GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — West Catholic High School has six state football championships to credit, with the most recent coming in 2017. It's a proud legacy that's difficult to ignore. But this current Falcons team is doing its best not to think about that right now.
"Our kids, you know, it was one of those things where they don't want to be compared to the past, because they're not those teams. They're their own version. Their goal this year was to be the best version of 2022 Falcons, and obviously, we want to be state champions," said head coach Landon Grove.
The Falcons now have that chance. They're facing the Negaunee Miners, a 13-0 team from the Marquette area. Grove describes them as "extremely physical and extremely well-coached."
West Catholic spent Monday afternoon preparing for Negaunee at MSA Woodland, an indoor facility that will hopefully prepare them for the bright lights of Ford Field. The Falcons are looking to stop a diverse Miners offense.
"You can tell they take a lot of pride in playing for Negaunee. You know, there's a lot of people who are picking against Negaunee, so I'm sure that's gonna add a little bit of a fire to them, too. So we're gonna be ready for their best effort and inspired effort by them, but they're gonna get inspired from us too, and our kids are prepared for it," Grove said.
West Catholic defeated Clinton 33-14 on Saturday to earn the opportunity to play at Ford Field. Negaunee defeated Reed City 13-12.
Since then, the Falcons have been working to re-focus their efforts on the task at hand. Grove says that process has gone smoothly for his players.
"Our kids have been really good all year about focusing on the task at hand and being the best version of themselves every day. So it was just kind of like, we had to tell him, it's business as usual. We're practicing on a few different places this week, but we'll just go in there and make it our own," Grove said.
The Falcons and Miners kick off at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Ford Field.
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