The Division one football state championship was played on a cold and blustery Saturday in November, although it was ideal conditions indoors at Ford Field where the Highlanders of Rochester Adams met the Belleville Tigers.
The game started with a bang as Belleville would drive down the field and with 9:55 left in the first, the Freshman Bryce Underwood would find Senior Jeremiah Caldwell for the first score of the game on a 56-yard pass to make it 7-0 after the P.A.T. From that point, though the rest of the first quarter would be all Rochester Adams as they would go on to score two touchdowns, the first would be a 56-yard pass from Parker Picot to a streaking Brady Prieskorn for the score to tie the game at 7. The second Adams touchdown was a 31-yard pass from Picot to Christian Schomer as he was adjusting his helmet, and the 14-7 lead would be where we stood after the first.
The second would start slow as both teams would trade scoreless drives until with 3:20 left in the second Adams would send out field goal kicker Colin Timko who would nail a 27-yard kick to give Adams a 17-7 lead. The tide would turn from that point as it would only take Belleville 10 seconds for Underwood to find Caldwell for their second connection of the day; this one was a 64-yard pass down the sideline to make it a 17-14 game with 3:10 left. Adams would be forced to give the ball back to Belleville, and they would march it down the field for Underwood and Caldwell to connect on the hat trick touchdown to make it 21-17 with 1:24 in the half. Adams would go and say that’s not all as they would make it a one-point game right before half as a 35-yard field goal by Timko would make it 21-20.
The second half would see Adams start with the ball, and not score but set Belleville up with good field position as they would block the Adams punt that a few plays later would lead to a 5-yard jet sweep pass from Underwood to Kevin Simes to extend the Belleville lead to 28-20. The next drive for Adams would result in a fumble and return to the Adams 25-yard line. The next play would see Jeremiah Beasley take it up the middle for a 25-yard score that would give Belleville a 35-20 lead at the end of three and there would be no looking back as there would be yet another Touchdown from Underwood but this time he would find Deshaun Lee from 19 yards out to make it 41-20 game. Parker Picot on the next Adams drive would lead them down the field and on a 4th and 28 on a ball thrown to Prieskorn it would be bobbled in the air, but he would come down with it and run it in 33-yards for the score to make it 41-27 with 7:04 left in the game. A few penalties later, and a one-yard run from Colbey Reed would extend the Belleville lead to 21 with 5:20 left to play.
With the score sitting at 48-21 Belleville Quarterback Bryce Underwood would show off some speed as he would go around the end for a 30-yard score that would tie the record for most points in a finals game with 55. With Belleville up 55-27, Rochester Adams said they wanted more as they would have Peyton Montour take a jet sweep 15-yards to give them a final of 55-33.
Sugared Petal Cake Shoppe Player of the Game
The Player of the Game goes to none other than Bryce Underwood. The Freshman Quarterback had 284 passing yards and 5 passing touchdowns. He also put in work on the ground as he added 62 yards and a touchdown that way. After the game Underwood talked about what the first title in School history ment to the community and all he had to say was “it brings a lot of happiness.”