Our Faces Gleam for SJH
By Dan Ward

So I was going to write my usual recap, but let’s face it, St. Johns got thumped.
I’m writing a brief recap of the game and the season.

But first, I want to say something to the Seniors, some of whom played their last game of football ever, and all of them played their last game wearing the black helmets with the Redwing logo.

I’m proud of you guys. I’m proud to be a Redwing. I’m proud of how you fought all year.
Here is what I see from my perspective. In the summer, when football gets going and we start having camps. I see a bunch of guys volunteering to teach the game they love to kids who are just growing to love it. Please continue to give back to the sport. The kids look up to you. Whatever you do in life, always try to give back. I see you guys around town, and you never fail to say ‘Hi’. The number of times I’ve walked into someplace and heard Gavin Moreno say “Dan Ward!” I couldn’t even begin to count. However, it always makes me smile. I see that it matters to you. You guys lose, and you try to hide tears. Never be embarrassed by tears. It means that something important to you happened. You win and you celebrate. I hang around after every game to see you celebrate with the student section, and, sure, I want to talk to the coaches and get something to write, but the dirty secret is that I have them text me. I hang around because it makes me happy to see you guys. I love you guys. From the bottom of my heart, “Thank you”.

OK, so that’s out of the way. Halloween night, the temperature was a brisk 49 degrees. Brisk is a nice way of saying it was cold. This was a rematch of a game we should have won in the regular season. Football is a funny sport. The ball is shaped strangely, and there are goalposts. The dimensions of the field are unusual, and sometimes the ball bouncing a certain way costs the game. I will go to my grave saying that the last time St. Johns and Haslett met, St. Johns was the better team.

This week, it was a different story. Haslett looked like a different team.
It started OK. We won the coin toss; we are a perfect 10-0 on coin tosses this year. We chose to receive, because the best way to beat Kory Amachree is to keep him on the sidelines.
However, we ended up punting, and Haslett scored with 8:44 left to play in the quarter, making the score 7-0.

The next drive, Conner Kurncz connected with Bryce Pratl, and shortly after Ian Smith scored, Nolan Koenigsknecht tacked on the extra point, and the game was tied 7-7.

The next drive for Haslett St. Johns was able to force a punt, but St. Johns was pinned deep in their own territory. They weren’t able to dig out of the hole and were forced to punt. Punters hate hearing “in the shadow of his own end zone” because it means the defense is going to pin their ears back and come after you. That’s just what happened, and Haslett was able to recover the blocked punt in the end zone, and just like that, it was 14-7.

St. Johns was forced to punt on the next drive, and that punt went straight up in the air and went out of bounds at the St. Johns 30-yard line.

At the start of the second quarter, Haslett moved the ball to the St. Johns 6-yard line. The defense held up and forced a field goal attempt. There was ‘trouble with the snap’ and the Haslett kicker picked up the ball and scrambled for a TD, pushing Haslett’s lead out to 21-7.

St. Johns was forced to punt on their next drive as well, and Haslett was able to score again, pushing the lead out to 28-7.

The Redwings’ next possession was a turnover on downs, and Haslett scored again, extending the out further 35-7.

The next possession and more bad luck for the Redwings. St. Johns fumbled, and Haslett recovered on the Redwings’ 38. With 21 seconds left, Haslett punched it in again and took a 42-7 lead into the locker room.

Halftime was dull as St. Johns had more fans in the away bleachers than Haslett had in their bleachers. Haslett chose not to have a halftime show.

The third quarter and St. Johns had to kick off. With the running clock rule, the game went by pretty quickly, and Haslett’s first drive of the second half ate up 6 minutes and 44 seconds of the quarter and resulted in Haslett’s final score of 44-7.

St. Johns was forced to punt, and the quarter ended with Haslett driving. St. Johns defense was able to stop Haslett on this drive, and Haslett turned the ball over on downs.

St. Johns took over at their 46 and started to move the ball. Kurncz hooked up with Archer Gurski for a couple of receptions, and with 6:35 left in the 4th, Xavier ‘Bengi’ Benjamin scored with the assist from Koenigsknecht. The score was 47-14.

That’s how it all ended. Haslett advanced to face Williamston, and St. Johns turns to wrestling, basketball, and swimming.

The season had its ups and downs for sure. When I spoke with Coach Schmitt before the season, he said this season could go 1-8 or 8-1. We all knew Williamston was bringing back monsters.

They started on fire. St. Johns took down Hamilton at home 22-14. Week two, The Redwings traveled to rival Ionia and beat the Bulldogs soundly, 49-16. Week three saw them travel to Fowlerville, a playoff qualifier, for a barn burner of a game that St. Johns won 27-26. Eastern was up next, and St. Johns dominated 49-0.
Then came the gauntlet. Williamston, who currently stands at 10-0, was a beast, and the Redwings didn’t play their best, dropping their first game of the year 43-0. Week 6 took the team to Mason, also a playoff qualifier, where St. Johns fell just short, 31-20; three of those points were a late-game field goal. Next up was the aforementioned Haslett game in St. Johns, where a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown ended up being the deciding factor. St. Johns dropped that game 21-13. Week eight saw the Redwings fly (sorry) north to Gaylord to take on the now 10-0 Blue Devils. St. Johns dropped that game by 4. Last week saw them go south to Ypsilanti, home of my favorite band, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, to take on the playoff-qualifying Lincoln Railsplitters. St. Johns won that game 28-23.

Coach Schmitt summed the season up like this: “This was a great group of young men! They were dedicated, they worked hard, and they were great teammates!
There were highs and lows like any season, and this group showed up ready every day. We had a tough schedule this year, but these guys were resilient all the way through. Beating a playoff-bound team in week 9 to clinch the playoffs showed that resilience after suffering four tough losses in a row.
I am proud of these guys for getting us back to the playoffs for the second year in a row!
I am proud of what these guys represent both on and off the field. This was a team that will be deeply missed, and I thank them for all of their efforts. I also want to thank the community for all of their support throughout the year! We live in a great town that supports its student athletes, and I feel blessed to be able to coach this program.”

So that’s it. St. Johns ends up 5-5. I’m going to be switching to wrestling in a couple of weeks, and I’ll be sure to bring you all the highlights of wrestling season.

Thanks again for reading these. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed writing them.

Click photo for gallery by Glenn Armstrong