MMA Helps 3-Sporter Shine at BCC
May 3, 2019
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
BROOKLYN – When Khol Partridge gets some time away from the football field, basketball court and baseball diamond, he knows exactly where he’s going – to relax with some Mixed Martial Arts.
Partridge is winding down his days as a three-sport athlete at Brooklyn Columbia Central, a Class B school in southeast Michigan’s Irish Hills area. His father Rodney owns Pure Combat, a gym in Cement City that challenges Khol as an athlete, both mentally and physically, in a different way than high school sports do. But, combined, Khol said, it’s made him a stronger athlete and more of a leader.
“In the summertime, I’m in the gym every day,” Partridge said. “It makes you such a better athlete. It improves your attitude, your mindset, your balance, everything about being an athlete.”
Partridge mainly does the Jiu Jitsu form of MMA, not the type that puts him into a ring with another striker, or fighter. But, it’s still intense.
“My dad puts me through all kinds of crazy workouts,” he said. “You get yourself into tough spots in MMA and it makes you have to find a way out of it. That’s one way it helps you in other sports.”
Partridge has been in more than a few tight spots for the Golden Eagles over the last few seasons but has usually found a way to success. The CC football team has gone 23-9 over the last three seasons, making three consecutive playoff appearances. He led the Lenawee County Athletic Association this past season by completing 154-of-257 passes for 2,317 yards and 26 touchdowns. He threw just four interceptions all season. He also ran for 511 yards and nine touchdowns.
CC football coach Josh Kubiak called Partridge an “amazing athlete” and “amazing individual.”
“I could go on about Khol for a long time and tell you about all his stats and achievements,” Kubiak wrote in an e-mail. “In my opinion the best quality Khol has is his leadership skills. I remember back to when he was a freshman on our playoff team. He was the last player on the field after our loss hugging seniors and then came up to me and said, ‘We will be back.’”
The Golden Eagles won their first league football title since 1982 with Partridge at quarterback this past season. He finished with 4,800 career passing yards and a number of CC football records.
“He has the special talent to get other student athletes to follow him, and he gets the best out of them,” Kubiak said. “He always finds the positive out of the worst situations.”
It’s no surprise that Partridge chose the quarterback position – or, rather, it chose him.
“I was a quarterback since I was really little. I don’t know, maybe it was just because I wanted to be a leader. I’ve always had that mindset. I wanted to be the smartest player on the field, to know what everyone else was doing. My dad always taught me to be a leader, to be the best leader I could be.
“My biggest goal has always been just to be a leader. Leadership is a full-time job. You just have to step up at important times, to be an inspiration to others in the huddle or know when to get after someone and when to just give them a high-five and say, ‘It’s all right. Keep your head up.’”
Partridge got a few looks from colleges and was close to trying to walk on at a Division I school out west. Ultimately, he decided to stay a little closer to home and committed to Ohio’s University of Findlay, a perennial football powerhouse in Division II.
“I got a lot of looks, but nothing seemed to pan out. Then, the Findlay coach hit me up on Twitter,” Partridge said. “They contacted me, so saw tape and I went to visit. They have a great campus. I even did some research, and I know there is a Mixed Martial Arts gym not far from campus.”
In basketball, Partridge was the team’s top scorer in 2018-19, made 48 3-pointers and finished his career with more than 750 points over parts of four seasons. In baseball, he’s one of the team leaders in hitting and is enjoying another season of success.
“I fell in love with football early on in life,” he said. “I always played baseball, too. Me and my buddy, Chase Tompkins, we’ve always played baseball together. I didn’t start playing basketball until later, probably seventh grade.
“If it’s football season, then football is my favorite sport. If it’s baseball season, then baseball is my favorite sport.”
In baseball, Partridge is a middle infielder. When Tompkins pitches, Partridge plays shortstop; otherwise he plays second base.
“We are a really good double-play combination,” he said. “I think last year we turned like 20 double plays together. It’s crazy. We’ve played together a long time. We’ve kind of always been that duo.”
This season, Partridge’s goal is to hit .500.
“The season is going great,” he said. “I’m hitting fairly well, not as well as I want to be hitting, but I’m working hard. Baseball is so mental. You have to be mentally right to play the game.”
Partridge is quick to credit his parents, Rodney and Terri, for his success.
“My dad has been the biggest influence in my life,” he said. “He’s always been someone to look up to. And my mom is the best ever. She keeps my head in line. I’m so blessed to have two parents I can look up to.”
Khol Partridge is excited for the next chapter in life, although he still has some work to do this spring with the CC baseball team. He’s entertaining the idea of trying to walk-on with the Findlay baseball team.
“I definitely think I can,” he said. “Sports are a big part of my life. They always have been. Sports teaches you so much about different aspects in life.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Columbia Central’s Khol Partridge unleashes a pass this past fall. (Middle) Partridge, far right, with father Rodney (far left) and renowned Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitor Marcelo Garcia. (Photos courtesy of the Partridge family.)
Driven to Dominate, West Catholic Dethrones 2024 Champ to Reign Again
By
Scott DeCamp
Special for MHSAA.com
November 30, 2025
DETROIT – The 2024 season didn’t finish the way that Grand Rapids West Catholic’s football team had intended. The 2025 season didn’t begin the way the Falcons would’ve hoped.
At the end of the day, two defining defeats and other adversities along the way set the stage and helped the 2025 squad peak at the right time.
West Catholic proved as strong as it’s been all season, and then some, in a 42-14 victory over Pontiac Notre Dame Prep in the Division 5 Final on Sunday at Ford Field. The title was the Falcons’ first since 2022, their eighth in program history, and it marked the seventh-straight Finals appearance in which they’ve emerged victorious.
“Unbelievably proud of the way we played. It was one of those things where we knew we had that type of potential in us,” fourth-year West Catholic coach Landon Grove said.
“It’s been an up-and-down season with a lot of variables with injuries. We had a lot of injuries pile up each week, but they never flinched. The amount of adversity we faced this year – we lost captains, we lost underclassmen starters, upperclassmen starters – and it was just a next-man-up mentality.”
West Catholic (13-1) opened the season with a 32-21 loss to Grand Rapids Northview, then ripped off 13 straight victories.
The most momentous win along the way was a 21-20 overtime triumph in its District Final at archrival Grand Rapids Catholic Central, which had ended West Catholic’s 2024 season with a 21-18 defeat. GRCC also had ended West Catholic’s 2023 season in their Regional Final in another tight matchup, 30-28.
Once they returned to the Finals on Sunday, the Falcons left no doubt. They made plays all over the field, starting with senior quarterback Grady Augustyn’s 79-yard strike to junior Thomas Puksta to put their team on top, 7-0, just 4½ minutes into the contest.
West Catholic worked with short fields the rest of the first half, thanks to its stingy defense, and the Falcons stretched the lead to 28-0 midway through the second quarter on the following plays: a one-yard TD run by Augustyn (with 2:30 left in the first quarter), senior Connor Olszewski’s three-yard scoring run (10:34 left in the second), and Puksta’s 25-yard TD reception from Augustyn (5:54 left in the half).
“It feels great just to do it with this class. Our class has been working its butts off this whole year, last year,” said Augustyn, who finished 9-of-18 passing for 199 yards. “We were, like, ‘We’re not letting this happen again.’ … We kind of just made a pact, saying, ‘We’ve got to be tougher than (last year). That wasn’t West Catholic football all year, and that wasn’t West Catholic football that game (against GRCC).’
“So, coming back and then winning in overtime (against GRCC this season) showed us that, like, ‘Hey, we could do it and that’s West Catholic football. That’s how you play games.’ And then, just winning this championship, it just means a lot to our whole team. It means a lot to the big man over there (gesturing toward Grove). It just means a lot for all of us.”
Notre Dame Prep (11-3), which was attempting to repeat after winning its first Finals title a year ago, got on the board in the final minute of the first half on senior Anthony Tartaglia’s two-yard run.
However, West Catholic completely broke it open early in the third quarter on back-to-back pick-6s – the first by senior Cal Peterson covering 43 yards only 21 seconds into the period, and the second by senior Christian Patterson for 30 yards barely two minutes into the quarter.
“When we’re at our best at West Catholic, our defense is our strength,” Grove said.
West Catholic outrushed Notre Dame Prep, 190-65, as the Falcons outgained the Irish in total offense, 389-258.
West Catholic junior Collin Abram led all rushers with 154 yards on 17 carries. Falcons senior Noah Gillespie paced the defense with a game-high 10 tackles.
“Our defense put us in a great spot every time – three-and-outs, getting us at the 30, 35 (of Notre Dame Prep) every time, so it just helped us there,” Augustyn said. “And then our O-line played wonderful those quarters and we just kept rolling, kept rolling – (motioning toward Puksta) brought his big-boy pants and, ‘What would we be complaining about now?’”
Puksta had a game to remember for West Catholic, hauling in six passes for 161 yards.
For Notre Dame Prep, senior starting quarterback Sam Stowe finished 8-of-11 passing for 67 yards. He suffered a shoulder injury in the contest that made throwing the ball very painful, he said in the postgame press conference. Irish senior Drake Roa went 8-of-13 passing for 123 yards, including a 60-yard TD toss to senior Brody Sink to cap the game’s scoring with 11:51 remaining.
Sink had five receptions for 110 yards. Senior Henry Ewles and sophomore Chris Artinian led Notre Dame Prep defensively with eight stops apiece.
“You know, it’s not how you want to finish the year,” Notre Dame Prep coach Pat Fox said. “We’re very proud to come back and defend our 2024 state championship. West Catholic today, fine football team. They did some tremendous things on the offensive and defensive lines and controlled the flow of the game. All credit to them. They did a great job. I’m proud of the way our kids battled. I love those kids, and it’s hard to say goodbye to them.
“I think a lot of times, you can look at a game and you can say there were some plays that maybe didn’t go our way. At the end of the day, West Catholic won at the lines, and that was the deciding factor,” Fox added. “It wasn’t a play or two. Tonight, they were the better team and they did a great job.”
After the game, Grove expressed his pride in carrying on the strong West Catholic tradition but noted that he’s only a small part in the Falcons’ success.
West Catholic is now tied for 10th in MHSAA history with eight Finals championships, pulling even with Grand Rapids Catholic Central on the all-time list. Over their 10 Finals appearances, the Falcons have won titles in 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2022, and 2025.
“I’ll say this, we live in a world where people don’t think kids are tough anymore, (but) they’ll do exactly what you ask them. These kids have epitomized what young men are capable of doing,” Grove said about his team. “That’s why this game is so great. This game is what tells them the truth every day. It told the truth today, that they’re a great football team. They get told the truth in practice, they get told the truth in the weight room. I mean, these kids answered every challenge.
“This is all them, this is all them. I couldn’t be more proud.”
PHOTOS (Top) Grand Rapids West Catholic quarterback Grady Augustyn (6) finds his receiver during Sunday’s Division 5 Final. (Middle) Collin Abram (43) attempts to get out of the grasp of a Notre Dame Prep defender. (Below) Augustyn hands off to Connor Olszewski (7).