Detroit — After enduring a seven-hour drive from the Upper Peninsula, the Menominee Maroons made a stellar return to Ford Field, avenging a 2023 state championship loss to Lumen Christi, and finished out their season undefeated at 14-0.
Players from a city of 8,400 travelled the full seven hours through three different states to arrive and face off against the Schoolcraft Eagles, who brought 23 players from an even smaller town of 1,470.
For a team without a lot of notoriety in Michigan high school football, Menominee has quite the track record. The Maroons made the state playoffs every year from 1999 to 2017, shifting between Division 4, 5, and 6. They reached the Division 7 final in 2023 after being the top seed in the division but were upset by Jackson Lumen Christi, who won the Division 6 final this year.
Among the maroon gear in Ford Field was also a fair amount of Green Bay Packers gear—the team plays one hour away from Menominee, which sits right on the Michigan-Wisconsin border. The Maroons even faced off against a high school from Wisconsin to start their season, winning 49-13.
Just as it was on Thanksgiving for the Packers, the Maroons put up the first seven points and never looked back. Running back Clayton Miller scored the first three touchdowns, putting Menominee up 21-0 late in the third quarter, and then the Maroons put the icing on the cake with a two-yard touchdown pass on fourth down to WR Maverick Geniesse from QB Tanner Theuerkauf, followed by “UP Power” chants from the Maroon student section.
Theuerkauf, who was a part of the 2023 runner-up squad, dedicated the win to his older brother, who was a senior on the 2023 squad. It was head coach Chad Brant’s first state title, and his 41st win as head coach of the Maroons, and it supposedly would not have come without a lot of donations.
“We would not be here without our town and our community,” Brandt said. “We had probably raised $25,000 to $30,000, and we did so in probably two days.”
Brandt went on to explain that due to inclement weather, one of the Menominee fan buses could not make it to Ford Field on time, but that luckily they were still able to have a student section.
“We still heard the Maroon faithful and the U.P. power for sure.”
Alex Deimel is a contributing writer for Michigan Enjoyer.
