Muskegon ‘deserving’ state champion after Guy sparks Big Reds to victory over De La Salle

M’Khi Guy was THE guy for Muskegon.

The Big Reds’ senior quarterback accounted for four touchdowns Saturday to lead Muskegon to a 33-21 victory against De La Salle in the Division 2 state championship game at Ford Field.

“Just wow! That’s the only way I can describe him,” Muskegon coach Shane Fairfield said of Guy, who scored on runs of 80 and 52 yards and connected on touchdown passes of 94 yards to Destin Piggee and 23 yards to Da’Carion Taylor. Guy, who also played in the defensive secondary, finished with 215 yards on 25 carries and completed four of six passes for 159 yards.

The victory was the 900th in school history for Muskegon and its seventh state championship.

The loss ended the Pilots’ string of 14 straight state playoff wins and foiled their bid for a third straight Division 2 title.

De La Salle led 21-7 at halftime, but the second half was all Muskegon as the Big Reds scored 26 unanswered points.

“We did some good things in the first half, but left some things out there early,” said Pilots coach Dan Rohn. “In the second half we didn’t play well offensively and left our defense out there way too much. It definitely was a struggle for us in the second half. We fought. I was disappointed we didn’t make some plays and we had to do a better job of getting our guys ready.”

Rohn had said all week that Muskegon would be a different team than the one De La Salle beat 40-28 on Sept. 1.

“That’s a much better football team than it was in week two,” Rohn said. “They’re deserving of being state champions. I’m from Muskegon and I hate losing to a Muskegon team but if I’m going to lose I want to lose to a team that’s really good. That team is really good.”

Muskegon’s comeback started with the 52-yard run by Guy on a fourth-down play.

“They look at me as their leader,” Guy said. “Our offensive line was kind of down on themselves so I told them it was OK, keep on playing. When we came out in the second half the juices started pumping.”

A holding penalty backed the Big Reds to their six-yard line on their next possession, but Guy hit Piggee in stride and the 5-foot-7 slot receiver didn’t slow down until he reached the end zone. The extra point by Adrian Ramos-Velasquez tied the game at 21-all 4:49 into the second half.

A fumble recovery by Keon Drummer set up the go-ahead touchdown pass to Taylor. Jakob Price scored on a 12-yard on the third play of the fourth quarter to complete the scoring.

Fairfield said that Muskegon’s superintendent, Matthew Cortez, gave the Big Reds an inspiring halftime talk.

“He said, ‘go out on your shield. You didn’t come all this way to get pushed around, to not fight,’” Fairfield said.

De La Salle took a 7-0 lead with just over five minutes remaining in the first quarter on a four-yard keeper by Sante Gasperoni. He got the 47-yard drive going with a 15-yard run, then connected on a 22-yard pass to Damion King IV.

It didn’t take long for the Big Reds to tie the game. Guy broke free for an 80-yard touchdown run on Muskegon’s first play after the kickoff.

Neither team managed much offense until the Pilots got the ball on their 43 after a Muskegon punt. On the second play Gasperoni and King combined on a 55-yard scoring strike.

De La Salle made it 21-7 on its next possession with Gasperoni capping the 55-yard drive with a two-yard run. During the drive Gasperoni had runs of 12 and 15 yards and completions of 13 and 11 yards to Phoenix Glassnor. Glassnor left the game in the second half with a shoulder injury.

King had five receptions for 103 yards and Bebe Rabhi, who did all of De La Salle’s kicking, replaced Glassor and caught four passes for 65 yards.

Rohn said the Pilots should be proud of making it to the championship game four years in a row.

“Sometimes people just expect us to be here every year,” he said. “That takes a lot of work. We need to celebrate that. Our community needs to enjoy that. There are no guarantees that we’re going to be back here. We have to relish the moment.

“Hopefully, we’ll be back here next year. This group is young. This group is hungry.”

Gasperoni completed 17 of 30 passes for 249 yards.

He said he learned a lot during his first season replacing All-State quarterback Brady Drogosh.

“I’ve learned a lot about trying to build a team and being a leader,” he said. “Just seeing the team bond together, learning from mistakes and seeing different defenses. Playing this year has really helped a lot.”