Division 4 final: Harper Woods football wins first state title on final play, 33-27

Harper Woods entered Saturday’s Division 4 state final at Ford Field with no championship track record.

But that all changed as the Pioneers downed Grand Rapids South Christian — a school with five championship banners — 33-27, in a game that came down to the final play of the game.

South Christian’s 6-foot-4 junior quarterback Carson Vis, who shattered an MHSAA single game passing record for yardage going 30 of 44 for 441, was stopped on the Harper Woods 3-yard line as time expired after he was flushed out of the pocket and threw an incomplete pass.

“Our guys started this journey in January and they brought it here to Ford Field,” Harper Woods coach Rod Oden said. “We were locked in and did all we needed to do and for the most part we were able to accomplish and complete the whole task. It was a great ballgame. I’m glad it came down to the end. Our defense — we knew it would come down to them for us to win a championship.“

For that final play, the Pioneers zeroed in on both Vis and senior wide receiver Jake Vermaas, the latter who finished the game with 10 catches for 196 yards on the game.

“I was man-to-man on Number 2 (Vermaas),” said Harper Woods senior defensive back and Michigan commit Jacob Oden, who had a team-high seven tackles. “The whole game I felt like they were avoiding me. If I was going over the top they would go underneath. And if I was going underneath, they were going over the top. It was kind of frustrating for me. But I know I have some other guys who can make some plays — Keyontae, Number 7, on the last play made a play on the ball. He’s been working all summer. I knew my guys had my back.”

Harper Woods (11-3) used a balanced offensive attack as junior Donald Adams rushed for 174 yards on 17 carries, while sophomore quarterback Nate Rocheleau completed 10 of 17 for 210 yards and two touchdowns.

“I’m very proud of my team, we came together and got the ‘W,’” said Dakota Guerrant, a ninth-grader who played in the secondary and had a team-best four receptions for 81 yards and a TD. “ ... Next, year we’ve got to carry on the legacy and dominate until we get the ‘W’ again and championship.”

South Christian (10-4), which never led, outgained Harper Woods in total yards, 533-497, but came up just short at the end.

“Wish we had another play,” said Vis said. “Obviously I tried, but it didn’t work out. We got down there to the 3-yard line. We talked about being our last time of playing together. We can’t lie down and quit and that was attitude that we wanted to do.”

Down 13 at halftime, South Christian took the opening possession and moved down to the Harper Woods  20 on a 55-yard pass from Vis, who eluded a sack by Corey Bailey, to Jake Vermaas.

But on the next play, Bailey came up with fumble recovery at the 18. Officials ruled initially the Sailors recovered, but the call was overturned by replay officials.

And that set up a 90-yard TD pass from Rocheleau to Ramonty Houze, who found himself wide open down the sideline after a Sailors defender fell down give the Pioneers a 27-7 advantage with 8:35 to go.

But just 94 seconds later, South Christian answered on a Charlie Schreur 1-yard TD run with Vis going 4 of 6 passing on the drive for 66 yards. That sliced Harper Woods’ lead to 27-14.

The replay figured prominently again as Vis fumbled at the Harper Woods 22. Brandon Houston knocked the ball loose and Kaleb Jefferson returned it the other way 53 yards. But after another review, Vis was ruled down for no gain. On the next play he scored on a keeper from 22 yards out to cut the deficit to 27-20 after Vory Peacock blocked the PAT with 10:41 remaining.

“Our message at halftime was be resilient, and nothing you do in life is never going to be easy and you’ll face adversity and that was the message,” South Christian coach Danny Brown said. “These are a bunch of great guys that do things the right way. If there was ever a time to overcome adversity the second half was the time. It came down to one last play and they fought like crazy, and I’m proud of them."

Stephone Buford’s 1-yard sneak capping a 10-play, 86-yard drive with only 6:34 left gave Harper Woods a 33-20 cushion (after the PAT was blocked), only to have South Christian answer on a 12-yard TD pass from Vis to Noah Funk with 4:52 to go to pull them within six, 33-20.

Harper Woods went into halftime leading 20-7 thanks to a late TD on a 27-yard pass from Rocheleau to Dakota Guerrant, but the PAT was blocked by South Christian’s Colin Vugteveen with 0:42 left.

The Sailors nearly came back in an effort to trim the 13-point deficit thanks to a 33-yard pass from Vis to Vermaas down to the Harper Woods 9 with only 4 seconds remaining. But the Pioneers’ Keyontae Wilson came up with an interception on the final play to keep the first half score intact.

The Pioneers led South Christian in total first-half yardage, 264-183, as all but 20 yards for the Sailors came via the air as Vis was 12 of 19 for 163 yards.

Meanwhile, Rocheleau was 8 of 14 passing for 109 and Donald Adams led the ground attack with 75 yards on six carries.

There was no stage fright being in their inaugural state championship appearance as the Pioneers marched 69 yards on nine plays on their opening drive capped by Guerrant’s 6-yard TD run for a 7-0 lead. Harper Woods kept the drive alive converting a fourth-and-1 on its own 40 thanks to a 19-yard run out of the Wildcat formation by Buford.

And the Pioneers cashed in on their second possession of the game to lead 14-0 on Dwight Houston’s 4-yard TD run with 3:47 left in the first. The drive covered 70 yards in just six plays.

After being stymied to minus-7 total yards, South Christian finally showed signs of life offensively midway through the second quarter getting a 39-yard TD pass from Vis to Vermaas with 8:34 to go half. That came after the two had a 70-yard TD connection nullified by a holding call.

South Christian, despite being down the entire game, seemed poised to steal a victory during the final seconds after being down by 20 points.

“That program has a championship pedigree, they were defending champs,” Oden said. “We knew that they weren’t going to quit and they were going to be relentless, and we knew it could possibly come down to the wire. We tried to do our best to get up three scores and kind of create some wiggle room, but they have a great team. Hats off to them for a great season.”

And for Harper Woods, it was extra special in one regard as the Oden father-son tandem got to celebrate the school’s first-ever state title.

“I’m his dad and I’m always going to be his dad,” Rod Oden said. “I don’t even coach him ... fortunate enough my staff coaches him.”

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MHSAA Division 4 final: Harper Woods wins state title on final play