Fall 2023 Featured Article
Photo 2 - Kailen Stokely celebrates after the final whistle.
Justin Scott - Sports Reporter
October 5th, 2023
Lowell Gets Program Defining Win, Shakes Up OK White
Five year head coach Jacob Henige stood in front of his team on Friday Night and for a brief, but rare moment, was speechless. His team walked into a homecoming atmosphere of a conference rival, a team who entered undefeated, the top ranked team in division 2, and with a top ten ranking in the state regardless of division, and physically grinded out a 38-28 win.
Byron Center jumped out to an early lead, taking just three plays and showing the potent offense that Lowell defenses have in years past, struggled to contain. Lots of passing, athletes in space, and quick looks, to limit Lowell’s strength at the line of scrimmage. It’s exactly the same style of offense that East Grand Rapids rolled out against Lowell successfully earlier this year, and to start the game it looked like Byron Center would do just that.
The Red Arrows countered though, in the exact opposite way. A hard nosed, lengthy drive, where the run game led the way. Fear the veer right? Though Lowell's offense is not strictly veer, it is the run option between quarterback and running back that has been Lowell's bread and butter in recent decades. The offense was led by Jackson Reisbig combining for five total touchdowns and 218 yards on the ground. With injuries to Tacho Gonzales and now TJ Hollern, it’s been a next man up mentality for the Red Arrows.
At 14-14, the game turned on its head, as a pop up kick would be fumbled and recovered by the Red Arrows. It was a huge swing to give Lowell a seven point lead going into halftime, and they got the ball to begin the second half where Reisbig again found the endzone this time from 38 yards out. One swing in a game where the offenses were having their way, that can mean everything, and it did.
The crowd was engaged and a student section that at one point had to be urged to quiet down from the team, kept the Lowell sideline's energy positive.
Late in the third quarter on the Lowell sidelines, Lowell coaches noted a drone in the air above the Red Arrow sideline. Drones are not permitted at high school football games, or stadiums of any kind for that matter under FAA rules. Both a safety measure, and a way to prevent unauthorized recording from above. The issue was brought up to officiating and an announcement was eventually made in the 4th quarter.
The Bulldogs trailing by 14 twice would counter, first at 28-14, then at 35-21. The Red Arrows with the ball in the fourth quarter had one drive to seemingly finish off the game.
On 4th and goal from the four yard line, Lowell had a decision to make. Lowell isn’t a program that churns out football kickers. Special teams isn’t a specialty at Lowell, and as such you can count on your hands the number of field goals the Red Arrows have kicked over the last few years. In this case, it made sense. A field goal made it a two score game, and giving Byron Center the ball down only a score wouldn’t have been ideal. The team turned to kicker Todd Parcheta, a mainstay on the Lowell soccer team, and Lowell’s placekicker the past two years as well.
Parcheta was pivotal in Lowell's forced turnover earlier in the game.
"We do a sky kick, 25 to 30 yards down the field,” Henige told Mick McCabe of the Detroit Free Press after the game. “He’s like a golfer hitting with the wedge. He gets some air under it, skies it up. We make the opposing team figure out if they’re going to fair catch it, or if they’re going to catch it and make a run with it.” Parcheta would execute that all night, and one time forcing the turnover.
Henige again would look to Parcheta for a big play. While the field goal wasn’t from far, a 22 yarder, it did come with much more pressure than your typical extra point. Parcheta knocked it through though, and with four minutes left, Byron Center faced a near impossible task down two scores.
The Bulldogs quickly advanced to midfield before a pair of quarterback sacks knocked them into 4th and 10. One final heave for the Bulldogs quarterback, under pressure, where his receiver would trip, and the ball falling nowhere close. A brief silence befell the Lowell faithful, waiting for that inevitable yellow flag for pass interference. After all, it always comes when we don't want it. When it didn’t come though, an eruption of excitement.
You could see it on the sidelines. Coaches hugging, congratulations abound. Players jumping up and down. It was a win Lowell had been searching for. In a technological world where it’s hard to capture the attention of alumni and fans with no direct connection to the team. As the Lowell sideline unleashed their joy, coaches gave a warning to players, celebrate in the locker room, but act with respect as the game ended. Which was done, after shaking hands, the team speech, the team headed off the field to celebrate quickly into the locker room and straight onto the bus.
It was arguably Lowell’s biggest win in three years. That last win? The 2020 playoffs, where on that same field, Lowell bested Byron Center. The Red Arrows look to build off that momentum this Friday against Forest Hills Northern on the road.
“I’ve been telling people all year the OK White’s as tough, top to bottom, as it’s been since I’ve taken over as head coach,” said Henige, in his fifth season as head coach. “You can’t take a week off or you’ll be in a fistfight," Henige added in his postgame comments to the Free Press.
As he addressed the team post-game, Henige noted the adversity his team fought through both on the night and over the course of the year as a program. “That’s a very good team, and I respect them. You’re a good team too,” Henige concluded to his players.
