MHSAA football finals: Jake DeHaan leads G.R. South Christian to 28-0 win, D-4 title

Just as it has all season long, undefeated Grand Rapids South Christian leaned on Jake DeHaan. The dual-threat quarterback completed 14 of 21 pass attempts for 266 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for another while leading the Sailors in rushing (99 yards) in their 28-0 win over Goodrich in the 2022 Michigan high school football Division 4 final Friday night. And if that wasn't enough, DeHaan hauled in an interception to quash a Martians drive.

“This was always the goal,” DeHaan said. “We knew that we had the talent and the coaching and everything to do it. We made some big plays in big moments and I knew that I could trust my teammates to step up.”

After neither team scored in the opening quarter, South Christian (14-0) established a two-touchdown cushion in the second period and clamped down on the Goodrich offense.

South Christian struck first, two minutes into the second quarter, on a 3-yard pass from DeHaan to running back Nate Brinks, capping a 95-yard drive which took 12 plays and 4:58.

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The Sailors then forced a three-and-out, followed by doubling their lead to 14-0 on the ensuing drive, converting a third-and-13 play when DeHaan hit Carson Vis over the middle for a 23-yard touchdown. During that drive, DeHaan hooked up with Brinks for back-to-back completions of 23 and 28 yards.

“We didn’t stress at all. We knew we were confident in ourselves, and we knew if we kept going, we were going to persevere and come out on top,” DeHaan said. “Players make great plays. I give all the credit to my teammates. My O-line gave me so much time, my receivers made some great plays on the outside.”

DeHaan accounted for much of South Christian’s 207-59 first-half edge in total offense, completing 10 of 14 pass attempts for 177 yards while also leading in rushing. Jake Vermaas caught six of those passes for 132 yards.

Meanwhile, Goodrich (12-2) couldn’t get much going offensively in its first state final appearance. Its 12 possessions contained six punts, two interceptions, one turnover on downs, a blocked field goal and time expiring at the end of each half.

“They have athletes everywhere,” Goodrich coach Tom Alward said. “There’s a mismatch waiting to happen and you’re just hoping to do the very best you can to control them. When you have that kind of talent, it’s tough to play against. We’re no slouch by any stretch, we played them tough. If we could have done something on offense, it would have been a different game.”

South Christian limited Goodrich to 158 yards in posting its first shutout of the season.

“Obviously our defense led the charge,” South Christian coach Danny Brown said. “We kind of put ourselves in bad positions with turnovers, which we hadn’t done much this year. Credit to them, they were ripping out at the ball and doing some good things defensively, but we stepped up when we needed to have it happen — we made the plays.”

The Martians had a chance to get within striking distance when it was still a two-score game in the fourth quarter, but DeHaan intercepted a Gavin Hart pass at the Sailors' 33. It took South Christian three plays to advance the ball to the Goodrich 17, though Easton Phipps prevented the Sailors by going up by three scores by intercepting DeHaan at the 6.

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But South Christian forced Goodrich to punt again, and DeHaan put his stamp on the final by rambling for a 54-yard touchdown with just under six minutes to play.

Just two plays after DeHaan’s long run, Vermaas made it 28-0 by returning an interception 32 yards.

“I just came down, caught the ball and ran it back. Pretty simple. It was a great feeling to seal the win for my team,” Vermaas said. “Coach said it before: Good players play well on the biggest stage, and this is about as big as it gets. Everybody played hard and it was a great team win.”

It's not the first time DeHaan has been all over the field this season. When the Sailors ended Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s state’s-best 42-game winning streak in September, DeHaan threw for a touchdown, ran for another, caught a touchdown pass on a reverse, and returned an interception for a fourth score.

“Jake’s one of those guys — you’re going to win games with him on your team,” Brown said. “He’s a heck of a football player. In my opinion, he’s one of the best players in Michigan, and we’re just fortunate to have him on our team. He’s a great football player, but he leads the team and he’s a great human being. He’s awesome.”

It’s the second Division 4 state championship for South Christian, which beat Lansing Sexton, 28-27, in 2014.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MHSAA football finals: Jake DeHaan leads South Christian to D-4 title