50th anniversary of Michigan High School Athletic Association football playoffs recalls great Catholic League teams of years past
DETROIT — It all happened so fast.
Riverview Gabriel Richard’s freshman Ben Strok returned Beal City’s game-opening kickoff 11 yards to the 28-yard line.
Running back Joey Calhoun ran 10 yards for a first down and six more yards to the 47. Quarterback Nick Sobusz connected with junior Derek Lesko in stride down the left sideline for a 53-yard touchdown. Calhoun plunged two yards for the extra points and Gabriel Richard had an 8-0 lead. It took all of 97 seconds!
Both teams are familiar with playing at Ford Field. Gabriel Richard has done it four times, most recently in 2020 for a victory in the Catholic High School League Prep Bowl.
However, there was much more at stake last Friday morning with all the accompanying hoopla for the Pioneers’ first appearance in its 59-year history playing for the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 8 football championship.
In contrast, this was Beal City’s 10th time making the two-and-a-half-hour, 168-mile excursion down Interstate 75 to Detroit, twice returning home with the victor’s booty in 1994 and 2009.
In less than three minutes, it all came apart for Gabriel Richard. The Aggies needed just six plays to cover 50 yards to tie the score and then proceeded with three more touchdowns for a 29-8 lead early in the third quarter and an eventual 43-14 victory.
A disheartened Gabriel Richard crew put together a methodical, near 8-minute, 76-yard drive for its second touchdown. Joey Calhoun ran three times for 11 yards, Kris Vigers three for nine, Sobush twice for three yards, and Eric Busbee once for two yards.
Sobush passed 13 yards to Vigers, 18 yards to Lesko and 16 yards to Calhoun to the 3-yard line. Calhoun had to be escorted off the field in obvious pain. He spent the remainder of the contest, and his last high school football game, sidelined with a taped right ankle. Sobush dived two yards for the touchdown.
Beal City added two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
“Today they caught us at the right time,” Gabriel Richard first-year coach Mark Shea said. “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 everything they could.”
Beal City amassed 332 yards on offense (315 rushing, 17 passing) to Gabriel Richard’s 251 (131 rushing, 120 passing). Sobush was nine for 18 passing for 120 yards. He ran 12 times for 51 yards and a touchdown. Calhoun carried 10 times for 43 yards. Lesko caught two passes for 71 yards and a touchdown.
Football playoffs turn 50
The MHSAA will celebrate its 100th anniversary dating back to Dec. 13, 1924. This year is also the 50th anniversary of the MHSAA’s football playoffs.
After decades of football champions being determined by media polls, the MHSAA offered its first postseason for football in 1975. Some 16 teams qualified to compete in Class A, B, C and D.
Dearborn Divine Child in Class B along with Livonia Franklin in Class A, Ishpeming in C and Crystal Falls Forest Park in D hoisted the first championship trophies.
The Falcons shut out Saginaw Macarthur, 21-0, for the state title in a game played at Central Michigan University to complete a perfect 11-0 season.
In the CHSL-1AA Division. Divine Child defeated Madison Heights Bishop Foley, Detroit Servite, Harper Woods Bishop Gallagher, Southgate Aquinas and Royal Oak Shrine.
They won non-league decisions over Flint Covenant, Flint Powers, Allen Park Cabrini and Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice.
On Nov. 14, in the state semifinal game, the Falcons defeated Sturgis, 20-3, to move on a week later for the championship.
All together, CHSL teams have won 51 football championships.
12 — Detroit St. Martin dePorres: 1978, 1981-82-83-84, 1998, 1990-91, 1995-96, 2001, 2003. St. Martin dePorres closed in 2005.
10 — Novi Detroit Catholic Central: 1979, 1990-91, 1985, 1997-98, 2001-02-03, 2009.
9 — Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice: 1977, 1980, 1983, 1990, 2000, 2005, 2011-12-13.
9 — Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Prep: 1978, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2011, 2014-15-16, 2024.
5 — Warren De La Salle: 2014, 2017-18, 2021-22.
2 — Dearborn Divine Child: 1975, 1985.
2 (12) — Jackson Lumen Christi won in 2023 and 2024 when the Titans joined the CHSL in 2023. They won a dozen titles between 1977 and 2022. By virtue of its 56-18 thrashing of Lansing Catholic over the weekend, Lumen Christi has become the winningest MHSAA football champ.
1 — Detroit Loyola: 2014.
1 — Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes: 2002.
Noteworthy
Monroe St. Maty Catholic Central won football titles in 1991 and 2014. Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, which dropped out of the CHSL in 2016, won its first state football title this past weekend, 42-7, against Frankenmuth.
Contact Don Horkey at [email protected].
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