Division 4 football: Harper Woods gets stop on final play to clinch state crown

Detroit — Harper Woods head coach Rod Oden was excited to finally be able to coach in a state championship game on Saturday at Ford Field. Being able to do it with his son, Michigan-bound cornerback Jacob Oden, made it that much sweeter.

The elder Oden said earlier in the week to be the best you have to beat the best, knowing Harper Woods would be facing defending Division 4 state champion Grand Rapids South Christian.

Well, Harper Woods is now the best. After defeating last year's state runner-up Goodrich in the state semifinals to punch its ticket to the title game, it knocked off South Christian, 33-27, to bring the trophy back home.

Harper Woods led 14-0 after the first quarter, 27-7 in the third quarter and never trailed, although things did get interesting in the fourth quarter and it took a defensive stop to get the job done.

South Christian standout junior quarterback Carson Vis led a drive from his own 15 with 2:45 remaining to the Harper Woods 3-yard line. On the final play of the game, junior defensive end Javonta Lee-Forbes grabbed a hold of Vis and his pass to Noah Funk near the goal line was batted away by Keyontae Wilson to start a wild celebration.

Harper Woods (11-3) earned its first state championship after winning its first regional title earlier this month, capping quite the turnaround coming off last year’s 3-6 record.

“We knew it would be a hard-fought contest. That program has a championship pedigree. They were the defending champs, knew they weren’t going to quit, that it was going to be relentless and knew it would probably come down to the wire,” Rod Oden said.

“We tried to do our best to get up three scores to kind of create some wiggle room. You can’t do that with great teams. Our guys started this journey in January, and it brought us here to Ford Field. All week they’ve been locked in to what we needed to do. For the most part, we were able to accomplish and complete those tasks.

“I’m glad it came down to the end. Our defense, we knew it would come down to them for us to win a championship. The offense has kind of been consistent all year. They had an opportunity to go out and make a play, and they made it.”

BOX SCORE: Harper Woods 33, Grand Rapids South Christian 27

Vis completed 30 of 44 passes for a state-finals record 441 yards and two touchdowns. He was also intercepted on a pass in the end zone on the final play of the first half and was stripped of the ball at the Harper Woods 18 on the opening drive of the second half.

What was Oden looking for on that last play?

“We were keying on two things: No. 2 (receiver Jake Vermaas) and No. 5 (Vis). … You can’t put an athlete on him because they play him in six spots, so it’s hard to matchup," said Oden of Vermaas, who had 10 receptions for 196 yards and a TD. "First we needed to identify where he was and then we had to cup the pocket. Once we were able to contain the quarterback, we knew he had to try to just make a play and we made a play.

“What we did was what we call a D-line stunt. We twisted, gap exchange. The offensive line was kind of confused because all game long they’ve been blocking what’s in front of them. That move we made on the D-line freed up (Lee-Forbes) to create the pressure and the guys just brought it home from there.”

South Christian head coach Danny Brown was proud of how his team battled back.

“It was a heck of a football game,” Brown said. “Obviously we didn’t come out on the right end of it, but those are the fun ones. All you ask is that you have a chance at the end of the game. We could have easily folded, and the kids kept fighting. That’s been their M.O. all year. When things are stacked against us, they just keep swinging and try to find a way. We’d like to have one more play there at the end.

“Give credit to Harper Woods. They have a heck of a football team. They have a ton of talent. Their kids are fast, and they play hard. It was just a really good high school game and even though we’re on the wrong side of it, it was just fun to be a part of.”

Harper Woods senior Stephone Buford set the tempo for the game by running 19 yards on a fourth-and-1 from his own 40 to reach the South Christian 41. He then capped off the 69-yard opening drive with a 6-yard TD run, taking the snap out of the shotgun and sprinting left into the end zone just 3 minutes, 8 seconds into the game.

Harper Woods extended the lead to 14-0 when sophomore quarterback Nate Rocheleau found freshman phenom Dakota Guerrant for 40 yards down the left sideline to the South Christian 30. That was followed by a 25-yard run by junior running back Donald Adams on a third-and-9 play to set up Dwight Houston’s 4-yard TD run on the next play with 8:34 left in the quarter.

Harper Woods — which competes in the tough OAA White that includes Division 1 finalist Southfield A&T — piled up 497 total yards with its balanced offense. That included 210 yards through the air on Roucheleau’s 10 completions and 287 yards on the ground, led by Adams’ 174 yards on 17 carries.

Vis was impressive in the loss, throwing all 441 yards after the first quarter. South Christian (10-4) had 533 total yards but was limited to 92 on the ground on 24 carries.

Harper Woods dominated the first quarter and looked to build on its lead when it advanced inside the South Christian 39 early in the second quarter. But Rocheleau’s perfectly thrown deep ball on third-and-long was dropped at the 5, ending the threat.

South Christian took advantage of Harper Woods’ miscue and scored on a 90-yard drive with Vis finding Vermaas for a 39-yard score to cut the deficit to 14-7 with 8:34 left in the half.

South Christian had two more scoring threats in the first half, only to come up empty both times.

South Christian advanced to the Harper Woods 34 before linebackers Matthew McCraw and Wille Powell teamed up to force a 5-yard loss and Jacob Oden broke up a fourth-down pass to end the drive.

Harper Woods then went 62 yards to open up a 20-7 lead when Adams was tackled short on a third-and-long play but a facemask penalty extended the drive to the South Christian 37. Rocheleau found Guerrant for 10 yards, then Guerrant made a great grab in the end zone for a 27-yard TD with 42 seconds left in the half.

That left plenty of time for Vis, who rushed for 18 yards and connected on a pair of passes for 33 yards to the Harper Woods 9. But on the final play of the half, his pass in the end zone was picked off by Wilson.

One the opening drive of the second half, Harper Woods freshman defensive end Corey Bailey made the play of the game. He stripped the ball from Vis at the Harper Woods 18, then pounced on it in a pile to recover the fumble.

Harper Woods took advantage of the turnover. On a second-and-18 from the 10, Rocheleau found Ramonty Houze, who used his 4.4 speed to get behind the secondary. Houze hauled in the pass near midfield and ran down the right sideline for a 90-yard TD to make it 27-7.

“On the one to Ramonty I’ve been trying to get it all game because it was man-to-man press with no high safety. Ramonty is the fastest guy on the field, so we wanted to take that shot and it worked,” Rocheleau said.

South Christian battled back with a 1-yard TD run by Charlie Schreur and a 22-yard TD run by Vis to pull within 27-20 with 10:41 remaining. Harper Woods answered with a 10-play, 85-yard scoring drive. Adams rushed for 67 yards, including a 46-yard run to the 15, to set up Buford’s 1-yard QB sneak on fourth-and-goal with 6:34 remaining.

Rod Oden was thrilled to capture the state title in his 24th year of coaching and his sixth as head coach at Harper Woods after stops at Detroit Crockett and Detroit East English.

“Well, 24 years, I’ve been fortunate enough to coach at three great spots and coach a bunch of great young men,” Oden said. “This group will be special because they get to put their names above other guys that they’ve met and had a chance to talk to. Some who have won Super Bowls and went on to do great things, but none of them had ever won a state title, so this kind of sets that group apart. It’s special.”

And getting it done with his son made it "surreal."

“We had a chip on our shoulder after that (3-6) season," Jacob Oden said. "It’s awkward talking to everybody else because we’re friends with a lot of other guys on good teams. It’s awkward being in those conversations on how they went to semis and states. I feel like we worked harder than every team in the state. We had pride and did what we had to do. It’s great to bring a championship to Harper Woods.”

david.goricki@detroitnews.com