North Central junior quarterback Luke Gorzinski, left, drops back to pass in the first quarter of the MHSAA Division 2 8-player football state championship game played against Colon on Saturday at the Superior Dome in Marquette. (Iron Mountain Daily News photo by Matt McCarthy)

MARQUETTE — For the second season in a row — and twice in this 2021 calendar year — North Central is MHSAA Division 2 8-player football state champion as the Jets defeated Colon 63-0 Saturday afternoon at the Superior Dome in Marquette.

Just moments after the game, NC coach Leo Gorzinski was still letting it all sink in when asked about what it means to be back-to-back state champs.

“It feels great,” he said. “It’s for the community, for the town, all these players out here and especially our seniors. We are just so fortunate and blessed to have these guys.

“This was a hard-earned season. I know it might have looked easy, but these guys put in the work. They deserve this one.”

The Jets began their offensive onslaught right away with four touchdowns in the opening quarter and seven in all during the first half.

North Central put a stop to the opening Colon drive, forcing a three-and-out, with a 12-yard sack by Luke Gorzinski, another tackle for loss by a pack of Jets and an incomplete pass before taking over on offense.

“(It felt) pretty great,” Luke Gorzinski said of the game-opening sack. “But you know what, you don’t see the D-line coming off the ball, lighting up their linemen and leaving me wide open first. That should be half a sack for me because they started it.”

From defense to offense, Gorzinski was all over the place with two scores through the air, one on the ground — a statistical category he led in yards with 124 — and even a receiving touchdown.

However, he was not the Jets’ leading passer. That was Brent Labonte — who Luke Gorzinski gave kudos to — going 5 for 5 for 97 yards with a pair of TDs.

Wyatt Raab — who collected 101 yards rushing — jump-started the scoring for North Central on the first Jets drive with a 15-yard TD run. He followed that up less than three minutes later with another scoring run, this one from 30 yards out.

Touchdowns from Alex Naser — a 24-yard run — and a 48-yard pass from Labonte to Luke Gorzinski made it 29-0 after the first quarter.

Raab commented on the challenges the Jets fought through this year.

“A lot of people had to overcome things this year,” he said. “Jordan Messenger played with a messed-up ankle today, Alex Naser came back from what he thought was a fractured knee (and) Luke Gorzinski, at one point, thought he pulled his hamstring or tore it. So, it’s all about adversity.”

The Jets found the end zone three times in the second quarter on a 40-yard pass from Luke Gorzinski to Naser, a 4-yard effort on the ground by Luke Gorzinski and another 33-yard run by Naser.

On the opposite side of the field, the Magi close their season a single win short of a state title.

Down 15-0, Colon had started to build some momentum when the rug was ripped out from under their feet as starting quarterback Simon Vinson left the game with an apparent injury.

“We had a good game plan coming in. We knew they were fast at the D-line, and we were young at the O-line. So, we knew we’d have a bit of a struggle there,” Colon head coach Robbie Hattan said. “When we lost our quarterback, that kind of took the wind out of our sails. We were starting to move the ball a bit, and then, Simon goes down.

“But Powers is a very good football team, very well coached, very disciplined, big, physical, strong. Nobody expected that we’d get here. So, these kids have exceeded expectations. I’m very proud of these boys.”

The Jets wrap up 2021 the way they started it, as state champions. It very well could be the shortest time between state title wins, only 10 months instead of the usual full year, and North Central and Adrian Lenawee Christian have become the only two teams with two state finals wins since the eight-player division split in 2017.