MUSKEGON – CJ Ivy was super-pumped to play Mona Shores last Friday.
Some might assume he was eager to beat his former team, but Ivy said it really wasn’t about that.
Ivy was unhappy about the things he’d heard and read about his Muskegon Big Reds squad, which lost twice earlier in the season, and wanted to set the record straight against a really good team, which just happened to be Mona Shores.
‘It was very personal for me, and I was telling the other guys that all week,” said Ivy, a senior free safety, whose Big Reds will host a Division 3 first-round playoff game on Friday against Sparta. “If you look at some of the comments on Facebook, people doubted us, and I didn’t like that. I told everyone we should not take that lightly.”
[1]Ivy and his teammates made their point, and it was largely the work of his defensive unit that made the difference.
The Big Reds and Sailors traded touchdowns for two-thirds of the game, and the score was tied 14-14, 21-21 and 28-28.
Then Ivy and the Muskegon defense got tough, forcing the explosive Sailor offense to punt three times down the stretch of the game. Meanwhile the Big Red offense continued to score, and Muskegon walked away with a very impressive 55-35 victory and a share of the O-K Green conference title with Mona Shores and Zeeland West.
“It was a great thing,” Ivy said. “We were at home, it was Senior Night, powerhouse against powerhouse in Week 9. It also gave us a four-game winning streak going into the playoffs.
“We talked about that at halftime, we just need a couple stops and a couple scores. I preached to the guys to keep their heads in the game.”
[2]Ivy had been a student in the Mona Shores district since the fifth grade and started to make a name for himself on the football field with the Sailors last season.
He rushed for 150 yards, caught 11 passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns, and had 29 tackles on defense.
He went to live with his father earlier this year, and his dad lives in the Muskegon district, so he became a Big Red for his final year of varsity football.
For Ivy the move was no big deal, because he was basically leaving one group of friends for another.
“It was not a hard adjustment,” he said. “I knew most of these guys growing up. I’ve been playing football with them since I was three or four years old. I’m happy I’m getting a chance to bond with them again.”
[3]Ivy said a few of his former teammates took it badly when he switched schools, but he said it was just a matter of moving in with his dad and was nothing personal against Mona Shores.
“I want them to go as far as they can (in the playoffs), just like us,” he said about the Sailors.
At Muskegon his main contributions have been on defense. He rotates in as a slot receiver on offense and has played well, but the Big Reds have a lot of talent in the offensive backfield, so his services are more crucial on the other side of the ball, and he’s come through in a big way.
In Week 3 against Reeths-Puffer, he had an interception in the end zone to stop a Rocket drive and help preserve a 28-20 victory.
He turned his ankle in that game, did not practice the following week and did not start against Zeeland East in Week 3.
But a younger guy playing in his place struggled a bit, so Ivy went into the game, sore ankle and all, and made a huge play, stripping the ball from an opponent and returning it 40 yards for a touchdown.
[4]“I saw them running the stretch play to the left side, I hit the guy, we kind of stood each other up, then I just ripped it out and ran,” Ivy said. “Kingston (Blackmon) was the one who pushed me out of the group of players so I could score. He created all of that.”
He’s had other big moments, as well – eight tackles against Zeeland West and a 32-yard scoop-and-score against Wyoming, to name just a few.
More than anything, Ivy has provided leadership to a talented but young Big Red defensive unit, and he’s helped his teammates improve.
“He’s our defensive general,” said Muskegon head coach Shane Fairfield. “He has a lot of poise and character, and he’s a student of the game who studies a lot of film.
“Our defense is growing because of his leadership. I sleep a lot better knowing he’s back there getting people in position. On Friday night we had six underclassmen up front, three sophomores and three juniors, and he was in the middle of that helping us out. I feel really good that he’s on the back end for us.”
Ivy loves the leadership role.
“I just try to lead as best as I can,” he said. ‘I watch a lot of film and tell my teammates certain things that I see. All I want to do is win. If my teammates see something they can correct me on, I tell them to tell me.”
Ivy said he doesn’t mind having a more limited role on offense, because defense is just as important.
“I’m not selfish at all,” he said. “I’m getting mine on defense, and at the end of the day we’re winning.” 
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