An end of an era occurred on Saturday afternoon in Farmington Hills.
Harrison and their coach John Herrington whom is the State’s
all-time winningest head coach at 443 wins lost a heartbreaker 21-14 to Chelsea
in the Division Four Regional finals, ending the legendary era of Hawks
football.
Harrison which is stated to close in June has a lot of football
tradition from players like Devin Funchess, Mark Dell, Drew Stanton, Akim
Shabaj, Kahid Kareem, Ovie Oguffalo, Roderick Heard, and others that have went
on to play Division One College Football, and even in the NFL.
When Harrison entered the OAA in 2003 along with city rivals
North Farmington and Farmington, no one knew what to expect and how the Hawks
would adjust to life in the OAA.
The Hawks adjusted just fine to life in the OAA. Harrison
was a proud football program with 13 State titles all under Herrington whom
arrived in 1970 and been in 18 State Finals. Harrison would develop rivalries in the OAA
with the likes of Southfield, Oak Park, Groves, Adams, Oxford, West Bloomfield,
Clarkston, and Lake Orion, not to mention their city rivals in North Farmington
and Farmington.
When the decision by the Farmington School Board came down
in 2016 to close Harrison, there was controversy and there was a lot of
backlash, several members of the community including Herrington spoke but at
the end of the day the School Board did not change their decision and gave
Harrison three years.
The Hawks were the football power in Farmington, going deep
into the State playoffs including reaching the Division Three title game last
season.
When I read Scott Burnstein’s article in the Oakland Press
after Harrison’s loss to Chelsea, I read a quote by Herrington to Burnstein “Normally
after a loss like this you tell your kids, you tell yourself, we put this
behind us and we move on however right now there’s nowhere for us to move on
to. That’s pretty hard reality to swallow.”
I remember the battles as a player (I played at Lake Orion)
against Herrington’s Hawks teams. I was on the team that gave Herrington one of
his 112 losses, winning 19-0 in my junior year and one that was a part of his
443 wins, losing my senior year 14-10.
It’s going to feel weird without Herrington or
Harrison as a school as the Farmington School District who sold the property to the city of Farmington will turn Harrison into a Community Center in June but the complex will stay and Herrington's name and Sports Complex will stay forever.
I’m going to miss Buller Field at the Herrington Sports Complex and
the scoreboard which was old school with the 13 State Championship
boards on the bottom that stood proudly on the north side of the endzone.
I’m going to really miss speaking to Herrington especially
during Media Day. He was honest and kind when I interviewed him. This season, I
didn’t want to talk about the end because I knew it was near but he was upbeat
looking forward to the season. Herrington is truly an icon and he will forever
be missed as well as the school that bared the green and gold.
The State of Michigan will lose one of its greatest legendary
coaches and men on the sidelines but the legacy of Harrison football will
always live on and forever will.
Here are some videos from Media Day and the ONTV News Story from Media Day.
2016
2017
2018
ONTV News Media Day 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqjbEdj2VM8
Podcast from November 12th
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX9XGN83qSk
Podcast from November 12th
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX9XGN83qSk
Excellent Harrison recap regarding end of an era!!
ReplyDeleteThank you Wood, I also put the podcast this week on Harrison.
ReplyDelete