Jack Bullock had plenty of choices for his favorite moment of Friday night.

The Eisenhower Eagles’ senior quarterback could have said that his 20-yard touchdown catch on a trick play was his big spot. It could’ve been any of the major throws he made to keep drives alive, like the 43-yard bomb to Keaton Duda in the fourth. Or maybe it was his game-winning touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.

Instead, what Bullock most enjoyed was the aftermath and celebration of the No. 6-ranked Eagles’ 21-14 win over previously-unbeaten No. 2 Dakota at Swinehart Field on Friday, Oct. 11 to secure the two teams a share of the 2024 Macomb Area Conference Red championship.

“I think my favorite moment is right now, just soaking it all in with my guys,” he said postgame as he and his Eisenhower teammates celebrated the win on-field with a cluster of students and family.

“I love them to death. They’re a great group of guys.”

The stakes are plenty high whenever the two decorated Macomb County programs meet to begin with, but with Friday’s tilt being both teams’ MAC Red finales, it set them up to play what was essentially a championship game. With a win, Dakota would have won the title outright.

The Eagles, of course, were not content with that.

Bullock connected downfield on each of his first three passing attempts to open the game before pulling the rug out from Dakota’s prolific defense by running a trick play — it started humbly with a handoff going left from Bullock to Bryce Hurley, who then tossed a quick forward lateral to Braylon Burnside who was running horizontally behind the line.

Instead of tucking and running, Burnside stepped up and threw a dot to Bullock, who broke containment up the middle of the field for a 20-yard touchdown.

It’s one of many plays that Eisenhower head coach Chris Smith has confidence in calling when it comes to the first-year starter under center.

“He’s (Bullock’s) a great leader,” Smith said. “He’s calm under pressure. He’s been like that all year. It’s really his dream — he’s dreamt since he was a little kid to be a starting quarterback at Eisenhower High School. And now it’s coming to reality, and I think that he’s taken advantage of it.”

Dakota missed a 40-yard field goal attempt on their first possession but took the ball right back on an interception by safety Dylan Beitelshees, setting the Cougars up near midfield with a chance to tie the game near the end of the first quarter.

But the score was never tied and Eisenhower never trailed. Instead of scoring themselves, Dakota quarterback Jadon Ford took a massive hit on a designed run and lost the ball, which popped straight to Eisenhower’s Conner Temple for a 60-yard scoop-and-score.

Dakota head coach Greg Baur identified that play — along with two missed field goals — as a defining moment in the game.

“I like the way we did a lot of things well tonight, but we just can’t turn the ball over for scoop-and-scores, can’t miss field goals, and in crucial situations, we took a couple negative plays on offense that cost drives,” Baur said.

“So you add those things up, you know, look at the score. We lost by seven. We turned it over for a fumble six and missed two field goals. That’s 13 points. So it’s one of those things where it’s ‘if, if and but.’ But you know, Ike deserves it.”

The first quarter ended with Eisenhower leading 14-0 — and neither team had more than four possessions the rest of the way.

Thanks to two eight-minute drives by Dakota combined with Eisenhower’s desire to bleed time off the clock in the second half, there were only a combined seven possessions in the second half, not counting the Eagles’ kneeling out the clock.

And while Dakota out-scored Ike 14-7 in the last three periods, the slow start combined with a lack of opportunities was too much to rally past.

Brady Hamby scored a 5-yard rushing touchdown to open the third quarter and put Dakota on the board. The second missed field goal on their next possession left them still down seven before Bullock’s nearly-game icing rushing score on the drive after that turned what could have been a 14-10 game (or better, if you’re Dakota) into a 21-7 game with 1:55 to go.

DiMari Malone scored a 24-yard touchdown off a pass from Jadon Ford to get Dakota back within one score with 40 seconds left, but they failed to recover the onside kick and that was that.

Those, plus one Ike punt, were all the second half possessions.

“Sometimes if a team doesn’t want to take a shot like that, you can kind of hold on and if you can cause a negative play, you can change that series at the end,” Smith said.

“It was going to take 100% effort out of our kids. It was going to take exactly what happened — turnovers, everything that happened, our kids willing it to win. And that’s what needed to happen.”

Bullock finished the game with 7-of-15 passing for 128 yards, with three different receivers (Duda, Temple, Burnside) combing for all the yards. Despite being the quarterback, he had the team’s only receiving and rushing scores.

Ike finishes the MAC Red season 4-1. They’ll play their penultimate game on Friday, Oct. 18 in a MAC crossover against the Lakeview Huskies (3-4) in St. Clair Shores.

Dakota also finished division play 4-1 with their share of the title despite the loss. They’ll be right back at Swinehart Field on Oct. 18 for a road tilt against 3-4 Utica.

“I know we’ll respond the way we should,” Baur said. “Obviously we’re disappointed, and we should be. It should sting, but if I know this team, I know we’ll be back on Monday ready to go for Utica and then finish out strong, and the goal will be to maybe go see these guys again.”