(New Buffalo, MI) - The Red Arrow Raiders won their first conference title since both New Buffalo and River Valley high schools merged their football programs three seasons ago.

 

The Raiders were 3-1 in their division of the Southwest Michigan 8-Man Football League.

 

Eau Claire, Tri-Unity Christian, Wyoming Lee, and Twin City were the other teams in the division with the Raiders, who lost only to Twin City 18-12. Twin City comprises students from Countryside Academy, Michigan Lutheran, and Our Lady of the Lake.

 

Raiders Head Coach Matt Johnson, who’s also the athletic director at New Buffalo High School, said winning the conference title in their division was important.

 

“It just kind of helps solidify where our program is heading. That we’re competitive and able to win the games we should win,” he said.

 

Johnson said the division championship also helped ease the sting of a season that included a disappointing loss to Twin City and their last two games ending in losses to Bridgman and Gobles.

 

The Raiders were down by just five points at halftime to Bridgman, who went on to win 30-8. In the latter instance, Gobles defeated the Raiders 68-8.

 

“The last two games were tough, but we knew they were going to be tough,” said Johnson.

 

The Raiders finished with an overall 5-4 record.

 

“We won big. We lost big and we won some squeakers and we lost a tight game. We kind of experienced all of the possible outcomes you can experience in a football season,” Johnson said.

 

The division title was also the first for any football player from New Buffalo High School since the Bison won the Red Arrow Conference championship in 2013 during Johnson's first year as head coach.

 

Johnson was pleasantly surprised the most by linebacker Vaugh Nikkel, who hadn’t recovered enough from a baseball injury while playing for the Bison in the spring to practice or play much early in the season.

 

Eventually, he became a major contributor on defense.

 

“He really stepped up and had some really, really big games for us,” he said.

 

The Raiders are losing eight seniors, including Ryder Wolnik, Payton Lijewski Owen Slavens, and Cameron Forker.

 

However, Johnson said, next year looks promising with quarterback Ethan Lijewski and lineman David Nicely among the returning impact players, also noting that there’s promising talent among the varsity players mostly on the bench this season as well as the junior varsity squad.

 

Johnson said he hopes some of his players hit the weight room so they can effectively fill open positions on the offensive and defensive lines.

 

“That’s going to be our biggest question mark,” he said.