By Ty Marzean
When November rolls around, it’s time for high school football playoffs in Michigan. This also means that a familiar program is gearing up for a shot at the state title.
South Christian has qualified for the MHSAA playoffs for the ninth consecutive year. The Sailors have reached the Division 4 finals in back-to-back years leading into the 2024 tournament.
This Sailor team took a different route on the drive to Ford Field, taking a 5-4 record into the playoffs. South Christian has only four losses the past two seasons combined while making the finals in both seasons and winning the state championship in 2022.
“We are young, so the biggest thing for this team is to try to figure out who we are,” said South Christian Coach Danny Brown. “We started 4-0, we won a couple close games. Maybe we got a little bit ahead of ourselves, and who we were. The next four teams we played are all still in the playoffs, so they are good teams. We just had to take our lumps.
I’ll say the kids showed up at practice every week. Losing four games in a row in a season could go a different way, but they showed up every day still believing.”
Sailors forced five turnovers
South Christian advanced to the D-4 District Final with a 35-7 victory over Holland Christian Friday night. The Sailor defense turned in one of the best performances this season holding the Maroons to a season low in points and forcing five turnovers.
“We had to change up our scheme and personnel to see what makes this team click and it all came together,” Brown said. “Hopefully that’s a sign of good things to come.”
Sophomore Cody Jones recovered three fumbles on the night for South Christian.
“He’s a young guy with a high motor,” Brown said. “He’s getting comfortable with the speed of the game and what we want from him.”
Junior Ben Buiter intercepted two passes in the stellar defensive effort.
Senior quarterback Carson Vis once again led the Sailors offense, pacing the team with 123 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground and a passing touchdown.
Sophomore running back Isaac Osterhaven also hit the century mark on the ground.
“Issac had it going on; he seemed fast and was running physical,” Brown said.
South Christian (6-4) now meets a familiar foe in the District Final in undefeated OK Gold champion Unity Christian (10-0), who beat South Christian 50-21 in Week 7.
“Unity is big up front and has very physical running backs; they are very good at what they do,” Brown said. “We will have to be physical up front and not allow them to move us off the ball if we want to have success. They don’t turn the ball over, and they will gain some yards. We just have to have a bend and not break defense.”
South Christian kicks off with Unity Christian in a Division 4 District Final at 7 p.m. Friday at Grandville High School.
