Whitehall vs. Comstock Park - A Preview

Photo by Andy Roberts

For the first time in eight years, Whitehall football will be playing in a district championship game. No better time to awaken my long-dormant blog for a quick preview.

The Vikings will host Comstock Park Friday at 7 p.m. The Panthers upset district 1-seed Cadillac 19-10 last week to give Whitehall hosting duties for this game, while the Vikings advanced with a 21-0 whitewashing of Spring Lake.

By playoff points, Whitehall is favored in the game, which is why the Vikes get to host. But the Panthers have reached the Division 4 semifinals three years running. Whitehall will have its hands full this week.

The Panthers beat Allendale, another playoff team, in O-K Blue Conference play, and battled Grand Rapids West Catholic most of the way in a 47-33 loss. You might know West Catholic - they're 10-0 and projected to roll through the Division 5 playoffs. Comstock Park also played district finalists Cedar Springs and Zeeland West, though it also lost lopsided games to both.

Whitehall, of course, also had its share of tests this season, losing to playoff teams Oakridge and Ravenna. The Vikings also prevented North Muskegon and Mason County Central from making the playoffs by handing both one of what turned out to be four losses. Coming into the postseason, Whitehall had looked vulnerable after the aforementioned losses, plus a tough game against Grant, but the Vikings answered any questions in the dominating win over Spring Lake.

The Panthers might be the biggest test yet, though, coming in with a 1,000-yard rusher and a 1,000-yard passer, plus another rusher pushing 1,000.

QB Pat Naughton will also be key to the CP efforts. He's over 1,200 yards passing this year at a 58.3% completion rate. Perhaps most impressively, he's done that without a receiver over 208 (also Smith, BTW). Outside of the big-time schools, you rarely see a QB in high school put up big numbers in the air without a singular go-to guy, but Naughton has effectively spread the ball around. He's also carried for 964 yards. Probably the most impressive thing about Naughton is that his best game this year came against mighty West Catholic. He was 19/28 for 168 yards and a TD in that game and carried 27 times for 186 yards and four scores. Also, Naughton called the signals last year for the Division 4 semifinalists. He's no stranger to the bright lights.

Monterio Smith will likely be the Panthers' most important player besides Naughton on Friday. He's over 1,100 yards this season and carried for 124 against Cadillac. West Catholic shut him down, but Smith shredded Allendale for 318 yards in the Panthers' week 7 win, so he's proven himself twice over against top competition.

Whitehall will counter with Trip Thommen, who's well over 1,000 yards this year, and quarterback Zarren Aylor. Aylor had a solid game against Spring Lake and has been markedly improved from a year ago, but the guess here is that Aylor will have to make a couple of big plays with his arm for Whitehall to win. If he does, it's a good bet twin brother Keenan will be on the receiving end of those plays. Keenan is generally Zarren's option one, two and three when Whitehall does go to aerial.

The Vikings' lines will have to replicate the fantastic efforts they gave last week, when the defense held Spring Lake to under two yards per carry while paving the way for big run after big run. They probably won't be able to shut out Comstock Park, but if they can hold them under 20 points, the Vikings have a good shot.

I'm excited for this game. It'll be a golden opportunity for Whitehall, 1-8 last year, to make its biggest statement yet that it's back. It should be a fun, although frigid, night on the football field.