In an MHSAA football final classic, Southfield A&T's Isaiah Marshall shined brightest

Belleville had just completed its furious rally to finally wrestle the lead away from Southfield A&T, 32-28, with 4:47 left in the Division 1 state championship game late Sunday night at Ford Field and it appeared the Tigers third consecutive state championship was in the bag.

Across the field Southfield coach Aaron Marshall looked at his nephew, Isaiah, and asked a simple question: “What else would you want?”

Isaiah didn’t respond because his uncle already knew the answer.

Oh, Isaiah!

Marshall firmly entrenched himself in Michigan high school football lore Sunday with another tremendous rally to give Southfield its first state championship, a 36-32 victory to snap Belleville’s 38-game winning streak.

You can search for the best championship games in state history and it will be difficult to come up with a game to top the drama of this one.

This game also put the skids to Belleville quarterback Bryce Underwood’s dreams of being the first quarterback in state history to win four state titles.

Underwood is ranked the No. 1 junior quarterback in the nation, but for the first time this season he showed some flaws.

In an underwhelming performance, he completed 11 of 24 passes for 164 with a touchdown and an interception. He also carried the ball five times for 39 yards.

Marshall, on the other hand, was utterly spectacular, completing 20 of 31 passes for 281 yards with two TDs and a pair of interceptions.

As important as his passing stats were, he also ran the ball 22 times for 134 yards and a touchdown against a defense that 10 times limited a team to a single score or less and yielded only 99 points in its first 13 games.

Not only was Marshall the game’s leading passer, but he was the leading rusher, too, and his poise under pressure cannot be measured in statistics.

“He’s a special kid; it’s who he is,” said Coach Marshall. “It’s who he is off the field that makes him great on the field. The moment is never too big for him, he’s always even keel.”

Although Marshall committed to Kansas months ago, new Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith may want to camp out at Southfield until the youngster changes his mind.

Oh, Isaiah.

After Jeremiah Beasley’s 17-yard touchdown run had completely wiped out an 18-point deficit and given Belleville the lead, Marshall took the field at Southfield’s 31-yard line with 4:47 left for him to make his magic.

A week earlier in the semifinals, Marshall needed only 54 seconds to move 80 yards to score on a 1-yard run on the final play of the game to beat West Bloomfield.

So 4:47 seemed like an eternity to him.

“I think any time is too much time for me and my offense,” Marshall said Sunday. “I didn’t want to score too quickly, leaving too much time, so my coach made great calls on that last drive with passes and runs.”

Prior to the final drive, Coach Marshall had specific instructions for offensive coordinator Rich Popp.

“Don’t get it back all at once,” the coach said. “Coach Popp did a phenomenal job dialing all those plays up and it kind of worked out in our favor.”

Southfield began the drive with passes of 6 and 12 yards to Tashi Braceful, who had 10 catches for 154 yards and a touchdown.

After Marshall ran for 7 yards, he completed a 13-yard pass to Xavi Bowman to get to Belleville’s 29-yard line.

That is when Popp put the ball in his protégé’s hands and told him to bring home the championship trophy.

Marshall, 6 feet and 205 pounds, carried the ball five consecutive times, only once being stopped for no gain.

“We knew that he was going to run the ball,” said Belleville coach Calvin Norman. “He shows a lot of strength and a lot of speed. We knew that going into the game. We knew we had to tackle him.”

Finally, Marshall had a second-and-7 play from the 11-yard line and Belleville didn’t tackle him until he had reached the end zone, with 47 seconds remaining.

With a player with Underwood’s arm, 47 seconds were enough to mount a comeback.

“Right after I scored I looked at the clock and saw that there were 47 seconds,” Marshall said. “But I knew my defense had been playing great all game and our defense had been stopping their passing all game. I knew we going to be OK.”

Oh, Isaiah!

After a pair of incompletions, Underwood completed a 13-yard pass, but on the next play Dorian Freeman came up with an interception to seal the deal for Southfield.

“My coaches just told me to spy the quarterback and wherever he would go I’d go, just mirroring him basically,” Freeman said. “I had a zone job, too. He was looking past me, but I was right there and caught it.”

Freeman may have been the most surprised person in Ford Field when the caught the ball.

“Everything just stopped because I saw every player stop,” he said. “I was froze for a second.”

The game was an affirmation of sorts for a Southfield team that was a decided underdog, which is putting it mildly.

Marshall laughed and said he saw predictions that had Belleville winning, 101-21.

But those predictions underestimated Marshall’s contributions as a runner as well as a standout passer.

“I think a lot of people thought our O-line wasn’t good enough for their defensive line and I think we proved tonight that we were better than them,” he said. “I think my legs help our team a lot. I think me running and making plays outside the pocket helps a lot and my passing, too, and my receivers.”

People were generally stunned by the outcome, but an important aspect of this is where these teams came from.

Belleville is a member of the KLAA, which is a good league, but simply cannot compare to the OAA.

Like Division 4 state champ Harper Woods, Southfield plays in the OAA White, which is a step down from the OAA Red, but still highly competitive. The Warriors also played crossover games against Clarkston and West Bloomfield of the Red and began the season beating Detroit Cass Tech.

“The OAA is a really, really great conference for two reasons,” said Coach Marshall. “Sometimes you’ve got really good players and not so great coaching. Sometimes you’ve got the opposite, really great coaching and not so good players.

“The OAA has everything — very good coaching and very good players. So when you’re getting tested every week ... our conference and our league prepares us for today.”

Marshall had a tremendous day and in a weird sort of way was even part of SportsCenter’s No. 1 highlight play of the day.

In the first quarter he threw a pass that Belleville’s Adrian Walker Jr. jumped for and tipped higher into the air. When Walker landed he could see the ball coming down behind him so he reached his two arms behind him to catch the ball behind his back.

“I actually didn’t see it until I got on the bench and saw it on the tablet because I threw it and I got hit,” Marshall said. “I didn’t know what happened, but it was a great play. I was hoping I could get it over his head, but he made a great play.”

Marshall made a boatload of difference-making plays. He also got to write the final chapter of his high school career.

“My four years here has been a lot of ups and downs, just to win with my team this last year means a lot to me,” he said. “Just to win with these guys and my coaches and just to do it for the community of Southfield means a lot.”

Marshall entered high school a marked man. He would be singled out as The Kid — The Kid that Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh offered a scholarship while he was in the seventh grade.

That can be an albatross of sorts with expectations soaring through the roof.

At times over the last few years Marshall seemed to get lost amongst the plethora of highly-touted quarterbacks in the state: Dante Moore (Detroit King) Brady Drogosh (Warren De La Salle), Parker Picot  (Rochester Adams), CJ Carr (Saline) and Underwood.

But now Marshall will be singled out as The Kid — The Kid who is the best high school football player in the state of Michigan.

Oh, Isaiah!

Mick McCabe is a former longtime columnist for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at mick.mccabe11@gmail.com. Follow him @mickmccabe1. Save $10 on his new book, “Mick McCabe’s Golden Yearbook: 50 Great Years of Michigan’s Best High School Players, Teams & Memories,” by ordering right now at McCabe.PictorialBook.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Southfield A&T QB Isaiah Marshall: Biggest star in classic state final