C.C. Thomas
Sports Scene
The Mount Pleasant football team has been led by a little thunder and lightning this year.
That would be the power running of sophomore running back Mike Tweh, who provides the thunder, and the speed and elusiveness of senior running back Dustin Lee, the lightning.
Tweh is a 5’10”, 190-pound bruiser, while Lee is a 5’9″, 165-pound burner, and they have confounded opposing defenses so far this season.
“I guess we feed off each other . He runs over people and I can run by them. When it comes to short yards, Tweh will get us the short yardage, and then I like to work with the open field.”
The two have fed off each other to rush for a combined 984 yards in leading the undefeated Oilers to the No. 1 ranking in Division 3 through four games.
Tweh has 578 yards in those four games, while Lee has 406. Lee also has 182 receiving yards out of the backfield.
“They are a great combination,” Mount Pleasant coach Jason McIntyre said. “It really keeps teams off balance. We are able to play in the I-formation, or spread them out with Dustin playing the slot. Defenses can’t focus on just one thing, and that’s what we have tried to do here all along.
“We have an offense where we try to be fast-paced and keep you off balance,” he added. “Our offense has been really good this year. We are pretty close to 2,000 total yards in four games, and that is kind of where we are. We have to make big plays and are able to do that in a lot of aspects of our offense, including with Mike and Dustin.”
Still, Lee says there is room for improvement moving forward.
The Oilers were rolling last year in similar fashion before meeting up with reigning five-time state champion East Grand Rapids in the semifinals, and losing.
“We are pretty good — we are ranked No. 1 in Division 3, but that doesn’t mean anything because there are a lot of good teams out there,” Lee said. “We still need to not turn the ball over so much, and that might hurt against teams at the top level.”
Mount Pleasant is getting noticed by people all over the state, including the Detroit Lions.
After week three, McIntyre was named the Detroit Lions High School Coach of the Week.
“I thought that was pretty sweet,” Lee said. “Coach McIntyre is a great coach. He does things that help us win. He is a great guy.”
But like he tells his players, McIntyre hasn’t gotten caught up in all the accolades.
“It’s a nice recognition for our program,” McIntyre said. “I work in a great community where the kids have bought into our system. This says a lot about our program and community . But what I tell kids, getting recognition is good, enjoy it, but don’t quite believe. it. And I’ll approach that with the same regards.”
The recognition that Lee really wants is to be standing on the Ford Field turf the Saturday after Thanksgiving, holding a Division 3 state championship trophy.
“We want to go all the way to Ford Field,” Lee said. “We would love to win a state title. We have been so close the past few years, we really want to make the best of it this year.”
And that might take a lot more thunder and lightning.