Special Edition the Friday, November 1, 2013
LOG
Mona Shores High School • 1121 Seminole Road • Norton Shores, Michigan 49441
making a
SPLASH!
At the conclusion of the football team’s 47-26 Homcoming win over Zeeland East, head coach Matt Koziak was given a victory bath in celebration of the Sailors’ first time qualifying for the state playoffs. Shores finished the season 7-2 and faces Lowell tonight in the opening round of the playoffs.
Sailors head into first-ever playoff appearance About the Red Arrows By Cory Sander Sports Editor
As Matt Koziak, the head football coach at Shores, was leaving Joe Chan’s Bistro Sunday night after the team’s watch party, athletic director Ryan Portenga handed him a complimentary fortune cookie. Koziak opened it, read the fortune, looked up, and smirked as he slid it in his pocket. The fortune cookie read, “Opportunities lie beyond like new frontiers... It’s time to travel.” Today, the Sailors will travel to Lowell as Shores makes its first ever playoff appearance as the Sailors square off against the Red Arrows at 7 p.m. Lowell secured the top seed in the Division 2 district, which also has the Big Reds of Muskegon and the Rockets of Reeths-Puffer playing each other, by going a perfect 9-0 in regular season play. “We were thinking we would get Lowell,” said head coach Matt Koziak, who is in his third season as coach. “We couldn’t be more excited. It’ll be an awesome test to see where we really are as a team.” This is Koziak’s first time facing Lowell as a Sailor. He coached against them three times during his tenure as a coach at Muskegon before coming to Shores, once as their head coach and twice as assistant. “I am familiar with them. I’ve seen
Lowell has been in the Div. 2 state championship game four times, winning state titles in 2002 and 2009 and finishing runner-up in 2010 and 2011. The Red Arrows, which have fielded a football team since 1900, have posted a 560-349-36 record in 114 seasons. To compare the Lowell success against Shores, the Red Arrows have 187 wins since 1994 while the Sailors have 187 wins since 1962. The last losing record for Lowell was 1994 when the team went 3-6. • Head coach Noel Dean (1996-present): 167-32 record • 2013 team is 9-0, having outscored its opponents 397-151. Shores, on the other hand, has outscored its opponents 318-193. • Lowell and Shores played two common opponents (Grand Haven and Muskegon. Lowell defeated the Bucs 41-7 and beat the Big Reds 31-20. Shores beat GH 42-35 and lost to Muskegon 26-20. • Key player: Kyler Shurlow (quarterback) – passing: 109-for-179 for 1,944 yards and 22 touchdowns/4 interceptions; rushing: 889 yards on 142 attempts and 18 touchdowns (statistics from mlive) • Others: Ben Bigham (receiver), Josh Branagan (receiver), Dylan Brower (running back), Kanon Dean (running back) • Shores has faced Lowell twice in the past, losing 57-34 in 2009 and falling 65-25 in 2008. how they play a couple times now first hand,” Koziak said. “This is not my first time preparing for Lowell.” Koziak said preparing for Lowell will be no different than how Shores has prepared for any team during the season. The only change will be the temperature, which will be a little colder than the previous nine weeks.
“(This playoff game against Lowell) is just another game we have to prepare for,” senior wide receiver Logan Smith said. “Every team from here on out will be great, so we might as well get the best done first.” Koziak brought up some JV players last week to help the team toward a playoff victory. He said this will bring
more depth to the roster and get more things accomplished each day during practice having more bodies. “Each day this week leading up to Friday has been crucial,” senior cornerback Matt Rose said. “We had to maintain focus and get better every day.” Lowell plays mainly man-to-man coverage on defense which could be a favorable matchup to the highpowered, fast, Sailor offense. “We have weapons that can hurt Lowell’s man-to-man defense,” Koziak said. “They play aggressive, and I think that we can use that and make big plays.” The Sailor defense will have to come up big against a Lowell offense that averages 44 points a game. Their quarterback, Kyler Shurlow, is known to make plays with both his arm and his legs. “We have to be tough up front on the line,” Koziak said. “They’ve got a great quarterback, so we have to create long situations for him. The key to this game is to stop them offensively and put our offense in good situations.” Anchoring the Sailor defense at linebacker is one of the captains, senior Jake Workman, who cannot wait for kickoff. “I could not be more excited to play Lowell. I think we can come out in the first round and make a statement by beating them. Everyone just has to be focused and know their individual jobs,” Workman said. “When we do this, we are a tough team to beat.”