Marine City and Grosse Ile played for a chance to represent half of the division four championship game. The Marine City Mariners took full advantage of that opportunity and advanced to Ford Field with a 45-6 win.

The Mariners were facing a fourth and four late in the first quarter with the score still tied at zero. Marine City ran a fake punt and picked up 22 yards on a pass to Anthony Scarcelli, on the very next play Scarcelli ran in the games first score from 21 yards out.

"There's real merit to watching film, and we noticed that they rush 10 guys and have one guy like 30 or 40 yards deep. We saw they were coming hard off the left side and we had the checked called" said Scarcelli.

Marine City head coach Tony Scarelli on the momentum shift of the fake punt.

"To me the key play was the fake punt, they do a great job of putting 10 guys on the line and putting great pressure on the punter. We thought that Anthony could get behind them and it worked out great."

Anthony Scarcelli and senior quarterback Adam Kroll led the Mariner offense to 45 unanswered points putting the Red Devils out of the game by the middle of the third quarter. Scarcelli scored on a 42 yard touchdown pass from Kroll right before halftime giving Marine City a 17-0 lead at the half.

The third quarter belonged to Kroll who accounted for two of the three Mariner touchdowns. Kroll ran in the first of the two scores form nine yards out giving Marine City a 31 point lead, on the next possesion Kroll found senior tight end Dan Ferguson for a 43 yard touchdown.

Anthony Scarcelli had 13 rushes for 70 yards and one touchdown, two catches for 65 yards and another score. Kroll was an impressive 7 for 10 for 130 yards and two passing scores as well as one on the ground. Senior Jamie Salisbury and sophomore running back Tait Sapienza added one score each, and kicker Dylan Alexander added a 27 yard field goal.

The Red Devils struggled to get anything going offensively especially after junior running back Jordan Nellenbach left the game in the first quarter with what looked like a severe leg injury. Senior running back Alex Kish did his best to keep the Grosse Ile offense moving, but his effectiveness was limited after the Devils fell behind. Brian Christen scored for Grosse Ile late in the fourth quarter to help avoid the shut-out.

Grosse Ile finishes the season with an impressive 10-3 record, Marine City improves their record to 13-0 and now will face Zeeland West for the division four state championship.

"It just drives us, 16 or 17 weeks now and through summer workouts we know what is at stake. You have to fight to get where we want to be" said Kroll.

Coach Scarcelli is looking for his second state championship in the last five years.

"Were not playing to go to another game, next Friday is the last game. All the focus is on that team and that game" said Scarcelli.

In 2007 Marine City beat Detroit Country Day 21-7 to capture the state championship.