Cass Tech, Campbell's Glories Grow
November 24, 2012
By Bill Khan
Special to Second Half
DETROIT — Thomas Wilcher is a former Detroit Public School League football star who has become one of the most successful coaches in the state.
Perhaps such a future awaits the city’s brightest current star, Detroit Cass Tech quarterback Jayru Campbell.
Wilcher raved about his sophomore signal caller’s mental grasp of the game after the Technicians became the first PSL team to win back-to-back MHSAA football championships with a 36-21 victory over Detroit Catholic Central on Saturday at Ford Field.
Campbell has orchestrated the offense during both championship runs, each of which ended with a dominant performance against perennial power Catholic Central. Cass Tech routed the Shamrocks 49-13 in last year’s title game, as Campbell threw for five touchdowns.
Campbell’s stats weren't as gaudy this time around (4 for 12, 154 yards, one touchdown), but it’s not his physical gifts that drew high praise from Wilcher after the game.
“I told him on the telephone one night, ‘I don’t care about your arm right now. I just love the way you think on the football field,’” Wilcher said. “That’s what makes him so important to me right now. We’re teaching.”
As a freshman, Campbell was given limited ability to change plays at the line of scrimmage. As a 10th-grader who has already started 28 varsity games, he has earned more trust from his coaching staff than many seniors.
“They gave me more of a green light this year,” Campbell said. “Last year, they pretty much told me I could change the play from left to right; that was the most green light I had. This year, I’m changing passes to runs, runs to passes. It’s not getting difficult, but it’s more responsibility on me. I’m up for the challenge.”
Campbell altered the original call on two of Cass Tech’s biggest offensive plays.
On the Technicians’ first play from scrimmage, he audibled senior receiver Jourdan Lewis from a stop route to a go route. Lewis made a leaping catch between two defenders along the left sideline and took off for an 89-yard touchdown to open the scoring with 9:31 left in the first quarter.
“It was supposed to be a stop,” Campbell said. “The corner was playing so far up, I knew Jourdan Lewis was going to get around him. I just told him to go ahead and do what you do.”
In the fourth quarter, with Cass Tech trying to put the game away, Campbell changed a pass to a draw play to running back Mike Weber on fourth-and-10 from Catholic Central’s 30-yard line. Weber exploded 26 yards to the 4-yard line, setting up a 3-yard touchdown run by Campbell that expanded the lead to 29-7 with 7:59 remaining.
“I saw they had only one linebacker in the back,” Campbell said. “Coach Wilcher really believes in me. He knows I will get the job done. He really trusts me.”
Catholic Central came in looking to avenge last year’s 36-point loss in the Final, but the Shamrocks fell behind 12-0 in the first five minutes on the 89-yard catch by Lewis and a 58-yard fumble return by 260-pound defensive tackle Kenton Gibbs.
The Shamrocks (9-5) slowed the momentum and got back in the game at 12-7 on an 18-yard pass from Garrett Moores to Zach Bock with 2:02 left in the first half. The Technicians (12-2) tacked on a 31-yard field goal by Ken Snapp to take a 15-7 lead into halftime.
A 57-yard run by Weber on third-and-17 set up a 30-yard touchdown run by Deon Drake Jr. on the following play, giving Cass Tech a 22-7 lead on the first series of the third quarter.
“We knew going in from last year’s experience that we can’t make mistakes, because they capitalize well on mistakes, but we did,” Catholic Central coach Tom Mach said. “They made a great throw and catch on the first touchdown. Then we made a couple of mistakes that they capitalized on. We found ourselves in a hole and had to try to get out of that hole. We were doing a good job of that, I thought. Then they exerted themselves and put another touchdown in.”
It became a 29-7 game when Cass Tech went 79 yards in 16 plays, taking 7:14 off the clock before Campbell scored on his 3-yard run with 7:59 left in the fourth quarter.
Catholic Central twice made it a two-possession game in the final 5:57 on touchdown passes by Moores, but the Technicians had an 84-yard interception return for a touchdown by Delano Hill in between them.
“It was no different than last year,” Catholic Central senior running back Anthony Darkangelo said. “We knew last year they were a fast team and we had to keep contain on the edges outside. They executed their game plan and we didn't execute the plan we had for the game.”
Click for full statistics and to watch a replay of the game. See below for the full press conference.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Cass Tech David Dawson hoists quarterback Jayru Campbell (10) during Saturday's Division 1 Final. (Middle) Cass Tech running back Mike Weber runs into a crowd of Detroit Catholic Central defenders including Sean Birney (18) and Dylan Roney (89). (Click for more from Terry McNamara Photography.)
Fugate Carries CC On 1 More Trophy Run
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 24, 2017
DETROIT – As classmates and fans screamed his name from the Ford Field stands Friday night, Nolan Fugate put the focus on his teammates.
“I cannot thank my offensive line and my outside receivers enough,” the Grand Rapids Catholic Central senior running back said. “Without them none of this would be possible, and I just can’t thank them enough. They’re the best offensive line in the state.”
That line paved the way for Fugate, who gained 306 yards on the ground and tied an MHSAA Finals record with five total touchdowns as the Cougars defeated Edwardsburg 42-31 in the Division 4 championship game.
It was the second straight title for Catholic Central (14-0), and the program’s fourth overall. Coach Todd Kolster has led the Cougars to three of them (2010, 2016 and 2017).
“It has nothing to do with me,” Kolster said. “I’m the beneficiary of being the head coach for three of these, but it’s the kids that do all the work. They’re outstanding. This senior class, I love them so much. I’ve been so critical of them, and I say that all the time, because I came back here to Catholic Central with that class when they were freshmen and now they’re seniors. It’s really special to see these guys enjoy this, because they’ve earned every bit of it.”
This year’s title game was in stark contrast to last season’s when the Cougars eked out a 10-7 victory in a defensive struggle against Detroit Country Day. Big plays from both offenses highlighted Friday night’s game as Catholic Central had to battle to hold off a relentless Edwardsburg team down the stretch.
“They all mean the same,” Kolster said. “They all come in the right column, so we’ll take it.”
Seven of the game’s scoring plays were 20 yards or longer, including an MHSAA Finals record-tying 99-yard kick return touchdown by Edwardsburg’s Caden Goggins, and a MHSAA Finals record-tying 90-yard touchdown run by his teammate Nick Bradley.
On the night, the Eddies (12-2) averaged 9.7 yards per play and 10.8 yards per carry, while Catholic Central averaged 7.7 yards per play in managing to outgain Edwardsburg 448-369.
“Our defense, they played well -- we gave up a couple big plays, and Edwardsburg is a heck of a football team,” Kolster said. “We gave up three (big) kickoff returns and three big plays, but we handled them pretty well. That’s what they do, and that’s why they’re so good. That’s why they’re here, because they just keep at it, they keep at it and they’ll pop one, and they have confidence in that. But we have confidence in our guys.”
The Cougars’ defense did stiffen when it absolutely had to, as sophomore Ethan Lott came up with a tackle for loss on a 4th-and-1 play late in the fourth quarter to all but seal the game.
“Our guys did a great job on that 4th-and-1; it’s just a matter of reading their keys,” Kolster said. “I’m really proud of them.”
The game was absolutely put away when Fugate went 58 yards on a 3rd-and-10 in the final minute, barely getting tripped up at the Edwardsburg 10. It was another in a long line of huge plays for Fugate, who had touchdown runs of one, five, 54 and 32 yards, as well as a 20-yard touchdown reception from Jack Bowen.
Fugate also had 86 yards receiving and came down with a 38-yard catch along the sideline on a crucial 3rd-and-28 play midway through the fourth quarter with his team clinging to a 35-31 lead.
“The long third down, I saw (Bowen) leave the pocket and I was running my route and knew I had to get open,” Fugate said. “I just kind of boxed my guy out and said throw the ball, and I just did my best to make a play on the ball, and I was able to come down with it.”
The game put Fugate over 2,900 yards rushing for the season, and capped off a brilliant career that saw him set the school’s all-time career rushing record.
“Fugate is obviously a terrific runner,” Edwardsburg coach Kevin Bartz said. “I thought he ran as hard as I’ve ever seen him. We watched a good portion of film on him, and we knew he was fast, but I guess what I was more impressed with today is how hard he ran. He picked up lots of extra yards after contact. He’s an impressive athlete.”
Bartz was equally impressed with his team, which was playing in the title game for the first time and kept finding ways to hang around despite trailing by 16 midway through the third quarter.
On top of the record-tying touchdowns, the Eddies had scoring runs of 55 and 78 yards from Kyle Shrider, and 64 yards from Chase Sager. Shrider finished with 162 yards rushing, while Bradley had 96 and Sager had 73.
“Just to make it to this point, this was a team that was not expected to be here,” Bartz said. “With the number of kids we lost last year, we were kind of expected, I think, by most to be average at best. For them to come out here and perform against a top-level team like Grand Rapids CC, I’m extremely proud of these kids. They’ve now set the bar pretty high for everybody else at Edwardsburg.”
Bowen finished with 128 yards passing for the Cougars, while Erik Grabow had a 14-yard touchdown run.
The MHSAA Playoffs are sponsored by the Michigan Army National Guard.
PHOTOS: (Top) Grand Rapids Catholic Central players raise the winner's trophy after Friday night’s Division 4 championship game. (Middle) Edwardsburg’s Kyle Shrider pulls away from a Cougars defender.