DETROIT — Jackson Lumen Christi’s 56-18 state championship game victory over Lansing Catholic on Friday afternoon at Ford Field was one for the record books.
Kadale Williams rushed for an all-time championship-game best 314 yards on 27 attempts; he also rushed for five touchdowns to tie a finals record. Andy Salazar was eight-for-eight in kicking extra points, which also equaled a finals record. Lumen Christi’s 56-point output also tied for the second-most in state championship history.
But all those achievements stand in the shadow of the Titans’ biggest accomplishment: Lumen Christi has now won 14 state titles — the most of any school in the 50 years since the post-season tournament was first organized. With Friday’s win, Lumen Christi surpassed Farmington Hills Harrison (which closed in 2019).
“This one is sweeter because it’s for the program,” said head coach Herb Brogan, who’s guided the Titans to 12 championships. “There’ve been so many great players go through here, and it’s important to understand that they all share a part of our success. This is a program achievement.”
Brogan, who ranks third in number of coaching wins in state history (422), has led his team to 12 titles in 45 seasons at the helm. He was an assistant under Jim Crowley for the first two.
“One of the things we always try to say is we’ve got great tradition at Lumen Christi; are you going to live off that tradition, or are you going to try to add to it?” Brogan said. “These kids certainly added something to it.”
Lumen Christi (13-1) returned the nucleus of a group that had also won state crowns the past two seasons in Division 7, moving up to Division 6 this fall, and were as good as anticipated all season long.
“I don’t think anybody really understands how hard these guys work, and how intensive our off-season training is,” Brogan said. “Our goals are really lofty. Regardless of what our goals are coming back, we’re going to aim high. If we don’t get there, we don’t get there, but we’re going to work hard. We graduate 10 out of 11 (starters) on offense, so we’ve got some work to do, but what we’re going to do is hold up this year’s group as an example. We challenged the kids to get better every week.”
This contest was different from the past two prior state championship appearances, though, when Lumen Christi had to work back from deficits and pull out victories late in the game. It’s safe to say the Titans learned from those experiences as they jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead.
“I thought we played great,” Brogan said. “That was a very, very dangerous offense on the other side, and to hold them to 18 points is something that hadn’t been done in a while. On offense, we were just relentless. We blocked well, and Kadale had a great game.”
As usual, Lumen Christi had a ground attack that could not be stopped, led by Williams. The speedster rushed for 36-yard and 6-yard touchdowns in the first quarter, and 76 and 5 yards in the second. He piled up 251 yards in the first half alone, when the Titans opened up a commanding 42-12 lead.
After Lumen Christi received the second-half kickoff, Williams had rushes of 18 and 5 yards, before Timmy Crowley spotted a wide-open Logan Decker and connected with him for a 35-yard touchdown. Andy Salazar’s seventh extra point made the score 49-12.
“Thanks to Kadale for opening that up, because everyone was just flying on him,” Crowley said. “It felt good to throw a touchdown in Ford Field (during my) senior year in my last game.”
Williams went on to eclipse the final game rushing record en route to scoring his fifth touchdown, a 2-yard plunge 1:44 before the end of the third quarter. The former record, 307 yards by Jim Schragg of Constantine, had stood since 2004.
That was the last score of the game, as the Titans’ second unit played out the final period.
“We worked our butts off, and we knew what the outcome was going to be because of how hard we worked,” Williams said. “We couldn’t let each other walk off this field all pouty and sad, that would have been devastating to see, so we came out and got the job done. How much we care for each other helps us come into the game and do what we do.”
While Lumen Christi plays in Detroit’s Catholic High School League and Lansing Catholic represented the Capital Area Activities Conference, both teams hail from schools in the Diocese of Lansing. To provide inspiration to both teams ahead of the game, Bishop Earl Boyea delivered a video message titled “We Can’t Lose!”
“Play hard, play smart and have fun,” he told the teams. “Embrace this opportunity to witness to the world how we can give God glory in all that we do. When we do this, we can’t lose.”
Copy Permalink
