By Tom Kendra
LocalSportsJournal.com
NORTON SHORES – No way were Jonathan Pittman and his Mona Shores senior teammates going to end their football careers with a blowout loss at home.
It looked like that would be the case, as Byron Center built a 17-0 halftime lead, then used an onside kick and 27-yard TD pass to take a 23-0 lead less than one minute into the second half.
That’s when the real Mona Shores team showed up.
Pittman engineered a comeback for the ages, as the Sailors scored 23 unanswered points to tie it, only to see the Bulldogs fight back with the game-winning score and game-sealing interception in a 30-23 win in the Division 2 District final in front of 5,000 fans at Sailor Stadium.
“Pitt told us to put it in his hands and we did and, boy, did he ever come through,” said 14th-year Mona Shores coach Matt Koziak. “I’ll remember him as not only one of the best quarterbacks, but one of the best humans I’ve ever coached.”
Shores got on the board with a 73-yard drive, culminating with a 34-yard pass from Pittman to senior slot Tyrese McCorvey-Hill. Pittman’s two-point conversion run cut the lead to 23-8.
After a defensive stop, the Sailors marched even further – 87 yards in 12 plays – with Pittman (6-2, 205) bursting the final 17 yards up the middle, hurdling a defender at the 5-yard line and into the end zone on the final play of the third quarter. He ran in another two-point conversion, making the score 23-16.
At that point, the huge home crowd and student section, which sat in stunned silence for the first 25 minutes, was loud and energized.
“We didn’t play well early, obviously,” said Koziak, whose team lost in the district championship game for the fourth-straight year. “All the things that could go bad for us in the first half, did go bad. So we just told them to go out and be who we are, and the kids responded.”
The rally wasn’t quite over as another defensive stop (after a near-disaster when BC’s punt hit a Shores player) led to another Pittman TD, this one from 7 yards out, with Ezra Carafelle’s extra point tying the game at 23-all with 8:33 remaining.
At that point, it was Byron Center’s turn to fight back – a veteran team with seven senior starters on offense and nine on defense – led by 5-11, 190-pound senior quarterback Landon Tungate.
Tungate led the Bulldogs on a 5-play, 60-yard drive, highlighted by a 30-yard pass to Will Lake over the middle, scoring on a 1-yard run to make it 30-23 with 5:46 remaining.
“We knew they were going to fight back and it definitely got scary there for a second,” said Tungate, who has rushed for 16 TDs and thrown for 22 this season. “They were rallying, but we kept our composure tonight.”
But Shores was still not done.
Pittman led his team all the way back down to the 6-yard line, seemingly in position to tie the game (or possibly win it with another two-point conversion), but Lake stepped in front of a pass in the end zone for the game-clinching interception.
Shores, which won the O-K Green title with a perfect 5-0 conference mark, finished the season 9-2.
“It was two heavyweights throwing blows at each other to see who could stand the longest,” said Koziak, who started eight seniors on offense and six on defense. “Hats off to Byron Center and we wish them well the rest of the way.
“I’m just so proud of the way our team fought and didn’t give up.”
Among the other Shores senior starters who played their final game were lineman Ja’Mari Taylor, receiver and safety Micah Carafelle, linebacker Solomon Robertson, defensive end Hunter Krueger, Dom Piggue and Jaeger Johnson, and offensive linemen Chris Smith, Joe Olsen and Chandler Medendorp.
Byron Center (10-1), avenged a 14-12 loss at Mona Shores back on Sept. 20, and advances to host Portage Central in next week’s regional final.
Tungate threw his only three interceptions of the season in that Week 4 loss at Shores. He had no interceptions this time around and his team had no turnovers, while the hosts were hurt by two interceptions.
In addition to the clinching interception, Lake opened the scoring with a 21-yard TD reception from Tungate.
The Bulldogs added a 25-yard field goal by Dawson Hillard and a 5-yard touchdown run by Luke Laska to take a seemingly comfortable 17-0 lead – before the Sailors came alive and pushed it to the final seconds.
“We played our game for most of the night,” said Laska, a starting H-back and linebacker. “We wanted to be super physical. We did what we had to do at the end to get the win.”
Photos by Eric Sturr
Tyrese McCorvey-Hill takes the hand-off on the jet sweep for a Sailor first down. Photo/Eric Sturr
JC Tornes makes the tackle after Byron Center gets the first down. Photo/Eric Sturr
Tyrese McCorvey-Hill scampers into the endzone for a Sailor touchdown. Photo/Eric Sturr
Bishop Davis carries outside for a Sailor first down. Photo/Eric Sturr
Ja’Mari Taylor brings down Byron Center’s running back. Photo/Eric Sturr
