East gets defensive over OLSM

BY MICK MCCABE

FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

EAST GRAND RAPIDS -- When A.J. McEwen transferred to East Grand Rapids after his sophomore season two years ago, he had played only one position.

"I was always the quarterback," McEwen said. "But I was open to anything. I just wanted to do anything to help the team."

That didn't mean he was willing to give up trying to play quarterback without a fight. The problem last year was a senior named Andrew Thompson, who won the starting job.

"I knew they already had a quarterback here -- a great quarterback," McEwen said. "At first I was trying to play quarterback, but I knew I would play other positions, too. When they switched me, it was OK."

Thompson, with more than a little help from a running back named Joe (The Show) Glendenning, helped East win its third straight Division 3 state championship as McEwen found a home in the secondary as well as at wide receiver.

Thompson is gone this fall and McEwen is still in the secondary. Good thing.

Once again, East began the season with high-powered Orchard Lake St. Mary's on Thursday. The Eaglets came to town with one of the top quarterbacks in the state in Robert Bolden, who committed to Penn State, and two outstanding receivers in Earnest Thompson, who is headed to UCLA to play defense, and Gary Hunter.

The score was tied 7-all late in the second quarter when Bolden dropped back and saw Hunter open -- but not for long.

"We knew Hunter was a great player and, of course, Bolden is a great player," McEwen said. "I just read his eyes the whole time. He ran a flag patter and I just jumped it."

He really did jump it -- the route and into the air to pick off the pass at the St. Mary's 22 and then he turned into his familiar role as a quarterback running the option.

"I tried my hardest to score," McEwen said, shaking his head and laughing. "But there was a big guy at the end and I tried to run him over, but I just didn't get in there. Almost."

McEwen was down at the 1-yard line, setting up Josh Drummond's second TD for a 14-7 halftime lead, which turned into a 21-7 victory before an overflow crowd of over 6,000 fans.

McEwen's pick-and-run was clearly the play of the game. St. Mary's had a few big plays after that with Bolden completing 10 of 20 passes for 145 yards, but the East defense was outstanding.

This is not the same East offense that threatened to burn out scoreboard lights the last few years. Junior Ryan Elble is now the quarterback and he played well enough for East to win.

But the reason East is 1-0 is its defense, which features McEwen and a 6-foot-7, 225-pound defensive end named Colin Voss, who can have his pick between playing football or basketball in college.

McEwen was delighted that he and his defensive mates were able to hold Bolden and the Eaglets to a single touchdown.

"He's going to Penn State, that says it all right there," McEwen said. "And (Thomas) is going to UCLA. They've got a lot of great players, but we did the best we could to slow them down.

"We've got a pretty tough defense."

Spoken like a true defensive player through and through.

[Webmaster note: Mr. McCabe failed to mention the play that changed the game. OLSM's Earnest Thomas returned a tipped pass interception 65+ yards for a touchdown early in the second quarter when the Eaglets led 7-0. The intereception was called back due to a pass interference penalty that was disputed by the OLSM sideline coaches. Had the penalty been overturned, the score would have been 14-0, OLSM. The penalty gave the ball to the Pioneers on the OLSM 17-yard line. Six plays later the Pioneers tied the score on fourth down after the OLSM goalline defense twice stopped them from the 1-yard line.)

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