Bedford Follows Mifsud's Hall-of-Fame Formula to 7-0 Start, SEC Red Title Game
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
October 15, 2026
The rumors of Dave Mifsud living across the street from Temperance Bedford High School or being able to see the school from his kitchen window are greatly exaggerated.
Mifsud, in his first year coaching the Kicking Mules, actually lives about five minutes from the stadium. And, no, he can’t see the glow from the Friday night stadium lights from his house.
All joking aside, Mifsud may have found the perfect spot to continue his hall of fame career. After stops at Dearborn, Parma Western, Monroe and Brownstown Woodhaven, Mifsud took over the Bedford program in January and has the Mules off to a remarkable 7-0 start heading into Friday night’s Southeastern Conference showdown with powerhouse Saline.
“I feel like I'm at home right now,” Mifsud said this week. “I feel working and coaching at Bedford, being around this community, I feel like I'm at home.”
The funny part is, he wasn’t looking for one.
Mifsud said he moved to Temperance about five years ago to be closer to his son and three grandchildren in Toledo. He became the head coach at Brownstown Woodhaven and thought he had found his last coaching stop.
“When I took the Woodhaven job, I said, ‘This is it – I’m not going to change jobs again.’ But I put a disclaimer on there – and that was unless the Bedford job opened up.”
This past offseason, it did.
Mifsud said the distance driving to and from Woodhaven was the difference.
“I was driving 39 miles each way to work and spending an awful lot of time in the car,” he said. “I didn’t get to enjoy as many community events as I wanted to be involved in, even just going to basketball games or baseball games and things like that. It was just too far from home. So, this job was definitely a big attraction to me.”
He was hired.
By no means was he taking over a bad program. Quite the opposite. Bedford has been a perennial playoff team – they’ve qualified 14 times since 2009 – and contended among the top half of the SEC Red most of those years.
When Mifsud arrived, however, he had a blank slate. He had to bring in an almost entirely new football staff, overhaul the offense, and create a new-look defense.
“I spent hours and hours and lots of late, late nights interviewing coaching candidates,” he said. “I didn’t really know any of them ahead of time. There was one coach, Sean Stephens, that I had met and talked to a couple of times, but really, I didn’t know any of them.
“The foundation was, the thing that I started off explaining to each and every one of them, was my philosophy and what my goals were and where I was coming from. I wanted them to know how we were going to treat the kids and treat the program.”
Football, he said, teaches great life skills and life lessons.
“Our No. 1 goal is for the kids to have the best memories and the most positive memories from their high school days as being part of the football program,” he said.
He hired coaches from Toledo and the Downriver area, a former Bedford player and one coach who was on a previous Bedford staff. He named a football operations coordinator to handle things like media requests and statistics.
The offense, he said, is a combination of all of the offenses he’s run over the years while building a solid resume at Dearborn and Parma Western.
“We adapted and evolved a little,” he said. “I think we’ve cleaned up some of the things we were doing at Woodhaven.
His defense was constructed with the help of Mike Parker, who had coached at Toledo Whitmer, one of the largest schools in northwest Ohio.
The formula has worked wonders. The 7-0 start is something even Mifsud didn’t see coming.
“Going into it, of course you have high hopes,” he said. “I feel like there was the hope or possibility of being 7-0, but there was also this reality that we could be 3-4 or 4-3. You just don’t know how games are going to play out and how kids are going to respond.”
The biggest win was probably the first, a 20-13 victory over Sterling Heights Stevenson.
“The kids played their hearts out that game, and a really great win,” he said.
What’s followed have been six more in much the same fashion.
“We’ve continued on with the thinking that we just need to go 1-0 each week,” he said. “We’ve had to battle and compete in each game.”
Not only did Mifsud have to create a new coaching staff, but few of last season’s ball carriers were back this fall. One who might have been expected to be a starting running back, for example, transferred to an Ohio school. Other players moved positions and into new roles.
Masyn Moran has emerged as the top ball carrier with 636 yards and 12 touchdowns over seven games. Luke Whetstone has thrown for 841 yards while completing 64 percent of his passes. He’s also rushed for more than 500 yards. Jaxson Lestock has 20 catches for more than 300 yards. The Mules offense has been balanced with 263 rushes and 100 passes.
Bedford’s 7-0 start is the first for the program since 2013 and just the third in school history. Mifsud said the same formula that got Bedford to this point is what he plans on using this week against the also-undefeated Hornets. The winner will own the SEC Red title outright.
“There are some really good kids at Bedford, and they have bought into and committed to the new coach and system,” he said. “The school community has been awesome.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Temperance Bedford football coach Dave Mifsud instructs player Brady Boisselle during a game this season. (Middle) Mifsud monitors the action from the sideline. (Photos by Jaymee Beard/Temperance Bedford athletics.)
Multi-Sport Coach Kalleward Molds Multi-School Eagles Into Formidable Foe
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
January 21, 2025
KALAMAZOO – When it comes to hockey, JD Kalleward has a different challenge than many high school coaches.
His Kalamazoo Eagles team is a cooperative of six schools: Richland Gull Lake, Parchment, Vicksburg, Plainwell, Kalamazoo Christian and Paw Paw.
That is not a problem for Kalleward, who has more than 30 years of coaching experience to help meld his players into a family.
“In the locker room we sit by our linemates,” Gull Lake senior forward Carter Dominowski said. “My line is one from Vicksburg, one from Gull Lake.
“It’s all team bonding, hanging out, having fun. We have team dinners every Tuesday (at The Nest at Wings Event Center, where the Eagles practice).”
Kalleward went from Eagles assistant coach to head coach when Matt Kruzich stepped down after last season. The team has rebounded from a 1-3 start this winter to reach 8-7 with eight games remaining before the start of the MHSAA Tournament.
“JD was the perfect replacement for many reasons: his meticulous preparation, practice planning, management skills,” Kruzich said. “But most of all, I’ve seen the positive impact that he has had on 100 percent of young men and hockey players specifically.”
Gull Lake is the sponsoring school and providing nine of the 23 players.
“It’s a challenge.” Kalleward said of bringing the players together. “You work together, do exercises for bonding in preseason, and you make certain they’re playing for each other.”
The veteran coach has almost 1,000 high school hockey games under his skates. Add the 170 games coaching lacrosse, and he has eclipsed that milestone total.
Coaching across multiple net games
Kalleward started his coaching career with Art Missias in KOHA youth hockey, then moved to Portage Northern when Missias took that head coaching job in 1986. He took over the Northern coaching reins five years later when Missias retired.
Kalleward expanded his coaching experience, becoming Northern’s assistant boys lacrosse coach for three years until being named head coach in 2016.
Comparing hockey and lacrosse, Kalleward said the field sport is a bit harder to coach because of numbers.
“Both are chess games, and both are very fluid,” he said. “Lacrosse has 10 (players) instead of six, but it’s also easier to hide some of your weaker kids in lacrosse.”
Kalleward has had more success in lacrosse, making the MHSAA Division 2 Quarterfinals three of the last five years and winning the Southwest Michigan Athletic Conference three times.
Kalleward said he enjoys coaching both sports, and there are some common elements – especially defensively.
“In hockey, you have to keep your head on a swivel, be aware of your surroundings the entire time,” he said. “Same in lacrosse. Always one more pass you’re looking to make.”
When it comes to drills, especially in hockey, the coach readily admits to “stealing” them from other programs to instruct his players.
“That’s how you learn,” he said, naming drills after former coaching friends. “(Portage Central’s) Jim Murray drills. (Kalamazoo Wings) Mark Reeds drills, (Western Michigan University’s) Bill Wilkinson drills, (K-Wings) Ken Hitchcock drills, (Fox Motors AAA U16) Travis Richards drills.”
Learning more than hockey
Kalleward coaches life skills as well as hockey techniques, assistant coach Ken Rogers said.
“These kids aren’t going to be NHL players after high school, so it’s trying to develop some responsibility, some accountability, what’s it like to be on your own,” Rogers said. “We’ve got a lot of seniors, and they’re going to be away from home next year.
“For most of them, that’s a big step in their lives. What we try to do along with hockey is instill those life lessons. Being part of a hockey team, you’re going to have to face those challenges when you get a job, become a good employee.”
Kalleward, who is on the ice with the team every day but Sunday, said that with tournaments the Eagles play 25 games a season plus MHSAA playoffs.
“I enjoy coaching,” he said. “We’re not here for you to try to be the next Sidney Crosby, that next pro. We’re here to have a good experience in high school, be competitive, have fun.
“I’m very big about life lessons. I’m very old school: manners, how we behave in public, address each other.”
Gull Lake senior defenseman Evan Kares appreciates that leadership.
“He has taught me to make smart decisions,” Kares said. “He’s developed the way I think about hockey and the way I play. He’s really introduced the physical aspect for me. I’m still not there yet, but I’m working on it.”
Forward Hank Livingston, another Gull Lake senior, added, “He’s always pushing the team to be the best players and best young men we can be. He’s always trying to help everyone.”
Other Gull Lake players are Owen Anderson, Joey Blondia, Henry Ludmer, Ryan Rocco, Henry Worgess and Jacob Worgess. Players from Vicksburg are Aidyn Garza, Blaine Herson, Cody Klesko and Grant Stopher, while the two from Paw Paw are Colton Gronau and Caleb Ranger.
Kalamazoo Christian players are Isaac Riggs, Matthew Rohrer, Ryan Rohrer and Ari Wilkinson. The lone Comstock player is Brody Woolsey. Ryan Baranoski, and Carter Monette are from Plainwell and Kayden Hailey is from Parchment.
One of the downsides to coaching hockey is how player numbers are dwindling, Kalleward said.
The South Central Michigan Hockey League is down to six teams and four besides the Eagles are co-ops: the Capital City Capitals (Lansing), Eastside Stars (East Lansing), Kalamazoo United, and Portage. Mattawan is the only team that is not made up of players from multiple schools.
“That’s the sad thing about hockey,” Kalleward said. “It’s hard to grow the sport with the expense. I like to joke that (renting the ice) costs $6 a minute.”
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Kalamazoo Eagles coach JD Kalleward talks strategy with Gull Lake seniors (from left) Hank Livingston, Evan Kares and Carter Dominowski. (2) Kalleward and his Portage Northern lacrosse team receive the Matt Thrasher trophy in 2019 from then-Portage Central athletic director Joe Wallace (speaking into microphone). (3) Eagles assistant coach Ken Rogers. (4) Kalleward, standing, coaches his Eagles hockey team. (Top photo and headshot by Pam Shebest. Lacrosse and hockey game photos courtesy of JD Kalleward.)