• HS Baseball 4/25: Negaunee 10, Escanaba 9
  • HS Baseball 4/25: Bark River-Harris 11, Superior Central 1
  • HS Softball 4/25: Menominee 15, Bark River-Harris 0
  • HS Softball 4/25: Hancock 12, Norway 2
  • HS Softball 4/25: Houghton 10, Westwood 2
  • HS Baseball 4/25: Traverse City West 9, Sault Ste. Marie 3
  • HS Softball 4/25: Kingsford 15, Marquette 0
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Friday April 26, 2024
THEY'RE BACK: MP Football Ready For Challenge

Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and interviews with quareterback Bradly VanDamme, receiver Michael Englund, and Coach Sam Eggleston

PERKINS, Mich.---The Mid Peninsula High School football program died in 2012 as numbers in the small Delta County school district dwindled. But not so fast. The Wolverine program has been resurrected, and the boys will be on the field in Perkins this fall. 

The Wolverines will be led by Sam Eggleston, who coached at nearby Superior Central before resigning earlier this year. Now, Eggleston has turned in the blue outfits for orange ones, and he says his new group of guys are responding well, and working very hard.

"I have plenty to complain about because I'm a coach," Eggleston said. "But's been a massive improvement, to be honest with you. These kids went from zero to 60 miles per hour much faster than we could've expected. They're learning fast, they're picking up on everything we're asking them to. Everything we throw at them, they just adjust to, so let's keep it going."

The Wolverines will be pinning much of their hopes on Bradly VanDamme, who was named the team's captain and will be the starting quarterback.

"We had some chatter around the school about how we'd like to see the football program started back up," VanDamme said. "A lot of guys wanted to play, so we had a meeting to gauge interest and we had like 15, 20 guys show up. Then we had a parent meeting and there were similiar numbers, so over the summer, we did some weightlifting and some individual things."

"Practice has gone well. We've had a couple of rouigh days, but there's a lot of progress being made."

His facvorite target in the passing game will be Michael Englund, who VanDamme has played basketball with in the past at Mid Peninsula.

"Well, at the beginning, I wasn't quite sure about it," Englund admitted. "But now I'm happy with it. It was tough at first learning all of the plays, but they've all helped me with it. We had pretty good chemistry with baseketball, so now we're carrying it over into football. It's pretty cool to be a part of the first team back."

"I expect us to be competitive in most of our games, Eggleston said. "I think we're going to win a few, if not more. I think these guys are coming together fast. We have all of the tools to be a very deadly team."







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