The final High School football game of 2021 lived up to all the hype as the Number 1 ranked Detroit King faced off against Number 2 ranked DeWitt.
The game started with a bang as King only took 56 seconds to score for the first time as Terrence Brown would take it 51-yards up the middle to the endzone. The rest of the first quarter would be a defensive battle until the last DeWitt drive which would take them to the second quarter. Set up with a 1st and 10 from the King 45 Quarterback Ty Holtz would go back to pass and King defensive back Kenny Merrieweather would jump the route and intercept the pass and take it back to the crib for a 45-yard pick 6 to extend the King lead to 13-0 with 10:42 left in the second quarter.
DeWitt would get on track their next drive as they would look like the defending state champion, as they would take 4 minutes 51 seconds, and put together a 9 play 64-yard drive that would be capped off by a 6-yard touchdown pass from Ty Holtz to Bryce Debri to go down 13-7 with 5:46 left in the half. King would take two and a half minutes to go 70-yards and let Brown pound it in from 6 out to make it a 19-7 game with three minutes left in the half. Ty Holtz and DeWitt would still have some left in the tank as he would find his favorite target Tommy McIntosh three times on that drive, and one of them would be a 15-yard crossing route for a touchdown to make it a 19-14 game with 40 seconds left in the half.
King would get the ball back with 35 seconds until the half, a penalty on DeWitt and an incomplete pass would have King at a 2nd and 5 with 20 seconds left in the half, and that’s when everyone in the state learned that DeWitt quarterback Ty Holtz could do it all. Holtz would jump the pass and intercept King quarterback Dante Moore and take it 69-yards the other way to give DeWitt their first lead in the game at 21-19 with 15 seconds left in the half. After the Game Moore would say “The play call got switched up a little bit, and Holtz baited me.” he continued by saying “I saw a receiver open downfield and tried to chuck it 40 yards, and he jumped the route and I knew he was going to catch it.”
The second half would start with DeWitt getting the ball, and it would be a defensive battle for most of the half as both teams would bend but not break. DeWitt had a chance to punch it in on their second drive after forcing a fumble and being set up at the King 27. That drive would get down to the six but nothing would come of it. The rest of the third wouldn’t be anything more than the defenses holding serve.
The next score would come with 8:22 left in the game, and that would be a 6-yard rushing touchdown from King’s Sterling Anderson to put King up 25-21. That would give DeWitt the ball back with 8:18 left in the game. Starting from their own 32 DeWitt would take just shy of 6-minutes on an 11 play drive that would see DeWitt set up with a 4th and goal from the 1. At the 1-yard line, Holtz would turn around and give it to his big back Bryce Debri who would be met at the line of scrimmage, and they would come up empty and give the ball back to King from their 1-yard line. After the final two timeouts from DeWitt, King would get out to the 22-yard line and show victory formation for the State Title.
Following the game Head Coach, Tyrone Spencer said “This is the best feeling in the world.” Spencer would go on to say “This is the reason you come to King to play and win State Championships.”
Sugared Petal Cake Shoppe Player of the Game
The Sugared Petal Cake Shoppe Player of the Game goes to King running back Terrence Brown. On the night Brown had 113 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 11 attempts, and he had one catch for 11 yards.
Great kid on and off the court very humble hard worker Best RB in the state underrated!