Division 3 final: Dante Moore, Jameel Croft help Detroit King maintain its throne

Detroit — It would be safe to say Tyrone Spencer is building a dynasty at Detroit King.

Jameel Croft set the tempo, returning the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown, then grabbing a 12-yard TD pass from Dante Moore less than six minutes later to help King repeat as Division 3 champion Saturday night with an impressive 56-27 victory over Muskegon at Ford Field.

It was King’s fifth championship in the last eight years, the fourth for Spencer who was defensive coordinator when King won the Division 2 title in 2015. He took over for Dale Harvel who died prior to the 2016 season.

BOX SCORE: Detroit King 56, Muskegon 27

Of course, it makes things easier when you have players like the Oregon-bound Moore, considered the top player in the nation for the 2023 class by Sports Illustrated.

Moore connected on his first eight passes, displaying his new sidearm technique at times that he modeled after Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes, completing all four during his first opportunity for 64 yards, including a 30-yarder to Jacobe Oglesby to set up his 12-yard TD toss to Croft on a short comebacker on the right side, on which Croft used his speed to reach the end zone for a 14-0 lead.

“It was real exciting, this being my last high school football game, me leaving it all out on the field and really performing well, I’m just blessed to be out here with my teammates,” said Moore, who finished 21-of-26 for 275 yards with four TD passes, as King piled up 529 total yards, including 207 yards rushing (13 carries) and two TDs by Sterling Anderson.

“It’s been a long journey these past four years but coming out here with some young guys that have my back, and they know I have their back which is a great feeling and I’m proud to be a back-to-back state champion. This is probably one of the greatest games we’ve ever played at King to be honest. We came out here on both sides of the ball and performed well on the highest level that you can be as a state championship, so I’m real proud of my guys and a lot of work is put into this for sure.”

After Muskegon junior quarterback M’Khi Guy displayed his speed scoring on a 60-yard TD run just 17 seconds after Moore’s TD toss to Croft, Moore came back and directed an 80-yard drive on which he connected again on all four of his passes for 48 yards, including a 29-yarder to sophomore Damon Stennis to set up Stennis’ 9-yard TD run for a 21-7 cushion with 1:55 left in the opening quarter.

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However, when teams have great speed like Muskegon has no lead is big enough.

After Destin Piggee returned the kickoff 42 yards to the King 44, Guy again used his athleticism, especially on an 8-yard TD run on a fourth-and-1 play when he went left, saw King linebacker Sam Washington coming, cut right and reached the end zone to cut the deficit to 21-14 with nine minutes left in the second.

King answered with Moore again playing at the top of his game, leading a 10-play, 69-yard drive, finding Croft for 14 yards on a third-and-9 play, then watching Anderson break loose for a 19-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 to open up a 28-14 lead with 4:33 left in the half.

King scored on all four of its first-half possessions to take a commanding 35-14 halftime lead, in addition to Croft’s long TD kickoff return.

Moore was at his best on the final drive of the second quarter, going 5-of-6 for 68 yards and often showcasing his sidearm tosses, finding Anderson for 20 yards, Oglesby for 24 more, followed by another sidearm toss to Anderson in the right flat which turned into a 20-yard gain to the 3 to set up Moore’s 2-yard TD toss to Stennis with 1:11 left in the half.

Moore finished 15-of-18 for 205 yards with the two TD passes, finding five different receivers through the first two quarters.

Washington, Moore’s backup, moved to outside linebacker his senior year and made two huge plays to stop Muskegon’s drive early in the third quarter.

Facing a third-and-4 from the King 30, Washington tackled Guy for a loss of 3, then on fourth-and-7 Washington chased down Guy for an 11-yard loss to end the threat.

Guy wasn’t finished, breaking loose for 51 yards on Muskegon’s next drive to reach the King 2, and Jakob Price followed with a TD run to cut the deficit to 35-21 with 4:59 left in the third.

Moore threw his third TD pass of the game on the final play of the third quarter when he rolled right and flipped a high pass that Oglesby gathered in for a 13-yard score on a third-and-goal play for a 42-21 lead.

King held a 392-231 advantage in total yards at the time with Moore connecting on 19-of-24 for 253 yards and the three TD passes.

Muskegon continued to fight back with Piggee getting behind the secondary, and why wouldn’t he, with Guy throwing his first pass of the game and hitting him in stride for a 71-yard TD to get within 42-28 with 11:10 remaining.

King would answer 15 seconds later when Anderson took the handoff from Moore, got around the right corner and ran 80 yards for a TD.

Moore’s fourth TD pass was a 12-yard toss to Croft with 5:17 remaining.

Croft talked of his TD kickoff return.

“Opening kickoff, it was just great blocks, the coaches set it up perfectly for me, they just sprung me, it was for all my teammates,” Croft said. “It gave us a little bit of momentum, but I knew we had to keep working for sure, had to keep putting points on the board to come out victorious.”

david.goricki@detroitnews.com