By Scott DeCamp
LocalSportsJournal.com
Shane Fairfield vividly remembers when state football championship dreams were first planted in his mind.
It was the early-1980s, Fairfield was in middle school, and he was getting his hair cut.
During that era in Muskegon, “barber shop talk” typically centered around football. After all, the industrial town long has been a hotbed for high school football.
Since 1980 when Muskegon Catholic Central captured Muskegon County’s first state title of the Michigan High School Athletic Association playoff era, the tight-knit communities north and east of Grand Rapids along the Lake Michigan shoreline may as well be an assembly line producing “wooden mittens” – i.e., MHSAA championship trophies.
Muskegon County features 12 schools that have their own football teams. The county has accounted for 33 total MHSAA state titles among 12 schools that have their own football teams, highlighted by “Four on the Shore” in 2008 when four teams from the county captured half of the state’s championships.
From the start of the Muskegon area’s pound-for-pound reign, toughness and hard-nosed football was ingrained in Fairfield’s heart and in his brain.
“A lady was cutting my hair, Miss Fialek. Her daughter was Debbie Fialek and they all went to Catholic. My sister went to Catholic (and it) was 1980 when they won the state championship,” Fairfield recalled.
“I said to (Miss Fialek) in my chair at that time, she’s cutting my hair, ‘When I go to Catholic, I’m going to win a state championship. We didn’t win it. We got beat by (Detroit) Country Day (in the 1986 Class C state final).”
Fairfield and his Crusader teammates fell just short against the Yellowjackets, 18-14, on what he remembers as a controversial no-call in the end zone.
Fast forward almost 40 years and Fairfield is living the dream. He’s been on the Muskegon High School football staff, either as head coach or an assistant, for a handful of the Big Reds’ titles. He’s on the cusp of becoming the school’s all-time
winningest coach – heady stuff considering the Big Reds are Michigan’s all-time winningest program, ranking sixth nationally for victories.
Last November at Ford Field, Muskegon rallied to defeat Warren De La Salle, 33-21, for the Division 2 state championship. It was the seventh state title in 14 finals appearances for the Big Reds in the MHSAA playoff era, which began in 1975. (Note: Muskegon has 12 more mythical state titles, pre-1975.)
“We’re honored and we don’t take it for granted that we wear that ‘Muskegon’ across our chest and that really makes it a little bit more special for us,” Fairfield said.
Muskegon Catholic Central leads the way in MHSAA state titles for the county with a dozen in 15 finals appearances. Muskegon is No. 2 on that area list with seven. Ravenna has four state titles in five tries. Montague and Oakridge both have three championships in five appearances. Mona Shores has two titles in four trips. Reeths-Puffer has one championship in as many tries. Orchard View has one crown in three finals appearances.
Here is a breakdown of Muskegon County schools appearing in MHSAA football finals games with state titles and accompanying classifications or divisions bolded:
• Muskegon Catholic Central: 1980 (Class B), 1981, 1982 (Class B), 1986, 1990 (Class C), 1991 (Class C), 1995 (Class C), 2000 (Division 8), 2001, 2006 (Division 7), 2008 (Division 8), 2013 (Division 8), 2014 (Division 8), 2015 (Division 8), 2016 (Division 8).
• Muskegon: 1986 (Class A), 1989 (Class A), 2004 (Division 2), 2006 (Division 2), 2008 (Division 2), 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 (Division 3), 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 (Division 2).
• Ravenna: 1988, 1994 (Class C), 1996 (Class C), 1997 (Class C), 2003 (Division 6).
• Montague: 1992, 2008 (Division 6), 2009 (Division 6), 2018, 2020 (Division 6).
• Oakridge: 1990, 1997 (Class CC), 2003, 2005 (Division 5), 2008 (Division 5).
• Mona Shores: 2014, 2018, 2019 (Division 2), 2020 (Division 2).
• Reeths-Puffer: 1992 (Class A).
• Orchard View: 1995, 1999, 2004 (Division 4).
• Fruitport: 2001.
• North Muskegon: 1981.
“I would say it’s an honor to be wearing this Big Red jersey just for the simple fact that the past players that come through, you’re part of greatness, which is really special because you know you’re being developed by the right people,” said Muskegon senior lineman N’Kye Wynn, a Rutgers University commit, who was a key player on the Big Reds’ state-title team last fall.
“It’s a blueprint. Everybody that’s been successful here has been through the blueprint.”
It’s a mentality for Muskegon County football programs. It’s a major source of pride for communities and families.
Friday night football in the fall is THE show in town for schools in this county. Geography plays a role in that, according to Mona Shores coach Matt Koziak, who noted that Muskegon is located a ways from any major colleges or metropolitan areas.
High school football “is it for us,” Koziak said. “This is something we’re proud of and we hang our hat on.”
High school football coverage in the Muskegon area is as good as it gets in the state, per Muskegon Catholic Central coach Steve Czerwon, and that certainly plays a factor as well.
Exposure and promotion go a long way.
“I don’t know how it is in other towns, but we’ve got all these outlets now that cover it,” Czerwon said. “The TV coverage is pretty remarkable, what they give these kids on, like, Friday night shows.
“I think maybe not having a sports team or pro sports team, I do think people take a lot of pride (in Muskegon-area football). I know a lot of the area coaches, they take pride in what they do. The parents want their kids to take pride in it and do their best, so I think it just kind of trickles down.”
Fairfield said players are treated like rock stars in their communities. Reeths-Puffer coach Cody Kater can vouch for that.
Kater was a hometown hero in Montague when he quarterbacked the Wildcats to their first two state titles in 2008 and 2009.
Kater has experienced a lot as a former Division I football player and ex-assistant high school coach in SEC country down in Georgia. He’s seen just about everything, but there’s something special about Muskegon County football and it drew him back to the area.
“I do think the strong communities (in Muskegon County) are the foundation of that,” Kater said. “My environment growing up was all about Montague football. The community just wrapped its arms around the program and just supported it.
“It’s not just about (the players), it’s not just about the team, it’s about the community. The gas station conversations would be, like, ‘Hey, how’s the team looking this year?’ or ‘Hey, aren’t you supposed to be at weight lifting?’ … Montague is not the only (small town) within this county that has that.”
Muskegon County has collected state titles across the board from larger schools in Class A or Division 2 to smaller ones in Division 8.
Never has the county flexed its muscles more than during Thanksgiving weekend in 2008. Over the course of those two days at Ford Field, four Muskegon County football teams seized state championships: Muskegon Catholic Central (Division 8),
Muskegon (Division 2), and Montague (Division 6) in succession on Friday with Oakridge (Division 5) following suit on Saturday.
In July 2008, per www.michigan.gov, Muskegon County’s 174,344 residents accounted for 1.74 percent of the state of Michigan’s population. Four months later, the county laid claim to 50 percent of the state’s football titles.
Teams may do it different ways, but much of the universal success of the county can be traced back to the fiber of its people.
“I think it’s just the blue-collar mentality of what this town stood for,” Fairfield said. “You go back and look at the auto industry that was here, the tank places, Brunswick, the paper mill. It was a foundry- or factory-type lumber town that was just tough. … People have worked hard to get where they’re at.”
In keeping with the industrial theme, “iron sharpens iron,” in Fairfield’s words.
In Muskegon County, football programs from larger schools, smaller schools, and those in between push each other. You see it with Muskegon and Mona Shores with Reeths-Puffer trying to keep up with the Joneses, and you’ve seen it in the West Michigan Conference with Montague, Oakridge, Ravenna, and the others.
“Absolutely, we make each other better,” Koziak said. “We haven’t beaten Muskegon since 2020 and so that’s always a thing we’re chasing and we want to do because we know the success that they’ve had. They make us better.”
Continuity and consistency are other factors and they’re not lost on Czerwon, who hails the late Roger Chiaverini for laying the building blocks at Muskegon Catholic Central.
Chiaverini was a head coach at Muskegon and MCC and assisted at Reeths-Puffer and Mona Shores, among other places across the state.
“Any success I’ve had or helped continue at Catholic is only because of what Roger Chiaverini did when he was here,” Czerwon said. “Coach (Mike) Ribecky will tell you, coach (Mike) Holmes will tell you. I mean, coach Holmes will tell you he learned football from Roger.
“Roger put a system in place. A lot of the numbering, a lot of the plays that we call, he put in place in like 1972. It’s 2024 and we still call many of the same things. Coach Holmes was coach for 25 years, I’ve been coaching 12 – there’s been a certain continuity here but, again, Coach Chiaverini put that system in place.”
In a similar fashion, traditions and passions are passed down from fathers, siblings, and other family members.
MCC senior quarterback Bryan Convertini, the youngest of four brothers and son of former Crusaders all-stater Kolin Convertini, has fond memories being a waterboy during the program’s run of four straight state titles 2013-2016.
“I’ve always wanted to win, especially competing with my brothers when we were younger. I was getting beat up on, whatever. It kind of made me better,” Convertini said.
“I’ve been on the sidelines probably (since), like, first or second grade. I was always waterboy. I’ve been around here for a long time. I think the first game that I remember that was the most special to me was the state finals game – one of the last ones (during the most recent four-year title run) in 2015 or 2016. That was pretty special, playing around on Ford Field before the game.”
LocalSportsJournal.com
Shane Fairfield vividly remembers when state football championship dreams were first planted in his mind.
It was the early-1980s, Fairfield was in middle school, and he was getting his hair cut.
During that era in Muskegon, “barber shop talk” typically centered around football. After all, the industrial town long has been a hotbed for high school football.
Since 1980 when Muskegon Catholic Central captured Muskegon County’s first state title of the Michigan High School Athletic Association playoff era, the tight-knit communities north and east of Grand Rapids along the Lake Michigan shoreline may as well be an assembly line producing “wooden mittens” – i.e., MHSAA championship trophies.
Muskegon County features 12 schools that have their own football teams. The county has accounted for 33 total MHSAA state titles among 12 schools that have their own football teams, highlighted by “Four on the Shore” in 2008 when four teams from the county captured half of the state’s championships.
From the start of the Muskegon area’s pound-for-pound reign, toughness and hard-nosed football was ingrained in Fairfield’s heart and in his brain.
“A lady was cutting my hair, Miss Fialek. Her daughter was Debbie Fialek and they all went to Catholic. My sister went to Catholic (and it) was 1980 when they won the state championship,” Fairfield recalled.
“I said to (Miss Fialek) in my chair at that time, she’s cutting my hair, ‘When I go to Catholic, I’m going to win a state championship. We didn’t win it. We got beat by (Detroit) Country Day (in the 1986 Class C state final).”
Fairfield and his Crusader teammates fell just short against the Yellowjackets, 18-14, on what he remembers as a controversial no-call in the end zone.
Fast forward almost 40 years and Fairfield is living the dream. He’s been on the Muskegon High School football staff, either as head coach or an assistant, for a handful of the Big Reds’ titles. He’s on the cusp of becoming the school’s all-time
winningest coach – heady stuff considering the Big Reds are Michigan’s all-time winningest program, ranking sixth nationally for victories.
Last November at Ford Field, Muskegon rallied to defeat Warren De La Salle, 33-21, for the Division 2 state championship. It was the seventh state title in 14 finals appearances for the Big Reds in the MHSAA playoff era, which began in 1975. (Note: Muskegon has 12 more mythical state titles, pre-1975.)
“We’re honored and we don’t take it for granted that we wear that ‘Muskegon’ across our chest and that really makes it a little bit more special for us,” Fairfield said.
Muskegon Catholic Central leads the way in MHSAA state titles for the county with a dozen in 15 finals appearances. Muskegon is No. 2 on that area list with seven. Ravenna has four state titles in five tries. Montague and Oakridge both have three championships in five appearances. Mona Shores has two titles in four trips. Reeths-Puffer has one championship in as many tries. Orchard View has one crown in three finals appearances.
Here is a breakdown of Muskegon County schools appearing in MHSAA football finals games with state titles and accompanying classifications or divisions bolded:
• Muskegon Catholic Central: 1980 (Class B), 1981, 1982 (Class B), 1986, 1990 (Class C), 1991 (Class C), 1995 (Class C), 2000 (Division 8), 2001, 2006 (Division 7), 2008 (Division 8), 2013 (Division 8), 2014 (Division 8), 2015 (Division 8), 2016 (Division 8).
• Muskegon: 1986 (Class A), 1989 (Class A), 2004 (Division 2), 2006 (Division 2), 2008 (Division 2), 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 (Division 3), 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 (Division 2).
• Ravenna: 1988, 1994 (Class C), 1996 (Class C), 1997 (Class C), 2003 (Division 6).
• Montague: 1992, 2008 (Division 6), 2009 (Division 6), 2018, 2020 (Division 6).
• Oakridge: 1990, 1997 (Class CC), 2003, 2005 (Division 5), 2008 (Division 5).
• Mona Shores: 2014, 2018, 2019 (Division 2), 2020 (Division 2).
• Reeths-Puffer: 1992 (Class A).
• Orchard View: 1995, 1999, 2004 (Division 4).
• Fruitport: 2001.
• North Muskegon: 1981.
“I would say it’s an honor to be wearing this Big Red jersey just for the simple fact that the past players that come through, you’re part of greatness, which is really special because you know you’re being developed by the right people,” said Muskegon senior lineman N’Kye Wynn, a Rutgers University commit, who was a key player on the Big Reds’ state-title team last fall.
“It’s a blueprint. Everybody that’s been successful here has been through the blueprint.”
It’s a mentality for Muskegon County football programs. It’s a major source of pride for communities and families.
Friday night football in the fall is THE show in town for schools in this county. Geography plays a role in that, according to Mona Shores coach Matt Koziak, who noted that Muskegon is located a ways from any major colleges or metropolitan areas.
High school football “is it for us,” Koziak said. “This is something we’re proud of and we hang our hat on.”
High school football coverage in the Muskegon area is as good as it gets in the state, per Muskegon Catholic Central coach Steve Czerwon, and that certainly plays a factor as well.
Exposure and promotion go a long way.
“I don’t know how it is in other towns, but we’ve got all these outlets now that cover it,” Czerwon said. “The TV coverage is pretty remarkable, what they give these kids on, like, Friday night shows.
“I think maybe not having a sports team or pro sports team, I do think people take a lot of pride (in Muskegon-area football). I know a lot of the area coaches, they take pride in what they do. The parents want their kids to take pride in it and do their best, so I think it just kind of trickles down.”
Fairfield said players are treated like rock stars in their communities. Reeths-Puffer coach Cody Kater can vouch for that.
Kater was a hometown hero in Montague when he quarterbacked the Wildcats to their first two state titles in 2008 and 2009.
Kater has experienced a lot as a former Division I football player and ex-assistant high school coach in SEC country down in Georgia. He’s seen just about everything, but there’s something special about Muskegon County football and it drew him back to the area.
“I do think the strong communities (in Muskegon County) are the foundation of that,” Kater said. “My environment growing up was all about Montague football. The community just wrapped its arms around the program and just supported it.
“It’s not just about (the players), it’s not just about the team, it’s about the community. The gas station conversations would be, like, ‘Hey, how’s the team looking this year?’ or ‘Hey, aren’t you supposed to be at weight lifting?’ … Montague is not the only (small town) within this county that has that.”
Muskegon County has collected state titles across the board from larger schools in Class A or Division 2 to smaller ones in Division 8.
Never has the county flexed its muscles more than during Thanksgiving weekend in 2008. Over the course of those two days at Ford Field, four Muskegon County football teams seized state championships: Muskegon Catholic Central (Division 8),
Muskegon (Division 2), and Montague (Division 6) in succession on Friday with Oakridge (Division 5) following suit on Saturday.
In July 2008, per www.michigan.gov, Muskegon County’s 174,344 residents accounted for 1.74 percent of the state of Michigan’s population. Four months later, the county laid claim to 50 percent of the state’s football titles.
Teams may do it different ways, but much of the universal success of the county can be traced back to the fiber of its people.
“I think it’s just the blue-collar mentality of what this town stood for,” Fairfield said. “You go back and look at the auto industry that was here, the tank places, Brunswick, the paper mill. It was a foundry- or factory-type lumber town that was just tough. … People have worked hard to get where they’re at.”
In keeping with the industrial theme, “iron sharpens iron,” in Fairfield’s words.
In Muskegon County, football programs from larger schools, smaller schools, and those in between push each other. You see it with Muskegon and Mona Shores with Reeths-Puffer trying to keep up with the Joneses, and you’ve seen it in the West Michigan Conference with Montague, Oakridge, Ravenna, and the others.
“Absolutely, we make each other better,” Koziak said. “We haven’t beaten Muskegon since 2020 and so that’s always a thing we’re chasing and we want to do because we know the success that they’ve had. They make us better.”
Continuity and consistency are other factors and they’re not lost on Czerwon, who hails the late Roger Chiaverini for laying the building blocks at Muskegon Catholic Central.
Chiaverini was a head coach at Muskegon and MCC and assisted at Reeths-Puffer and Mona Shores, among other places across the state.
“Any success I’ve had or helped continue at Catholic is only because of what Roger Chiaverini did when he was here,” Czerwon said. “Coach (Mike) Ribecky will tell you, coach (Mike) Holmes will tell you. I mean, coach Holmes will tell you he learned football from Roger.
“Roger put a system in place. A lot of the numbering, a lot of the plays that we call, he put in place in like 1972. It’s 2024 and we still call many of the same things. Coach Holmes was coach for 25 years, I’ve been coaching 12 – there’s been a certain continuity here but, again, Coach Chiaverini put that system in place.”
In a similar fashion, traditions and passions are passed down from fathers, siblings, and other family members.
MCC senior quarterback Bryan Convertini, the youngest of four brothers and son of former Crusaders all-stater Kolin Convertini, has fond memories being a waterboy during the program’s run of four straight state titles 2013-2016.
“I’ve always wanted to win, especially competing with my brothers when we were younger. I was getting beat up on, whatever. It kind of made me better,” Convertini said.
“I’ve been on the sidelines probably (since), like, first or second grade. I was always waterboy. I’ve been around here for a long time. I think the first game that I remember that was the most special to me was the state finals game – one of the last ones (during the most recent four-year title run) in 2015 or 2016. That was pretty special, playing around on Ford Field before the game.”
