(WXMI) — Thomas Cook sits down with Bret Bakita and Muskegon head football coach Shane Fairfield to preview the Big Reds season. Muskegon is coming off the Division 2 state championship after beating Warren De La Salle 33-21.
"Anytime you win a state championship everything becomes a blur but it's about the process," Muskegon head coach Shane Fairfield said.
The Big Reds started the season 0-2 with losses to Rockford and De La Salle. Muskegon didn't lose again the rest of the year winning 12 straight games.
"The running joke is, we won our school's 900 game in the state final so everyone was like you dropped the first two and I was like 'yeah I knew what I was doing'. It wouldn't have been cool to win 902 in the state finals," Fairfield said.
Muskegon moved up from Division 3 to Division 2 where they will be once again this year and plenty of tough tests along the way.
"To get there wasn't easy, but these guys were on a mission. That was a great group that had that in them and seven of them were three-year starters," Fairfield said.
In the new playoff system era, Muskegon has not won back-to-back state titles, and Fairfield said that motivates this group.
"That's a huge motivator in itself. But we know there is a lot that has to go into it. These next few days are going to be huge. For them to have that carrot is a great motivator," Fairfield said.
Muskegon hosts Zeeland West to start the year on Friday, August 30th at 7:00 p.m.
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