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November 19, 2008
Still standing
By Brad D. Bates
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Warren De La Salle outlasts Southfield High; DCD back in D-4 state finals
BERKELY — The Division 2 state semifinal between Warren De La Salle and Southfield High looked like it would be decided by which team had the last 11 players standing.
In the Pilots’ 21-6 win against the Blue Jays, both teams saw their top players knocked out of action, but it was the Pilots that survived and clinched a berth in the Division 2 state championship game against Muskegon High at 1 p.m. Nov. 28 at Ford Field.
Midway through the first quarter, De La Salle senior captain John Martinez sprained his ankle while hauling in a touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead.
After attempting to play on it, Martinez was not able to make it back on the field.
“At halftime we said, ‘We screwed up a bunch of times in the first half as coaches and players, but his (Martinez) career is not going to end this way,’” coach Paul Verska said.
“He’s going to have five days to recuperate, and he’ll be back. He’s a tough kid, and I know he’ll be there.”
Martinez set the tone early for the Pilots, returning the game’s opening kickoff 44 yards to the Blue Jays’ 44-yard line.
De La Salle then drove to Southfield’s 3-yard line, where senior quarterback Josh Sinagoga found Martinez at the front of the end zone. Martinez hauled in the catch despite double coverage, but suffered the ankle sprain as he was dragged down.
“Whenever he gets hurt, I always think he’ll be all right and back in the game the next couple of plays,” said Jimmy Martinez’s, John’s twin, who also plays receiver and cornerback.
“It was tough, but (senior receiver/cornerback) Casey (Goodman) stepped in and did a good job. John was just like another coach on the sidelines. Anytime one of our best players gets hurt it’s tough, but you just take a couple plays and get used it.”
With John Martinez on crutches to start the second quarter, De La Salle was held scoreless the rest of the half, but the Pilots’ defense held the Blue Jays off the scoreboard, as well.
The Pilots continued to hold the Southfield offense in check on its first possession in the second half, forcing a punt and giving the Pilots the ball on their 23-yard line at 9:38 in the third.
Sinagoga then connected with Jimmy Martinez for a 30-yard gain to the Blue Jays’ 4 at 5:01, which set up junior running back Tim Zabawa’s 2-yard touchdown run at 3:24 for a 14-0 Pilots lead.
On Southfield’s ensuing possession, Zabawa intercepted a pass at the Pilots’ 40 and returned it 31 yards with 2:03 left in the third.
The Blue Jays forced De La Salle into a fourth-and-8 on the Southfield 27, but Sinagoga connected with Jimmy Martinez for a 10-yard pickup and a fresh set of downs. The catch also set up a 30-yard touchdown pass from Sinagoga to Zabawa at 11:47 in the fourth quarter for a 21-0 lead.
On Southfield’s ensuing possession, senior quarterback Eddie Beal was tackled by De La Salle senior defensive tackle Ben Hayes at the 10:43 mark and had to leave the game with an injury, as did senior offensive linemen Kharon Rayford and Charles Cotton.
On the Blue Jay’s next possession, senior Andrew Love took over under center for Beal as the Southfield offense started its drive from their 22-yard line with 7:51 to play.
Love engineered a drive of 78 yards, capped by a 5-yard touchdown pass to senior split end Deandre Sutton at 2:25 to cut the Pilots’ lead to 21-6.
“These guys are tough, and we knew they were going to come back,” Conley said of how his team responded to losing Beal, Cotton and Rayford. “We’ve got some focused kids that want to play hard.”
In other local football playoff news:
The Beverly Hills Detroit Country Day football team (11-2) made it back-to-back trips to a state final and scored 48 unanswered points Nov. 22 at Macomb Dakota, beating Croswell-Lexington 48-6 to earn its second straight trip the Division 4 state championship game.
“Not in my memory, not in a state semifinal,” DCD coach Dan McLean said of his team’s 48 unanswered points. “It was 0-0 after the first quarter, and then they went up 6-0.
“Then we scored to make it 7-6, and it was pretty much ‘Katie bar the door’ after that. We caught fire offensively and got some turnovers on defense.”
Back-to-back trips to the state final is very rare, but really nothing new for the Yellowjackets, who have now done it twice since 1994. That year, DCD fell to Belding 50-41, but followed that up with a 28-14 win against Muskegon Orchard Valley in 1995.
“Our upperclassmen wanted to get back there,” McLean said of his players’ desires to avenge last year’s 21-7 loss to Marine City High.
“It helps to have that experience. It’s a very exciting environment, but you want to be able to control that and play your game.”
DCD faces Holland Christian (13-0) in the D-4 title game at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 28 at Ford Field.
“We’ve heard a lot about them,” McLean said. “They have a great offensive attack and a great quarterback (senior A.J. Westendorp). He’s really talented throwing and running, so we’re going to have our hands full.”
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