MUSKEGON – After nine seasons with the West Michigan Ironmen, Derek VandenBosch finally called it a career after last season.

As much as he loved the team, he was too busy with other important commitments, including his job as strength and conditioning coach for the Muskegon Lumberjacks.

But VandenBosch came out of retirement for one game on Saturday for a very special reason – to help reclaim the Scott Niswonger trophy, which the Ironmen did with a dominant 42-12 win over the Michigan Avengerz in front of a huge crowd at Muskegon’s Trinity Health Arena.

Niswonger served for years as the beloved Ironmen mascot “FE the Foundry Bull,” and was a dedicated volunteer and superfan who was very close to the entire organization, including a lot of players.

He was tragically killed last May in a motorcycle accident, leaving everyone connected with the Ironmen stunned with grief.

The Ironmen honored him by donating a new championship trophy, named after Niswonger, to the Great Lakes Arena Football league, which they belonged to last year.

A few weeks later, the Ironmen played the Avengerz in the league championship game, and the script took a wrong turn. They lost the game, and the Niswonger trophy left town with the visitors.

That defeat, and the bitter loss of the trophy, bothered the Ironmen throughout the offseason, and they looked forward to the opportunity to win it back.

That opportunity came on Saturday might, and the Ironmen took full advantage.

The teams were not playing for a league championship this time, since the Ironmen are in a different league this year. But the Avengers agreed to return the trophy if the Ironmen won, and the local team got the job done.

VandenBosch came out of retirement to be a part of that.

“I couldn’t let this one get away,” said VandenBosch, one of the greatest Ironmen defensive players of all time, who managed to record three tackles on Saturday. “Losing that game last year stung a lot. It didn’t sit well with a lot of us, and getting the trophy back was one of the big things this season. I didn’t think I was going to get the chance to be part of that, but the call came on Thursday and it all worked out.

“It felt really good, and I know Scott is smiling right now.”

The big victory was very significant for the Ironmen in several different ways.

After two easy wins over clearly inferior teams in their first two games, the Ironmen have now proven themselves against high-quality opponents.

They started last week by beating the powerful Detroit Ravens, one of the top semipro outdoor football teams in the nation.

On Saturday they kept it going against the Avengerz, who proved how good they can be when they stole the trophy away from the Ironmen last season.

The Ironmen are now a perfect 4-0 this season, with two upcoming American Indoor Football league road games on the schedule, against Coralville and Cedar Rapids.

They will host the AIF league championship game at a date to be announced.

“I feel great,” said Ironmen head coach Terry Mitchell. “I said from the beginning, this team can be great.”

The really amazing part about Saturday’s rout was that it was sparked by defense.

The Ironmen kept the Avengerz’ offense backed up in its own zone for the entire first half, and most of the game.

On five Avengerz possessions in the first half, the Ironmen forced four turnovers on downs and recorded an interception.

In the second half the defense forced two more turnovers on downs.

The incredible defensive work left the Ironmen with great field position all night, and the offense had little trouble cashing in from close range.

The Ironmen scored on a three-yard run by Tyler Bruce and a fumble recovery in the end zone by Hunter Charneski in the first quarter.

They added two more scores in the second quarter, on a five-yard pass from Alex Carder to Bruce and a six-yard pass from Carder to Tyler Hunt.

Carder scored on a one-yard run in the third quarter, and threw a four-yard TD pass to Hunt in the fourth quarter.

All of that was set up by the Ironmen defense, which has now allowed a total of three touchdowns in three of their four victories. That’s unheard of in short-field arena football, where offense is usually king and touchdowns usually come in bunches.

Jalon Simpson led the defensive effort with 10 tackles while Josh Fusco added three. Ahmad Butler had an interception.

The biggest beast on defense was rookie defensive end Ian Hall, who had six sacks and helped keep the pressure on the Avengerz’ quarterback all night.

“Defense wins championships, and that was a championship defensive performance tonight,” Coach Mitchell said. “We practice and believe in ourselves. It doesn’t matter how good the other team’s skill players are, the quarterback still has to throw he ball, and tonight our defensive line got to him, our linebackers got to him, and our defensive backs made plays.”

In the end, Coach Mitchell was just happy to get the Niswonger trophy back where it belongs.

“That was an emotional game last year,” he said. “We had just lost a big part of the Ironmen organization in Scott, and they got the win when we were down. But tonight we won the trophy back and we won it in great fashion.”

SCORING SUMMARY
FIRST QUARTER
WM – Tyler Bruce 3 run (kick good) – 7-0 WM
WM – Hunter Cherneski fumble recovery in end zone (kick good) – 14-0 WM

SECOND QUARTER
WM – Carder 5 pass to Bruce (kick good) – 21-0 WM
WM – Carder 6 pass to Tyler Hunt (kick good) – 28-0 WM

THIRD QUARTER
WM – Carder 1 run (kick good) – 35-0 WM

FOURTH QUARTER
M – Omar Pagan 13 pass to LeAndre Jones (conversion failed) – 35-6 WM
WM – Carder 4 pass to Hunt (kick good) 42-6 WM
M – Pagan 25 pass to Ardell Crews (no PAT attempt) – 42-12 WM