Blake Blackford won’t ever forget his senior football season at Mount Pleasant. The Oilers made it to the regional final, where they lost to Zeeland West and finished with a 10-2 record.
Mount Pleasant opened the season with a 28-16 loss to DeWitt. But starting with 21-14 and 42-21 victories over Powers Catholic and Bay City Central, the Oilers rolled off 10 straight triumphs. They qualified for the playoffs and collected 42-21 and 42-27 victories over Sparta and Sault Ste. Marie. But Zeeland West was too tough for the Oilers and defeated them 62-27 .
A second-year varsity player, Blackford started at left guard and saw some action at middle linebacker. “I’m pretty quick off my feet,” he said of being an offensive lineman. “I’m usually one of the first people off the ball.”
This was Blackford’s first year as a starter. “I thought I prepared pretty good for this year,” he said. “I went to the weight room quite a bit.”
Beating Midland 50-42 was a memorable moment for Mount Pleasant. “That’s always our rivalry match of the year,” Blackford said, adding that he felt his team “exceeded expectations. We were coming in from last season being kind of down. We did really good this year.”
Against Zeeland West, “I thought we did pretty good on offense,” Blackford said. “We scored quite a bit, but we couldn’t get the ball back.”
Blackford was happy with his improvement throughout the season.
“Coming into this year, we didn’t know what to expect out of Blake,” said coach Jason McIntyre. “He grew and got a little stronger. In two-a-days, we noticed his intensity and how hard he practiced. He was definitely going to get a shot at the starting spot in the offensive line. He battled with some other guys for two or three weeks before he earned the spot permanently. He does whatever he can to help the team.”
2013 marked the end of a six-year football career for Blackford. “I’Il miss going out there,” he said. “We have a good community. Everyone comes out and cheers us on. Every game we felt we had something to prove. Everyone was doubting us from the year before.”
“It’s a story of handling adversity,” McIntyre said. “We lost our starting running back in week one and our starting receiver. We had so many guys step up and take on different roles for us during the year. Guys needed to make plays for us, and we found a way to win. I think the season’s a story of playing through adversity and players stepping up and making big plays and taking on other roles. It’s definitely a season that was about a team. We did this all together. Every guy, at some point, was a key contributor. It was great for our seniors after not making the playoffs last year. I’m happy for them; they worked hard for it.”