Despite rocky regular season, Detroit King piecing together another MHSAA playoff run

Two-time defending Division 3 state champ Detroit King led, 13-7, with 7 seconds left when River Rouge’s Nick Marsh went high in the air to haul in a 5-yard touchdown pass.

All that separated Rouge from the semifinals was a little extra point.

But the celebration following Marsh’s touchdown was simply out of control, so Rouge was hit with a 15-yard penalty, pushing the ball back to the 18-yard line.

Following a procedure penalty, the ball was on the 23, which meant Rouge needed to convert a 31-yard extra point. Instead, it went wide right, sending the game into overtime.

King, which entered the playoffs after a 4-5 regular season, was able to escape overtime with a 20-19 victory to earn a spot in Saturday’s 1 p.m. semifinal against Mason at Chelsea for the third year in a row.

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This one wasn’t easy. And it was a 14-year-old freshman who helped steal the show.

King had the ball first in overtime and scored when freshman Darryl Flemister III threw a third-down four-yard touchdown pass to Ka'von Matthews.

“I knew I had my best player to my go-to side,” said Flemister. “I had my best player over their best player and I threw it and my best player was a dog and he came down with the ball.”

Matthews said the defensive back seemed to know he was the intended receiver.

“I knew it was coming my way and he tried to cheat the play,” Matthews said. “I told myself to make the play, don’t overthink it. It’s like in practice.”

Earlier in the game, Matthews caught a 58-yard TD pass from Flemister.

“Man,” Matthews said, “he’s the future, for real.”

The Crusaders kicked the extra point, but Rouge scored on the first play of its overtime possession when Marsh, who committed to Michigan State months ago, took the ball on a reverse.

Once again, Rouge needed an extra point, but this time a low snap forced holder Nate Stallworth to pick up the ball and he began running to his right, trying to turn the corner and win the game with a 2-point conversion.

But suddenly, King right defensive end Marquise White came flying across the field and tackled Stallworth from behind to preserve the victory.

“I had no choice,” White said. “I saw him with the ball and I ran full speed. We knew we had to go out there and give it our all. We had to go out there, burst the eggs, get a pushback.

“I feel it’s my biggest tackle of my life.”

Midway through the second quarter, Flemister threw to the wrong side of a receiver on a fourth-and-1 play. But he settled down and was 11-for-16 for 144 yards and three touchdowns.

“That kid is a special talent,” said King coach Tyrone Spencer. “He took one in the ribs, got changed, put a rib cage on, he was good.

“He’s not scared of the moment at all. He’ll make a mistake, he’ll bounce back.”

If nothing else, the 5-foot-10 Flemister proved the moment was not too big for a freshman.

“It was the biggest experience of me being in a big game, going to overtime as a freshman in high school,” he said. “I took my coaching and my preparation and we won. It feels good.”

White was shaking his head and repeating that Flemister is only 14, but played like a season veteran.

“Man, these next three years,” White said, “you guys are going to have to keep a watch on him. He’s something special.”

Defense wins championships

Davison’s offense has been something of a juggernaut, averaging 45 points a game. But it was the No. 4 Cards defense that sparked it to a 28-14 upset of No. 2 Rockford.

“That one fourth-down play at the goal line,” Davison coach Jake Weingartz said. “They tried to run iso and Carter Herriman blows up the fullback up and then tackles the running back for a loss. It was probably one of the greatest plays I’ve ever seen a high school linebacker make.”

Herriman — 6-2, 215 and committed to Miami (Ohio) — also picked off a pass in the red zone to keep Davison safely ahead.

“Miami of Ohio is getting a steal,” Weingartz said. “He’s probably the fastest kid on our team; he can fly. He’s an old-school football player, man.”

Quarterback Sawyer Glennie’s first 1-yard TD run was set up by a gutsy fourth-and-2 pass to AJ Hill, which went for a 32-yard gain.

“We watched a boatload of film,” Weingartz said. “We saw a certain set where they were cutting guys loose. We added a little wrinkle in it. We figured, heck, we’re going to unload the clip, let’s go.”

Davison now faces two-time defending state champ Belleville on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Novi.

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In most circles, the Cards were underdogs against Rockford, but this will be an even bigger assignment against Belleville, which has won 37 consecutive games.

“We’re obviously going to be an underdog and I think that’s a great, great spot for us,” Weingartz said. “The kids really play with a chip on their shoulder and they’re not intimidated by stars or how many offers a kid’s got or how many they’ve won by.

“They think they’re the best and they go out and play like it.”

Catholic showdown

It didn’t take long for the Grand Rapids Catholic Central players to know they were in for quite a showdown when they played at Division 5 Grand Rapids West Catholic.

“We were four blocks from the stadium and we were at a crawl because of how many cars parked on the street and all of the people were walking down the side of the street,” said CC coach Todd Kolster. “It took us quite a while to get into the school parking lot.”

That is how it should have been when two of the state’s premier programs, regardless of class, met in a regional final.

Since 2010, West Catholic has won seven state championships and CC has won six, ranging from D-4 to D-6.

Kolster tried to soft-peddle the CC-West rivalry and tried to get his players to look at the bigger picture.

“We told the kids, we’ve got a chance to go to our ninth semifinal in my 12 years,” he said. “That’s nine regional championships. It was a trophy game.

“But in the end, when you see all of the alumni and all of the priests come out before the game, you definitely know it’s a Catholic Central-West Catholic game, for sure.”

The actual game lived up to its billing. Both teams took turns leading before CC quarterback Connor Wolf dived into the end zone with 1:15 left to play to secure the win.

West had taken the lead with 3:49 remaining, but CC was never flustered as it moved down the field and didn’t try to get all of the yards at once.

“On offense is where more of our older kids are, so I felt comfortable going into the drive,” said Kolster. “I felt that we were going to be in good shape and our kids did a really nice job executing, kind of methodically, down the field. We weren’t panicked at all. We took our time. We were able to do it and got the score.”

In addition to Wolf, CC had another outstanding two-way performance from tailback/defensive back Kellen Russell-Dixon.

“If there’s a better tailback around, I’d love to see it,” Kolster said. “That kid is special. He can catch it, he can run it. And he’s a great defensive back.”

CC now plays Frankenmuth at 1 p.m. Saturday at Ithaca.

Comeback story

Zach Hilbers and his West Bloomfield team could have been forgiven if they thought their regional final against Clarkston was a continuation of their Week 6 44-36 loss to the Wolves.

Des Stephens III gave Clarkston a 20-0 lead with a 94-yard touchdown reception in the first minute of the second quarter.

Nigel Dunton did score on a 1-yard run for the Lakers, who still trailed 20-7 at halftime.

“We kind of grabbed the kids as they came off the field for halftime and told them, this isn’t over,” Hilbers said. “We used the boxing analogy. They landed a few haymakers early and we were kind of dazed and wobbling.

“We didn’t feel we got knocked out. We might have got knocked down, but we didn’t feel got knocked out.”

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In fact, it was West Bloomfield that did the knocking out. The Lakers rallied for a 21-20 victory to move into Saturday’s 1 p.m. Division 1 semifinal game against Southfield A&T at Troy. West Bloomfield beat Southfield, 31-20, in Week 8.

Kam Flowers’ 10-yard TD run midway through the third quarter cut the lead to 20-14.

West Bloomfield’s game-winning drive began with 8:29 left in the fourth quarter and faced a fourth-and-1 from Clarkston’s 42-yard line. Quarterback Reqez Nance kept the ball looking for a first down, but wound up with a touchdown run with 2:46 remaining.

“Sometimes it happens on those fourth-and-short, the line gets kind of loaded up,” Hilbers said. “If you hit the right crease you can just go and that’s what happened to us.”

Dunton and Justin Tyler each had a hand in blocking a field goal attempt on the game’s final play to send the Lakers into the semifinals.

“It just gives you life,” Hilbers said. “All you're playing for is the chance to play one more week. Your end goal might be bigger than that, but you’ve got to take it one week at a time. We got a chance to practice one more week and play one more week.

“If you’re still playing football and, you’re practicing with the lights on, it’s a great thing.”

Mick McCabe is a former longtime columnist for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at mick.mccabe11@gmail.com. Follow him @mickmccabe1. Order his book, “Mick McCabe’s Golden Yearbook: 50 Great Years of Michigan’s Best High School Players, Teams & Memories,” now at McCabe.PictorialBook.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit King piecing together another playoff run after 4-5 season