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Touchdown Club

 DeWitt Touchdown Club   DeWitt Football Official Picture Site   TCP Photography  Please remember those who served.

Last Update: 09-16-2024 

Spectator Information:

Memorial Stadium (Built 1972) Surface:
Artificial turf,  RootZone 3D3 Blend system over a ProPlay pad installed by AstroTurf in 2022.

VIsitor side Capacity: 1,000 aluminum seats and aluminum base and will face the sun until it sets. Wear sunglasses and hats with brims.
Home side Capacity: 3,500 aluminum seats and concrete base.


Purchasing Tickets:  Visit the Athletic website, http://www.dewittpanthers.net/ under Event Tickets.  Fans can also go to DeWitt High School Events and Tickets by GoFan.  Do not validate tickets until instructed to do so onsite by Event Staff. Season tickets may be purchased at the High School Athletic Office.

Watching Games: Visit www.NFHSnetwork.com and search DeWitt High School. There is a subscription required. This will allow you to watch games from your easy chair. But, we'd rather have you with us at Memorial Stadium.

Listening to games: Games are on the DeWitt Panthers Network by Zach Surdenik live or recorded. Accessing the broadcast can be done by going to www.HighSchoolStreaming.com and click on DeWitt at the top.

Local Radio: If local radio will broadcast a game, we will do our best to notifiy you ahead of time. But, we'd rather have you listen to Zach

Did You Know?

Boy, the 420 miles is a long way for Hurricane to drive from West Virginia, a couple states away..

DeWitt had home and home games with Kingsford, MI, 418 miles from DeWitt  (2014,'15) and a home and home series with Menominee, MI , 420 miles (2015,'16).

Panther Puzzle

Hurricane Football will travel approximately seven hours from Hurricane WV, to DeWitt. Hurricane is nestled in the Teays Valley, approximately 30 miles west/northwest of Charleston.

Puzzle: Hurricane High School is the first out of State of Michigan team the Panthers have played. 

True or False?

Answer:  Thursday

Sports Page Links

 

DeWitt Athletics Twitter

DeWitt Athletics Site

Lansing State Journal

WLNS 5th Quarter

WILX Sports Blitz

The Game 730AM

Detroit Free Press

Detroit News

MLIVE High School Sports

State Champs Network

MHSAA Football

Geoff Kimmerly Second Half Sports

DeWitt Athletic Hall of Fame

Panthers Playing/Recent in College
(Denotes senior season at DeWitt)

 

Noah Koenigshnect (2017) - Central Michigan
Northwood University

Michael Nehf (2019) Northern Michigan

Mason Gilbert (2019) - Lafayette

Drew Schorfhaar (2019) - Michigan State

Andrew Debri (2020) - Hope College

Nick Flegler - (2021) - Hope College

Bryce Debri (2021) - Hope College

Tyler Holtz ( 2021) - Brown University

Tommy McIntosh ( 2021) - Central Michigan

Bryce Kurncz (2022) - Michigan Tech

Matthew Nehf (2022) - Central Michigan

Broden Schafer (2022) - Saginaw Valley

Brandon Soltis (2022) - Hope College

Jonathan Warner (2022) - Alma College

Other Panther links of interest.

Memorial Stadium Upgrades

Panther Football Facilities

Panther Traditions

Panther All-State Players

2024 DeWitt Panther Football Week Four

   

Hurricane High Skins WV (2-1) vs DeWitt Panthers (3-0)
at DeWitt Memorial Stadium
Friday, September 20, 7:00pm

Helmet images from MichiganHelmetProject.com

DeWitt, MI (09/16/2024): The DeWitt Panthers will host the Hurricane High School Redskins Friday evening at 7:00pm at Memorial Stadium. This will be the first home game of the season for the Varsity Panthers. It will also be the Hall of Fame Induction of the 2024 DeWitt Class of 2024.

The JV Panthers will travel to Pewamo-Westphalia and the Freshmen to Lowell.

Hurricane (pronounced 'her uh kin') is a member of the Mountain State Region. Their region is similar to our CAAC Conference Blue Division. Good team? Oh, yeah. Ranked 5th in the State of West Virginia.

Panther Coach Rob Zimmerman stated: "We are very much looking forward to our matchup with Hurricane West Virginia. They are an incredibly talented football team with both great size and speed as well as experience. They are as talented as any team that we could face this season so it will certainly help us further down the road".

While doing a little research, we find them at 2-1 with their only loss to 4th ranked Huntington 38-35. They defeated #18 Spring Valley 63-48 and #21 Parkersburg 49-14. They are coached by Donnie Mays, in his third year at Hurricane and has built an offensive powerhouse, averaging 50 points a season last year and this year and is 20-7 overall. As of this writing, there ar 10 Division 1 quality players on the roster.

Like DeWitt, the Skins offense starts with its QB and they have a good one in #7 Noah Vellaithambi. The 6'0" 205lb QB is 41 of 60 passing for 668 (222 per game avg.) with 7 TDs. He has also rushed for 284 yards on 32 carries and 5 TDs.

His top receivers are #0 Tayshawn Dues, a 5'11' 180lb senior in his fourth year on varsity. He has 13 catches for 244 yards and 2 TDs. He is ranked as the #2 receiver in WV. Alongside of Dues is 6'0" 185lb junior #5Ja'lei Burnett with 15 catches for 243 yards and one score. Then the big tight end Sha'lik Hampton at 6'4" and 220lbs that has 8 catches for 125 yards and 3 TDs. And can block the sun out.

In the backfield, the key is 5'10 200lb junior #8 Kylan Grace. With speed to burn, he has rushed 45 times for 404 yards and 6TDs. Also in the backfield is scatback AJ Gregory at 5'11 and 170 pounds. He has 26 carries for 141 yards

Defensively they are led by middle linebacker #33 Joey Quijano. The 2'10" 205 had 26 solo tackles and 15 assists for 41 tackles and 5 tackles for loss. So, look for Hurricane to shoot him through the gaps to get into the Panther backfield. DB #12 Jai'den Smith has 28 tackles from his defensive backfield position. And upfront, junior #66 Cohen Lusher anchors the D-Line at 5'11" and 210lbs with 18 solo tackles and 5 tackles for loss. And, the rest of the D-Line is big as well as the offensive line at 270lb, 275lb, 260lb and 255lbs.

It will be an awesome game and could turn into a shootout. Friday's weather at game time looks to be sunny and dropping through the 70s during the game.


How did this game come about? We caught up with Athletic Director Mike Brya and and he provided us with some information.

MB: We began looking for a game immediately after the conclusion of our season, knowing the difficulty of finding an opponent in Week 4 of the season.  In mid-November, we began talking with a school on the west side of the state that has a rich tradition in football and would have been a very good matchup for both schools.  Things were very promising in early-December, and by the first week of January, we had a verbal agreement for a 2-year home-and-home contract.  The contract was sent to finalize the agreement, and the school backed out.

Coach Zimmerman was on the Staudt Radio Show shortly thereafter and had mentioned that we were struggling to find a Week 4 opponent.  One of the listeners contacted Tim Staudt and asked for my number.  The listener contacted me and said his son runs a Google doc with essentially every high school (from Illinois to Pennsylvania and Michigan to Kentucky) and their open date.  Coach Zimmerman literally reached out to every school who was open on 9/20 (or 9/21).

With the CAAC Blue being an odd-numbered division, one school will have a bye in Weeks 3-9.  For the 2022 & 2023 seasons, DeWitt had its bye in Week 3.  When the league schedule rotated, which it does every two years, DeWitt's bye moved to Week 4 for 2024 and 2025. 

DeWittFootball.org: How did you know to go outside of the state to get a game?

MB: Prior to the 2024-2025 school year, the MHSAA only allowed MHSAA-member schools to play teams from the border States (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Canada - Minnesota & Illinois share a maritime border).  Beginning in the Fall of 2025, the MHSAA now allows MHSAA-member schools to play teams outside of the border-state footprint; however, two things are required:  the school must be a member-in-good-standing with their State Association AND the game must be played in one of the border states.

DeWittfootball.Org: That is a long way to travel for a game, do they have any other plans?

MB: The team is departing West Virginia about 8:00 a.m.  They intend to stop in the Toledo-area to break-up the trip, stretch, and do a walk-thru.  They are expected to arrive on campus between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m.  The bus will turn around and head back right after the game.  Some members of the team are staying around town with their family and hope to attend the U of M / USC game in Ann Arbor on Saturday (something they normally would not have an opportunity to do).

DeWittFootball.org: Is this a home and home contract? What if we can't find a week four next season?

MB: This will be a one-year contract, and we will begin to immediately look for a Week 4 opponent on a one-year contract for the 2025 season.

Thanks, Mike for this information. Pretty fascinating

 


2024 Capital Area Activities Blue Conference

Team

Overall

Conf.

Last Week

Next Week

DeWitt

3 - 0

1 - 0

Beat Waverly 62-6

Hurricane

Lansing Everett

3 - 0

1 - 0

Beat Okemos 41-6

at Waverly

East Lansing

2 - 1

1 - 0

Beat Grand Ledge 38-21

at Okemos

Grand Ledge

2 - 1

0 -1

Lost at East Lansing 38-21

Holt

Holt

2 - 1

0 - 0

Beat Carman-Ainsworth 31-12

at Grand Ledge

Okemos

1 - 2

0 - 1

Lost to Everett 41-6

East Lansing

Lansing Waverly

0 - 3

0 - 1

Lost to DeWitt 62-6

Everett

Other Teams We Follow Coached by Former Panthers

Midland
Tyler Wellman

2 - 1

1 - 0

Beat Bay City Western 44-9

at Bay City Central

Morrice
Kendall Crockett

3 - 0

1 - 0

Beat Byron 54-6

at Portland St. Patrick

Whitehall
Tony Sigmon

1 - 2

1 - 0

Lost Zeeland West 60-43

Montague

Croswell-Lexinton
Mike Holes

2 - 1

1 - 1

Beat Richmond 41-10

at North Branch

Please send inquiries and comments to info@DeWittFootball.org