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DETROIT — The Niles football team’s season came to an end Friday afternoon with a runner-up finish in the Division 4 State Championship Game.

Head coach Scot Shaw and seniors Sam Rucker, Paul Hess and Talen Bennett addressed the media following the game:

[To Shaw] Talk about their quarterback and his ability to stretch plays and complete passes. He had some big passes in the first half.

Shaw: He’s good. They’re good, they have to be to be here but he did what he does and does it well. We couldn’t stay in front of receivers and we couldn’t have an edge on that kid.

They controlled both lines of scrimmage and they’re well coached and played hard. I don’t know whether this took us by surprise – don’t take nothing away from them – we didn’t play real well but that’s part of it because they played way better than we did.

[To Shaw] First trip here to the finals in school history. Talk about the experience and what you’re going to take away from this?

Shaw: Obviously it is great. You could tell that they had been here before, they just had that little edge about them and I don’t know if we came in and looked at the lights and things like that but I think what we’ll do is we’ve developed a program now. Four years ago, we were not a program when I took over. We struggled to field one team and we had three teams out there this year and I think that our kids believe. 

To be really honest, next year was the year we were pointing to where we thought we could get here. Take nothing away from our guys who played on the offense or the defensive line, but we were down three starters and have been for some time. When we get everybody back and healthy we’re gonna uh see if we can make a run for it too but these guys are really what the face of Niles football is right now. These guys put us on the map and they carried people on their back for quite a while. They’re really really good football players.

[To Shaw] Did anything about their defense surprise you?

Shaw: Yeah, that they were so quick. They didn’t look that quick on film. The alignment didn’t really surprise us because they had shown that. I think they were stronger and faster than we probably gave them credit for

[To Shaw] Scot you had one sequence in the game where you finally start moving the ball a little bit in the second quarter, and then had a couple penalties and an interception. How much did it take the wind out of the sales when it’s only 14-0 at that point?

It really does. Any kind of turnover, any kind of mistake that you make at this level is magnified and we made them and they didn’t. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot there out with those.

[To Hess and Rucker] just reflecting on this moment, what does it mean to you guys that you’re able to get to Ford Field in the final game of your high school career?

Hess: We’re blessed to be able to go this far and what we did for the program. Obviously we didn’t want this turnout but this is the way it is. 

Rucker: We really learned what it takes to be a winning program just from where we started and where we ended. I can’t be more proud of our guys.

[To Bennett] What does it mean for you to be able to experience this season and be the leader at quarterback for the team this year?

Bennett: It definitely was a very crazy experience for me since I had never done this before. I couldn’t let it overcome me because I just had to stay confident and calm because once I start getting out of place then everyone else is.

[To Hess] Coach mentioned you guys have really built a program here and now how much does this senior class take pride in the fact that you guys were the ones to do that and can see this down the line potentially becoming a powerhouse in southwest Michigan?

Hess: We take a lot of pride in it. Just being able to start that up was great but it’s not just us, it’s everybody. It’s our coaches. They’re able to coach us and they’re what built us, so we just put in the work. 

[To Rucker] What made the senior group be able to do this to get to this point no one had ever done before in Niles?

We have played together for such a long time. We have a really good chemistry together. It’s just the bond that our team has had and it’s just like, when the guys next to you are confident in your ability, it really helps you out.

MORE: Niles falls to Goodrich in D4 Championship