 12-year sack. In the process he helped cause a fumble that was recovered by another senior linebacker, Nick Bosch.
But again, South Christian didn’t score – yet took an additional 2:13 off the clock before Wassink was stopped short on a fourth down run by Big Reds senior lineman Isaiah Brown. Only 1:35 remained, and Sexton could advance only 32 yards to its 39-yard-line before the clock ran out.
“Our defense had a heck of a goalline stand down there, and I’m proud of my kids. They fought hard against a really good football team,” Sexton coach Dan Boggan said. “We’re an outstanding football team ourselves, and it could’ve gone either way. I’m disappointed, but I’m not broken.”
Sexton allowed only 63 more second-half yards after Wassink’s long scoring run during the first half-minute of the third quarter. But Sexton also had three turnovers total, while the Sailors never turned over the ball, and missed an extra point after its final touchdown that would’ve tied the score. The Sailors also held a Sexton rushing attack featuring two 1,000-yard rushers to only 101.
Big Reds quarterback Malik Mack finished an outstanding varsity career with 224 yards and two touchdowns passing and another score on the ground. Both of his touchdown passes went to sophomore tight end Kahari Foy-Walton, and senior Rayshawn Wilborn added eight catches for 84 yards and eight tackles at linebacker.
Junior lineman Marshaun Blake had a game-high nine tackles and his teammates combined for six tackles for losses and three sacks. “They were one of the best, if not the best we played all year,” Wassink said. “Fast, physical, just really tough.”
Heyboer finished with two of his team’s three sacks and also caught one of Wassink’s three touchdown passes. Seniors Ryan Veenstra and Eric VanVoorst caught the others, and senior Geff Plasman finished his career with 80 more rushing yards to end up with 1,300 for this fall.
Wassink’s final numbers for his final season set the bar high for those who follow. Adding in his Ford Field heroics, Wassink finished with 1,426 yards and 18 touchdowns rushing and 2,494 yards and 28 touchdowns passing.
And he'll graduate as a two-time MHSAA champion – this time having had something to say about the final result.
“He’s been driven all year. This is what he wanted,” Tamminga said. “He felt he didn’t play the best here last year, and he wanted to go out with a state championship.
“What a tremendous athlete.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Lansing Sexton’s Malik Mack (4) and Ardis Davis (9) work to wrap up a South Christian ball carrier Friday night. (Middle) Mack prepares to unload a pass with the Sailors’ Jake Wierenga applying pressure. (Click for action photos and team photos from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:
WASSINK'S OFF TO THE RACES - Grand Rapids South Christian scored touchdowns on its last possession of the first half and its first of the second half against Lansing Sexton. Here's the second TD, a 68-yard run by quarterback Jon Wassink. The TD and extra point that followed turned out to be the winning scoring sequence in a 28-27 Sailors win.
SEXTON TIGHTENS IT UP - Early in the fourth period, Lansing Sexton pulled within a point of Grand Rapids South Christian on a 29-yard pitch/catch/run play from Malik Mack to Kahari Foy-Walton. It was the second time the duo connected for a score in the game.
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Superb Seniors Bringing Gladwin to Ford Field as 1st-Time Football Finalist
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 23, 2022
Nick Wheeler had a feeling growing up that he and his Gladwin classmates could have some success when it was their time to lead the Flying Gs varsity football program.
He just had no idea how much.
“I never saw the state championship,” the Gladwin senior quarterback and safety said. “I saw us winning the Jack Pine Conference, which was something that hadn’t been done in a while.”
Wheeler and his teammates have blown past those expectations and are now one win away from what once felt impossible.
Led by a strong senior class, Gladwin will play in an MHSAA Football Final for the first time Saturday. In Division 5, the Flying Gs will take on Frankenmuth, which is also seeking its first football title.
“This has been our dream since we’ve been in high school,” senior linebacker and running back Logan Kokotovich said. “We went down (to Ford Field) to watch games my freshman year, and it was amazing. Back before high school, we were blowing teams out of the water. Everyone thought we could be good, but we knew we had to really work hard to get there.”
Gladwin football was in a much different place when Wheeler, Kokotovich and their classmates entered high school. The program had won just six games total over the previous three seasons, and hadn’t been to the postseason since 2014.
“I remember going to games when I was young and we would always lose,” Kokotovich said. “I would tell my dad, ‘That’s not a surprise.’”
As the Class of 2023 entered the high school, the Flying Gs were getting new leadership. Marc Jarstfer took over as head coach in 2019 after being an assistant at his alma mater – and Gladwin’s arch rival – Clare.
“I had no idea of what was coming up,” Jarstfer said. “I didn’t really pay attention to the youth programs (at Gladwin) or that sort of thing. I was familiar with the current situation. I think in that first year our staff was here, we saw that group had pretty significant potential. They went undefeated on JV with two freshmen playing on varsity. We figured if they continue to work hard and do the right things, they could be very good.”
Kokotovich and receiver/safety Kaden McDonald both played varsity as freshmen, and 10 members of the Class of 2023 played varsity as sophomores.
It was during that 2020 season that the turnaround started to feel more like reality. Gladwin went 4-4, but its three regular-season losses were by a combined 24 points. It also had a win against Division 2 Dexter, which featured multiple college prospects.
“That’s when I started noticing it,” Wheeler said. “We were in close games with teams that we were never close with before, like Clare and Beaverton. And we were just young sophomores.”
The following year was a true breakthrough, as Gladwin went 9-0, claiming its first Jack Pine title in 20 years and winning it outright for the first time ever. Gladwin got there by defeating Clare for the first time in 40 years.
Then, in the first round of the playoffs, the Flying Gs’ season came to an abrupt halt, with a loss to that same Clare team.
It was humbling, but also motivating.
“We just thought we were the best,” Wheeler said. “That really put us down and made us work even harder for next season to achieve our goal. The coaches, they put pictures right in front of our squat rack of Clare beating us. So that’s looking at us every time we lift.”
The motivation clearly worked, as Gladwin repeated its 9-0 regular season, winning a second-straight Jack Pine title. This time, however, the Flying Gs were even more dominant. They outscored their regular-season opponents by a combined 444-48, with 27 of those points allowed coming in their 33-27 win at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep.
But nothing Gladwin accomplished could compare to its 28-21 Semifinal win against Grand Rapids Catholic Central. The Cougars had won Finals titles in four of the past five seasons, including the past two Division 5 titles. It was the first postseason loss for Catholic Central since 2018.
“Everybody doubted us going into that game,” Wheeler said. “Grand Rapids Catholic Central, everybody thinks they’re just the best, but we just took it as they were another team. We didn’t think of them any differently. Everybody (on the team) believed. It was probably the best feeling of my life.”
The Flying Gs are now one win away from an even better feeling. But no matter what happens at Ford Field on Saturday, they’ve already established themselves as the group that turned the program around.
That’s a feeling that’s made even more special by the fact they’ve been able to do it with their lifelong friends.
“It is definitely going to be something I remember for the rest of my life,” Kokotovich said. “This group of guys is everything. We’ve pushed each other so much, and it’s all just falling together. This is awesome.”
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) Gladwin's Logan Kokotovich (12) holds onto the ball during Saturday's Semifinal win over Grand Rapids Catholic Central. (Middle) Senior Lincoln McKinnon works to shed a blocker and get to the GRCC quarterback. (Below) Earl Esiline keeps his feet on the icy turf. (Photos by Mike Kolleth.)