Harper Woods, Michigan: Pioneers Beat Detroit King 20-6 in District Final as Bidden Scores Twice

Harper Woods beat Detroit King 20-6 on Friday night to win the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 3 district final, a meeting of two state title contenders. The Pioneers improved to 9-2. King finished its season at 7-4.

The Free Press had picked King to win the game 21-16 in its district final predictions. Harper Woods never trailed.

Bidden scores on the first play

On the first snap of the game, junior Deandre Bidden stepped in front of an underneath route, intercepted the pass and ran 20 yards down the sideline for a touchdown. Bidden, one of Michigan's top junior recruits and a track champion, gave Harper Woods the lead before King had run a successful snap.

"If he decided to be a Division I DB, he'd probably be the best in the nation," Harper Woods coach Rod Oden said. "But he wants to play offense, which is fine with me. But he is a true cover guy that can play at a high level on the defensive side of the ball. And for the rest of the playoffs, he will be out there."

Senior Dakota Guerrant, an Oregon commit, added a rushing touchdown for the Pioneers. King answered in the second quarter with its only score, an 89-yard touchdown pass from Amir Forris to Darryl Flemister, an Illinois commit, which cut the Harper Woods lead to one touchdown. Guerrant finished with 120 rushing yards and a touchdown on 21 carries, and caught two passes.

A hook-and-lateral closes the game

Harper Woods still led by one touchdown early in the fourth quarter and faced a long distance for a first down. Sophomore quarterback Austin Nelson threw a short curl to Guerrant near the numbers. Guerrant caught the ball low and pitched it to Bidden on a hook-and-lateral play the coaches had tagged to cancel if the defense showed the wrong look.

Bidden took the pitch with open field in front of him and ran 60 yards for the touchdown that made it 20-6.

"They played off coverage," Oden said. "We threw a hitch to our best guy. And we lateraled it to the fastest guy in the state."

"I knew as long as he caught the pitch, he would take off with it," Guerrant said.

The defense holds in the second half

King turned the ball over on downs on both of its second-half possessions. Harper Woods held the ball on long second-half drives, running a jumbo wildcat formation with Guerrant carrying behind an offensive line of three juniors and two sophomores.

Junior defensive end Jeremiah McCall had a sack, several tackles for loss and repeated pressures while playing through knee and hip injuries. Darnell Canady, Jayden Evans, Randy Ellis and Caleb Lane also made plays in the King backfield.

"It was our preparation," McCall said. "We go hard with each other every day at practice and that showed."

"They are growing up out here," Oden said of his offensive line. "Everyone counted them out because it's three juniors and two sophomores, but they are battle-tested. The OAA prepares you for these moments, and we needed to show that."

Harper Woods is three wins from a state title. The Pioneers host Warren De La Salle next week in the regional final, for a place in the state semifinals. The game time has not been announced.

"We get to play next week," Guerrant said.