Oak Park upends Churchill to reach semifinal round
Advancing to the Michigan High School Athletic Association semifinals for the first time in school history, the Oak Park Knights traveled to Livonia Churchill and topped the Chargers, 30-23, in a regional final on Saturday.
The Knights, who have fought back from an 0- 6 start and are now 4- 6, will face the Warren De La Salle Pilots on Jan. 16 for a chance to compete in the Division 2 state title game on Jan. 22.
Churchill, a member of the Kensington Lakes Activities Association (KLAA) and the District 13 champions, rounds out their campaign at 6-3
fter the Chargers won the coin toss and deferred their choice to the second half, Oak Park began the game’s scoring on the first drive when senior quarterback James Burnley found classmate KyShaun Jackson from 21 yards out on fourth- downand-20. The extra point, however, was no good.
Taking over in a goal-to-go situation following a fumble by senior tailback Davion Primm, who signed his National Letter of Intent (LOI) with Mel Tucker’s Michigan State Spartans during college football’s early signing period, Churchill evened the score with a 10-yard touchdown pass from senior Gavin Brooks to Jordan Garcia, another senior, with 3:25 left in the opening frame.
Junior kicker Lucas Sutliff knocked the point after, moving the Chargers ahead, 7- 6.
This score would hold up until there were slightly more than two minutes remaining in the first half, when Burnley was responsible for his second score of the game, this one with his legs, from 6 yards out. Electing to attempt the two-point conversion, the Knights were unsuccessful, leaving their margin at five points, 12-7.
Blessed with favorable field position after Oak Park’s kick went out of bounds, Churchill retook the lead, 1312, with 58.5 seconds left before the break on a fourth-down conversion of its own when Brooks connected with 6-foot- 4 senior Jimmy Targosz from 20 yards out.
Receiving a pitch on a reverse, Garcia converted the two-point attempt,
extending the Chargers’ cushion to three points, 15-12.
This lead ramped up to five points, 17-12, with 8:17 remaining in the third quarter as the Knights were lined up to punt deep in their own territory. With Jackson standing in his own end zone, the snap sailed over his head and out of the back, resulting in a safety.
Greg Carter’s Oak Park squad moved back in front, 20-17, with 1:52 left in the third quarter, courtesy of a 29-yard run by junior Bwana Miller. Burnley bowled his way through on a keeper for the two-pointer.
Continuing this backand-forth affair, Churchill retook the lead, 23-20, with 9:26 to play, as junior tailback Boston Clegg, Jr. found paydirt from 5 yards out.
Stopping Miller on fourth- down- and-two at the 7-yard line with 1:35 remaining, the Chargers were backed up deep in their own end, but had the opportunity to seal the deal and run the clock out with a first down.
The Knights’ defense
held, however, and, after Carter used all three of his timeouts, Churchill was faced with fourth- downand-12 with 1:07 left.
Head coach Bill DeFillippo elected to play the strategy game, having Brooks run out of the back of the end zone for a safety, rather than risk punting from that deep.
Bringing the score to 2322, Oak Park began its lastgasp drive at its own 45yard line, without the luxury of timeouts to discuss their play- calling options. After moving the football 15 yards to the Chargers’ 40-yard line, Burnley took a shot deep down the left sideline for senior Amari Harris, who made a spectacular, diving catch just inside the pylon with 41.9 seconds to play.
Ahead, 28-23, Burnley ran in another two-point conversion, making the score, 30-23, which held up as the final.
Churchill had one last shot for a miracle, but Brooks was intercepted by junior Charles Gillespie with 14.2 seconds left to seal it.
“The kids came out with a little fire, I think the first half kind of helped both teams get in the groove,”
said Carter, a coaching veteran of 42 seasons, including the last 10 as the Knights’ head man.
“It was a crazy game with a lot of mistakes, but both teams played extremely hard. We’re just proud, and excited, and lucky, to get out of here with a win.”
Oak Park has shown a benefit of the MHSAA’s decision to allow every school to qualify for the postseason in the coronavirus (COVID-19)- shortened 2020 season, and Carter knows, in a normal campaign, his young men likely would not be celebrating this victory.
“I haven’t been a part of it, and I haven’t really experienced it because, look, quite honestly, had this been a regular season, we wouldn’t have been in the playoffs,” he said. “This has to be a first, and I’m extremely proud of the way we handled losing those early games, and we knew, by the end of the season, we would be a tough out for opposing teams.”
This was the Knights’ third regional final appearance in the last nine seasons, as the program also reached this point in 2012 and 2017.