DETROIT — Whiteford put an exclamation point on a record-breaking football season Friday with its first state championship, dominating Saginaw Nouvel Catholic Central 42-21 to win the Division 8 state title at Ford Field.
The Bobcats (14-0) grabbed an onside kick to start the game and scored on their second play from scrimmage on a 37-yard run from senior quarterback Thomas Eitniear. It was a perfect start for the Bobcats, who decided about 20 minutes before kickoff to try the onside kick. Eitniear, who does not typically play on the kickoff team, was put on the unit just moments before the team left the locker room and ended up recovering the kick.
“When you have talented athletes, it makes taking risks a little less risky,” Whiteford coach Jason Mensing said.
GALLERY: Whiteford 42, Saginaw Nouvel Catholic 21
The reward ended up being a 20-0 Bobcat lead before the end of the first quarter with Eitniear directing the offense and junior wing back Logan Murphy rushing for two touchdowns in the quarter: the first a 1-yard plunge and the other a 71-yard draw play where he simply outran the Panthers’ defense.
Eitniear scored again with 7:55 left in the second quarter to give Whiteford a 28-0 lead. Nouvel used its passing game to come back and score on a 28-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tate Hausbeck to Ken Kujawa with 43 seconds left in the first half.
The Bobcats had no thoughts of slowing down despite getting the ball at its own 27-yard line with just 37 seconds left in the half. Murphy picked up 15 yards on the first play, then Eitniear hit his brother Ty Eitniear for a 14-yard gain with 16 seconds left. Eitniear found Brayden Clark-Gilmore on a 32-yard gain and that, coupled with a face-masking penalty on the Panthers, gave the Bobcats the ball at the 6 with 10 ticks left on the clock. After an incompletion, Thomas Eitniear then found the end zone by diving to the pylon on the final play of the half, and the Bobcats led 34-7.
“He’s so calm,” Mensing said of Eitniear. “He’s an outstanding kid and completely selfless. It’s never about statistics for him. He wants everyone out there to succeed. He’s been outstanding his entire career. He’s a gifted young man.”
Eitniear finished the game with 129 yards rushing and 143 yards passing. He closed out his career with nearly every Bobcat passing record and, most importantly, a 37-4 record as a starting quarterback.
Murphy scored his third touchdown of the game in the fourth quarter, giving Whiteford a 42-7 lead. He finished with 126 yards rushing, giving him nearly 1,900 yards rushing on the season, also a Whiteford record.
Both he and Eitniear credited the offensive line, which is made up of five seniors.
“It all starts up front,” Eitniear said. “Sometimes they don’t receive enough credit, but our whole offense is based on that offensive line.”
Whiteford closed the game with 484 yards of total offense, including 341 on the ground. For the season, Whiteford scored 737 points, tied for second in state history, and punted just once on the entire season. The Bobcats scored 102 total touchdowns.
The Bobcats dressed 14 seniors, all of which played on the 2016 team that went 13-1 and lost in the state championship game. The return trip was on their minds all season.
“It’s amazing,” said offensive tackle Lucas Tesznar. “It’s a great feeling.”
Whiteford’s defense gave up two late scores to Nouvel, who came into the game undefeated and making its first state finals appearance since winning the title in 2011. Hunter Lake led the Bobcats defense with six tackles. Ian Slick had two sacks and three tackles for loss and teamed with junior defensive tackle DeShaun Williams to disrupt the passing game of Nouvel's all-state quarterback Hausbeck. He completed just 11 of his 26 passes and was sacked seven times.
Whiteford, who won the Tri-County Conference, became the first TCC team to win a state football championship and first Monroe County team to finish a season 14-0.
Whiteford’s fans held a sendoff at 6:50 a.m. Friday in the school’s parking lot and then greeted the team at the high school when they returned after the game. The township’s volunteer fire departments met them on U.S. 23 and escorted the buses to the school.
Mensing, in his sixth year at Whiteford and The Blade’s coach of the year, used almost every one of the 50 kids on the Whiteford playoff roster Friday, ensuring they saw time in the Division 8 finals. He said the community’s support is a big part of the team’s success.
“There are so many people that go into something like this,” Mensing said. “I’m happy for everyone in the community to get to experience this.”
First Published November 24, 2017, 5:53 p.m.