By John Raffel
MaxPreps.com
It's not easy going 14-0, especially for two straight seasons. But the Muskegon Big Reds, ranked No. 5 in the MaxPreps Preseason National Rankings, are going to give it a try.
Coach Tony Annese and his players open the high school football season this weekend along with other teams from across the state. The Big Reds captured the Division 2 title last season and earned a No. 21 national ranking by MaxPreps.com.
But it's a new season and Muskegon plays in the O-K Red Conference in west Michigan, considered by some as maybe the state's toughest league.
"We had a real good offseason," Annese said. "The kids worked hard. We have more kids out for football than we've had in my eight years here. I've got 65 players on the varsity. We're optimistic. We have all the ingredients you have to have to win a championship. You have to do it on the field."
But Annese admits it won't be easy to win another title.
"We won't have another Ronald Johnson," Annese said, referring to the the Big Reds' dynamic superstar great now playing for Pete Carroll at the University of Southern California.
"We'll have to replace him by committee. Quite a few different kids will share the responsibility. But we don't have a lot of kids back with a lot of carries."
Rockford and Hudsonville stand in the way of winning the O-K Red once again.
"You can't look past anyone," Annese said. "We start with Grand Rapids Creston. If you want to have a championship team, you have to be ready every week. You have to be ready to play the best. Hudsonville, Rockford and Grandville have been some of the top teams the last few years."
Rivalry Games
The first week of football in Michigan features some unique rivalry games.
Holland plays at Grand Haven in the "Wooden Shoes" game. Grand Haven won last year, 42-7. Also in west Michigan, Caldonia plays at Wayland in the "Cowbell" game. Caledonia double-dipped its rival a year ago, winning 35-12 in the regular season and 20-0 in a district playoff game.
In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Ironwood plays at Wisconsin neighbor Hurley in the Border Battle Cheese Trophy game. Hurley enjoyed honors last season with a 46-6 drubbing.
Boys Cross Country
Hesperia enters the fall running season as defending Division 4 state champions and just might have the pieces in place to win another title.
Hesperia, which also won the title in 2004, returns seniors Jordan Slate, whose personal best is 16:58, Brandon Billings who has a 16:59 and B.J. Whelan, who has a 17:13.
Also back is junior Dakota Cooper, who has a 16:53 and senior Jeff Mortiz, who has an 18:23.
"These guys are all coming back with state meet experience," Hesperia coach Doug Baird said. "Billings, Slate and Whelan have had a chance to win two state championships so far. In track, they also were on the 3,200-meter relay team that was all-state."
Baird also has freshman Matt Peacock, who has been ranked fifth on the team coming into the season. Senior Killian Richardson and junior Andrew Aslakson, will also bid for starting spots.
"For a Division 4 team, we're blessed with so many runners, considering there's 150 boys in our school," Baird said.
The Hesperia coach is confident his team can win another state title, but said plenty of other schools could take aim at the defending champions.
"Sagautuck, Bear Lake and Hudson are up here and have a lot of their top seven runners coming back," Baird said."We have the whole season to get through," Baird said. "Saranac has five of its top seven runners back. They're going to be very good. St. Louis was state champion in 2005 and has everyone back from last year."