SPORTSBEAT: by Peter Jakey–Hurons celebrate perfection, spray paint coach Brege’s car
Hurons celebrate perfection, spray paint coach Brege’s car
It’s a great time of the year. The high school playoffs have arrived again and there will be at least one game close to home with Rogers City hosting at Gilpin Memorial Field. Are people allowed to leave their vehicles up there on Thursday? It might be a good idea.
One vehicle that is going to get a lot of attention in Rogers City, that will be parked right by the field Friday night, is assistant coach Corey Brege’s Ford Taurus that has been sprayed painted orange and black and has “9-0” on both sides, celebrating the perfect season.
The coach promised the players that if the Hurons finished with a perfect record, they could break out the spray paint and that’s what they did Monday night after practice.
It’s actually Brege’s work vehicle. He delivers the Detroit Free Press and USA Today in the old beater. Just like that perfect record will forever go in the record books, so is that new look.
“It’s not coming off, it’s spray paint,” said Brege.
Brege remembers former assistant coach Mark English making a similar promise in the great season of 1997, that if that team won all of its game, the players could paint his vehicle.
That team won all nine regular-season games, plus two playoff games. Brege was a senior on the 1997 team that was one win away from the Pontiac Silverdome.
Observing practice Tuesday, you could not tell if it was late October or early August. They were still running conditioning drills and going through team-building skills. Rogers City coach Jesse Fenstermaker said the difference between this year’s team, that finished 8-2 last season, is experience.
“This year the whole team knows what to expect, there are 12 seniors and juniors who are playing their third year on the varsity and have received a lot of playing time,” said Fenstermaker. “Experience is the key, and they have a lot of it.”
In 2021, the Hurons played their first season of the eight-player game and went 8-0 before losing in week nine of the regular season to the Newberry Indians, who happen to be the opponent in this week’s pre-regional game.
Just promise me to keep some spray paint around to change that record when this playoff run heads to the next level.
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Yes, the Hurons are hosting, but Posen got edged out by Central Lake (CL) by mere percentage points to snuff out an opportunity play a game closer to home if not on the home fie
Both Posen and CL have identical records at 7-2 yet Posen is going to drive almost an hour further than if CL had been paired with Marion.
The Viking’s football team gets a two-hour and 30-minute trip, and it probably will be a little longer in a big yellow bus, while CL has a 47-minute trip to Gaylord St. Mary.
It might seem unfair, but I guarantee Posen head coach Greg Pietsch will have his troops ready for the tough battle that lies ahead.
Going in, everybody will be talking about how good Marion is, but Posen is extremely talented and well-coached.