An article in Wednesday’s LA Daily News details the path that the Grace Brethren High School football team has taken to Saturday’s CIF Southern Section East Valley Division final game. Grace Brethren High is a ministry of Grace Brethren Church of Simi Valley, Calif. (Jordan Bakker, pastor). A portion of the story appears below. Click here to read the complete article.
Michael Herwig leads Grace Brethren football on virtuous path to CIF final
Grace Brethren High School’s Andre Bannister, Michael Herwig and Zikel Reddick (l-r) have helped lead their team to an undefeated season heading into Saturday’s CIF Southern Section Southeast Division final at St. Margaret’s.(Andy Holzman/Los Angeles Daily News)
Call it a crossroads.
Grace Brethren football coach Josh Henderson had just watched his fatigued defense get mowed down by Santa Paula running back Noah Magana in the fourth quarter in Week 5, and he knew he needed to have his two-way players focus on one side of the ball if they were going to maintain an unbeaten season.
Henderson knew the conversations were going to be difficult, particularly with sophomore Michael Herwig, the team’s leading rusher at that point who was going to be asked to move solely to linebacker.
“We talked about it, and you could tell it was going to be hard for him,” Henderson said. “Obviously, there’s tension because everyone wants to touch or run the ball. But never once did he balk at it publicly. I think the kids understood what the team needed and they accepted it, especially Michael.”
Herwig’s sacrifice had a ripple effect on the team.
It allowed junior Zikel Reddick and senior Andre Bannister to emerge as focal points in Grace Brethren’s punishing ground attack, it shored up the defense and it set the tone for how Grace Brethren was going to conduct the rest of its season.
Grace Brethren (13-0) has ridden that goodwill to an unbeaten regular season and a berth in Saturday’s CIF Southern Section East Valley Division final against host St. Margaret’s.
Click here to read the complete article.
