In a season rife with obstacles and sacrifices, the Centreville football team was given yet another reason to celebrate as it found out on Thursday it is automatically moving onto the Division 8 state championship game.
Centreville was set to travel to Brighton to take on Clarkston Everest Collegiate in the semifinals on Friday night, but Everest was forced to forfeit the game because of positive coronavirus tests within its team. As a result, Centreville is heading to the state championship game set for Jan. 22 at 10 a.m. held at Ford Field in Detroit.
When Centreville coach Jerry Schultz broke the news to his players, the reaction was not surprising.
“They were jumping for joy,” Schultz said. “With everything that’s happened this season – with small injuries, shutting down and everything that’s going on and all the hard work they’ve done as freshman and up until now – they see it’s all paid off.”
Centreville won just three playoff games in its history prior to this season, but has gone on a dream run in the playoffs, winning the program’s first district and region titles along the way. The forfeit victory improves Centreville’s record to 10-0, which is a single-season wins record for the program.
“We’ve never really had successful football around here,” Schultz said. “We’ve never won a district until this and obviously never won a regional. To have the opportunity to go to a state championship is something our community is really excited about.”
Schultz does feel bad that Everest will not have a chance to compete to finish its season, but he does not want to take away from the excitement his program is experiencing.
“It is a disappointment,” Schultz said. “I think it definitely would have been a battle between two great teams, but I’m never going to be disappointed in having an opportunity to go to a state championship. Our boys have really worked hard and we’re working at keeping safe. Definitely happy to have the opportunity to play next week.”
Throughout the season, there has been some commentary that this season deserves an asterisk because some teams have moved on in the playoffs because of forfeits. Schultz firmly disagrees with that sentiment.
“I absolutely think that’s incorrect,” Schultz said. “We’ve been fortunate enough with everything, but also had to make sacrifices.”
Despite having just 26 players, Schultz said the team was transported to the region finals in four buses to ensure players would be able to properly practice social distancing. He also said the team did not use the locker room all season and players were essentially left to suit up in the parking lot.
“We don’t meet on Mondays anymore and Tuesday is more of just a conditioning day to just keep us separated and have less days with contact. So, I definitely disagree with that (asterisk) comment because there are some sacrifices we had to make and they could have affected us on the field, but they didn’t. We made it this far. It’s a different season for sure, but I disagree with that.”
Centreville will wait to see which team it will face in the state championship game, which will be the winner of the Ubly (8-2) at Johannesburg-Lewiston (10-0) game on Saturday at 1 p.m. held at Thirlby Field in Traverse City.
“It’s like a dream come true,” Schultz said. “When I first took this job in May, being my first head coaching job ever … I fell in love with Centreville and I couldn’t be prouder to be here. I look forward to keeping this dream going.”