With Help, Football Returns to Carney
August 25, 2016
By Dennis Grall
Special to Second Half
CARNEY — The football players dutifully go through their drills in blistering heat, showing energy and enthusiasm as they tackle what is basically a brand new sport.
Carney-Nadeau High School returns to the high school gridiron tonight for the first time since 1973, with an assist from some Upper Peninsula schools and another team known for its green and gold colors, the Green Bay Packers.
The 8-player team visits Ewen-Trout Creek for the first of eight road games this season. The small northern Menominee County school does not have a football field.
Actually, until around Thanksgiving 2015, the school did not have a team. Some parents approached the school about instituting football last fall, with the recent inception of the 8-player game playing a big role.
Helping fuel that fire was neighboring Powers North Central, which switched from 11-player to 8-player for the 2015 season and romped to the division’s MHSAA championship to complete a 13-0 season.
Jim Belec, who helped bring the football idea to school officials, became head coach and quickly picked up Dan Koffman as an assistant for the self-funded program.
Then the work began. And as the pieces started falling together, C-N students began showing interest in playing the sport.
Belec, who coached the youth football Sharks in nearby Stephenson, said, “You’ve got to have a lot of patience” working with players who have little or no experience. “You have to remember it is their first time out here, but at the same time you’ve got to remember you have to catch them up.”
He installed a basic offense and defense. “If you can’t do the basics, you don’t have much to stand on,” said Belec as he watched his players run through various drills. “They’ve got the want-to.”
He said basic drills included safety features such as keeping the head up while going in for a tackle and reminding defenders to wrap their arms around the ball carrier. “You can definitely tell the kids who have played in the past and who haven’t,” he said.
About half of the 17 players have some experience, including three who played at North Central under a co-op arrangement.
“I’m realistic. Starting off we have a lot to learn,” said Belec. “I hope we are far enough along to be competitive right off the bat.”
That wasn’t the case when the Wolves played 11-player football from 1970-73, when they posted only one win before dropping the sport. They played the 8-player game for a couple of years before that period, before those opponents also moved to 11-player football.
“Our first goal is to have fun,” said Belec, noting some players expressed playoff hopes while some hoped for perhaps two wins. “There are wins on the schedule to be had as long we work hard.”
The hard work and dedication have been on display since preseason practice began, but it will take live action to see how much progress has been made. At the outset Belec said, “They would come off the ball and they would all stand up right away. Little things like that can be taught.”
The Wolves received some equipment and uniforms from nearby Menominee High School and from Rock Mid Peninsula High School, which dropped 8-player football after the 2013 season.
Most obvious is the equipment and gear donated by the NFL’s Green Bay Packers. Brand new gloves bearing names like Randall Cobb arrived along with shoes, shoulder pads, pants, thigh pads, knee pads, girdles and state-of-art helmets. “The ones (pants) with blood stains were valuable,” said Koffman.
The items were arranged for by Belec’s wife Cindy, who attended school in Stephenson with Sandy Roubal, who is the corporate giving coordinator for the Packers.
“It’s been motivating and exciting to have the Packers involved,” said Koffman. “They gave us sizes that would fit our kids (along with some shoes that were much too large).”
The self-funded program has hooked up with Donors Choose, a fund-raising operation that enables people to make donations toward specific areas. Sixteen new helmets were paid for right off the bat from those donations.
“Financially we are viable,” said Koffman, noting everything on their wish list has been donated. “We didn’t have to do anything. We’re still in awe. Everybody has been outfitted. We have just been thrilled.”
C-N superintendent Adam Cocco was sporting a huge grin while watching his new squad practice recently. His dad, Robert, was quarterback of the school’s last team.
He said it “seemed insurmountable” when Belec first asked about fielding a team last fall. “The more we looked at it, the more we chipped away. It kind of came together. It is all self-funded. That speaks to the level of support from the community.”
Tight end John Berg, one of the seniors, figured, “I might as well go for it because it is my last year of school.”
Tailback Dylan Kuehl said, “It was hard at first but we’ve pulled together, and the practices have gotten a whole lot easier.” A wrestler with the Bark River-Harris High School team as part of another co-op, Kuehl added, “We are setting high expectations for each other. It would be pretty cool if we could win four games.”
Fullback-linebacker Kyle Hammerberg played Pop Warner and junior varsity football at North Central. “I like helping everyone on the line fire off the ball,” he said. “I tell them to look at the ball and not listen to the count. If you watch football you feel it is a lot easier, but once you’re in the game it is a lot harder than you think.”
Denny Grall retired in 2012 after 39 years at the Escanaba Daily Press and four at the Green Bay Press-Gazette, plus 15 months for WLST radio in Escanaba; he served as the Daily Press sports editor from 1970-80 and again from 1984-2012. Grall was inducted into the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and serves as its executive secretary. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for the Upper Peninsula.
PHOTO: (Top) Carney-Nadeau work on agility during a recent practice. (Middle) Assistant coach Dan Koffman shows some of the donated equipment provided by the Green Bay Packers. (Below) The first Carney-Nadeau football team since 1974 will take the field this season as a self-funded program. The team includes: front row from left, Hunter DuPont, David Green, Alex Rhode, Bryce Montague, Arturo Rangel and Dylan Kuehl; middle, assistant coach Dan Koffman, Kyle Hammerberg, Brett LaFord, Norman Collins, head coach Jim Belec; back, James Imhoff, Jordan Belec, Calvin Haddock, John Berg and Jordan Lindstrom. (Photos by Dennis Grall.)
De La Salle Collegiate Quickly Sets Pace, Aces Ford Field Return
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 26, 2021
DETROIT – Rhett Roeser and his Warren De La Salle Collegiate teammates weren’t fond of the feeling they walked away with a year ago following the MHSAA Division 2 Football Final.
They acted in quick and ruthless fashion Friday to make sure history didn’t repeat itself.
Led by junior quarterback Brady Drogosh’s four touchdowns and 316 total yards, the Pilots cruised to a 41-14 victory against Traverse City Central at Ford Field, claiming the fourth Finals title in school history.
“This is a great feeling,” said Roeser, a sophomore running back. “This is what we’ve been working for and what we’ve been striving for. After we lost last year, we knew we were going to be in the same place and we were going to be on the other side of the ball with this one.”
The Pilots were Division 2 runners-up last season, losing in the Final against Muskegon Mona Shores. They responded with the first unbeaten season in school history, and first title since 2018.
“We had high expectations for this group and the program,” De La Salle coach Dan Rohn said. “We lost last year in the Finals, and it kind of left a little mark on us. We kind of weren’t ready, and that was a great Shores team; they did some great things. Playing Traverse City Central and getting the opportunity to come back here and compete at the highest level, that was important. But our goal was not to get here, it was to win it, and it’s awesome that we played so well and got off to a quick start.”
Rohn became the third football coach in MHSAA history to win a Finals title with two schools, as he led Grand Rapids West Catholic to championships in 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2015. Pete Kutches (Muskegon Reeths-Puffer and Muskegon Catholic Central) and Mike Giannone (Macomb Dakota and De La Salle) are the others.
“To take a little time off and reflect on things, then to get embraced by a community like De La Salle, it means a lot,” Rohn said. “Some people don’t get a chance to come and do this, and I’ve been fortunate to be here seven times and win a number of them. It’s not just about me, it’s about the guys that I surround myself with – the coaches and these players. We have some tremendous kids, tremendous support, and we hope that we can build something really special at De La Salle.”
De La Salle controlled the game from the outset with a suffocating defense and a balanced offense. Traverse City Central was held to 31 total yards in the first half, and gained 100 of its 149 yards for the game on a pair of drives in the fourth quarter after De La Salle had built a 41-0 lead.
“Coming in they averaged 50-some points per game, so we knew we had to get off to a good start and punch them in the mouth from the beginning,” said De La Salle senior linebacker Will Beesley, who led the team with eight tackles. “Our motto this week was bring the wood, be the most physical team on every play, and I feel like we did that today.”
Drogosh had accumulated a solid game’s worth of stats by the time the first half ended. He was 14-of-17 passing for 142 yards and three touchdowns, and he added 128 yards on the ground, including a 45-yard touchdown. He didn’t add to his passing total in the second half, but finished the game with 174 yards on the ground.
“I’ve been saying all year long that Brady Drogosh is probably the best athlete on the football field,” Rohn said. “There’s a number of positions he could play, and I think a lot of teams would probably play this kid on defense, too, because he runs so well. We’ve played some great competition all year long and he hasn’t hesitated, he hasn’t backed off. We got our passing game going, we got our quick game going and I think that just opens up so many more things for us.”
The Pilots (13-0) scored on all five of their possessions in the first half, and dominated the time of possession, holding the ball for 17 minutes, 11 seconds and putting together three drives that lasted more than five minutes apiece.
Roeser opened the scoring with a 1-yard run, closing out a 13-play, 80-yard drive. The Pilots went 62 yards on 12 plays on their second drive, ending with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Drogosh to Triston Nichols. The third touchdown drive was much quicker, as its second play was Drogosh’s 45-yard touchdown run.
Nichols and Drogosh combined again for a 13-yard score during the final 30 seconds of the second quarter, and following an interception by Devin Schmelter, the Pilots struck again when Drogosh hit Alton McCullum for a 24-yard score. The lone blemish for the Pilots in the first half was a 15-yard penalty following that score which pushed back the extra point try, which missed wide left.
“Our receivers, they’ve been starting for two years, so we put the ball in their hands a little bit and let them take advantage, and Brady distributed the ball, we didn’t turn it over and we didn’t have penalties,” Rohn said. “When you do all those things and put it together, you’re going to win some football games. We grinded it out a little bit. We didn’t force and try to get big plays. We stuck with the game plan and took what they gave us early, and kind of put them in a position they haven’t been in.”
DeNiro Johnson added a 1-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter for the Pilots. Jamari Allen set up the score with an interception and return deep into Traverse City Central territory.
Jack Yanachik led De La Salle receivers with seven catches for 64 yards, while Nichols had five catches for 50 yards. James Milkey finished with 1½ sacks for the Pilots.
Josh Burnham put the Trojans (12-2) on the board midway through the fourth quarter with a 5-yard touchdown run. Joshua Klug scored on a 24-yard run with 1:28 to play.
Klug had nine tackles to lead the Trojans, while Burnham had eight. Reed Seabase led the Trojans offense with 56 yards on five carries.
“These guys mean a lot to me, our staff and our program – and the Traverse City community,” Traverse City Central coach Eric Schugars said. “These guys have just buckled in and committed to the process. They’ve played a lot of football. When you think about it, we played in January last year, and you don’t take off. You take a little bit of time for other sports, but these guys have been with us, they’ve committed to the process and done everything possible.
“I couldn’t be prouder. Obviously, we didn’t play our best game tonight. I really believe we have a best game in us still, and we didn’t play it tonight, and that’s a credit to De La Salle.”
PHOTOS (Top) De La Salle’s Brady Drogosh (12) breaks into the open Friday, with Central’s Brayden Halliday (20) in pursuit. (Middle) The Pilots’ Devin Schmelter (18) helps bring down Trojans quarterback Josh Burnham (8). (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)