A few notes before we get started here:
First, with the extended service of hosting “Talk of the Town,” I haven't been able to post as many blogs here as I would have preferred. I apologize for that.
Second, this post will be lengthy.
Third, this post will, for the most part, not deal with WHTC. Instead, it's a survey into the football history of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. I did a little homework on this in advance of my 11th year of calling Saugatuck High football contests on the Lakeshore's 92 7 The Van, with one game (Sept. 6 v. Watervliet) slated to air on WHTC this fall.
So if you will indulge me, here's a look at that “other” football league along the Lakeshore that doesn't belong to the Ottawa-Kent Conference:
The SAC began football competition in 1971 with seven members – Bloomingdale, Decatur, Gobles, Lawrence, Lawton, Marcellus and Schoolcraft. Decatur won the first title with a 6-0 record, and took three of the first four crowns. Schoolcraft left the loop after two seasons, but eventually returned with the demise of the Kalamazoo Valley Athletic Association in 2015.
Decatur was the first league powerhouse, winning five of the first eight crowns, before Gobles emerged to dominate much of the 1980’s. The Tigers’ six straight outright titles, from 1979 through 1984, is unmatched, as well as their 38-game league winning streak during that span. Daniel Armstrong’s dynasty climaxed with the league’s first ever MHSAA title, a 31-22 decision over Crystal Falls Forest Park in the 1984 Class D final at the Silverdome.
Lawton snapped Gobles’ league winning streak on October 11, 1985 with a 17-6 victory and captured its only outright SAC championship in 1985 to break the string. One of four three-way titlists in league history, and the only one in its single-division format, came the following year with the Blue Devils, Gobles and Martin sharing the crown.
That led to the golden days of Martin football, as the Clippers the next three outright titles, from 1987 through 1989. Included in that was the SAC’s second state title, a 21-0 shutout of Beal City by Bob Kubiak’s bunch in the Class D contest at the Silverdome to climax the school’s best-ever campaign of 12-1 in 1987. However, Martin would have just 12 more winning seasons and seven state tournament berths during the next three decades before turning to eight-man football in 2019.
The 90’s saw a variety of teams claim the SAC crown, including the only outright title for Fennville, two shared crowns for Marcellus, and four more titles for Decatur. However, it was Lawrence that took the league’s third state crown in 1997, despite a pedestrian 6-3 overall mark and 4-3 SAC record. Jim Coady’s Tigers stormed through the Class DD tournament and defeated Mio in the final, 28-6. Decatur, who won the league title in 1997, also reached the final in 1997, but lost in the Class C title contest to Ravenna. It was the only time two league schools made it to the state finals in the same year, and at this point, Lawrence’s state football crown is the last that a SAC school has captured.
Gobles returned to prominence by the turn of the millennium, winning or sharing three straight titles, and making back-to-back state Division 7 finals appearances in 1999 and 2000. Decatur came back two years later to not only win the last SAC outright title in 2002, but fall in the league’s last appearance at the Silverdome in the Division 7 state championship contest.
The SAC grew to 12 members in 2003 and split into north and south divisions for the next 12 years. During that time, three of the newcomers – Hartford, Saugatuck and Watervliet – would emerge as powers to join Decatur and Gobles as annual divisional contenders. However, only Saugatuck in 2010 made it to Ford Field for a state title contest during that span, falling in the Division 8 finale.
With the dissolution of the Kalamazoo Valley Athletic Association in 2014, the SAC took on five of its members – Constantine, Delton Kellogg, Galesburg-Augusta, Schoolcraft and Kalamazoo United (a joint venture of Hackett Catholic and Kalamazoo Christian) – along with Coloma and Eau Claire, creating three six-team divisions. The Lakeshore-Central-Valley setup would last two seasons.
However, due to a variety of factors, schools began dropping out of the SAC. Lawrence was the first in 2013, moving to the developing eight-man game. In 2017, two original league members – Bloomingdale and Marcellus – joined Decatur, Hartford, Bangor and Eau Claire in seeking different pastures, and the SAC reverted back to a two-division, Lakeshore and Valley configuration. That year, Saugatuck made its second trip to Ford Field, losing in the Division 7 state championship contest.
After the 2018 campaign, Martin also opted for eight-man football, and league leaders decided in the summer of 2019 to welcome Parchment into the fold for the fall of 2020.
As the SAC heads into its 49th campaign, Gobles has its hands on the most football league/division titles with 17, followed by the departed Decatur with 15. Thanks to a record seven straight seasons (from 2011 to 2017) of winning or sharing division honors, Watervliet is third at nine, followed close behind by Saugatuck with 8. Only five schools, three of which are still active members – Coloma, Delton Kellogg and Galesburg-Augusta – along with Bangor and Eau Claire, have yet to win any SAC gridiron hardware.
Thanks again for indulging me!
