EAST KENTWOOD, Mich. — Undefeated Whitehall took on undefeated South Christian Friday night at East Kentwood’s Falcon Stadium with a division four regional championship on the line.
Sailors senior quarterback Jake DeHaan threw for three touchdowns and ran for a fourth as South Christian pulled out a 28-21 win.
Whitehall took a 21-14 lead with 9:51 to play on a 5-yard TD run from senior Nate Bolley, but the Sailors answered with a pair of scores.
"There wasn't any worry on our team because we all believe in each other," DeHaan said. "We knew it was going to be a grind the whole game, we knew that it was going to take every ounce of us and Whitehall's a great team so we knew it was going to take all of our effort."
DeHaan hit senior runnig back Nate Brinks out of the backfield for a 1-yard touchdown with just 54 seconds left to win the game, it was the second time that the two had connected on a scoring pass.
Brinks is also the teams kicker and there was some thought he might have to attempt a game-winning field goal, he was happy to catch the winning touchdown instead.
"There's not as much pressure," Brinks said about the catch. "I told the coach we've been running this play all week in practice and I said I want to run this play and that's what we did."
The regional championship is South Christian's first since 2014.
Head coach Danny Brown was an assistant coach on that team and also won regionals as a player, but this was his first as a head coach.
"I think it's better as a coach," Brown said. "I think you appreciate at this point what goes into it, to see what it's like to have 52 kids that are bought into something and striving for the same thing and loving on each other. I think it's just more of an appreciation for what it takes to do it."
The Sailors (12-0) will take on Edwardsburg (11-1) at a site to be determined next week in the division four state semifinals.
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