D2: Oak Park falls to De La Salle
Four quarters weren’t enough for Oak Park and De La Salle Collegiate in the first football game on the Pilots’ new field.
Brett Stanley ran three yards for a touchdown in overtime to lift DLS to a 26-20 victory over the mistake-prone Knights in a state Division 2 semifinal game at St. John Baptist De La Salle Field.
The Pilots of first-year coach Dan Rohn, who improved to 7-4, will go for their fourth state championship in seven years when they play Muskegon Mona Shores at 1 p.m. Friday at Ford Field.
“The better team won,” Oak Park coach Greg Carter said after the Knights fell to 5-6. “We made too many mistakes.”
One of the more costly mistakes came on the first play of overtime when Pilots linebacker Jayden Conklin stripped the ball from the running back and cradled it in his arms, ending the Knights’ possession.
Stanley then carried on three consecutive plays, the last when he took the snap from center in wildcat formation and barreled up the middle to decide a game that featured a clutch field goal by the Pilots’ Cody Cummins and the bigplay ability of Oak Park.
The Knights trailed 17-6 in the third quarter, but rallied with a pair of touchdowns and a twopoint conversion for a 20-17 lead with 6:42 to play.
“They’re an extremely athletic, extremely gifted football team, and we said all week we didn’t want to give them any cheap ones, and we did,” Rohn, who won multiple state championships as the coach at Grand Rapids West Catholic, said. “We gave them a (punt) return for a touchdown. We let them hang around, and when we let them hang around, it was going to come down to a battle.
“And it was a battle.”
Cummins’ 22-yard field goal attempt hit the right upright and caromed between the posts to tie the game 20-20 with 1:23 to play.
That came after Michigan State recruit Davion Primm ran nine yards for a touchdown and quar