Unity Christian scored more points last fall than any high school football team in state of Michigan history.
The Crusaders lost to Chelsea, 55-52, in the Division Four state championship game.
It was a contest that Unity Christian led 45-17 in the 3rd quarter and 52-31 in the 4th, only to see the Bulldogs kick a field goal on the game's final play to win.
It's the kind of loss that can take a long time to get over.
"I think we are through it," Unity Christian senior quarterback and linebacker said. "But we're not really forgetting it, kind of using it as a chip on our shoulder, kind of pushing us to work harder, but obviously not forgetting it, but we're through it. We're past it."
20th year Crusader head coach Craig Tibbe said he will address it with his team this week at camp.
"We will tonight, we have camp out tonight," Tibbe said. "So we'll sit down, we're just going to talk about it a little bit. We're not going to sit and dwell on it, but it has to come up. It has to be part of our conversation, and then move forward."
As great as the 2021 Unity Christian was, there are 20 starting positions to fill after graduation, but the Saders program has become one where tradition doesn't graduate.
"It is pretty cool to see where the program has come growing up," Mitch Tibbe, son of head coach Criag Tibbe, said. "We had some good teams. My brother's team when they went to state and won state (2018). I was waterboy then so I kind of got a taste of that wanted to get back, obviously didn't go the way we wanted last year, but, Unity Christian football is hard work. I think we take teams that aren't supposed to be good and we make them good."
Unity Christian has two new non-conference opponents this season starting with Whitehall on Thursday August 25th at Jenison and then at St. Joseph on September 1st.
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