Friday Football Feature – A kickoff for your weekend high school football
By Jeff Steers
JTV Sports
(October 7, 2022 8:50 AM) Coaches tell players they have to do this, that, and the other thing in order to be a key player on a team.
When Addison High School Coach Josh Lindeman told running back Spencer Brown he needed to add 20 pounds to his frame, he went to work.
It appears to be working as Brown should go over the 1,000-yard mark against Grass Lake tonight and has scored 13 touchdowns this season.
Last year he was hesitant every time he touched the football at 155 pounds.
“Last year I didn’t run the football very much … when I did, I was worried about someone hitting me,” Brown said. “When I run the ball this year, I think I am going to score a touchdown.”
Brown has 967 yards through six games and has a pair of games with three touchdowns so far. He has scored 13 touchdowns in six games so far this season.
The junior bulked up by 20 pounds by lifting every day after track and field practice and participated in summer workouts.
The Panthers are the three-time defending champions, but thought their chances of furthering that was over when Addison came up inches short in a loss to Manchester early in the season.
With wins over Grass Lake and Napoleon in the coming weeks, the Panthers could claim a share of the Cascades Conference title.
“After losing to Manchester – and knowing what the other teams went through the last three years – we just wanted a chance,” Brown said. “We don’t want to be the group that breaks the streak.
“The next two weeks will be huge.”
Brown is also a star player on the Panthers’ varsity basketball and track and field teams. He has averaged more than a dozen points each of his first two seasons at the varsity level.
Basketball has always come easy to Brown.
“Basketball is different from football … I am more comfortable and don’t have to think about it,” Brown said.
He spends his summers in daily football workouts and attending basketball scrimmages at Hillsdale College.
Brown was part of the 400-meter relay team that earned all-state honors in the Division 4 state finals last year.
“We didn’t have a lot of seniors (last spring in track), but they kept us on task,” Brown said. “We really looked up to the seniors.”
Brown said he would like to play college basketball, but isn’t ruling out the football angle.
Local High School Football Games
Oct. 7
Lumen Christi at Marshall 7 p.m.
Coldwater at Northwest 7 p.m.
Columbia Central at Hudson 7 p.m.
Dundee at Hillsdale 7 p.m.
Concord at Marcellus 7 p.m.
Manchester at Hanover-Horton 7 p.m.
Homer at East Jackson 7 p.m.
Michigan Center at Napoleon 7 p.m.
Addison at Grass Lake 7 p.m.
Adrian at Jackson 7 p.m.
Springport at Reading 7 p.m.
Western at Hastings 7 p.m.
Jonesville at Quincy 7 p.m.
Perry at Stockbridge (Homecoming) 7 p.m.
Oct. 8
Vandercook Lake at Morenci 7 p.m.
Leslie at Carson City 7 p.m.