DETROIT — Football and traditions are everything to the community of Kingsley.
“It’s a big deal,” Kingsley resident Jason Roelofs said. “The fans travel well, and it’s just what Kingsley is about.”
Roelofs has lived in Kingsley for 22 years and has seen the ups and downs of the football program.
“Kingsley has gone through a lot over the past couple of years,” Roelofs said. “A lot of good things have been happening in this community, and this will be another one of those good things.”
Kingsley, after every game, despite the outcome — home or away — do a family circle. The Kingsley community continued that tradition at Ford Field in Detroit on Saturday in their Division 6 state championship win over Almont, 38-24.
The Kingsley community couldn’t go on the field Saturday, so they compromised. The fans formed a half circle in the stands and the players in a half circle on the field with senior quarterback Gavyn Merchant leading the circle for one last time.
“I rushed up in the stands and said, ‘Thank you all for coming out. I love you all. We played our hearts out, and now we are Division 6 state champions,’” Merchant said.
Kingsley head coach Tim Wooer began the family circle when he started at Kingsley in 1991 to let the community know how much they mean to the team.
“We wanted to make sure that our community understands that we play for you,” Wooer said. “They show their love and support, and we want to make sure they are welcomed. That’s the unique thing about Kingsley. It doesn’t matter if it’s basketball, volleyball or football, the Kingsley fans are going to show up.”
Merchant, the senior captain, said it didn’t dawn on him how big of a football community Kingsley was until his freshmen year when he helped the junior varsity team win their first game.
“Everyone was circling up when we did the family circle, and I was like, ‘Wow, this is pretty cool that we have the whole community on the football field,’” Merchant said. “It was cool to have the whole community around the football field, and you have the sophomores in the middle saying, ‘I appreciate everyone for coming out, and I hope to see you next week.”
This season, Merchant has led the family circle, but speaking to an entire town gave Merchant butterflies the first couple weeks into the season.
“I got nervous,” Merchant said. “Around Week Four, I said, ‘All right, the community’s got my back, so if I messed up, they’ll laugh, and it won’t be the end of the world.’”
Having the family circle as a part of the community is just one of many ways Wooer shows how much the Kingsley community means to the team.
During the postgame press conference Saturday, Wooer had senior running back Eli Graves, Merchant, senior full back Max Goethals and assistant coach Connor Schueller up there with him. Having Schueller next to him made Wooer emotional.
Schueller’s mom, Trina Schueller, lived and breathed Kingsley football but passed away in 2020 because of COVID-19. Wooer held his emotions in the press conference when talking about what Trina meant — and continues to mean — to the program.
“I’m not sure you will find a person in our community who loved Kingsley football and Kingsley, in general, more than Trina Schueller,” Wooer said with tears.
Coach Schueller has been a member of the Kingsley coaching staff since graduating and has followed his mom’s passion for Kingsley football. Coach Schueller, when speaking about what Kingsley’s family circle means to him, had the D6 championship trophy tucked into his left arm with a smile.
Connor, whose birthday was Saturday, was part of the family circle during his playing days and now gets to be a part of it as a coach. He remembers how much the family circle meant to him and the community.
“When I was doing it in high school, it was something special because the people around you just love football. The community and especially the alumni that come out is truly something special,” Connor said. “Watching from afar as a coach, it’s unreal. When we raise our hand, we’re in unison, and when we say ‘family,’ we all are family in a way because we all live and breathe Kingsley football.”