Explosive Niles football earns Division 4 district rematch with Vicksburg
NILES – Coach Scot Shaw had a very simple message for his 8-1 Niles Vikings after Michigan’s state high school football pairings were announced early Sunday evening.
Just keep doing what you have been doing one game at a time.
The Vikings’ first opponent this Friday night at 7 p.m. in Viking Stadium will be a familiar one — Wolverine Conference foe Vicksburg. Niles and Vicksburg met back on Sept. 29 at Viking Stadium and the Vikings prevailed 50-0, one of eight victories that ended with a running clock as Niles outscored its opposition 460-70. The only setback was a 15-14 non-conference loss at Lakeshore Sept. 1.
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“Win four games and you’re in ‘The Dome’; win five and you’re state champions,” said Shaw, who guided Three Rivers to the 2003 Division 4 state title. “The Dome” is Detroit’s Ford Field, the indoors home of the NFL Detroit Lions and the site of this year’s Division 4 state championship game on Saturday, Nov. 25 at 1 p.m.
On Sunday, the Vikings, ranked No. 8 in the Associated Press prior to last Friday’s home 56-18 rout of previously unbeaten and No. 3 Paw Paw, learned officially that they would be playing the Bulldogs, who qualified with a 4-5 record but are coming off a 27-6 victory over Plainwell.
The Niles-Vicksburg matchup is one of two semifinals in Region 2-District 1. The other is another matchup of Wolverine Conference teams — first-year coach Dan Purlee’s Edwardsburg Eddies (5-4) and coach Dennis Strey’s Paw Paw Red Wolves (8-1). That game will take place Friday at Paw Paw’s Wayne Falan Field. The Red Wolves blanked the Eddies 35-0 in Edwardsburg on Sept. 29.
If it should win Friday night, Niles would host the Edwardsburg-Paw Paw winner on Friday, Nov. 4 for the district championship. The Vikings then could host a regional championship game Nov. 11.
Coach Mark Frey’s 6-3 Buchanan Bucks also earned a post-season playoff berth in Division 6 and will travel to Kalamazoo to play Hackett Catholic Prep’s 5-4 Fighting Irish in a Region 3-District 1 semifinal. It will be the first meeting between the two teams since Buchanan won 26-13 back in the 1960 season. The Bucks-Irish winner will play the winner of Olivet (3-6) at Constantine (8-1) for the district championship Nov. 4.
Shaw, a Michigan Football Hall of Fame member from a coaching career that included stops on both sides of the state line and a former prep standout at Mishawaka High School in the early 1970s, has made an immediate impact at Niles. Since taking over prior to the 2021 season, Shaw has directed the Vikings to three winning seasons and an overall record of 19-10 and into the Division 4 playoffs for a second straight season.
Two current seniors, offensive tackle Carson Clanton and inside linebacker Alex Cole, remember what the program was like prior to Shaw’s arrival. As freshmen, they played on a 2020 team that finished 1-6 after the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the first three games.
“Things are way different,” the 6-foot-2, 250-pound Clanton said. “Coach Shaw knows what he’s talking about. He’s got us excited.”
Cole, who played as a freshman, said that 2020 was a struggle. “To be where we are today is just crazy,” the 5-foot-9, 175-pound Cole said. “Coach Shaw is more than a coach to us. He has brought us all together. He’s given us a crazy boost in our spirit.”
Shaw couldn’t be happier with the program he has built and the players he inherited.
“We have been consistent in everything we do,” Shaw said. “Early on, we’ve been consistent running to the football and being physical, and our execution (in running the Flexbone) has been outstanding. We’ve never really had an emotional or physical letdown yet. The kids like to play, and they like to practice. They have fun at it.”
Shaw and his Vikings are hoping for another five weeks of fun.
MHSAA FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS
DIVISION 4-REGION 2-DISTRICT 1
Friday's semifinals
Vicksburg (4-5) at Niles (8-1), 7 p.m.
Edwardsburg (5-4) at Paw Paw (8-1), 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 4 championship
Vicksburg-Niles winner vs. Edwardsburg-Paw Paw winner
DIVISION 6-REGION 3-DISTRICT 1
Friday's semifinals
Olivet (3-6) at Constantine (8-1), 7 p.m.
Buchanan (6-3) at Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep (5-4), 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 4 championship
Olivet-Constantine winner vs. Buchanan-Hackett Catholic Prep winner
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Niles football gets rematch with Vicksburg in MHSAA D4 districts
