By John Raffel
Lansing Sexton football players went undefeated through 13 games but badly wanted the state title. That’s why a 28-27 loss to Grand Rapids South Christian in the championship game on Nov. 28 at Ford Field was so disappointing, as Sexton’s drive to be the best team in Division 4 ended unsuccessfully.
Rayshawn Wilborn had a huge game for the Big Reds, with eight catches for 84 yards. Defensively, he had five tackles and three assists.
“It was a nice experience,” he said, while admitting his team thought it deserved a better fate. “We gave ourselves a chance to be here. That’s what we didn’t do last year.”
Wilborn, like the rest of his teammates, was visibly upset with the loss but realized that after thinking about it for a few days, they could draw on some good memories.
He took comfort from the words of head coach Daniel Boggan III after the game. “He told us we had a good season and to keep our heads up,” Wilborn said.
Avonte Bell led Sexton in rushing with three carries for 54 yards. He also had five tackles.
“We came together this year and had a lot of people that were underclassmen coming in,” Bell said. “They’ve learned from this.”
Sexton rallied from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter and nearly pulled out the win. “We fought back so hard,” Bell said. “It was a few plays. We came up short. It’s a game of inches. They got more inches than we did.”
Late in the game, Sexton stopped a South Christian drive deep in Big Reds territory to give itself a fighting chance. But the Big Reds weren’t able to drive down the field before time expired.
“We wanted to get the ball in quick so our receivers can get out of bounds,” Bell said.
“Our team has a lot of heart,” he said. “You can never doubt our team’s heart.”
Sexton showed its heart with a 4-0 run to get to the final with victories of 36-8 over Williamston, 41-20 over Swan Valley, 35-7 over Richmond, and 28-0 over Detroit Country Day.