2002 Football

The DeWitt football program advanced to its second state championship game in 2002. The Panthers won the Ingham County League Championship en route to a perfect 9-0 regular season.  Head Coach Rob Zimmerman led a veteran team into the playoffs still motivated by a semi-final loss in 2001 to the eventual state champion Chesaning. After being ranked #1 in Division 4 most of the season, the Panthers found themselves as one of the smallest teams in the Division 3 playoffs. In the first round of the state tournament, they defeated league rival Haslett (24-21) in overtime. That emotional win was followed by victories over Mason (49-36), Carleton Airport (28-21) and Bloomfield Hills Lahser (42-7) before facing top-ranked East Grand Rapids. In the state championship game, East Grand Rapids raced to a 27-7 halftime lead and would never look back. Although the 55-14 loss brought an end to the 2002 season, that team had the most wins (13), most points scored in a season (563), and shattered many previous offensive records at that time.  They rallied the DeWitt community again for the first time since 1989 to return to the Pontiac Silverdome and established a championship level program for the next two decades. The 2002 Boys Football team included the following members: Chad Alger, Dan Blemaster, James Braska, Justin Braska, Jason Brown, Mat Brynick, Jason Bunce, Joseph Ciaramella, Kyle Coveart, Casey Curtis, Bill Drury, Ben Frederick, D.J. Hitchingham, Adam Holland, Josh Jimmerson, Kevin Kacel, Alex Kashenider, Kaleb Keener, Tom Keener, Sean Little, Jeff Lloyd, Josh Lloyd, Andrew Longo, Luke Mardigian, John Markey, Tyler McClure, Nic McKenna, Justin Meeder, Greg Molitor, Mickey Mull, Bob Muysenberg, Jeff Nolen, Douglas Padgett, Rob Parish, Nathan Pavwoski, Paul Pulice, Tim Ramirez, Steve Renner, Louis Ryan, Rick Saenz, Austin Schaar, Eric Schaar, Rich Schneeberger, Seth Swanson, Quinton Trim, Ryan VanArsdall, Drew Vanderbur, John VanderSteen, Donald Vollman, Austin Way, Paul Weeks, Tyler Wellman, Lucas Wey, Chad Williams, Kirk Williams, Andrew Wyman, Head Coach Rob Zimmerman, Assistant Coaches Bob Acre, Rick Galardi, Adam Nolen, Mike Schanski, John Vertalka, Managers Jacob Acre, Zach Acre and Trey Williams, and Trainers Josh Paquet, Dave Philbrick and Angie Thelen.