DETROIT >> La’Darius Jefferson said he didn’t care how Muskegon won, they just wanted that state title.
They got it.
Jefferson, a senior quarterback, ran in for all four touchdowns as Muskegon beat Farmington Hills Harrison, 28-10, to win the MHSAA Division 3 Football Finals at Ford Field on Saturday night.
PHOTO GALLERY FROM MUSKEGON WIN OVER HARRISON
It was quite a week for Jefferson, who turned 18 on Saturday. On Tuesday he was named Michigan’s Football Player of the Year and then on Saturday night he was tossing words like “amazing” around minutes after winning the state championship with 32 carries for 247 yards and, yes, four touchdowns.
“The quarterback was hard to tackle and they’ve got 350-pound blockers up front, it’s kind of tough to stop,” Harrison coach John Herrington said. “But I thought our defense played well overall and got worn down in the end. We couldn’t do anything to maintain that offense. We really needed to move the ball to keep away from them. Passing is not our thing and they stopped the run pretty well, they got a good pass rush on us.”
Herrington, who has won 13 state titles in his 48 years of coaching at Harrison, was proud of his team. No tears for the coach who has one more year left before they close the doors at Harrison for one final time.
“Overall I was pretty happy with the way we played, nothing to be disappointed about. Good year – all the things coaches say when they lose. It was a good year,” Herrington said.
Jefferson, who is 6-2 and 215 pounds, was just too much for the Hawks’ defense. Herrington said he didn’t do anything to surprise them, but at times he overpowered them.
“We thought we’d stop him a little better than that. He kept sliding outside and we had trouble tackling him, he’s a big kid and running behind 350-pound guys that are going to Alabama and Penn State, that’s pretty good,” Herrington said.
The Hawks could not get anything going on offense.
Running back Roderick Heard, who had been nearly unstoppable this season, had just nine carries for 48 yards. Quarterback Noah Hendricks completed 9 of 14 passes for 53 yards, but he was sacked four times.
The Hawks’ only touchdown came quickly. Ben Williams took the opening kickoff and returned it 91 yards for a touchdown. It was only the second time in state finals history an opening kickoff was brought back for a score.
“Ben has great speed and he broke that one, that was a great start. We needed that, it kept us in the game early,” Herrington said. “He got other good returns.”
Williams also had a 56-yard kickoff return in the third quarter which put the Hawks at the Muskegon 26 to start the drive. A one-yard scamper by Heard and then Hendricks was sacked by Eli Jackson for an 11-yard loss and on third-down a Hendricks keeper gained just one yard.
“We need to capitalize a little more, we need to throw the ball a little better, protect a little better to have a real chance against them. The thing about their secondary they fly to the ball so we tried a couple screens and they were up there like a shot,” Herrington said.
Muskegon tied it at 7-7 with Jefferson’s 8-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-3.
David Hiser gave Harrison the 10-7 lead when he kicked a 26-yard field goal.
Before the half Jefferson’s 14 yard touchdown run put the Big Reds up 14-10.
Jefferson added to his total with a 1-yard touchdown run in the third and a 3-yard touchdown in the fourth.
Muskegon coach Shane Fairfield didn’t know how to feel just minutes after the trophy presentation at mid-field. But it was all good.
“Their only (Division 1) loss was to Clarkston and Clarkston won the state championship so that tells you how good they were, even though they’re a Division 3 school,” Fairfield said. “We knew they were going to have some spunk, we knew they were going to be a fight.”
