Arthur Hill State Champion Football Team – 1991
Arthur Hill High School’s varsity football team captured the Class AA state champion in 1991 with a thrilling 13-12 victory over Detroit Catholic Central at the Pontiac Silverdome. It marked the Lumberjacks’ first-ever football state title since the playoffs were enacted. After losing two early season games and barely making the playoffs with a 7-2 regular season record, coach Jim Eurick’s Hillites finished their amazing season with an eight-game winning streak. Arthur Hill began their playoff run with a 32-28 victory over Flint Central in the Pre-Regional at AHHS’s Memorial Stadium. It marked the second time the Lumberjacks beat the Indians during the season as the Hills nabbed a 27-21 overtime win in the second game of the season. This time around they needed some heroics from quarterback Marvin Wright to pull out the win. Arthur Hill was down 28-14 in the third quarter and the Lumberjacks fought back, getting the go-ahead score on a 51-yard quarterback keeper with 6:09 left in the contest. The Hillites then went on the road to take on unbeaten Traverse City in the Regional and AHHS came away with a 21-18 win. Both teams scored three TDs but Wright kicked three extra points and the Trojans missed an extra point kick and were halted on a pair of two-point conversions. Arthur Hill went up against unbeaten Adrian in the Semifinal game at Lansing Sexton High School. Facing Mark Arbaugh, who entered the game with over 1,300 passing yards, the Hills blanked Adrian 29-0 as Arbaugh was picked off twice in the contest and was just 1 for 7 passing for only four yards. The state championship game was a nail-biter as the Lumberjacks needed to come-from-behind to notch the victory over the Shamrocks – the defending state champions. Facing a third and goal at the 2-yard line with 1:48 remaining on the clock, Wright faked a pitch and dove into the end zone for the winning score. Senior captains Dan Seemann and Taj Mustafa would go on to play four years of college football at Saginaw Valley State University and Northwood University, respectively. Wright was a two-year starter at Michigan State University, and sophomore Sam Sword was a three-year starter at the University of Michigan and played three seasons in the National Football League. Sword was inducted into the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. Eurick and Wright are both entering the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.