TRAVERSE CITY — Life outside of football is more important to the Traverse City community.
It showed Friday night in front of a packed-out Thirlby Field during the Traverse City West Titans’ 28-0 win over Bay City Central.
The Titan football program honored 2018 graduate Sam DeKuiper, who died in a car crash in May. The DeKuiper family were made honorary captains.
“It’s very heartwarming. The fact that so many people, not just Traverse City West, but the whole community have embraced our son and what he stood for,” Brenda DeKuiper, Sam’s mother said. “We knew he was a good kid, but we never knew how many lives he touched until now.”
DeKuiper played varsity football and baseball at West before taking his baseball talents to Lawrence Tech. The Blue Devils’ graduate played center fielder before getting thrown into the pitching rotation his senior year.
Another way the football program honored DeKuiper was having the number 16 jersey retired for the season. Junior wide receiver Dylan Dunklow was set to wear the number, but because of equipment confusion, he switched his number to 21.
The number 16 jersey was signed by everyone on the football team and given to the DeKuiper family.
“It was super neat to give that back and, with the 50/50 raffle, half the proceeds went to the college fund,” Titans head coach James Wagner said. “I’m just happy we can give back and utilize football to do that.”
Sam loved to golf in his free time, and when the news spread to his teammates at Lawrence Tech, they wanted to find a way to honor his name. It was his friends’ idea to put on a Sam DeKuiper Memorial Scholarship Golf Outing at the Interlochen Golf Course on Oct. 5.
Senior quarterback Owen Hendrix and senior running back Charlie Sowers both noted it was a nice thing to be able to honor the fallen Titan the way they did Friday.
“To honor him tonight was a cool thing,” Hendrix said. “We got the win, so it makes it even better.”
After the DeKuiper family did the coin flip, it was destined for the Titans to have a great game on the field.
West had several chances to put points on the board in the first quarter; but after Hendrix threw an interception at the Wolves’ 2-yard line, the Titans’ defense swallowed the quarterback for a safety to go ahead 2-0.
West took advantage of getting the ball back after the safety as they drove the ball down the field for a Sowers 8-yard rushing touchdown to go ahead 8-0 with 7:21 remaining in the second quarter.
West didn’t punch it in for a score again until 1:06 to play with Hendrix running it in for a 1-yard touchdown. Hendrix is in his second season in Wagner’s offense and noted the one thing he’s been able to do is play free.
“I’m allowed to run the ball,” the senior captain said. “I’m allowed to run the ball, but he also told me not to take any big hits.”
The Titans finished the night with more than 300 rushing yards, making it the most rushing yards this season.
Sowers racked up 120 yards. Noah Bennett finished with 67 yards. Drew Esper racked in 66, and Drake Intrieri finished with 11 yards.
“It’s always nice when you can put up 200 yards on the ground,” Wagner said. “It going to do well for your offense, and it just means that we’re getting better and having a little more confidence in the things that we’re doing.”
With under a minute to play in the first half, West picked up big yardage with a huge chunk throw by Hendrix followed by a run play from Sowers.
With a second remaining, Wolves’ head coach Kevin Fredrick had his players ready to head to the locker room, but West was granted a second on the clock in order for the ball to be reset.
“What we were told is that there was one second on the clock. The clock was stuck because the clock stopped for the first down, so the ball could be reset,” Wagner said. “We told our center, as soon as the whistle blows, snap the ball.”
Hendrix scrambled out of the pocket and threw a dart in between several Wolves’ defenders to find wide receiver Alex Scholl for a 16-yard touchdown to put the Titans ahead 21-0 at the half.
The second half was no different for West thanks to their defense. West got after the Wolves’ quarterback six times. Noah Dumon and Isiah Fox combined for 11 tackles for loss. Dumon also had two sacks, and Fox had one.
The Titans wouldn’t find the end zone until the fourth quarter with a Hendrix 10-yard rushing touchdown to put the bow on a great night at Thirlby Field.
The win puts West at 3-0 for the first time since 2021. Wagner told the boys to take it one game at a time and not to let the moment become a distraction. It’s good motivation for the Titans before welcoming Grand Blanc on Friday.
“This team hasn’t played our best football, and there’s plenty of things that we can continue to get better at,” Wagner said. “There are many things that were on display tonight that were good, but others the film will show we need to improve. We’ll take on Grand Blanc next week and see what happens.”