WYOMING, Mich --
Three years ago Godwin Heights coach Andy Dent and his administrative staff made the difficult and possibly devastating decision to not field a varsity football team due to low numbers.
"We had a lot of people out there saying it was going to be the death of the program," said coach Dent.
Instead, it was a new beginning, the start of a building process with a group of players that have led Godwin Heights football programs rise from the ashes.
The freshmen that are the seniors now, we talked about this moment then to those kids," said Dent. "They stick together, they do what we ask of them, this will be their reward."
"Seeing all the hard work that all of us and coach Dent did keeping the program alive paid off," said senior quarterback Richard Major.
Just three years after not even fielding a varsity team, it`s paid off with the Wolverines first playoff appearance in 26 years.
"Like, we apart of history," said senior running back Leon Redd. "Just to go from not looking up to older players to be able to say, dang, we can be this team one day to starting the whole program over and making it to the playoffs."
And what this team has done has gotten the attention from the programs last playoff team 26 years ago.
"We had a guy that was on that team send us a video text of how proud he was and how long ago it was and they were like, coach I wasn't born then," said Dent. "I'm like, yeah I know, and I was much younger at the time too, but it's been an awesome experience."
An experience that coach Dent hopes continues as the Wolverines face Grand Rapids Catholic Central in the first round of the playoffs.
"I'm still focused on, we're still playing, and that's what I tell this team," said Dent. "The season's not over. We're one day at a time, one team at a time and it's gonna take a while for me for it all to sink in."
