Michigan City wide receiver Zaire McKinney joked about not necessarily believing he’s open on every play.

But the 6-foot-4, 205-pound senior certainly believes he can make plays.

“Just give it a chance,” McKinney said. “I think I can go up there and get it with my ability.”

McKinney demonstrated that ability Friday night. The Northern Illinois recruit finished with six catches for 162 yards and two touchdowns as the visiting Wolves came away with a 27-21 Duneland Athletic Conference victory against Valparaiso.

“He’s my go-to guy,” Michigan City senior quarterback Trinaston said. “He’s great. He’s an athlete.”

McKinney hauled in what proved to be the game-winning score for Michigan City (3-1, 2-0), a 59-yarder from Hart with 6:52 left in the game to make it 27-14.

“It was really a double-move, and then he came into press, and I was like, ‘I know Trin knows what I’m going to do instead of a double-move,’” McKinney said. “Trin put it where I could go get it, and we capitalized on it.”

The Wolves ended a four-game losing streak to the Vikings (1-3, 1-1), having last won in a regional in double overtime in 2021, but had lost nine straight regular-season games in the series since winning in double OT in 2014.

“Very happy to win here,” Michigan City coach Cody French said. “It’s so hard to do.”

Hart threw for 294 yards and two TDs and ran for an 8-yard TD. Junior wide receiver Meek Laurent had five catches for 82 yards, and senior wide receiver Dre Collier had three catches for 50 yards.

Valparaiso senior quarterback Kellan Hosek threw for 244 yards and three TDs. Junior wide receiver Jimmy Parisi had 10 catches for 121 yards and two TDs, including a 23-yarder that drew the Vikings to 27-21 with 6:03 left. Senior wide receiver Chase Lovig had five catches for 94 yards, including a 30-yard TD.

French offered high praise for McKinney, who had 17 catches for 320 yards and two TDs last season but entered Friday with 15 catches for 305 yards and a score this season.

“Zaire’s the most undertalked about and underrecruited player in the state of Indiana,” French said. “He’s very, very, very good. I love that he’s going to NIU. They did a great job identifying him early. He’s going to be a great player there. He’s a very, very high-level player. Any time you have a kid who’s 6-4, pushing 205, 210, he runs a 4.65, he has a 4.3 GPA, it’s pretty special. We had two really good receivers who moved, and Zaire has stepped up in a leadership way that he didn’t last year. We lean on him.

“We’re also very lucky we have a kid like Dre Collier, No. 3, on the opposite side of him. You can double him if you want to, but we really like our chances with No. 3 also. No. 3 had two huge catches late in the game.”

Valparaiso drove to have first-and-goal from the 6-yard line, but a pass fell incomplete on fourth-and-goal from the 16 with 1:19 left.

“We haven’t beaten them since 2014,” McKinney said. “I took a loss to them in the sectional championship back in my sophomore year. It just feels good to be back on their field and give them a show of what we can really do and slingshot our season from here.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/12/football-michigan-city-valparaiso-zaire-mckinney/