The Kalamzoo
Gazette Newspaper
Friday, November 28, 2003
BY DEL NEWELL
KALAMAZOO GAZETTE
For the last 17 years, Three Rivers' football coach Scot Shaw has made Thanksgiving weekend a family affair.
"We go over as a family, go to the Lions game on Thanksgiving and watch all the state finals," said Shaw.
"(For the last few years) my wife, Terri, and daughter, Audrey, usually go shopping at a nearby mall and my
son Kyle and I go to the games."
Not this weekend.
No Lions game at Ford Field in downtown Detroit.
Shopping will have to be either Friday morning or Saturday.
Three Rivers' football team, as everyone in southwestern Michigan is well aware, will be playing in the Division
4 state championship game at 8 tonight against DeWitt.
The Shaw family will be there, in the stands, while Scot takes care of the business of guiding Three Rivers in
the school's first state championship game in football.
Kyle, who played quarterback before current QB Nic Thompson came along, is a sophomore at Western Michigan University.
Audrey is on Three Rivers' volleyball team and is a senior.
Shaw, who has a 153-34 record as Three Rivers' head coach, has done perhaps his finest coaching job this season.
The Wildcats started slowly, losing to Byron Center and Grand Rapids Christian (a loss that was later reversed
because Grand Rapids had used an ineligible player).
"We struggled early, but I knew it was possible to turn things around," Thompson said. "We struggled
on offense and we had to make some changes and that was what we did.
"The Gull Lake game (a tougher-than-expected comeback 17-9 win) was when we began to turn it around. The defense
had kept us in games."
Shaw pushed all the right buttons, such as relying on the defense until the offense shifted into racing gear.
In the 20-14 playoff win over Grand Rapids Catholic Central, Shaw and his coaching staff put Jesse Myers in at
fullback in the second half to block for Thompson and tailback David Booko. The result: Three Rivers punched in
two touchdowns and ran off 32 plays compared to Catholic Central's 18.
Shaw keeps his players in the game, too, even those on the sideline -- not by screaming at them, rather by encouraging
them to be part of the success.
Against Big Rapids last Saturday, Three Rivers went on a 14-play, 81-yard drive and scored to take a 21-11 lead.
One of the key plays in the drive was when a Big Rapids player was called for a penalty for not having hip pads
on.
It occurred on third down and resulted in a 15-yard penalty. Was Shaw waiting to tell officials about the rules
infraction? Nope. "Our kids saw it," he said. "They told the coaches and we told the officials.
That was the first I heard of it. It came at an opportune time."
Del Newell can be reached at 388-2732 or dnewell@kalamazoogazette.com
© 2003 Kalamazoo. Used with permission