Portage Northern celebrated the opening of the program's first on-campus football stadium with a Week 1 win over Kalamazoo Loy Norrix in August.
The year-long party at Huskie Stadium continued Friday with Northern's first district title in program history, as the Huskies throttled Okemos 56-15 in Round 2 of the Division 2 playoffs.
"It's a special accomplishment for these kids," said Northern coach Pete Schermerhorn, now in his 25th year atop the program. "It's certainly been a memorable year, from opening this stadium, sharing the league title and now this.
"It's a tribute to the kids and the work they've put in, and it's certainly been a fun ride."
After sharing a field with Portage Central for 53 years, Northern played its first game at Huskie Stadium on Friday.
Junior running back Tyler Amos continued his monster season, carrying 16 times for 226 yards and three touchdowns, including an 85-yard score that gave Northern a 49-0 lead with 4:23 left in the third quarter.
"He has tremendous vision, and credit to our O-line for opening some holes," Schermerhorn said of Amos' big day. "Tori Jackson moving to tight end in Week 4 has been huge for our running game."
The 5-foot-9, 165-pound Amos now has 1,790 yards and 23 touchdowns this season, while averaging 8.0 yards per carry.
Sophomore bruiser Anthony Tyus also had a big game on the big stage, rushing for 107 yards on 11 carries, including a 40-yard touchdown to give Northern a 28-0 lead with 3:15 left in the second quarter.
Senior quarterback Tyler Helgeson completed 4 of 7 passes for 86 yards and two touchdowns to Jackson, who finished with three catches for 50 yards.
Northern, now winners of seven in a row, tallied 338 rushing yards and held Okemos to 213 total yards.
Kalamazoo United and Portage Northern both claimed their program's first district titles Friday.
The Huskies' biggest test of the season comes next week, when they visit a 10-1 Muskegon Mona Shores squad that defeated Jenison 49-10.
"We're obviously very aware of their program and the success they've had," Schermerhorn said. "It's a tremendous opportunity for our kids. This is what you play in the postseason for, and this is what you prepare for.
"We're going to go up there and see if we can elevate our game another week. We have to focus on what we can control, which is getting better every week, and our kids have really bought in to that."