MUSKEGON, Mich. — Even during a game's most chaotic moments, Mona Shores quarterback Brady Rose manages to block out all the noise and just focus on what’s in front of him.
“I remember a critical game,” said Sailors coach Matt Koziak. “He goes, ‘Your tie is on backwards.’ You know that’s what he noticed.”
Koziak couldn’t help but smile at the son of former Mona Shores coach Ken Rose. Brady wasn’t and has never been overwhelmed by the situation, and perhaps that’s why he always finds a way to succeed.
“I think I handle pressure pretty good,” Rose said. “I mean I feel pressure but I don’t let it get to me.”
His record in big games speaks for itself. Remember when he came in for injured starter Caden Broersma and led his team to victory in last year semis? What about the following game when he helped Mona Shores win it all? And how about incredible night he had against Muskegon earlier this season.
Those weren’t flukes and no one knows that better than Koziak.
“Was I surprised it was going to turn out like a story book that it was? Yes,” admits Koziak. “But the way that Brady played, no, not at all, I wasn’t surprised"
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Koziak first met Rose when the teen was in middle school. Rose was undersized then, just as he is now measuring in at 5-foot-8. Rose knows that’s always the first impression people get but he takes pride in making sure it’s not the last.
“I probably don’t look intimidating to anybody we play,” Rose said. “But once I get on the field, I know how to run the offense.”
Now 18 years old and a senior, Rose is running the Sailors offense to perfection. At 4-0, Mona Shores seems primed to repeat as champions. With each game the tension mounts, yet he says it’s nothing he can’t handle.
“If my number gets called, I do what I can to get yards, do what I can to rally around my teammates,” he says.
His eyes remain on the prize, no matter what else might be trying to block his way from getting it.
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