CALUMET — It would be fair to say that the Calumet (9-3) football team’s run towards a state championship came to an end at halftime on Saturday against the Standish-Sterling Panthers and not at the end of the fourth quarter of this MHSAA Division 6 quarterfinal.

“We went into the locker room tied at seven. We were feeling good but things steamrolled out of control for us in the third quarter,” said Calumet’s head coach John Croze in regards to his team’s 34-7 loss.

Standish-Sterling (10-2) scored on their opening drive of the third. When the Copper Kings took over, they fumbled the ball. The Panthers quickly converted it into a touchdown making it a 21-7 tilt in their favor.

“With that fumble, it was just too much to overcome against a good team like that,” Croze added.

“When you are playing at the state quarterfinals, it magnifies those type of mistakes.”

Interestingly, Standing-Sterling came into the 2021 campaign after winning just one game in 2020. They will take on Lansing Catholic Central in the state semifinal next Saturday at 1 p.m. at Clare.

The Panthers’ were led by their quarterback Brett Bartlett. He was 8-of-10 passing for 97 yards and a touchdown. On the ground, they went to Laine Thibault 33 times for 152 yards and three touchdowns.

The Copper Kings’ opening drive of 69 yards on 11 plays for a touchdown was their highlight of the game. After that, Calumet managed just 63 more yards for 132 total yards on the afternoon.

“They were able to take it right at us. They had had a lot of success between the tackles and it was the first time someone was able to do that against us all year,” said Croze.

After more than three decades of coaching Calumet football, Saturday’s loss was Croze’s last game. He announced his retirement from coaching earlier this year. While he would have preferred to go out on a win, he is certainly not complaining about this season nor his success over his many years at Calumet.

“We had a great season this year,” he said. “We added a conference championship and a district championship to our name. It was a fun season, and these guys embodied the Copper King spirit from the start of the season. I couldn’t prouder of them.”