Football Finals: Div. 3

Ford Field- 4^th and 14…the Division 3 state championship was filled with big time plays from big time players BUT all everyone can remember is the big 4^th and 14 play. 

With 2:41 left in the game and East Grand Rapids trailing Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 21-17, the three time defending champs faced a 4^th-and-14 at midfield.  Coming out of a time out, East’s QB Ryan Elble tried to connect with his 6-7 tight end Colin Voss down the middle of the field.  Voss was double covered and the ball was tipped up by all three players in the area, landing in the hands of a diving Kirk Spencer. 

A minute and a half later Elble play-actioned and found a wide open Deon Jobe for the go ahead score.

It’s always tough to see two great teams battle for four quarters and have it come down to a fluke play.  Was the catch a “catch”?  I was standing 10 yards from the play and I don’t think so.  But I would like to meet one official that would have called it incomplete.  It was a heck of a play and at the end of the day I think you have to credit Spencer for the catch with inconclusive evidence that it was or wasn’t a catch. 

However O-Lake still had their chance to tie or win the game with one more drive with 1:14 to play.  Penn State bound Rob Bolden picked up two first downs with pass completions on each side of the field.  Then Bolden ran a designed run play and picked up another first down inside East’s 40 yard line but after being flipped on the tackle Bolden lost control of the ball and it was recovered by East.   

You couldn’t help but feel Bolden’s pain in the closing seconds but Bolden still played a heck of a game and had a heck of a career at O-Lake.  I usually don’t like Michigan quarterback’s chances of seeing the field when they go to play college ball out of state.  But I think Bolden is going to be OK at Penn State.  I’ve had the pleasure to se him grow at O-Lake at he has grown into a composed leader with plenty of zip on his arm. 

Bolden made the plays that were needed to give O-Lake the lead.  His 14 yard run gave the Eaglets a 7-0 lead and his 83 yard run gave O-Lake a 14-10 lead with 3:47 remaining in the third.  He finished with 142 on the ground and 162 in the air.   

East had their own heroes in AJ McEwen and Spencer.

Spencer hurt his knee early in the first quarter and he constantly had to come out so the trainers could attend to him.  But he sucked it up and came through in the final quarter while finishing with 108 yards on 23 rushes.  McEwen also had a big game with 6 catches for 103 yards.  His biggest catch gave East a 17-14 lead late in the third quarter when AJ took a short pass and turned it into a 68 yard score.