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DIVISION 4 BONUS COVERAGE: No. 2 Zeeland West runs roughshod over top-ranked Marine City

Dan Stickradt | November 26, 2011 | Comments (2)

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

DETROIT — On this day, No. 2 was truly better than No. 1.

Zeeland West, ranked second in the state in Division 4 all season, put the finishing touches on a perfect season Friday night, topping top-ranked and previously-unbeaten Marine City, 44-7, at Ford Field in the D-4 state championship game.

The Dux overcame an early 7-0 deficit with six unanswered scoring drives — three in each half — and simply shut down a Marine City offense that came in averaging 43.5 points a game with 12 previous games scoring over 20 points and nine times scoring at least 30 points.

Behind a running game that saw 12 different players carry the football, Zeeland West (14-0) compiled 288 rushing yards on 47 attempts and picked up 122 yards passing.

Kyle Kujawa led the Dux with 99 yards on 11 carries and Derek Postma added 60 yards on 13 rushes. Clay Coatney finished 6-for-9 passing for 122 yards and two touchdown passes.

Jordan VanDort had 110 yards on four catches and one touchdown and Postma had another touchdown catch for Zeeland West, which had five different players score touchdowns.

“If you asked me back in June if all of this would have happened, I wouldn’t have believed you,” said Zeeland West coach John Shillito, who has been head coach all seven years the school has existed, including the state championship run in 2006. “At the beginning of the year, we weren’t really there. We had a lot to work on. But we started to put it together (and) had some nice wins early in the season. This group came a long ways this season.”

Behind a potent offense that scored at least 30 points in 12 of 14 games and at least 26 points in each contest, the Dux simply ran all over the Mariners.

Brad Mesbergen returned a kickoff a state finals record 97 yards for a touchdown, and Kyle Kujawa’s two-point conversion put Zeeland West up 8-7 with 9:52 still to go in the first quarter.

Kujawa (57-yard run) and Postma (3-yard catch from Coatney) helped the Dux grab a 24-7 lead at the break, as West converted all three two-point conversions in the first half.

VanDort hauled in a 5-yard scoring toss from Coatney, Marcus Lambert scored on a 28-yard sprint and Mesbergen returned an interception 32 yards for the final touchdown for Zeeland West. Zach Dreyer nailed all three extra point attempts in the second half for the Dux.

“Brad Mesbergen has been a big play kind of guys for us. You look at him and he’s a buck-50 and skinny. He’s a state qualifier in the mile in track,” said Shillito, noting his team’s balance and speed as lethal weapons this season.

“We just have a lot of guys that we can go to,” continued Shillito. “I think that is what makes us such a strong football team. We have size, good speed and a lot of athletes that can make plays. I am proud of what they were able to accomplish this season.”

Marine City just had no answers for the Dux, who captured their second title in six seasons but first unbeaten campaign.

“I thought we played good for about a quarter and a half,” admitted Marine City head coach Tony Scarcelli. “I thought schematically we did fine with the run initially. You have to give (Zeeland West) credit. They stuck with their game plan to make us beat them with the pass and they did. To credit their defense, we couldn’t really get anything going really with the pass or running game.”

Marine City (13-1) was held to just 79 rushing yards and 137 passing yards on the night. Anthony Scarcelli had 42 yards on eight carries, while Adam Kroll was 8-for-16 passing for 85 yards for the Mariners.

Gunnar Glodich hauled in a 36-yard pass from Kroll just 1:54 into the contest to stake Marine City to a 7-0 lead. The Mariners were kept off the board the rest of the game.

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