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12/2/07-Football
Grid playoff road a wild and crazy ride
The West Bloomfield Eccentric
Fall officially ends Dec. 22 on the Gregorian calendar. On the high school sports calendar, fall concluded over the Thanksgiving weekend with the state championship football games at Ford Field.
And what a wild ending it was.
Orchard Lake St. Mary's and East Grand Rapids authored what many are calling 'The Longest Game' - the five-overtime classic that lasted three hours and 25 minutes.
East Grand Rapids defeated St. Mary's 46-39 to claim the Division 3 state championship. Regulation time ended with the teams tied 14-all. The winning points came in the fifth overtime on a 3-yard run by Joe Glendening and the ensuing extra point off the toe of Michael Wilson. St. Marys' failed to score on its final possession, dropping the epic clash when an attempted fourth-down pass from Robert Bolden to Tayler Peruski fell incomplete.
While both teams felt the emotional exhaustion of such a roller-coaster finish, it was the Pioneers who enjoyed the thrill of victory. The Eaglets were both courageous and gracious in defeat.
The Division 3 state final not only set the state record for the longest ever state championship game, but captured the attention of many high school sports fans for its incomparable suspense.
"It was a great football game," said St. Mary's head coach George Porritt. "I'm very proud of our kids. That kind of football game, it's hard to lose. But that's the way it goes."
FINALS ATTENDANCE FIGURES: The final attendance for the two-day Ford Field football fest was 61,101. The first-day four-game attendance total of 30,760 marked the first time in tournament history that the Friday's figures eclipsed the 30,000 mark. This was the third year the finals were held at Ford Field.
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