BATTLE CREEK – Mathematically, Harper Creek can’t clinch a league title until next week with two league games still to play. But after the Beavers beat the two co-favorites in the Interstate 8 Conference in back-to-back weeks, Harper Creek senior Zach Kitchen was asked if his team felt like league champs already.
“Hell yeah, we do!” Kitchen said.
In a battle of first-place teams, Harper Creek defeated Hastings, 32-0, in league high school football action on Friday at Harper Creek High School.
With the victory, Harper Creek is alone in first place in the Interstate 8 Conference at 4-0 as the Beavers. Defending champion Hastings suffers its first league defeat and is 4-1 in the I-8. Hastings has won or shared the league title each of the last four years and had a four-game winning streak over Harper Creek.
“What a fantastic game; our boys came ready to play,” Harper Creek coach Mason Converse said. “It was a championship atmosphere. We still have work to do with two league games to go, so we can’t stub our toe. But we knew Hastings and Parma were the two teams to beat, and we got those monkeys off our back, and our boys showed up to play tonight.”