Beyond the Helmet & Behind the Jersey

Introducing Carlson’s Very Own Varsity Football Team

High Schoolers should typically attend at least one football game in the 4 years they are at Carlson. Our football games are always filled with so much school spirit and fun times when you are surrounded by your classmates, amazing staff, and proud parents. When you go to our varsity games and support our school, you can enjoy the gameplay and fried Oreos, but I wanted to highlight our hardworking and incredibly talented players the most.  In this blog, I will introduce our starting Senior players and talk about who they are, what they do, and more fun facts about them! Follow me to the introduction of our 11 seniors that you will see for the remainder of our football season.

Carlson’s Starting Senior Players

Ethan Smith

Ethan wears number seven and plays wide receiver on offense. He was in 3rd grade when he started playing flag football and then moved on to the Huron River Yellow Jackets. He played both two years of middle school and all four years of high school. He says he will always remember when in 8th-grade year, “We had terrible refs, we were at their field, we were supposed to win and they made a terrible interception call. It was like five feet out of bounds and that lost us the game. It was heartbreaking.” Other than football, Ethan also enjoys playing varsity basketball and running track for Carlson.

Sincere Kemokai

Sincere is jersey number eight and he plays cornerback for defense. Like Ethan, Sincere is on our Varsity basketball team but he is also into photography. When he first started playing football he was in 10th grade and has been playing for varsity ever since. His favorite memory from football was beating Woodhaven his junior year with a score of 38-18. 

Kyler Ostrowski

Kyler is Carlson’s kicker and is our jersey number 12. I asked him what his interests or hobbies are outside of football and he says he has played all four years of varsity Soccer. He just started playing football last year but has been on varsity for both years. Personally, I think that is pretty monumental! Winning the league last year was a big memory for him as we were first in the Downriver leagues.

Jackson Zachary

Our number 15, Jackson, is a crazy impressive player! He plays both offense and defense and carries the weight of playing three positions: quarterback, free safety, and strong safety. Jackson likes to hang out with his friends and play for our varsity baseball team. He played flag football when he was four but started playing football for Shumate in 7th grade. He played in 8th grade and all four years of high school. A memory he will always remember would be when they played against Airport in the 8th-grade game Ethan mentioned and both of their coaches got ejected. He says that it was a crazy close game and other members like Noah Derwick and Andrei Duran agreed. 

Noah Derwick

Noah is our middle linebacker for defense and is Carlson’s number 28. He is mostly interested in football but he also enjoys hanging out with his friends when he is not practicing. Noah was 8 and played in a Wyandotte little league. He then played both two years of middle school and all four years of high school. Noah agreed with Jackson when he said that the 8th-grade game against Airport was his favorite football memory.

Jake Nagy

Jake is our number 52 and plays on our offense as an offensive lineman. He likes to hang out with his friends and even when he is not playing football he enjoys watching it. He was 11 when he first started playing football in 6th grade then he has been playing for Shumate and Carlson ever since. His favorite memory is GOING to be making it to the States this year. 

Melvohn Martin

Melvhon, number 56, plays center and is an offense starter. Outside of football, Melvohn likes to drive around and play video games. He was three when he first started playing flag football and then 1 year at Shumate Middle School. Now he has played all 4 years here at Carlson and we love to have him! After High School, he will always remember his first-ever touchdown from when he was in the little leagues. 

Adam Zurawski

Adam also Plays as our 56 and he is on the defensive end as well as an offensive tackle player. Adam likes to fish, hike, and listen to music. He was 9 years old when he first started playing football and was on the Grosse Ile Devils Little League team. Throughout middle school, he still played for the Devils until Carlson. Then he played for varsity all four years of high school and his favorite memory is being a captain this year.

Niko Cumberland

Jersey number 59 is Niko on defense as our defensive end. Besides football, he likes to work out, draw, and hang out with his family. He started playing football in 7th grade thanks to Mr. Zachary and his dad, he says. He says that good memories are practicing year-round with his family and that they have taught him that winning is not a solo task but it is the whole team working together as brothers. 

Gabe Lyle

Gabe is on our offensive line and plays as number 60. When he is not playing football, Gabe likes to wrestle, shot put, lift weights, play chess, and play Roblox. He also enjoys watching anime! He was 13 when he first started playing football in 7th grade and he has played every year besides junior year due to an injury. A memory he says he will keep after high school was when he got a touchdown as a lineman from a fumble recovery from a receiver near the end zone.

Andrei Duran

Andrei is our defensive line and he wears number 77. He likes to play drums outside of football and is also in the marching band playing winter guard which is an international circuit. He started playing for Shumate in 7th grade and continued in 8th as well as 9th, 10th, and now 12th grade. Like Noah and Jackson, Andrei shares his favorite memory of the Airport game they played in 8th grade.

By: Julie Mitchell

Julie enjoys talking and interviewing people in order to get to know her classmates. This blog was a perfect opportunity for her to get to know the football team a little better and have fun while doing so!