DETROIT — All season long, Notre Dame Prep’s football team seems like it’s been in a hurry to get somewhere.
That destination has been the end zone.
Saturday afternoon at Ford Field, the Fighting Irish were true to character, using several quick-strike plays to mount an insurmountable lead and win their first state football title in the Division 5 championship game, 42-7 over Frankenmuth.
It looked like Frankenmuth would take control early, but at the end of a 49-yard gain, an Eagles running back dropped the ball. After Notre Dame Prep’s Drake Roa pounced on it at the 13-yard line, it was time for quarterback Sam Stowe and company to go to work. On the Fighting Irish’s second play, Billy Collins caught a short pass and took it 87 yards to the opposite end zone for a quick 7-0 lead.
“We’re really fast, and I’ve just got to get them the ball,” said Stowe, who threw four touchdowns passes in the first half. “I don’t even need to throw it that far for them to be able to score. Every single snap we have a chance to score — that’s how it’s supposed to be.”
Later in the first quarter, Frankenmuth failed to gain a first down on a fake punt, and Notre Dame Prep took over on the Eagles’ 23-yard line. On the first play, Stowe found Michael Wiebelhaus open beyond the defensive backs, and completed the pass for another touchdown.
Notre Dame Prep kept things up-tempo, using just two plays to add seven more points. Stowe completed a short pass to Joey DeCasas, who outran defenders 47 yards to the end zone. Owen Fulsher’s third extra point gave the Fighting Irish a 21-0 lead just 10 minutes into the game.
Altogether, it took Notre Dame Prep 57 just seconds to collect the three scores, traveling a combined 166 yards.
“We practice tempo every single day in practice, and it really helps us to understand a fast-paced offense,” Wiebelhaus said. “I trust Sam; he’s a fantastic quarterback, and we’ve got athletes — just some super-fast guys. It really helps come out at a tempo, score fast and keep the pressure on.”
Notre Dame Prep was a bit more deliberate on its next scoring drive, traveling 75 yards in five plays late in the second quarter. Collins scored his second touchdown of the game, getting wide open for another pass completion from Stowe, this one covering 23 yards.
“We just trust our offense, and trust what we do,” Collins said. “We stick to our assignments, stick to our technique, and good things will happen. Our coaches lead the way for us; they teach us all we need to know. I just trust what (coach Pat Fox) does for us, trust what he teaches me, and that will lead to success.”
The Fighting Irish increased their lead to five scores with four minutes remaining in the third quarter. Drew Heimbuch got the team’s first rushing touchdown of the game, weaving through the blockers from 7 yards away and plunging across the goal line.
Frankenmuth finally got on the scoreboard with less than 9 minutes to play on an 11-yard rushing touchdown, making the score 35-7. But Notre Dame Prep didn’t stand pat for long. After taking the ensuing on-side kick attempt at the 50-yard line, Heimbuch sprung loose on the next play for another long Irish touchdown on what technically was a 9-second scoring drive.
It wasn’t the first time Notre Dame Prep has jumped on a team early. In fact, that seemed to be routine business this season, as the Fighting Irish scored 588 points in their 13 games, an average of 45 per session. They rang up fewer than 42 points in only two of their 13 games, and all but one of their 12 wins were by three or more touchdowns.
“This year’s squad, we like to think of ourselves as pretty physical. We get a little chippy on defense specifically. On offense we’ve got great team speed, and our offense can cook,” Collins said. “It’s looking great for the team down the line. I really think they can make more of these runs in the future. I think they develop players really well at Notre Dame, and the future’s looking bright.”
Notre Dame Prep has played an independent schedule since leaving the Catholic League in 2015. Frankenmuth has reached the title game in each of this decade’s even-numbered years, only to fall short each time.
St. Mary Catholic Central shut down, 24-0
Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central came into Saturday’s MHSAA Division 7 state final averaging 46 points per game in the playoffs, yet the Falcons’ offense couldn’t get in gear against Millington’s tenacious defense.
St. Mary Catholic Central (13-1) managed just 121 yards of total offense and seven first downs, and didn’t light the scoreboard in a 24-0 loss at Ford Field. Millington (13-0) — the state’s only remaining undefeated team this fall — won its first title in program history.
“Obviously it didn’t go the way we had hoped or wanted, and it’s a credit to Millington — they did a lot of things very, very well today,” St. Mary Catholic Central head coach Adam Kipf said. “They did to us what we’ve been doing to teams for 13 games, and that’s a testament to them. They brought it every single play. I don’t think they lost any of their energy throughout the game, and they were physical. We figured they would wear down a little bit — they did not wear down.”
Despite the one-sided final score, Millington still needed to grind out its points. The game was scoreless for most of the first half, when the Cardinals got a 21-yard rushing touchdown 2:42 before halftime, and added a field goal two minutes later.
St. Mary Catholic Central was plagued by poor field position. Millington started three of its first-half drives in Falcon territory, while the Falcons didn’t cross into the Cardinals’ half of the field until just 13 seconds remained in the first half. By that time, Millington led 10-0, buoyed by two interceptions in the final three minutes.
“We weren’t in advantageous positions,” Kipf said. “It definitely takes some energy there to try and flip the field, get it back to midfield, but I don’t think that’s what wore us down. Certainly we didn’t have the greatest field position in the first half, but we’ve got to be ready to overcome it.”
While SMCC’s defense put up a good effort in the second half, Millington showed just enough offense to pad its lead, getting a 64-yard touchdown run toward the end of the third quarter and tacking on a fourth-down conversion that went for a 13-yard score with just over five minutes left to play.
“It’s hard to describe what just happened out there,” said Millington head coach Jason Germain. “We were the underdogs. Our boys came to play; we had that mindset since last year when we lost to Lumen Christi in the semis. They knew they were on a mission this year, and I couldn’t be prouder of these guys. I know it’s a cliché, but these guys have truly earned this.”
Millington didn’t allow SMCC any big plays, as none of the Falcons’ 41 attempts gained more than 19 yards. The Falcons’ two leading ground-gainers, quarterback Ian Foster and running back Drew Harris, were limited to outputs of 41 and 31 yards, respectively.
Saturday’s game marked St. Mary Catholic Central’s eighth appearance in a state final. The Falcons have won three times — most recently in 2019, when they blanked Maple City Glen Lake, 7-0.
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