(Photo courtesy of Niles High School)

Scot Shaw is a Hall of Fame coach but he didn’t find particular success in his last job at Elkhart Memorial.

Niles had won just 13 total games from 2015-2020. The Vikings hired Cody French in 2021. He elected to take another job before ever coaching a game at Niles.

The Vikings then turned to Shaw and the rest as they say is history.

In their 4th season under Shaw as head coach, Niles will play for a state championship in football for the first time in program history after the Vikings crushed Grand Rapids South Christian 62-30 Saturday afternoon at Three Rivers High School in Michigan’s Division 4 State Semifinals.

Not even going down 7-0 in their 1st ever appearance in the state semifinals could phase this Niles football team.

Riding the talents of Sam Rucker and Paul Hess, the Vikings scored 46 of the game’s next 53 points. Rucker had two touchdowns in the game including a spectacular 90 yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the 2nd quarter after South Christian had scored to cut the Niles lead to 16-14. It was all Vikings from there.

Niles will face Goodrich Friday at 12:30pm at Ford Field in Detroit in Michigan’s Division 4 State Finals. If the Vikings win, they’d finish an historic season at 13-1—which would match the win total from the SIX seasons before Shaw became head coach.