Story by Nolan Fletcher
Last season was a season of high hopes for the varsity football team—a season in which they beat their conference rival, DeWitt, on the road by a score of 21-2. It was DeWitt’s first league loss since 2008.
But the two rivals would meet again in the first round of the playoffs that year. East Lansing had the advantage of home field, but they lost round two by a score of 21-13. Conner Long (12), a then-junior, remembers seeing how emotional the seniors were after that loss.
“It really brought [returning players] closer together and we knew that we had to work that much harder in order to get where we want,” Long said.
Over six months later in June, the team started workouts in preparation for a season full of uncertainty. On Aug. 14, the MHSAA, with guidance from State government officials, made the decision to postpone football until the spring of 2021. This choice was met with a lot of pushback from parents and players as many other states continued with the plan to play football.
Plus, losing the season meant losing star wide receiver and University of Michigan commit Andrel Anthony (12) and Michigan State University-bound offensive tackle Ethan Boyd (12).
About three weeks later, Governor Whitmer reversed course and allowed football to be played in the fall. This meant the first three games of the season were cut off including St Johns, Grandville and an all-important rematch with DeWitt.
To start the season, they were supposed to play Portage Central, but that game was postponed after a Portage coach tested positive COVID-19. They played their next game against defending Division 3 state champions, River Rouge, and won 21-6. This win sparked a lot of expectations both in the locker room and in the media.
"I think it definitely set the tone for our season," Boyd told the Lansing State Journal after the win in September. "It was a good first win. We're going to put it behind us and get back to work next week."
They proceeded to outscore the rest of the regular season opponents by a combined score of 162-6. They beat Holt 63-0 after losing to the same team last Homecoming. With the way the regular season went, Long didn’t doubt that they wanted to keep playing like this into the playoffs.
“We have very high expectations,” Long said. “We expect nothing less than a state championship.”
Due to COVID-19 sidelining their first round opponent, they had a bye in the first round of the playoffs. The next two weeks they played against Portage Central and Portage Northern, and won these games by a combined score of 92-20.
They were getting ready to face off against defending Division 2 state champions Muskegon Mona Shores in the Regional finals on Nov. 19 with a ticket to the semifinals on the line when new lockdown restrictions postponed the football season for three weeks. This would mean the season would start back up on Dec. 11 and the season would end the weekend of Dec. 25.
But the last time Michigan went into lockdown, it was for longer than three weeks. This means there is no guarantee that the team will get a chance to finish the season.
“[It is disappointing] knowing that we have talent to do great things and knowing that tomorrow could literally be our last day together.” Conner Long said.