Jefferson and Whiteford punched their tickets to the MHSAA state football semifinals.
But it wasn’t easy.
Both teams needed fourth-quarter dramatics to pull out wins in regional championship games on Friday, Nov. 13.
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The Bears and Bobcats will play in the semifinals on Saturday, Nov. 21 at times and sites to be announced next week.
More: Bedford, SMCC win regionals, head to state volleyball quarterfinals
Jefferson plays in Division 5 and Whiteford in Division 7.
Jefferson 15, Summit Academy 12
NEWPORT – Jefferson got the ball back with less than four minutes remaining trailing 12-7.
The Bears couldn’t make much ground on their first three plays of the drive and were facing a fourth-and-3 from their own 49.
Ryan Roberts hugs Jefferson teammate Hunter Barton after a 15-12 victory over Summit Academy in a Division 5 Regional championship game on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026.
Quarterback Luke Beaudrie, who has battled an injured knee all season, converted the first down in a 6-yard run.
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He handed the ball to Drake Jones for an 11-yard gain on the next play.
The rest of the drive was all Beaudrie. He carried for 8 and 3 yards before bursting up the middle for a 23-yard touchdown.
Beaudrie also ran for a 2-point conversion to put his team up 15-12 with 2:27 remaining.
Summit used that time to move to the Jefferson 12, but the Bear defense came through with a top on fourth-and-one to end the game to secure a second straight appearance in the state semifinals.
“This has been an amazing run,” Jefferson coach Rob Beaudrie said. “We’re back-to-back regional champs. I am so proud of these guys.”
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Jefferson took a 7-6 lead on a 3-yard run by Drake Jones and a conversion kick by Caleb Henry on the final play of the first quarter.
There was no more scoring until Summit’s Everett Roberts ran 19 yards for a score with 1:49 left in the third quarter.
Jefferson was stopped on downs at the Summit 2 with 8:45 remaining.
The defense came up with a stop to give the Bears one more chance and they cashed in.
“We were down 12-7 and penalties were killing us,” Beaudrie said. “Everyone talks about our offense, but our defense has been great.”
Jefferson (11-1) will play Frankenmuth (11-1) in the semifinals.
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Whiteford 32, Jonesville 20
OTTAWA LAKE – Whiteford trailed 20-16 with in the fourth quarter before Brek Ruddy took over.
The senior, who broke Monroe County Region records for touchdowns and points in a season and topped 2,000 rushing yards, scored his second and third touchdown of the night in the final minutes on runs of 8 and 73 yards.
Ruddy finished with 23 carries for 259 yards.
That barely made him the leading rusher in the game.
John Milks of Jonesville ran for 238 yards on 42 carries and scored on runs of 3, 18 and 5 yards.
Whiteford’s other touchdown came on a 14-yard run by Elijah Vance in the third quarter.
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The Bobcats take a 10-2 record into the semifinals against Ravenna or North Muskegon.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Jefferson, Whiteford football reach MHSAA semifinals with dramatic wins
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
