By John Raffel
MaxPreps.com
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Eight Michigan high schools are celebrating state football titles after capturing championships this week at Detroit's Ford Field.
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Not many teams finished the season undefeated. But Saginaw Nouvel was among them.
Nouvel won the Division 6 title 28-14 against Inkster, a Detroit area school, to finish the season at 12-0.
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Nick Birnbaum was the hero of the game, running for two touchdowns. But it was teammate Nick Awrey who provided the game-winner, scoring on a 30-yard reception to break a 14-all tie late in the third quarter.
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"We lost a lot of momentum in the second quarter," said Nouvel coach Mike Boyd. "We made some pretty big plays in the second half. Inkster had a good second quarter on us. Otherwise we played very well. We made adjustments and were able to put more pressure on the quarterback."
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A tough schedule helped Nouvel win its state title.
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"Not a lot of people are willing to play us," Boyd said. "We play some powerful programs. The schedule gets the kids to raise their level of play. That really helps us."
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"The team that won this game ran the ball better," said Inkster coach Greg Carter, who came to Inkster, and brought some players with him from Detroit St. Martin dePorres, after that school, which had won 12 state titles, was closed down for financial reasons two years ago. "Nouvel made the big plays and we didn't."
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Another unique story was in Division 4 where Zeeland West, in only its second year of existence, claimed a 22-0 state championship victory over Coopersville.
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Both schools are in the Grand Rapids area only 25 miles apart.
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The state championship team was led by a coach, John Shillito, who took over the school's program when it divided into two schools from Zeeland Public.
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Shillito brought over the wing T formation that he used to build state powers at two other schools: Muskegon Orchard View in Division 5 and East Kentwood in Division 1.
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"We're pleased to have beaten such a classy football team. Obviously, I'm excited to have won my first state title. It's a great feeling," Shillito said.
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When Zeeland High split into Zeeland East and West two years ago, Shillito, who had taken East Kentwood to a state title game in Division 1, was ready to take on another challenge.
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"Most of it was due to the kids' hard work," Shillito said. "I'm not sure if was a dominating effort in the title game but it was a good solid effort up front."
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In the state title game, Aaron VandenBeldt ran for two touchdowns and the Dux finished the season at 13-1. He ran for a 5-yarder in the last minute of the first quarter and a 4-yard touchdown run in the final minute of the second quarter.
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Zeeland West won its five playoff games by an average score of 36-9. Zeeland West's only defeat was a 35-23 loss to Muskegon, which was the Division 2 state champ at 14-0.
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"We had some opportunities early in the game when we dropped a pass in the end zone," said Coopersville coach Jim Meerman. "We knew how well Zeeland ran the ball. They're pretty big up front. I'll have to look at the film and see what happened."
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What didn't happen in the first half was a quick turnover of possessions. Each team had only two possessions in the first half. Zeeland West used seven minutes in each of its drives, relying mainly on the run, and occasionally fooling the other team with the pass.
Defenisve end Justin Hengst led the shutout effort for Zeeland West. Also the offensive right guard, he blow open several holes.
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"With our offense, everything is quick. It's a lot of fun to be pushing the defense back and getting ready for someone else.
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Also winning state championships were Macomb Dakota in Division 1, Muskegon in Division 2, East Grand Rapids in Division 3, Menominee in Division 5, Muskegon Catholic Central in Division 7 and New Lothrop in Division 8.
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Macomb Dakota won 38-16 to stop Rockford's bid for its third-straight championship.
Muskegon finished the season at 14-0 with a 32-30 win over Warren DeLaSalle.
East Grand Rapids won its eighth state championship 42-17 over Farmington Hills Harrison, which was trying to win a record 13th state title.
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Menominee, the only state champ from the Upper Peninsula, finished at 14-0 by using the single wing to beat Madison Heights Madison 41-6.
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Muskegon Catholic Central defeated Grass Lake 35-7 for its seventh state championship.
New Lothrop won its first state title game and finished 14-0 by winning 34-13 against Crystal Falls Forest Park that lost in the finals for the third straight year.
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