THE HASTINGS
Thursday, October 21, 2021Back
on top!
Saxons win second
I-8 championship
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Hastings is getting its trophy after finishing
in a three-way tie with Jackson Lumen Christi
and Harper Creek for the Interstate-8 Athletic
Conference title.
The Saxons, repeat champions in the I-8,
and likely the Delton Kellogg Panthers will
get to play for more hardware when the
MHSAA state football tournaments begin in
a week and a half.
Now is the Maple Valley Lions’ turn to
get their hands on a trophy. Maple Valley
and Bellevue have traded their Little Brown
Jug back and forth the past two seasons, and
the Lions will be looking to get it back from
the Broncos when they travel to Bellevue
Friday night.
The Lions are 3-5 and the Broncos 2-5 on
the season. While a string of five consecutive
playoff appearances for the Broncos at the
eight-player level is likely to be snapped this
fall, the Lions once again represent a district
too large to qualify for the state eight-player
playoffs – meaning this is the Lions’ champi-
onship finale.
A win Friday night could be like a champi-
onship victory for Delton Kellogg. The
Panthers are 5-2 and looking to wrap up a
playoff spot for the fifth time in the past
seven seasons while also scoring their
first-ever victory over the Schoolcraft Eagles
on the gridiron.
Like Bellevue and Maple Valley, the Eagles
will come to the field with pride to play for.
The 2-5 Eagles are likely to miss the state
postseason for the first time in 13 years.
The Interstate-8 Athletic Conference cham-
pions from Hastings have a long bus ride
ahead, even longer than its regular trips to
Jackson and Coldwater. The Saxons head to
Gaylord to meet in the middle for a Saturday
match-up with the 1-7 Escanaba Eskimos.
The Saxons will be looking to strengthen
their playoff seeding. They are already sit
sixth among all Division 4 teams in the state
in playoff point total.
Thornapple Kellogg and Lakewood will be
looking to close out the season with wins at
home. TK closes out the OK Gold Conference
season against Ottawa Hills Friday – looking
to make it two in a row to finish the fall.
Lakewood hosts its annual rivalry with Ionia
Friday looking to finish a season with a better
than.500 record for the first time since 2018
which was the last time they closed out a season
with a win over the Bulldogs. The Vikings and
Bulldogs are both 4-4. Ionia hasn’t had a win-
ning record at the end of a season since 2013.
Local Standings (W-L, playoff points)
Hastings 7-1 (58.500)
Delton Kellogg 5-2 (36.482)
Lakewood 4-4 (27.375)
Maple Valley (8-player) 3-
Thornapple Kellogg 2-6 (32.875)
Conference Standings
(overall, conference)
Interstate 8 Athletic Conference
Hastings 7-1, 6-
Lumen Christi 7-1, 6-
Harper Creek 6-2, 6-
Parma Western 5-3, 4-
Coldwater 3-5, 3-
Pennfield 3-5, 2-
Marshall 2-6, 1-
Northwest 1-7, 0-
OK Gold Conference
G.R. Catholic Central 8-0, 6-
Cedar Springs 6-2, 5-
South Christian 6-2, 5-
Forest Hills Eastern 4-4, 3-
Thornapple Kellogg 2-6, 2-
Kenowa Hills 3-5, 2-
Ottawa Hills 2-6, 1-
Wayland 0-8, 0-
Southwestern Athletic Conference Valley
Lawton 8-0, 2-
Delton Kellogg 5-2, 2-
Saugatuck 5-3, 2-
Schoolcraft 2-5, 1-
Galesburg-Augusta 0-8, 0-
Greater Lansing Activities Conference
Olivet 6-2, 4-
Lakewood 4-4, 3-
Leslie 3-5, 2-
Perry 3-5, 1-
Stockbridge 3-5, 0-Tri-River 8-Man Football Conference
Britton-Deerfield 8-0, 4-
NorthPointe Christian 6-2, 3-
Concord 3-5, 1-
Maple Valley 3-5, 1-
Vandercook Lake 2-6, 1-
Here is a round-up of last week’s local grid-
iron action.Hastings 39, Coldwater 20
Valerie Slaughter
Contributing Writer
The Hastings varsity football team topped
Coldwater 39-20 to remain in a three-way tie
for the Interstate-8 Athletic Conference
Championship in the final conference ball-
game of the season Thursday in Coldwater.
Hastings shares the 2021 Interstate-
Athletic Conference Championship, along-
side Harper Creek and Jackson Lumen
Christi, with a 6-1 conference record and an
overall record of 7-1. It is the first time the
Saxons have won back-to-back conference
football titles since the 1978-1979 season in
the Twin Valley Conference.
Saxon senior captain Victor Ramirez said,
“We started off slow but in the second half
the team pulled it together on offense and the
defense made some big stops.”
One of those big stops came towards the
end of the second half, after Coldwater and
Hastings had exchanged touchdowns and
the Cardinals were in the lead 14-12. TJ
Russell scored his second touchdown of the
night to boost the Saxons to 18-14 lead
before the defense forced the Cardinals to
punt. Russell scored again on a 5-yard run
with 30 seconds to go to increase that lead
to 24-14 at halftime.
Saxon Head Coach Jamie Murphy said,
“Coldwater’s defense was tough and disci-
plined. Right off the first play we knew they
would have a difficult time stopping our
off-tackle play. TJ Russell went 80 yards for
a touchdown. After that, we put the ball in
Robby Slaughter’s hands to pound up the
middle of their defense. He had some tough
runs and drew the defense’s focus while we
set up the edge play with Lanny Teunessen
and Mason Denton.”
In the second half, Hastings strengthened
their lead when Mason Denton completed a
pass to Teunessen in the third quarter.
Slaughter ran in his first touchdown of the
night on a 22-yard run with 4:25 left in the
game to put the final score at 39-20.
Offensively, the Saxons rushed for just
over 400 yards, with 195 yards coming from
Russell who also added three touchdowns.
Slaughter ran another 81 yards and one
touchdown and Teunessen added 61 yards for
the night with one rushing and one pass
reception touchdown.
Defensively, the Saxons had a hard time
stopping junior back Cam Torres, who ran for
257 yards for the Cardinals and scored all
three of their touchdowns.
Coach Murphy said, “Torres is one of the
better running backs in our league. As a junior,Football playoff pairings
will be announced Sunday
The 288 qualifiers for this season’s
Michigan High School Athletic Association
Football Playoffs will be announced at
5:30 p.m. Sunday (Oct. 24) on the Bally
Sports Detroit primary channel.
The top 32 teams in each division,
based on playoff points earned during the
season, will earn spots in the 2021 state
postseason. The 7-1 Hastings Saxons are
currently fifth among the 63 teams in
Division 4, trailing only undefeated
Chelsea, unity Christian and Edwardsburg
and 7-1 teams from Vicksburg and Lake
Fenton.
The Delton Kellogg Panthers who are
5-2 overall this season are in the think of
things in the Division playoff chase, rank-
ing at 16th heading in to the final weekend
of the regular season.
Brackets and matchups in all eight divi-
sions for 256 11-player teams and 32
qualifiers across two divisions for 8-play-
er football will be presented during the“Selection Sunday Show,” with all brack-
ets to be posted to the MHSAA Website
after the completion of the show at 6:
p.m. Dates and times for first-round games
will be added Monday (Oct. 25).
The Delton Kellogg Panthers who are
5-2 overall this season are in the think of
things in the Division playoff chase, rank-
ing at 16th heading in to the final weekend
of the regular season.
Lakewood currently checks in at num-
ber 43 in Division 4 and Thornapple
Kellogg is 47th in Division 3.
Viewers also may watch on the Bally
Sports Detroit website and app on Sunday.
The MHSAA Playoffs in both 11-Player
and 8-Player divisions are set to begin
during the weekend of Oct. 29-30. The
8-Player Playoffs will conclude with both
Finals on Nov. 20 at Northern Michigan
University’s Superior Dome in Marquette.
The 11-Player Finals will be played Nov.
26-27 at Ford Field in Detroit.The Hastings varsity football team celebrates its second straight Interstate-8 Athletic Conference Championship after a 39-20 win at Coldwater High School Thursday in the
final ballgame of the conference season. The Saxons share the 2021 conference championship with Harper Creek and Jackson Lumen Christi. All three squads were 6-1 in
conference action this fall. The play-off bound Saxons will finish the regular season with a ballgame against Escanaba in Gaylord Saturday, Oct. 23. Kick-off against the Eskimos
is set for 4 p.m. (Photo by Valerie Slaughter)Hastings running back TJ Russell gets ready to break through a hole between
blocks from teammates Owen Winegar (56) and Robby Slaughter (9) at Coldwater
Thursday. (Photo by Jason Slaughter)See FOOTBALL, page 12
Thornapple Kellogg junior running back Jayden Garcia rushes up the home sideline
for a big gain during his team's OK Gold Conference win over the Wildcats in Wayland
Friday night. (Photo by Brett Bremer)