Dominant Defense Sparks King Repeat
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
November 25, 2016
DETROIT – As much as it hurts Detroit Martin Luther King to lose to Detroit Cass Tech, falling twice to its rival this fall helped the Crusaders win the school’s third MHSAA football championship and second consecutive Friday.
King’s defense was outstanding, as the Crusaders held Walled Lake Western (12-2) to 124 yards in defeating the Warriors 18-0 in the Division 2 Final at Ford Field.
King (12-2) lost to Cass Tech, 31-18, during the regular season and then again in the Detroit Public School League title game at Ford Field, 41-20. King trailed 17-0 at halftime in the first game and 21-0 in the second meeting, and never seriously threatened Cass Tech in either.
First-year head coach Tyrone Spencer was the defensive coordinator before taking over for Dale Harvel, who died on July 22 of a heart attack. Harvel was the defensive coordinator in 2007 under coach Jim Reynolds when King won its first MHSAA title against Midland, 47-21.
“The (players) overcame a lot,” Spencer said. “They overcame adversity. But it’s also how you handle success. That’s why I thought those two losses helped. And I said then that I thought we would peak at the end.
“We think about (Harvel) all of the time. We thought about him yesterday, and we thought about him today. It meant a lot for us to win this. I know he’d be proud.”
King’s dominance on defense not only stuffed Western and an offense that averaged 42.5 points over the first four playoff games, but the unit had four interceptions, two of which went for touchdowns.
King led 6-0 at halftime, then gained just one yard in the third quarter and increased its lead to 12-0.
That’s what an opportunistic defense can provide.
Western began the second half well when quarterback Johnny Tracy completed a 21-yard pass to Justin Thomas to midfield. Jalen Bell then sacked Tracy for a 9-yard loss, and then Tracy attempted a sideline pass that was tipped just beyond the line of scrimmage and intercepted by Jesse Scarber at the King 44. Scarber, a first-year starter, raced down the left sideline to complete a 56-yard scoring play, and King led 12-0 with 10:37 left in the third quarter.
“King was very physical up front,” Tracy said. “They put on some pressure, and they were coming hard.”
For Scarber, it was his second interception of the game and fifth of the season – but this one was special.
“Once I saw it tipped, I just got it and ran for the end zone,” he said.
The defensive line, led by sophomores Tyrece Woods and Bell, have been stubborn against the run all season. It’s the secondary that’s been prone to give up a big play here and there, and Spencer addressed that after the second Cass Tech loss and again this week.
“We put a lot of pressure on our defensive backs,” Spencer said. “We’ve been big on the run, and I told (the defensive backs) you’ve got to step up.”
Using two passers, Western completed 8 of 23 throws for 70 yards with three interceptions. The Warriors were sacked four times.
King was held to 156 yards, but the offense had its moments.
The game was scoreless late in the first half when King took over on the Western 26 after a short punt. It took the Crusaders five plays to score as quarterback Dequan Finn completed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Ambry Thomas with 12 seconds left before the break. Matt Alati blocked the kick conversion attempt, and King led 6-0 at halftime.
Jaylen Wilson led King with 57 yards rushing on nine carries and Finn, a sophomore in his first season as a starter, was 7 of 15 for 68 yards passing.
There was one play, with King nursing that 12-0 lead, when Finn made a play that sometimes can be overlooked. King faced a 2nd-and-6 from its 23 when Finn completed a 31-yard pass to Christian Chatman to get the Crusaders out of a hole. The play came with 6:33 left, and King was able to milk another two minutes off the clock.
“It was a double post,” Finn said. “I saw the corner playing out and we talked about it on the sideline before the play. We all noticed it.
“It’s all about the team. My line did a great job of blocking.”
Jay-Veyon Morton completed the scoring when he returned an interception 66 yards for a touchdown with 2:53 left.
“King played great defense throughout the playoffs,” Western coach Mike Zdebski said. King’s defense allowed 35 points in the five playoff games. “They’re big up front. Cass must be a really good team.”
The MHSAA Football Finals are sponsored by the Michigan National Guard.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit King’s Jay-Veyon Morton (22) snags one of his two interceptions as Walled Lake Western’s Cody White works to bring him down. (Middle) King’s Ambry Thomas stretches toward the goal line while two Western defenders, including Jack Dodge (11), attempt to slow him.
Historic Finish May be Only Start as Cabrini Adds 1st Regional Title to Building Effort
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
November 28, 2025
ALLEN PARK — The result in its Division 8 Semifinal wasn’t what Allen Park Cabrini had hoped.
But in the end, the 2025 season might turn out to be the year a small-school powerhouse was born.
Before this fall, Cabrini had never advanced past the Regional round of the MHSAA Playoffs and had won only four playoff games in school history.
That changed this year, with Cabrini amassing an 11-2 record and winning its first Regional title before falling the next week to No. 1-ranked Hudson.
It was all part of the vision head coach and Cabrini alum R.J. Chidester had when he took over the job three years ago after spending years as a college assistant coach, with Division I Lehigh his last stop before moving home.
“I believe God brought me back home to Cabrini to use the gifts he has given me to show these kids how to develop their spirit and become the best Catholic American young men they can be,” Chidester said. “They develop their spirit with their faith, attitude, love and effort. If they focus on that, God takes over and everything else falls into place. Three years later, they are making their own beds, tuck their shirts in, go to church on their own and continuously push their minds and bodies to the max. That is why we have gotten the results we have.”
Eddie Hughes, a senior for Cabrini, said it’s been amazing to see that plan fulfilled almost verbatim.
“I talked to a teacher about this,” Hughes said. “He told us what was going to happen, and he said, ‘You guys can believe me or not.’ The day he took over the coaching job, he said if we all buy in, this is what’s going to happen.
“In recent weeks, he’s asked us, ‘The day I got this job three years ago, I told you what was going to happen, and what has not come true?’ None of us could think of a single thing. Everything he told us was going to happen has happened.”
Initially, the hardest step for Chidester was making sure he kept kids in the program. The school historically has had good athletes, but once they got to high school, many would move on to other schools that had historically better football programs.
Knowing that, Chidester made sure to share a message when he took the job with Cabrini’s then-middle schoolers and their parents.
“You have been at Cabrini, and why are you jumping ship?” Chidester said he told players and parents. “I don’t want to say it was a recruiting thing. It was more explaining to them what it was like to be part of a community. From an Xs and Os standpoint, your kid is going to be in great shape. I know the game, and I know how to develop. I’ve coached multiple positions at the college level, and I know coaches who’ll help the kids get to the next level.”
Helping the cause was that Cabrini’s pastor, Father Tim Birney, did something out of the box for the school by hiring Chidester as both a coach and administrator to work in the building.
That has helped because he’s in the school halls and around students every day.
“I’m the first male coach that’s been an employee of the school and in the building” Chidester said. “Father Tim said it had never been done here. He rolled the dice on that.”
As historic as this season was for Cabrini, there’s plenty of reasons to believe it can annually make deep playoff runs.
There are a lot of quality non-seniors on the roster, including junior quarterback Evan Bergdoll, and now younger kids in the K-12 school have seen firsthand that the program can win.
“It’s a way of buying in,” Hughes said. “Some kids didn’t stay and didn’t want to buy in. I don’t want to come off rude, but we’re not really missing them. If they don’t want to buy into our program, then good.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTO Allen Park Cabrini football players and coaches surround Fr. Tim Birney for a photo following a 34-32 win over Madison Heights Madison in their Division 8 Regional Final, which clinched the school's first Regional title. (Photo provided by Allen Park Cabrini football program.)