The celebration began with a barrage of back slaps that thundered off Fenton coach Jeff Setke’s jacket.
Players grabbed a rivalry trophy. Students cheered and players formed a long ship on the Linden High School turf and rowed into ecstasy.
Whose house,” they chanted. “Our house.”
Fenton football celebrated another madcap victory, 24-21 over rivals Linden on the same night Linden suffered another maddening defeat to the Tigers.
The win means that Fenton (6-0 overall, 4-0 in the Flint Metro League Strips Division clinched at least a share of a division title for the 11th time in 12 years under Setke. If the Tigers beat Flushing (3-1) next week they would win the title outright and host the Flint Metro League championship game against East Lansing (10-3, 6-0) in two weeks.
Celebrating championships is the norm in Fenton although the thrill never diminishes.
“The kids work hard. They are grinders,” Fenton coach Setke said.
The Tigers are taught to be grinders at an early age. The schemes they learn in second grade are the same they learn as seniors in high school. That carry over gives Fenton players an edge other programs do not.
That’s why an offensive line made up of three sophomores drew praise after the Linden game. They have seen every defensive wrinkle. Players admit the transition from veteran team to young team was not seamless. But two weeks into practice the Tigers knew good times were coming.
“We have trust in each other,” linebacker Chris Dobek said. “We had those two fumbles, but we trusted our defense. Our defense got it done.”
This game proved to be a nailbiter throughout. This is normal for these two bitter rivals. Fenton has won 12 of the last 13 games against Linden, but they almost always come to the wire. Eight of those wins were one score games with two of them going into overtime.
Linden led 21-17 with 6:53 remaining on a one-yard touchdown plunge by quarterback Dylan Dreasky. Fenton responded by turning to its hurry up offense and scored the winning touchdown 93 seconds later on running back Trent Boucha’s 13-yard touchdown run.
“It’s amazing to me that this team is filled with juniors, but we keep grinding away,” Dobek said.