By John Raffel
Here’s a neat trivia question regarding high school football in 2014:
What two schools start with the letter ‘I,’ are defending state champions, and nearly lost their undefeated status to Michigan Lutheran Seminary this season?
Even people outside of Saginaw realize the answer. Michigan Lutheran Seminary ended the season at 11-2 with only tough losses to defending Division 6 king Ithaca and reigning Division 7 champ Ishpeming.
Michigan Lutheran Seminary’s season ended with a 22-18 loss to Ishpeming Nov. 22 at the Superior Dome in Marquette.
“Our kids left everything on the field,” Schmugge said. “They gave a great effort. I tip my cap to Ishpeming. They came out and controlled the line of scrimmage. When we were on offense, we couldn’t get a stop when we needed to to get the ball back.”
Schmugge agreed that, despite the setback, it might have been one of his team’s best efforts of the season.
“They’re two-time defending state champions, with the longest winning streak, behind Ithaca, which we also lost to,” he said. “I guess we’re not good against guys with long winning streaks and teams with the letter ‘I.’ We played them tough, and [Ishpeming] said we were definitely the toughest team they’ve played this year.”
Schmugge gives his team plenty of credit for the effort. “I think we were maybe a little bit nervous going into the game,” he said. “It was to their advantage, having been in that situation before.”
Ishpeming is only 20 miles from Marquette, while the Cardinals obviously had a long ride from Saginaw to the central Upper Peninsula. “Some people are saying it was, but I don’t think it was that big of a factor,” Schmugge said. “We enjoyed the trip, despite some of the roads. The kids got to ride on the coach bus and enjoyed staying together at the hotel and enjoyed the facilities up there. Obviously, there’s a little bit of advantage [for Ishpeming], because they’ve played there many times through the season and have familiarity of the playing surface. Outside of that, I don’t think it’s huge.”
The Cardinals enjoyed the type of season they hadn’t seen in 28 years.
“I’m very proud of the boys for the hard work they put in the off-season and the effort they put in,” Schmugge said. “They had a business-like atmosphere to each game and yet still had fun, enjoyed the game, and took it for what it was, a game from which they could learn good life lessons and have fun playing together.”
Offensively, the Cardinals were able to take advantage of various weapons to score points.
“We had two great receivers in Casey Williams and Andrew Schroeder,” Schmugge said. “Both of them we’ll have back next year. Owen [Heyn] was our MVP on both sides of the ball. Nate [Lindloff] at quarterback probably had the most successful run at quarterback in our history, throwing for just under 3,000 yards and about 50 touchdowns in two years at starting quarterback. When you have weapons like that on offense, obviously it helps to have various people you can go to. And they scored the most points in school history.
“It’s the best defensive team I’ve coached since I’ve been there. Our team speed on defense was exceptional. [Against Ishpeming], we just didn’t execute very well. Definitely [the players] up front and our linebackers all year long kept us us in it.”
The Cardinals will get hit by graduation. “But we have some quality athletes coming back,” Schmugge said. “These guys know the hard work it takes to get to this level and to stay at it. They’re excited to get back to work and get back to the same place again.”