Updated: Nov 13, 2007 11:12 PM CST
Michigan's Marauding Maroons
By Michelle Tuckner
Michigan's Marauding MaroonsTo honor our high school athletes of the week, we head north of the border. The Menominee Maroons football team from Michigan's Upper Peninsula are ranked number-one in Division 5. On Friday they face Grand Rapids West Catholic from the lower peninsula for the right to go to State.
The Menominee Maroons are on quite a winning streak. To remember the last time they lost, you'd have to think back to the last game of the 2005 season. Since then they've won 26 games in a row, including a state championship. Now they're looking to repeat.
"It's pretty amazing. Since I was a freshman we lost one game that year, and once as a sophomore, then my junior and senior year we didn't lose any," Maroons running back Ethan Shaver said.
Running the single wing offense, they're averaging 38 points per game, and this small school has taken down opponents twice their size. They started the season by beating two Wisconsin state champions -- Wrightstown and Division 1 powerhouse Mequon Homestead.
"That's the biggest thing that prepares us for the playoffs when we play those teams," linebacker/fullback Matt Eisenzoph said.
At 73 years young, Ken Hofer has coached the Maroons for 39 seasons. Recently he got a little too close to the action and ended up with a knee injury.
"It'll be three weeks tomorrow, I got in the way when I should have been observing," Hofer said.
The injury hasn't slowed down Coach Hofer one bit, but it has made game days more difficult as he has to be carried up to the press box to coach his team.
"I've been in the press box on the phones. It's worked but I don't like the energy up there," Hofer said.
Now they're just one win away from defending their title at Ford Field.
"To win a state championship will be second to none. To win back to back would be amazing," Eisenzoph said.
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