River Rouge grinds its way back to Division 3 state title game after running past Chelsea

CHELSEA – Coach Corey Parker was aware of the media predictions.

The River Rouge coach knew that some predictions had his defending Division 3 state championship team losing to Chelsea in the semifinal round Saturday, but he also knew his squad was ready to prove the doubters wrong.

From the opening drive of the game, Chelsea had no answer for River Rouge's rushing attack as the Panthers plowed their way to a 30-22 victory to advance back to Ford Field where they'll defend their title against Dewitt next Saturday.

"Everybody picked us to lose and we knew that," Parker said after the game. "We are OK with living the life as the underdog and coming out on the field and handling our business no matter how people feel about us. The game's gotta be played on the field."

"I'm proud of the way my guys went about being focused and staying focused on not what's in the media but what's gotta happen once that first whistle blows. They went about their business and it says great things about our program."

Behind Rouge's massive offensive line, star quarterback Mareyohn Hrabowski found the end zone three times and rushed for more than 100 yards to help the Panthers get back to the promise land.

The Western Michigan commit credited his o-line for opening holes that allowed him to find daylight from the first possession of the game.

"Once I saw the weakness, I was like, 'Yeah, we've got a good shot of winning this game,' Hrabowski said of the rushing attack. "When I saw things opening up, we just kept on attacking the weaknesses...

"It's a great feeling making it again because not every team gets an opportunity to make it to a state championship and not every team gets this opportunity to this far in the playoffs so, I'm at a lost for words right now. It feels really good."

Whether it was a run to the left, the right or up the middle, Rouge managed to find success all game.

Not only did Hrabowski put the pressure on the Bulldogs' defense, Charles Daniels put the icing on the cake with a 43-yard TD run and scored the 2-point conversion to put the Panthers ahead 30-14 with 5:52 left to play.

Though Chelsea QB Griffen Murphy cut the deficit to 30-22 with a TD run with 3:23 remaining, Rouge was able to run behind its offensive line and shave enough time off the clock late to secure the win.

"They did an amazing job of just continuously moving their feet on contact," Parker said of the o-line. "They did amazing job making sure that Mareyohn (Hrabowski) got through the hole, and once he got through the hole, they just got back on the ball and were ready to go again.

"No matter what, they were trying to get guys through the hole, and they played together, and they played hard. I'm proud of them because Chelsea knew we were running the ball and they've got good coaches and good players too. It just came down to will power and who wanted it more."

Chelsea's offense struggled to find its groove against Rouge's defense early in a rematch of last year's classic semifinal battle.

The Panthers forced back-to-back 3-and-outs, which allowed them to take a 14-0 lead late in the second quarter behind TDs from Hrabowski.

The Bulldogs finally found some success when Murphy scored on a 2-yard scramble which cut the deficit to 14-7 heading into halftime.

But Rouge's defense regrouped and forced another 3-and-out to start the half and the offense tacked on another TD run from Hrabowski to extend the lead to 22-7 with 4:14 left in the third quarter.

The Panthers, will have a chance to repeat as champions and continued to prove that they're a team that shouldn't be doubted.

"For us, we don't care where we're playing or who we're playing against, we've gotta be the best version of us."