Linden tailback Chad Eliuk clutched the team’s District championship trophy for the last time Sunday before gleeful teammates.
The low-key community man tried to keep things in prospective because he is more interested in making a run toward a state title than running all over rival Fenton.
“Now that we have this,” he said. “So what? Now what??”
Linden (7-4) now plays for a Class 3 regional title Friday night against DeWitt (8-3) with an opportunity to become one of the final four teams with a shot at a state title. Linden coaches have preached all week that the Eagles 35-7 District championship victory over Fenton was not their Super Bowl. There are bigger fish to fry and bigger mountains to climb.
Linden Coach Chad Williams claims his team settled down pretty quickly after ousting the Tigers. He wants to avoid the same hangovers that slowed the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams and runner ups, the Cincinnati Bengals.
If winning a game of this magnitude is difficult for professional athletes, just think how tough it will be for high schoolers tucked away in the tiny hamlet of Linden. These kids have never been in a spot this big or an arena this hot.
What we do know is this should be a hotly contested game between two evenly matched opponents. DeWitt can score in bunches. It averages 37 points a game and has scored 49 points or more in each of the last five games.
DeWitt is football royalty. The Panthers won a Division 3 state title in 2020, played in the title game in 2002 and 2013. They were also Division 4 runners up in 2003 and 2004. The Panthers have won seven consecutive District titles and five regional championships.
Dewitt even has impressive losses. It took Detroit Catholic Central into overtime before losing 45-38. The Panthers also rallied behind an 86-yard drive to send its District championship game against Mt. Pleasant into overtime, a game they won 56-49 in triple overtime. Linden dropped a hotly contested game to Mt. Pleasant a month ago, 28-21.
“They do a lot of things offensively to draw your eyes elsewhere,” Williams said. “Discipline and physicality are the main things I see in them quite frankly.”
This could turn out to be the battle of the Bryces. DeWitt’s running back Bryce Kurncz rushed for 158 yards and four touchdowns against Mt. Pleasant. He also tossed a one-yard touchdown pass to Dylan Atkins to send the game into overtime.
Linden’s Bryce Eliuck had his coach gushing that he is the best player in Genesee County after rushing for 278 yards and three touchdowns against Fenton.
DeWitt is also a bye product of one of the strongest conferences in the state. Three other teams from the Capital Area Activities Conference are playing for regional titles this weekend. Those teams are Lansing Catholic (6-5), Mason (11-0) and Portland (10-1).
This game might not be Linden’s Super Bowl either. But it sure is a big game.