Ithaca is 56-0 and four-time state Division 6 champion during the last four seasons.
It’s as simple as that.
The Yellowjackets held back Clinton 41-22 November 29 at Ford Field to win their fourth straight state title while going 14-0 for the fourth straight year.
They did find themselves behind a couple of times in the game, which featured two 13-0 teams.
“We battled the champs for 2 1/2 quarters,” said Clinton coach Scott McNitt. “We knew it’d have to be a perfect game; a few things would have to go wrong for them. We did what we could. In the end, the defensive line in my opinion controlled our offensive front. We were running for our lives a little bit there.”
Coach Terry Hessbrook, in 10 years at Ithaca, now has a 101-17 record plus four state titles and a 56-game winning streak.
“It was a very entertaining game, I’ve got to believe, from a fan’s perspective,” Hessbrook said. “They gave us everything we expected. They’re every bit as good as we expected. We were very concerned about their team speed and their athleticism they had on the perimeter and how well they matched up with us. Everything we were concerned about came true in that first half. We’re very fortunate.”
Ithaca had built a 14-0 lead on a 15-yard pass from Travis Smith to Josh Hafner and a 30-yard interception return for Smith. But Collin Poore’s 18-yard touchdown run and Matthew Saxton’s 86-yard punt return for a touchdown, plus a 2-point conversion, gave Clinton a 15-14 lead.
The punt return was further marred with an injury to Ithaca linebacker Dallas Reeser, who sustained a broken arm and was tended to for several minutes.
“We got quite a punch from them early,” Hessbrook sad. “The adversity these guys have to face during the 56-game streak, and we don’t get a lot of adversity during the regular season…during the playoffs, they seem to bounce back. Nobody has never done this in the state of Michigan. Someday these kids will look back and say we went undefeated four years and 14-0. Someday, we’ll realize how special this is. Right now, we’re all caught up in the moment.”
“I anticipated they would take the opening kickoff and score,” McNitt said. “I thought our kids would adjust to it as the game went on. The pick six put them up 14-0. I wasn’t sure what would happen. We were teetering, but we responded. We got the momentum back. But they overwhelmed us as the game went on.”
Smith passed to Eli Villalobos for a touchdown late in the second quarter and gave Ithaca a 21-15 halftime lead. Collin Poore’s 8-yard TD run gave Clinton a 22-21 advantage in the third.
But Ithaca scored three unanswered touchdowns, with Smith passing 14 yards to Hafner at 7:56 of the third quarter and 21 yards to Logan Hessbrook at 6:17 of the third, and Smith running for a 10-yard score at 5:21 of the fourth.
Smith gained 123 rushing yards and was 17 of 27 for 246 yards and a TD. Bryan Shaw had 41 yards rushing. In receiving, Hessbrook caught six passes for 93 yards, Villalobos six for 82, and Hafner four for 45.
Smith and Hafner both had interceptions.
In total yards, it was 317 for Clinton and 419 for Ithaca. Poore led the Redskins in rushing with 125 yards.
“They blitzed us, as we anticipated they would,” McNitt said. “They were more physical than we were up front. We struggled with our passing game. We had a hard time getting people open.”
“In the second half, we really decided to get after them on the option,” Hessbrook said. “We gave them a couple of different looks on the option. We decided to bring the pressure a lot harder. We talked at halftime about being more physical on the edge and brought people from different areas.”
Linebacker Jace Demenov had six solo tackles and two assists, defensive end Seth Capen had five solo tackles and two sacks, and the other defensive end, Lam Morgan, had a sack and four solo tackles.
“Ithaca is a great football team,” McNitt said. “It was an honor to play them.”
But, Hessbrook admitted that the last four weeks of the 56-0 win streak weren’t easy, starting with the district final.
“We played Glen Lake in the district championships and faced Trevor Apsey, one of the best backs we ever faced at Ithaca,” he said. “Then we got to the regional finals and saw Negaunee with Kyler Lajoie who might be the best back we’ve ever faced at Ithaca. Then we faced Montrose and had a problem with their overall size and revenge factor they had. Today, we may have faced one of the best backs because of the speed and big-play ability they had to offer.
“We’ve been behind four weeks in a row, four playoff games in a row we’ve been behind. It does not seem to phase them. With the big heavy weight burden on their shoulders of the bullseye and the winning streak and all that kind of stuff, I have to think a lot of high school kids would crumble under that pressure. These guys will go on to accomplish amazing things in life because they’re special people. They don’t seem to care. We get behind, and they just keep playing. A lot of times, we make big plays and get back in the game.”
It’s definitely been a four-year dream, according to Hessbrook. “We’re being given a chance to live our dream,” he said. “Nobody ever thought…we were 5-4 in 2008 and probably a lot of people in Ithaca wanted to see me down the road. In 2009 we broke through. That was a special group of kids, and we won our first regional championship and got to the semifinals. In that game, the first quarter, we played with Montague, who won the state championships the year before, for one quarter. The second quarter, they showed us who the best team was, and we learned that we weren’t ready.
“What happened was our players started to believe we have a chance to play with these guys. Our conditioning that we do at Ithaca is fantastic. These kids work hard to condition. It’s been a factor during our streak.”