It may go down as arguably the biggest upset in Michigan High School Athletic Association football championship game history.
Nobody was expected to touch two-time defending Michigan high school football Division 1 champ Belleville, much less end their 38-game winning streak, but Southfield A&T and senior quarterback Isaiah Marshall beat the incredible odds and caged the Tigers, 36-32, before a stunned crowd at Ford Field.
The Kansas-bound Marshall was clutch throughout the game as he completed 20 of 31 passes for 281 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 134 yards (and another TD) on 22 carries.
And of his runs, none were bigger than when he scored on a keeper from 11 yards out with only 47 seconds remaining, capping a nine-play, 69-yard drive that started with 4:41 left, then added a 2-point conversion run to make sure the Tigers would need a touchdown, not a field goal.
“My four years here there’s been a lot of ups and downs, but just to win with my team in my last year means a lot,” Marshall said, “and just knowing these guys and my coaches, and the community, just means a lot. And I couldn’t have done it without them.”
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The final nine-play, 69-yard drive started with 4:41 remaining, and there was no panic from the star Southfield QB or the bench after falling behind by four points.
“For us, we kind of handle adversity a little bit different,” said Southfield A&T third-year coach Aaron Marshall, who is also Isaiah’s uncle. “I looked at Isaiah after they scored the last touchdown and I said, ‘What else would you want?’ Personally, I stayed on the headphones and said, ‘We’re good’ because they (Belleville) left that much time left. I told my O-coordinator, ‘Don’t get it back all at once.’ Coach (Rich) Popp did a phenomenal job dialing all those plays up and it kind of worked out just in our favor. And our defense had a huge takeaway and sealed the deal.”
Marshall outdueled Belleville’s Bryce Underwood, considered the top junior QB in the country. Underwood finished 11-for-24 for 164 yards and one interception — by Dorian Freeman with only 10 seconds left as the Tigers attempted to drive for the winning score — that sealed the win for Southfield A&T (13-1).
“He’s a special kid; it’s who he is,” the Southfield coach said of his nephew. “It’s who he is off the field is what makes him on the field. He’s a phenomenal student, a 3.0-plus for us, so the future is bright and the moment isn’t too big for him. He’s always even-keel. When things are going good, he’s never too high. He has the moxie and quarterback poise and he has those intangibles for sure.”
Also mighty in the A&T win was senior wide receiver (and Toledo commit) Tashi Braceful, who had 10 catches for 152 yards and a TD.
“He was very excellent tonight, he became a big target and he made plays that he had to make,” Isaiah Marshall said.
Belleville (13-1) had blown out 13 straight opponents since a season-opening 35-28 win over River Rouge, but on this night, they found themselves in a fight for the first time since August.
“It was a hard-fought game, we knew it was going to be like that from the beginning,” Belleville first-year head coach Calvin Norman said. “We prepared. We just didn’t execute a couple of things, but I’m still proud of my guys. They still showed that it’s still tough to beat us. We didn’t go down without a fight. They played a good ballgame. They did their job. It’s kind of hard right now because the kids are so emotional and they hurt right now, so it’s hard to get anything in your mind what you’re going to say.”
Belleville was prepared for Marshall running the ball, but he was able to bob and weave against the Tigers’ talented defense.
“He showed a lot of strength and a lot of speed,” Norman said. “We knew that going into the game. We knew we had to tackle him. It was obvious he was going to get the ball. They come up there loaded with seven lineman and they were going to run the ball. We knew that was going to happen, we just had to tackle him. We did a pretty good job with that though. They just kept us honest. Still, it was a couple of bad mistakes that we made that could have changed the game. But that’s part of the game.”
Down 18 in the second half, the Tigers roared back to take the lead 32-28, following a Marquis Peoples interception with 5:53 remaining and Jeremiah Beasley’s 17-yard TD run just over a minute later. (Beasley, the UM commit, finished with 106 yards on 15 carries.
But Marshall was able to overcome the turnover.
“I just wasn’t thinking about that last play,” the QB said. “When I came back out, it wasn’t on my mind at all. I just knew we had to go down the field and score.”
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A tight third quarter
In the third quarter, Southfield A&T’s defense held on fourth down and the Warriors continued their inspired play when Marshall connected with Xavi Bowman for a 19-yard TD pass on fourth-and-14. DaMario Quarles then ran for the 2-pointer to put Southfield on top 28-10 with 3:39 to go in the period.
On a third-and-8, Belleville finally showed some offense as Underwood hooked up with Jalen Johnson for a 45-yard TD, followed by a 2-point pass to Trey Graham to cut the deficit to 28-18 with 1:30 to go in the third.
“The game was exciting, we got out early, which was great on our part,” Aaron Marshall said. “I think we needed that lead and you could see it gave us a little bit of a cushion. We knew at halftime that the score had to be 0-0. We knew they do what great teams do — make a big run in the second half and they did just that. They got some key stops, got a turnover, and made some big plays. That post touchdown he (Underwood) threw was huge for them.”
The Tigers then got a huge fourth-and-2 stop at Southfield 49 with 7:01 left and quickly pulled to within 28-25 on a 15-yard TD run by Jeremiah Beasley just 30 seconds later.
Marshall was spectacular in the first half with his scrambling and passing, going 11-for-17 passing for 170 yards and adding 89 yards rushing on nine carries as the Warriors took a shocking 20-10 advantage.
Underwood, meanwhile, was 7-for-14 for 72 yards before the half as Belleville was outgained, 278-148.
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The Warriors strike first
Southfield A&T got off to an impressive start to lead 6-0 with 9:29 left in the first on a 4-yard TD run by Mathias Davis. Marshall kept the drive alive with a 17-yard completion to Braceful on fourth-and-9.
After Adrian Walker Jr.’s circus-catch interception — on which he leapt and reached behind his back to control the ball with both his hands at the Warriors’ 26 — Belleville scored with 20 seconds left in the first on Colbey Reed’s 16-yard run for a 7-6 advantage.
With 8:41 to play in the first half, Southfield A&T went back up 12-6 on a 3-yard TD run by Davis, but the Warriors’ 2-point conversion attempt was nixed by an ineligible player downfield.
Belleville then cut the deficit to 12-10 with 3:40 to go in the half on a 31-yard field goal by Brayden Lane after the Warriors’ defense held on their own 13.
But the Warriors marched down the field to go up 20-10 with 13 seconds left in the half on a 14-yard TD pass from Marshall to Braceful, followed by Marshall’s keeper for the 2-point conversion.
“I knew when my number was called I had to make plays,” Braceful said. “And so that just goes back to Isaiah. It’s easy when you have the best quarterback in the state calling your number.”
Southfield then recovered the onside kick with only 10 seconds left at the Belleville 43 and Marshall nearly pulled a rabbit out of his helmet; he scrambled away and hit an open Tyjuan Esper for a 38-yard gain, down to the Tigers’ 5. But the clock ran out as the junior wide receiver was tackled by Desmon Yharbrough before he could get either into the end zone or out of bounds.
