QB Leads Falcons to Record-Tying Title
November 25, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
DETROIT – Yes, Grand Rapids West Catholic was well aware of Saturday’s history-making opportunity at Ford Field.
And yes, becoming only the third program to win five straight MHSAA football championships has been an honor, but also a heavy expectation to uphold.
But this fall it rested on an experienced Falcons group that shined again Saturday at Ford Field, riding the experience of what’s become an annual trip to Detroit.
West Catholic’s 34-7 win over Saginaw Swan Valley gave it five consecutive Division 5 titles, tying the program with Farmington Hills Harrison 1997-2001 and East Grand Rapids 2006-10 for the longest Finals winning streaks in MHSAA football history.
“I think one of the hardest things is coming in and working hard every day throughout the whole offseason, throughout the season itself,” said West Catholic senior Gaetano Vallone, who quarterbacked these last three champions. “Not a lot of programs can do that.
“With our guys, everyone’s there in the morning from freshman to varsity level, so that really helps us. We have a lot of dedication.”
And the Falcons have had Vallone – a major difference maker again Saturday.
He completed 10 of 14 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns, and ran 17 times for 60 yards and a score. That put his season totals at 2,677 yards and 31 passing TDs and 927 and 15 on the ground.
Over three MHSAA Finals, Vallone averaged 197 yards and two touchdowns passing and 86 yards and a score running the ball as the Falcons previously beat River Rouge 40-34 in 2015 and Menominee 43-7 a year ago with him running the show.
West Catholic coach Joe Hyland called Vallone the best competitor he’s coached. And Swan Valley coach Kevin Gavenda noted how Vallone has played more high school games in three years – including more than a season’s worth in the playoffs – than most to acquire such valuable experience. That’s paid off in playmaking ability but also in perspective, which pays off in potentially stressful situations like the Semifinal where the Falcons trailed Frankenmuth 21-0 before coming back to win 25-21.
“My sophomore year I was just kinda going with the flow, trying to do my best, trying to put the team in a position with my abilities,” Vallone said. “Now as a senior, I’ve gotten a lot better, more knowledgeable of the game. Sometimes I call (Coach) off, because I see something, and he allows me to do that because he trusts me.”
Vallone was not alone, of course, among Falcons who were contributing to a second or third championship Saturday. And that experience seemed to come through in West Catholic’s workmanlike approach.
The Falcons scored on their first three possessions and six of their first seven, putting up all 34 points by the 5-minute mark of the third quarter. Swan Valley’s lone score came on the last play of that period.
West Catholic outgained Swan Valley only 296-265. But the Falcons had only one penalty and intercepted three passes, plus took back the ball on three turnovers on downs (not counting a fourth on the final play of the game).
Vallone found seven receivers, with junior Jack Schichtel and senior Zack Lee catching scoring passes. Junior defensive back Mitchell Doyle had 10 tackles and an interception. Senior defensive back Connor Bolthouse had nine tackles, and senior defensive back Zaavon Scott had the other two interceptions and ran one back 28 yards for a touchdown.
“Experience, as I’ve said quite a bit, has been a huge advantage for us throughout the course of my time here,” said Hyland, who finished his second season as coach and third at the school after previously coaching in South Carolina. “Especially when it comes to playoff time. These guys have been in very difficult situations and fought their way out. They have not in any way panicked despite some unfortunate plays on our part and really good plays by the teams we have competed against.”
West Catholic finished 12-2, its losses by three Week 1 to eventual Division 6 repeat champion Jackson Lumen Christi and by two Week 8 to eventual Division 4 repeat champion Grand Rapids Catholic Central.
Before the Frankenmuth scare, West Catholic also edged Portland 28-26 on the road to earn a Regional title. Frankenmuth, Swan Valley and Portland had the three highest playoff-point averages in Division 5 during the regular season.
The Vikings (12-2) were making their first appearance in an MHSAA football championship game, and Saturday’s loss was their first since Week 1.
“It was a big step for the program, even getting here, going from last year with the disappointing loss to our rivals (Freeland) in the playoffs first round,” Swan Valley senior running back Emmett Boehler said. “To come to Ford Field the next year is a big step.
“I know this program is going in the right direction. And I know Coach is leading us in the right direction, so I know these guys next year Alex (Fries) and Brock (Leinberger), we’ll be back here again.”
Leinberger ran 10 times for 67 yards and the touchdown, and Boehler added 61 yards on the ground to finish with more than 1,600 this season.
Leinberger also had a team-high 12 tackles.
He and Fries, the quarterback, were among a talented group of juniors who could have the Vikings back in the hunt next season as West Catholic also goes for a record-breaking sixth straight title.
“When you have five extra games, that’s big for all of the kids that we brought up,” Gavenda said. “We’re starting six juniors on offense, six juniors on defense, and a lot of these guys are going to be three-year starters next year.
“I don’t think this program is going anywhere any time soon, but you’re never guaranteed anything. We know the grind it took to get here this year, but we’re excited, absolutely.”
The MHSAA Playoffs are sponsored by the Michigan Army National Guard.
PHOTOS: (Top) Grand Rapids West Catholic coach Joe Hyland raises the champion’s trophy with his players Saturday at Ford Field. (Middle) The Falcons’ Zaavon Scott wraps up Swan Valley’s Terryon Liddell.
'Refuse to Lose' Divine Child Set Tone for Teams to Come with 1st Class B Title
By
Brad Emons
Special for MHSAA.com
November 15, 2024
There was no more conjecture, no newspaper or Associated Press polls to determine the state football champions.
The champion was no longer decided on paper, but out on the field as the MHSAA launched its first playoff tournament in 1975.
Only 16 total teams over four classes were invited to the dance.
And a school with an already a rich football heritage in Dearborn Divine Child proved it on the field with a 21-0 win over Saginaw MacArthur in the Class B title game before 4,000 fans at Central Michigan University’s Perry Shorts Stadium in Mount Pleasant.
In the Semifinals, MacArthur had outlasted Flint Ainsworth, 44-38, as senior halfback Mark Neiderquill rushed for 285 yards and four touchdowns, while Divine Child ousted Sturgis, 20-3.
In the frigid championship final on Nov. 22, the Falcons’ defense held MacArthur’s high-octane offense to seven first downs and 74 yards rushing. They caused three turnovers, with two fumble recoveries and an interception leading to all three of their TDs.
“I thought we could move the ball, but MacArthur was tough,” DC coach Bob LaPointe told the Detroit Free Press.
In the second quarter, Pat Doyle returned an interception 28 yards for a TD, and Mike Surmacz added the PAT for a 7-0 Divine Child advantage.
“That first interception really got us rolling,” LaPointe said. “Doyle can run the 40 in 4.9 and speed is what made that touchdown. But he got good blocking, too.”
Two minutes later, Mike Wiacek gave DC another scoring opportunity when he recovered a MacArthur fumble at the Generals’ 24. Nine plays later, senior quarterback Dan Faletti swept right end and scored on a three-yard bootleg for a 14-0 lead.
“The big thing is that they had a good running back that we had to make sure we kept under control,” said Faletti, who went on to play at Eastern Michigan University before a neck injury prematurely ended his career as a sophomore. “We pretty much got the lead, and Bob was conservative. I just remember scoring that touchdown, and my picture made the paper the next day.”
Neither team could move the ball in the third quarter. There were no first downs.
All-stater Mike Svihra then picked up a fumbled lateral in the fourth quarter and ran 10 yards for the game’s final TD.
“It was not a lot of offense; it was a bitter, cold day,” said Faletti, who went on to work for the Department of Defense for 20 years and Ford Motor Co. before recently retiring. “Bob LaPointe ran a conservative offense. We did ball-control, we didn’t put tons of points on the board ... we didn’t fumble the ball. We didn’t throw interceptions.”
The game, ironically, was played on AstroTurf, not on real grass.
“Everyone makes a bit deal of it, but there really isn’t that much difference,” LaPointe added afterwards. “The only thing I regretted about this game was that I could dress only 44 of my 56 players under the rules. It was tough (to) tell the other 12 they couldn’t suit up.”
An 18-12 loss to Madison Heights Bishop Foley during the final regular-season game, spoiling what would have been an undefeated season in 1974, had left the Falcons distraught – but even more galvanized as they made preparations for the 1975 campaign.
The Falcons also changed their offense in 1975, switching to a triple-option attack that LaPointe got from Notre Dame. The offense proved to be good enough for a 9-0 regular season and an MHSAA playoff berth.
“We were an underdog the whole thing, the whole time, we were the underdog in every big game we played in, but we didn’t allow people to beat us,” said Wes Wishart, who coached the linebackers and offensive line that season before taking over the head coaching reins for the Falcons from 1978-95. “We refused to lose, and that was the motto. From ’74 on those group of kids said, ‘We refuse to lose.’ You use that phrase as a coach all the time, but this group of kids lived it. They were the ones that invented it. When things got tight, ‘refuse, refuse, refuse.’ We’re not backing off from anybody. Great group of young men, great players.”
During the regular season, DC earned victories over highly-touted Flint Powers Catholic (20-14), previously unbeaten Southgate Aquinas (26-12) and Allen Park Cabrini (12-8).
That set up a Catholic League Prep Bowl showdown in the final game of the regular season against highly-touted 8-0 Birmingham Brother Rice, which was ranked No. 1 in the final regular-season AP Class A poll.
Although the Falcons were a decided underdog, the AA division champs upended Rice, 7-0, before a packed crowd at Eastern Michigan University’s Rynearson Stadium to snap the Warriors’ 22-game winning streak thanks to Jim Kempinski’s fumble return for a seven-yard touchdown as he snagged the ball in mid-air and never broke stride while crossing into the end zone.
“We played our butts off,” Faletti said. “It was a dog-eat-dog game.”
It was DC’s 11th Catholic League title, but more importantly put the Falcons into the first MHSAA Playoffs against Sturgis in a Semifinal match at C.W. Post Field in Battle Creek.
“I remember everything was brand new; nobody knew what they were doing,” said Wishart, who guided the Falcons to the 1985 Class A crown as their head coach. “Coach LaPointe on Monday had to get the school to get our hotel rooms in Battle Creek.”
Steve Toepper booted a 27-yard field goal for Sturgis to open the scoring, but DC responded with 20 unanswered points.
In the final quarter, DC’s Rick Rogowski scored on a seven-yard run with 9:23 left (after Steve Savini recovered a fumble caused by Joe Wiercioch) followed by a 10-yard TD run by Faletti with only six minutes to go (after Svihra recovered a fumble).
That sent the Falcons into the Final at CMU, where their defense suffocated MacArthur (9-2).
“We kind of ran a special outside zone. We had to quickly change (how) we would defend that. We shut them down,” said Wishart, who spent 50 years in CYO and high school coaching before retiring to live in New York. “There was no doubt, we were more physical than they were. We were blue collar kids. Typical Divine Child kids, hard-working, never give up.
“We believed desperately in defending Divine Child at all costs because we were a smaller school, so we had an attitude that still lingers there today that we all cultivated. We were going to be a physical squad.”
Meanwhile, what made the Falcons special and unique that title season was their “one for all and all for one” attitude.
“Everybody was the same,” Faletti said. “When we went between the lines, we were all equal. As captain, I got to be command as quarterback in the huddle. But off the field we were all equal. We played like 22 seniors. We were ready for this game.”
PHOTOS (Top) Dearborn Divine Child coaches and players receive the Class B championship trophy after winning the inaugural title game in 1975. (Middle) Falcons quarterback Dan Faletti throws a pass during the Final. (Below) Divine Child players and coaches raise their Prep Bowl trophy in celebration. (Championship game photos courtesy of Dearborn Divine Child yearbook. Prep Bowl photo provided by Dan Faletti.)