'Difference-Maker' Drogowski Returns to Bolster Lenawee Christian Title March
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
November 7, 2023
Blake Drogowski was given a deadline. He missed it.
He also missed football.
The Adrian Lenawee Christian senior skipped his junior year of football while recovering from a foot injury that occurred during his sophomore season, and he was unsure if he’d come back and play as a senior. He participated in summer weightlifting sessions and workouts but was still hesitant to put the shoulder pads back on.
“After my foot injury, and I was in the process of healing, I kind of lost my love for football,” Drogowski said.
What he calls the brotherhood at Lenawee Christian brought him back to the game.
“Coach (Bill Wilharms) sort of gave me a deadline,” Drogowski said. “Some of my teammates tried talking me into it. I wasn’t sure. I think I missed the deadline by a couple of days. A couple of weeks before the season, I was like, ‘I might as well.’”
Now, 11 weeks into this season, Drogowski is playing at a high level and is one of the reasons Lenawee Christian is in hot pursuit of a third 8-player championship over the last four years. LCS hosts Deckerville on Saturday in one of the Division 2 Semifinals.
“We’ve been saving him all season,” Wilharms said. “He’s so fast. We kind of turned him loose in the Pittsford game and then again against Kingston. He’s been just coming along, coming along. He’s come back and worked so hard in the weight room. He is a difference maker.”
LCS has several difference-makers, which is what has led the Cougars to be ranked No. 1 in most of the polls this season.
The success starts with Wilharms, who has built a powerhouse football program. In the first playoff game two weeks ago, Wilharms earned career coaching win No. 100, counting 12 at Adrian Madison and 88 at LCS. To celebrate, several members of the LCS volleyball team dressed as Wilharms for the game.
“That was fun,” Wilharms said. “It was a total surprise. I didn’t know I was at 100.”
On the field, LCS is led by its field general, Sam Lutz. A senior, Lutz has accounted for 52 touchdowns – 24 rushing and 28 passing. He’s nearing 1,000 yards on the ground and is well over 1,500 yards through the air.
“We’re just out here to do our jobs,” Lutz said. “This team is like a family to me. We are really rolling right now.”
Up front, Tyler Salenbien has had a tremendous season at center, leading an outstanding line. On the outside, several backs and receivers rotate. Brenner Powers has more than 500 yards rushing and 250 yards passing. Easton Boggs, Paul Towler and Jesse Miller have all had big games on offense.
Wilharms makes most of the offensive calls from the sidelines as the players turn to him and await the call. He’s not afraid to draw up plays on the fly. That happened once during the Regional Final win last weekend over previously-unbeaten Climax-Scotts.
The play ended up being a touchdown run by Lutz.
“That one, honestly, we drew it up while we were standing here,” Wilharms said. “They were overplaying him on one side, so we drew it up a different way. I’m not sure we even have practiced that, but it worked.”
Wilharms utilizes all his weapons throughout a game, rarely relying on one player to do everything.
“Ever since I’ve got here the kids have just bought into it,” Wilharms said. “We have a lot of weapons.”
The 2023 Cougars remind Wilharms of his 2021 championship team.
“They remind me of the second state championship team because of the fact they are a fun-loving group who can have fun but then turn it on when they need to in games,” Wilharms said.
Drogowski’s road to becoming one of those weapons was a difficult one. As a freshman he was on the LCS junior varsity team before getting called up to the varsity. He was dressed and on the sidelines when the Cougars won their first Finals title.
As a sophomore, he was playing before a season-ending injury occurred in Week 4 against Athens. He tore a ligament.
“It was one of the last plays of the game, too,” he said. “It was an option play, and the quarterback pitched me the ball and it was just kind of the way I came down; it tore.”
His season was over, but he was still on the roster for the second Cougars title.
“I can see some of that team in this year’s team, how we all play for each other,” Drogowski said.
His junior year, he never came out for the team. With backing from his teammates, however, he has returned. It took some time to get used to being on the gridiron again.
“I missed the brotherhood and being part of everything,” he said. “It’s great being part of the team. I just love all these guys so much.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Adrian Lenawee Christian’s Blake Drogowski (7) and Sam Lutz enjoy a moment during a game this season. (Middle) Drogowski turns upfield during a big gain. (Below) LCS coach Bill Wilharms earned his 100th career win during this playoffs. (Photos by Deloris Clark-Osborne.)
Southfield A&T, Marshall End Belleville's 2-Year Reign with 1st Finals Championship
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 27, 2023
DETROIT – Isaiah Marshall took a second Sunday night to think about the interception he’d just thrown that led to Belleville taking a late lead in the Division 1 Football Final.
But just a second.
When Marshall and his Southfield Arts & Technology teammates took the field down four points with 4 minutes, 47 seconds remaining at Ford Field, the interception wasn’t on his mind. Neither was the raucous Belleville crowd that had awoken on the home side of the stadium.
He wasn’t thinking about stopping a three-peat or snapping a 38-game Belleville win streak. He wasn’t thinking about the talk he’d heard during the week leading up to the game, that his team was on its way to getting blown out like so many of those previous 38 opponents.
All Marshall was focused on was doing his job.
“As soon as I threw the pick, I knew what I had to do differently,” Marshall said. “I just wasn’t thinking about that last play. As soon as I threw the pick, I just thought about it on the bench, then as soon as I came out, it wasn’t on my mind at all. I just knew I had to go down the field and score.”
Like he had all night, Marshall came through when the Warriors needed him most, leading his team on a 69-yard scoring drive, finishing the final 11 with his legs for the go-ahead score in Southfield A&T’s 36-32 victory against Belleville.
His defense finished the rest, as Dorian Freeman intercepted a pass during the final seconds, sealing the first Finals title for Southfield.
“It’s special,” A&T coach Aaron Marshall said. “It’s special for the community. It’s a long time coming. All week I’ve been getting calls from guys I’ve never met just congratulating the boys on making it. We had never even made it to the championship game, let alone won one. It’s real big for the community. I’m really proud.”
To do it, the Warriors needed to overcome the team that has dominated Division 1 for the past three seasons in Belleville (13-1). The Tigers had won the past two Division 1 Finals, and hadn’t dropped a game since Sept. 10, 2021.
They entered Sunday having outscored opponents this fall by an average of 49-7. They also featured the nation’s No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2025 in quarterback Bryce Underwood.
But Sunday, none of that mattered to Marshall and the Warriors (13-1). Well, except maybe the last part.
“Just a little bit,” Marshall said when asked if he was out to prove he was the state’s top quarterback. “I do think I’m the best player in the state. Me proving that tonight, and showing what I can do on the big stage shows that, I think.”
He finished the night completing 20 of 31 passes for 281 yards with two touchdowns, as well as two interceptions. He also rushed for 134 yards and the go-ahead score, as well as the two-point conversion that put his team up four.
“He came out there and played like I thought he was going to play,” said Belleville star linebacker and running back Jeremiah Beasley, who has committed to Michigan. “He’s a real tough player. Since we were little, he’s always been tough. He came out there and played with all his heart, and they came out on top.”
Underwood certainly had his moments, finishing 11 for 24 for 164 yards and a touchdown to go along with one interception. He also had five rushes for 39 yards.
And A&T was certainly cognizant of what Underwood could do, especially when he got the ball back with 47 seconds to play and a chance to take the lead. But by playing coverage, they didn’t allow the Tigers to push the ball down the field, and eventually pressure from senior defensive tackle Reggie Gardner forced the throw that Freeman intercepted to clinch the game.
“My coaches just told me to spy the quarterback, and whatever he did, I would go,” Freeman said. “Then it was just right in my zone.”
A&T led for most of the game, getting a pair of rushing touchdowns from Mathias Davis during the first half, the second score giving them a 12-7 lead.
After a 31-yard field goal from Belleville’s Brayden Lane made the score 12-10, Marshall engineered an 80-yard drive over the final three minutes of the second quarter to give his team a 10-point lead at the half. He accounted for 79 of the 80 yards with either his legs or his arm, finishing it off with a 13-yard TD pass to Tashi Braceful with 13 seconds remaining in the half. Braceful finished the night with 10 catches for 152 yards.
The Warriors nearly added to that halftime lead, as well, recovering a squib kick at the Belleville 43. Marshall hit Tyjuan Esper for a 38-yard gain on the next play, but he was tackled as the first-half clock expired.
Early in the third quarter, Marshall and the Warriors did stretch their lead when he threw a 19-yard TD pass to Xavi Bowman on a 4th-and-14. DaMario Quarles’ conversion run put them up 28-10 with 3:39 to play in the third quarter.
Of course, Belleville didn’t go away.
The Tigers responded immediately with a 45-yard TD pass from Underwood to Jalen Johnson. And after stopping Marshall on a 4th-and-2 run near midfield, they needed just three plays and 30 seconds to pull within three points of the lead as Beasley scored on a 15-yard run.
On the next A&T possession, Marquis Peoples put Belleville right back in business with an interception that he returned to the 35-yard line. Beasley again cashed in three plays later, with a 22-yard TD run that gave Belleville a 33-27 lead with 4:47 remaining.
Beasley finished the night with 106 yards and the two touchdowns on the ground.
“He’s a senior ball player; he did exactly what he was supposed to do,” Belleville coach Calvin Norman said of Beasley. “He came through in the clutch. When he ran the ball, he did his thing. I have nothing but love for the young man.”
Belleville cornerback Adrian Walker made one of the more remarkable plays of the weekend late in the first quarter, intercepting a Marshall pass deep in A&T territory.
Walker got both hands on the pass, deflecting it up and toward himself as he was spinning up the field. The ball went over his head and Walker reached behind his back to make the catch at the A&T 26.
Four plays later, Belleville was on the board with a 16-yard Colbey Reed touchdown run, and the Tigers led 7-6.
PHOTOS (Top) Southfield A&T quarterback Isaiah Marshall stretches for the game-winning touchdown during Sunday’s Division 1 Final. (Middle) The Warriors ended the night by raising their first championship trophy. (Below) Belleville’s Adrian Walker (2) makes a stunning behind-the-back interception. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)