Physical & Powerful, Beal City Rumbles to 1st Finals Title Since 2009
By
Brad Emons
Special for MHSAA.com
November 29, 2024
DETROIT – No stranger to an MHSAA Finals appearances, Beal City put an exclamation point on its 2024 season by upending Riverview Gabriel Richard, 43-14, for the Division 8 title Friday at Ford Field.
The Aggies (12-2), using a highly-effective ground attack, secured their third championship in 10 tries matching the feats of their 2009 (D8) and 1994 (Class D) title teams.
Beal City racked up 315 yards on the ground led by senior Drew Block, who finished with 112 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns. Owen McKenny chipped in with 12 carries for 88 yards and a TD, while Garrison Zuker contributed seven for 64.
“Our offensive line was just outstanding today,” Block said. “We really couldn’t do anything without them. They’re the heart-and-soul of our team. They continually got us chunks and chunks of yards. We were going to let them just do their job and march down the field. We’ve got a lot of great talent on this team. Each guy has his own specific thing ... just a bunch of dogs, really.”
Beal City’s Brad Gross, in his 10th season as head coach, has been part of the program for nearly 23 years. He was a player on that ’94 team and was the offensive coordinator in 2009.
“They all mean a lot,” Gross said. “To be the head coach and get your first one ... it’s just awesome. I’m a Beal guy; when I’m done coaching, it will be at Beal.”
Gabriel Richard quarterback Nick Sobush was 9 of 18 passing for 120 yards and a TD for the Pioneers (11-2). He also added 51 yards rushing on 12 carries with a score.
Gabriel Richard, making its inaugural Finals appearance, scored first taking its opening possession 72 yards in just three plays. The drive was capped by Sobush’s 53-yard TD toss down the sideline to Derek Lesko followed by Joey Calhoun’s 2-point conversion run to make it 8-0 just 1:19 into the game.
Beal City answered on its first offensive possession to make it 8-all after Drake Gatrell returned the ensuing kickoff to the 50. Six plays later Block scored on a two-yard run and McKenny added the 2-pointer after the Pioneers jumped offsides on the extra point attempt with 7:48 to go in the first.
With 4:39 remaining in the opening quarter, the Pioneers went for it on 4th-and-4 at their own 49 only to turn the ball over as Block intercepted a pass on his own 13. That led to a nine-play, 77-yard TD drive for the Aggies capped by Block’s five-yard TD run followed by Kyle Martin’s PAT to give Beal City a 15-8 advantage with 39 seconds remaining in the first.
On its next possession Gabriel Richard, going for it on 4th-and-9 from the Beal City 40, came up empty on an incomplete pass, which led to the Aggies increasing their lead to 22-8. Quarterback Cuyler Smith connected with McKenny, who made a leaping grab just over the goal line for an eight-yard TD catch on 4th-and-2 with 2:30 to play in the first half.
“The ball was thrown perfectly, I just came back and grabbed it,” McKenney said. “I was snag. It was 4th-and-2 and changed the momentum of the game. It was a real tone setter.”
Gabriel Richard did thwart another Beal City scoring threat just before the first half ended when Lesko intercepted a pass at his own 4 with just four seconds remaining.
Beal City outgained the Pioneers 195-158 in total offense over the first two quarters.
McKenny returned the opening kickoff of the second half 44 yards, and the Aggies’ star running back scored just six plays later on three-yard TD run to increase Beal’s lead to 29-8 with 8:30 to go in the third quarter.
Gabriel Richard answered with a 16-play, 76-yard drive that chewed up 7 minutes and 37 seconds and finished on a one-yard keeper by Sobush, but the Pioneers were unable to convert the 2-pointer and trailed 29-14 with 47 seconds to play in the third.
The Pioneers then tried an onside kick that was recovered by Zuker at the 50. With a short field to play with, Beal City put the game away on flanker Austin Small’s 29-yard TD run with 9:14 to go.
Neil Finnerty also got into the scoring act with a five-yard TD run to give the Aggies a 29-point cushion with only 2:21 left.
“Today they caught us at the right time,” Gabriel Richard first-year coach Mark Shea said. “We went through a gauntlet of teams. We were really beat up coming into this. Honestly, we had three or four guys that we didn’t think would be able to play, but they came out and played. Taking absolutely nothing away from Beal City. They played a great game, but we were beat up and you could see it. We lacked some of the explosiveness that we generally have. And when we don’t have the balance in our attack, it puts us in a bad situation. But as far as effort goes, they gave me everything they could do.”
“Joey (Calhoun) got a little banged up first drive on defense; that’s an all-state kid,” Sobush added. “And (Beal City) kind of just took our passing game away. I made a bad throw that kind of changed the momentum of the game.”
Beal City had opened this postseason with a 47-0 win over Frankfort, but then had to get past Glen Lake (21-14), Iron Mountain (14-7) and Fowler (17-16).
“It was nice to get this one,” Gross said. “I wouldn’t say easier, but the word I’m looking for is that it wasn’t as stressful. These guys have done everything we asked them to do.”
Six weeks ago, and just prior to the playoffs, Gross said the Aggies “had to play physical football with bad intentions.
“These guys took it to heart,” the Beal City coach said. “We just got more physical.”
Gross said the beauty of this newly-crowned Aggies championship team was the cohesiveness between the seniors, juniors, sophomores and even their freshmen.
“And these guys treat those guys like they’re just like any other player,” he said. “That’s what makes our team special, because we’re more of a team. I think our model all year was, ‘Teams win championships, individuals win awards,’ so we kind of stuck by that and that’s what got us here. It means a lot to me, but it’s all about these guys and that’s the most important thing.”
PHOTOS (Top) Beal City’s Austin Small (2) looks to cut back Friday as Gabriel Richard’s Aidan Valatka (13) pursues him. (Middle) Beal’s Drew Block follows the block of Jace Faber. (Below) Aggies coach Brad Antcliff raises the Division 8 championship trophy as his players celebrate. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Lumen Christi 'Adds to Tradition' Once Again, This Time in Record Fashion
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
November 29, 2024
DETROIT – The more things change in high school football – with the proliferation of spread offenses and sophisticated passing attacks – the more things stay the same at Jackson Lumen Christi.
The Titans won their state-record 14th title of the MHSAA playoff era Friday with an old-fashioned power running attack which didn’t look a whole lot different than what they rode to their first championship at the Pontiac Silverdome back in 1977.
Only the names have changed, and the big name for these Titans was senior running back Kadale Williams (6-foot-1, 180 pounds), who rushed 27 times for a Finals-record 314 yards and five touchdowns in a 56-18 victory over Lansing Catholic at Ford Field.
“It’s a very special moment,” said Williams, who had been committed to Central Michigan, but re-opened his recruiting after the recent retirement of head coach Jim McElwain.
“I couldn’t have done it with those guys up front. We have a special chemistry and bond and, honestly, it’s going to be sad moving on.”
Lumen Christi, which finished 13-1 with its only loss coming at Pontiac Notre Dame in Week 2, simply couldn’t be stopped Friday – as its offense (which features 10 senior starters) scored touchdowns on its first eight possessions, building up a 21-6 lead after one quarter, 42-12 by halftime and 56-18 with a running clock after three quarters.
“I thought we played great,” said 45th-year Lumen Christi coach Herb Brogan. “That was a very, very dangerous offense over there on the other side, and to hold them to 18 points is something that hasn’t been done in a while.
“On offense, we were just relentless. We blocked well, and Kadale had a great game.”
Williams registered scoring runs of 36 and six yards in the opening quarter, 76 and five yards in the second quarter and, finally, a two-yard run in the third quarter.
Williams was able to get a head of steam on many of his runs behind the offensive line of senior center Tim Smiley, senior guards Drew Sweeney and Andy Salazar, senior tackle Maverick Stergakos and junior tackle Antwon Baker. Salazar was also 8-for-8 on extra-point kicks.
Also making key blocks on Williams scoring runs were fullback Isaac Rehberg and tight end Charlie Saunders.
Lansing Catholic (10-4), which lost three games in the Capital Area Activities Conference White but found its stride in the postseason, tried to keep up with the Titans through the air.
Cougars senior quarterback Alex Fernandez (6-3, 230) was outstanding, completing 21-of-29 passes for 284 yards and two touchdowns – both to senior wideout Xavier Luea, covering six and 41 yards – while rushing 18 times for 82 yards and another score.
The difference was on the ground, where Lumen held a commanding 435-87 edge.
“I am very proud of this team, to go from 3-6 last regular season to Ford Field, which is every boy’s dream in this state,” said fourth-year Lansing Catholic coach Jim Baker, who led the Cougars to a Division 6 championship in his first season in 2021.
“We ran into a very good team and tried to throw some different things at them, but at the end of the day, we just couldn’t stop No. 1 (Williams).”
The Titans also came up with some huge individual defensive plays to keep the Cougars from drawing closer.
Senior safety Adam Fuller made a big hit on Fernandez as he scrambled toward the end zone on the final play of first half. Junior Jack Fitzpatrick also tackled a Lansing Catholic receiver short of the first down on a key fourth-down play, and junior defensive lineman Antwon Baker was regularly in position to stop Fernandez on scramble plays.
Amarion Clay led the Titans with nine tackles, while Josh DuMont and Saunders each had seven stops.
The Cougars were led defensively by Noah Jungwirth and Braden Rabideau with eight tackles and David Magaway and Fernandez with seven stops.
Brogan, who now has been the head coach for 12 of Lumen Christi’s 14 titles, picked up career win 421, leaving him trailing only John Herrington (443 at Farmington Hills Harrison) and Al Fracassa (430 at Royal Oak Shrine Catholic and Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice) in the MHSAA record book.
A closer look at his record reveals that Brogan, 75, appears to be getting better with age.
Brogan, who took over as Lumen Christi’s coach in 1980 at the age of 30, won six state championships during his first 36 years as head coach – and has won six more over the last nine years.
“It’s too much fun,” said Brogan, when asked about retirement. “As long as, God-willing, I’m healthy enough, I want to be out there.
“We have a great tradition at Lumen Christi, and I ask the kids every year: ‘Are you going to try to live off that tradition, or are you going to add to it?’ These kids certainly added something to it.”
PHOTOS (Top) Lumen Christi’s Kadale Williams (1) follows his blocker into an opening Saturday at Ford Field. (Middle) The Titans’ Josh DuMont attempts to elude a Lansing Catholic tackler. (Below) The Cougars’ Alex Fernandez (2) breaks a tackle as Cassius Griffin (23) closes in. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)