Talented QB, Veteran Lineup Elevating Churchill Into League, D2 Challenger
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
September 22, 2021
The first item on the docket when one assesses the first half of the season for the Livonia Churchill football team is its 28-21 victory over Belleville on Sept. 10.
But turn back the pages and you'll find the success coach Bill DeFillippo and his Chargers are experiencing began during the pre-pandemic season of 2019.
Churchill (4-0) is expected to be tested again Friday when it travels to Dearborn High (3-1) in a Kensington Lakes Activities Association East game. Dearborn's loss was to Belleville (49-0). Churchill is tied with Dearborn Fordson (4-0) for first place at 3-0 in the East. Belleville (3-1) and Dearborn are a game back.
Two years ago DeFillippo started eight sophomores on a team that lost to Belleville 35-14 and finished 7-5 after a 1-4 start. Churchill was 6-3 during last year's COVID-shortened season, and expectations were high heading into this fall – especially with the return of quarterback Taj Williams.
Considered one of the top offensive-minded coaches in the Detroit area, DeFillippo is in his ninth season as Churchill's head coach. The previous five seasons he was the program's offensive coordinator under coach John Filiatraut. DeFillippo cut his teeth as the offensive coordinator at Ann Arbor Huron (1990-99) under coach Paul Verska. The 1997 Huron team reached the MHSAA Class AA Final before losing to Detroit Catholic Central, 23-7.
DeFillippo continues to run the offense, and his specialty is working with quarterbacks. With Williams, he has another in a long line of talented ones.
Beginning with Seth Suda in 2011, DeFillippo coached five quarterbacks who went on to play in college (one, Drew Alsobrooks, is on the Central Michigan baseball roster). Williams is quite possibly headed toward becoming his sixth.
Williams started a few games as a sophomore at Churchill. Before his junior season, his family followed a job move to Stockbridge, Ga., (Stockbridge High School), where Williams started three games before suffering a broken collarbone.
He's recovered well from that injury and has shown improvement in his return to Churchill, particularly in the passing game. Simply, Williams makes the offense go.
At 5-foot-11 and 205 pounds, Williams has always been a strong runner. This season he's become a true dual threat throwing for 10 touchdowns and just one interception. He's also rushed for three touchdowns, and his completion success is a tad under 70 percent.
In addition to his growth physically, Williams is playing with a chip on his shoulder. As a freshman he attended Belleville, where he was a starter on the junior varsity before transferring to Churchill. There were those who muttered that Williams feared the competition he faced at Belleville, and thus the transfer. The truth is, his family simply moved to Livonia.
“I have a lot to prove to a lot of people,” Williams said. “People doubted me. (People) said I left Belleville because I wouldn't play there.”
Williams owes his development to a handful of coaches, DeFillippo obviously included. Williams also credits his Stockbridge coach for assisting in his improvement as a pocket passer. Then there's Terrance Williams, Taj's uncle, who's the running backs coach at Churchill and has served as another mentor.
On a day-to-day basis, at practice or at home, Williams confides in DeFillippo. Take a Saturday afternoon for example. Both will be at their homes watching a college game, and they'll compare notes as to what type of offense a particular team is running. One will see a play work, and that'll start a conversation on what they can do to expand Churchill’s offense.
“(DeFillippo) has been very helpful,” Williams said. “He teaches me about the game. He breaks it down – how to learn my progressions.”
DeFillippo's shotgun spread scheme features Williams and his versatility, but there's much more to this offense that's averaging 42 points per game. Running back Boston Clegg is one of eight three-year starters, and his power running style allows Williams room to maneuver on the perimeter. Clegg started at linebacker his sophomore and junior seasons, but DeFillippo has limited his play on defense this season to keep him fresh on offense.
Josh Brown and Bailey Brooks have big-play potential at the receiver spot. The left side of the offensive line is anchored by tackle Matt Landis (6-4, 240) and guard Lawrence Nash-Martin (6-3, 285).
The defense allowed 54 points over the first two games, but has played well since. The line is loaded with experience as Demarius Gibson-Wells (DT), Kameron Balhorn (DE) and VJ Ragland (DE) are all three-year starters. Brown starts at cornerback and also returns kicks.
There are no big-time college recruits in the mix, but many of the seniors are being recruited by Division II and FCS schools.
“We have a lot of very good high school players,” said DeFillippo, a teacher in the Livonia school system since 1994. “We're a blue-collar community. We have a lot of kids who need football and love the sport.”
Churchill is ranked No. 2 in Division 2 according to the latest Associated Press poll, and DeFillippo is quick to point out that two KLAA East teams – Belleville and Fordson – are ranked in the top 10 in Division 1.
Belleville (3-1) remains the measuring stick for teams in the KLAA. The Tigers reached the MHSAA Division 1 Semifinals both of the past two seasons, losing to eventual champ West Bloomfield 35-34 in double overtime to cap last year’s extended run.
“It's (was) our fourth time playing them since they entered the KLAA four years ago,” DeFillippo said of this season’s Belleville win. “The first time we led at halftime, then lost. They jumped us in 2019 when we had all those sophomores and it was 21-14 in the fourth quarter last season.
“We have played them as well as anyone in our league. We gained a lot of confidence with that win. We executed, and our players played out of their minds.
“We know we have the target on our backs after that.”
After this week, Churchill has Livonia Franklin, Fordson and Livonia Stevenson left to play in the division before ending the regular season with a KLAA crossover. As the smallest school by enrollment in the KLAA and one of two teams (Franklin is the other) that does not compete in Division 1, Churchill is sure to benefit from the tough schedule as it prepares for the postseason.
Tom Markowski primarily covered high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. He also is a former correspondent and web content director for State Champs! Sports Network. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Taj Williams (7) and his Churchill teammates take the field this season. (Middle) Williams’ return to the field this fall has been a big part of his team’s 4-0 start. (Photos courtesy of the Livonia Churchill football program.)
'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.)