.hockeyweekly Ford Field, Detroit 2020 MHSAA Football Finals January 22-23 Welcome Panthers Pounce on D3 Title elcome to the MHSAA Finals! This is a class‐ Wroom like no other, and now is the time for the final exam. Like the academic class‐ room, some have had good fortune along the way getting here; others have overcome adversity. Even today, a good bounce or a bad bounce will occur. Your athletic skills are put to the test, but more importantly, your discipline will be challenged as well. To wait for the exact moment, use the right touch, make the right cut. Discipline also means testing your people skills. 44 To embrace our diverse opponents as equals, and to employ common decency – every – single – moment. Long known for its basketball prowess, the Win or lose. Panthers of River Rouge added an MHSAA football That’s the beauty of educational athletics. The takeaways today are not the trophies and medals, crown to its stuffed trophy case with a convincing win but the life lessons learned and applied. over perennial power Muskegon in the 2019 Division 3 Good luck to all! title game at Ford Field in Detroit. — Mark Uyl MHSAA Executive Director INSIDE the mhsaa football finals 2019 Finals Review . .4 Ford Field Information . .8 Division 1 & 2 Finalists . .9 MHSAA Programs and Scope Division 3 & 4 Finalists . .21 School Sports Editorial . .MHSAA‐1 Division 5 & 6 Finalists . .29 Scholar‐Athlete Award . .MHSAA‐2 Division 7 & 8 Finalists . .41 Finals Apparel . .MHSAA‐4 2019 Champions/Yearly Champions . .50 Fall Sports Finals on the Air . .MHSAA‐5 Finals Records . .54 Student Advisory Council . .MHSAA‐6 Finals Notes . .56 Representative Council . .MHSAA‐8 MHSAA Finals programs are produced by the Michigan High School Athletic Association, Inc., 1661 Ramblewood Drive, East Lansing, Mich.; Executive Director Mark Uyl. The Finals program series is designed by Rob Kaminski, and edited by Kaminski and Geoff Kimmerly. The rest of the MHSAA staff includes: Tony Bihn, Jordan Cobb, Sam Davis, Andy Frushour, Nathaniel S. Hampton, Scott Helmic, Dan Hutcheson, Cody Inglis, Camala Kinder, Cole Malatinsky, Peggy Montpas, Andrea Osters, Thomas M. Rashid, Brent Rice, Laura Roberts, Jon Ross, Adam Ryder, Jamie VanDerMoere, Faye Verellen, Tricia Wieferich, Kathy Vruggink Westdorp, Paige Winne, and Karen Yonkers. Cover Photo–Hockey Weekly MHSAA Finals 3 2019 Finals Review — Tom Kendra, Special for MHSAA Second Half PANTHERS POUNCE ON D3 TITLE iver 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 Rtop-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 2019 Division 3 champi- onship game at Ford Field in Detroit. “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 cen- tered 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 after- ward 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 Hockey Weekly Action Photos for 45 yards. “I just had to follow my blocks,” said STEALING THE SHOW River Rouge QB Mareyohn Hrabowski took over the 2019 Division 3 Final with three rushing Hrabowski. “I had faith in myself and my TDs to lead the Panthers to their first football championship. team, and we came out on top.” It was the first Finals appearance and pass, going 0-for-5 through the air. yards, but Hrabowski more than made up championship for Rouge, which has quali- “We just didn’t play our game, really,” the difference. fied for the playoffs all 10 years under said Martinez, who faced relentless pres- Rouge used extremely wide splits on Parker. Rouge lost its opener this fall to sure every time he dropped back to throw. the offensive line to open up running lanes Friday’s Division 4 champion Grand Rapids “We have played great for 13 weeks, and for Hrabowski, who stunned the stingy Big Catholic Central before reeling off 13 we picked a bad time to play bad.” Reds’ defense with his vision and decep- straight wins. The Panthers were ranked Hrabowski scored on runs of one and tive speed in the open field. On two of his No. 5 in Division 3 entering the playoffs 40 yards in the second quarter, as the scoring runs he faked a jet sweep handoff The other storyline Saturday was the Panthers took a 14-7 lead into halftime. and ran straight ahead behind guard Rouge defense, which held a Muskegon Rouge (13-1) kept its foot on the accel- Deshawn Smith and tackle Chance Moore team averaging 49 points per game to a erator during the second half, with through the left side of the line and eventu- season-low seven. Rmontaye Caldwell returning the third- ally into the end zone. The Panthers did it with an ultra- quarter kickoff 36 yards to the Muskegon The Panthers held a 330-180 edge in aggressive strategy, sometimes with all 11 35-yard line. On the next play, Hrabowski total yards, including a 45-0 edge passing. defensive players within three yards of the went 35 yards on a keeper and the lead Rouge outrushed Muskegon 285-180. line of scrimmage just daring Martinez to was 21-7. Darieon Jones, a 5-8, 190-pound throw the ball. The score remained the same until the senior defensive back, was everywhere for Instead, Muskegon kept trying to find a fourth quarter, when Rouge rounded out Rouge, registering a game-high 14 tackles, way to break Martinez through the initial the scoring on a 31-yard field goal by Avery including 10 solos. Linebacker Deshawn wall and into the clear, but it never hap- Burch and a 33-yard run by Deandre Walker had eight tackles, and Tyron Jones pened. Bulley. and Chastin Cross each made six stops. Martinez, a 5-11, 190-pound senior fin- Bulley, a 6-2, 245-pound senior, came Muskegon was led by senior linebacker ished with 108 rushing yards, but it took into the game needing just 80 yards to Tarran Walker and senior safety Tyreese him 34 carries to get there – at 3.2 yards reach 2,000 for the season. He came up Oakes with nine tackles apiece. per carry. He also did not complete a single five yards short, with 15 carries for 75 4 MHSAA Finals 2019 Finals Review Soph leads GRCC in D4 Final lansing catholic takes d5 oey Silveri and his Grand Rapids Catholic Central teammates ach Gillespie was just part of what was out of rhythm Jwanted to prove they had the talent to match up with Detroit Zfor Lansing Catholic during the first half of the 2019 Country Day. Division 5 Final against Almont. It turns out, the Cougars had the talent to overwhelm the top- The senior quarterback headed into the break 2-of-6 ranked football team in Division 4 as they cruised to a 44-0 victory in passing for 16 yards with an interception, and had eight car- the 2019 Division 4 Final at Ford Field. ries for nine yards – not at all characteristic for a standout “Every week we get people telling us, ‘You guys are a good team, who had thrown for nearly 2,500 yards and run for more but we don’t really know how,’” the Catholic Central sophomore quar- than 550 through his first 13 games of the season. terback said. “’You guys don’t really have that good of players.’ To But somehow, the Cougars and Raiders were tied. And come out here against a great team like Country Day and prove that meant Lansing Catholic was in position to win. everybody wrong is amazing.” Gillespie stormed back with a big second half, the The win gave Catholic Central offense meeting halfway a defense that had kept the its fifth title and third in four years. Cougars in the game, and the lessons of comebacks earlier In 2016 the Cougars also defeated this season made the difference in Lansing Catholic finish- Country Day. That one ended 10-7 ing a 31-17 win over Almont to earn its first Finals champi- – but this time, the result wasn’t in onship since 1985. doubt by early in the second half. “I probably shouldn’t say that with these guys here, but “I can’t say that I saw 44-0 com- I don’t think this team is the most talented team from top to ing,” said Catholic Central coach bottom that we’ve ever had,” said Cougars coach Jim Todd Kolster, who now has four Ahern, who also brought Lansing Catholic to Ford Field in titles to his credit. “I felt really good 2011 and 2014. “But I’ll tell ya, I don’t think I’ve had a team about our team. I felt really good that has more chemistry and more heart than this group.” about what we were doing.