
Fast Start Sends DeLaSalle Soaring
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 24, 2017
DETROIT – Brendan Madigan kept his promise.
He was on the field as a freshman in 2014 when Warren DeLaSalle won its first MHSAA Division 2 football championship. And he enjoyed it so much, he told himself he would come back and do it again.
On Friday, the senior captain led the Pilots to title No. 2, as they rolled to a 41-6 victory against Livonia Franklin again in Division 2 at Ford Field.
“I got to see those guys (in 2014), see what it was like and get the feeling of what it is,” Madigan said. “Ever since then, I made a promise to myself to get all of my guys back here and win it again, so it feels great.”
It was a brilliant finish to a season that started with immediate adversity following a 36-6 loss against Lowell during opening weekend. But the Pilots (12-2) responded positively and proved their worth week in and week out, winning the Detroit Catholic League Central title and knocking off two-time reigning Division 2 champion Detroit Martin Luther King on their way to Ford Field.
“Nobody thought we could do it after we lost to Lowell – and we lost by a lot,” said DeLaSalle junior Evan Vaillancourt, who had 160 yards receiving and a touchdown Friday. “But we came back and had the best practice we had, and played really good (in Week 2) against Grandville, then we played good from there on.”
There was no adversity to deal with in the title game, as DeLaSalle found itself ahead 7-0 just 16 seconds in, and without having put its offense on the field.
Madigan recovered a snap that had sailed over the Franklin backfield and ran 13 yards for the touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. It was the first time since 2005 that the first play from scrimmage had resulted in a touchdown in an MHSAA Final.
“I saw the ball go over (the quarterback’s) head, and immediately I knew I had to scoop it up,” Madigan said. “It bounced good, I got to pick it up and run it in. (DeLaSalle junior) Jacob Dobbs even helped me get in, carrying me a little bit. It felt great to start the game out with points even when they started with the ball.”
DeLaSalle scored 21 points off three first-half Franklin turnovers.
“We knew going in that we couldn’t get them extra opportunities, and that’s kind of what we did there in the first half,” Franklin coach Chris Kelbert said. “Just momentum never got on our side, and that’s one of the things we had to do to win, to beat a team that good, and it just didn’t work out for us.”
DeLaSalle proved it didn’t need good field position to score points, averaging 8.0 yards per play and racking up 313 yards of offense. Senior quarterback Luke Pfromm accounted for 207 of those yards through the air, as he was 10 of 12 passing with a pair of touchdowns.
“I thought (Pfromm’s performance) was decent,” DeLaSalle coach Mike Giannone said with a laugh. “I would say he was on. Some of the things we do, play-action passing, some of the deep balls and other things that he can see – he’s developed into a real fine quarterback, and I think someone out there is going to really get a steal.”
Franklin (11-3), which was playing in its first Final since winning the first MHSAA Class A title in 1975, appeared unfazed by the unfortunate start, driving all the way to the DeLaSalle 5-yard line on the next possession. But that was as close as the Patriots would get, turning the ball over on downs before seeing the Pilots put together a 93-yard drive of their own and go up 14-0 on 60-yard pass from Pfromm to Vaillancourt.
Turnovers on Franklin’s next two possessions allowed the Pilots to essentially put the game away in the second quarter. A Josh DeBerry interception set up a 2-yard Pfromm touchdown run, and a fumble recovery set up 4-yard touchdown pass from Pfromm to Sergio Gasperoni.
“We’ve made some plays defensively (this season); we put pressure on people,” Giannone said. “One of our coaches says, with pressure, the pipes burst.”
A 2-yard touchdown run from Cordell Tannyhill and a 23-yard field goal by Riley Garrison gave DeLaSalle a 38-0 lead heading into halftime. Garrison added a 30-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.
Franklin’s lone score came on a 5-yard run by Isaac Moore, which he set up with a 72-yard run on the previous play. Moore led the Franklin offense with 160 yards on the ground.
The MHSAA Playoffs are sponsored by the Michigan Army National Guard.
PHOTOS: (Top) Warren DeLaSalle’s Semaj Shelton (12) leaps past a defender's outstretched arm during Friday’s Division 2 Final. (Middle) Pilots quarterback Luke Pfromm rolls out looking for an open receiver.

Football Future Awaits, but Mayne Focused First on Finishing Track Finals Sweep
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
April 22, 2025
LAWTON — One inch. One lousy inch.
That was the difference between a championship and second place for Mason Mayne in the shot put at last year’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 3 Track & Field Finals.
One year later, it is still fresh in the mind of the personable Lawton senior as he begins his quest for more hardware.
“That one hurt,” said Mayne, whose best attempt finished second to a 60-foot, 2-inch toss by Pewamo-Westphalia’s Gavin Nurenberg.
“That really burned. You start to wonder, did they measure it wrong? What if I just literally put a little more into it? It drove me to work harder toward it.”
That harder work paid off during the second event that day as Mayne defeated the then-senior Nurenberg 166-6 to 165-11 in the discus to claim Lawton’s first-ever track & field state championship in that event.
Besides taking home that Finals title last year, Mayne holds school records with an indoor-season shot of 62-6 and outdoor of 60-9, as well as a discus toss of 178 feet.
An all-state football player and outstanding student as well, Mayne had opportunities to continue his athletic careers in both sports before signing with Northwestern University. But he also made the decision to compete for his high school one more time this spring instead of graduating early to begin his college career – much to the delight of Lawton track & field coach Mike Meyer.
“He’s been nothing but a joy ever since his freshman year,” Meyer said. “He’s a good, hard worker, obviously a great athlete. All his talent is definitely a nice problem to have.
“He’s been a two-year captain for us, so a good leader, (he) does everything and more than what we ask. That’s why he has the success that he has.”
All-around talent
Mayne said coaching is one big crossover from football to track & field.
“Listening to someone tell you what to do and then do it, I think that’s a super big part of throwing,” he said. “If someone tells you how to do something better in your throw to make it technically better, and you can’t do it, then you can’t get better.
“Playing football for so long, I’ve had so many coaches tell me to do this just a little bit different. And being able to flip that and make that change and adjustment, that’s what makes me able to get better at throwing.”
Mayne said hurling the disc takes more finesse than the shot.
“Technical-wise, the shot put (12 pounds) is easier because I can base it more on how much muscle I can put into it,” he said. “Discus is lighter, (3.5 pounds) but you also have to use your technique a lot more.
“Also, you have to push your body to a point of really stretching it back, allowing it to create a lot of torque into the disc to be able to throw it far enough for it to be worth anything.”
As for those windy days competing in field events, “A lot of people think that the wind behind you helps you,” Mayne said. “That’s actually not true.
“It actually bats the disc down. In the discus, as a right-handed thrower, you want the wind to come across a little bit from your left to throw into. Think of it as an airplane wing, holding up the airplane, the air coming into it. With the shot, it doesn’t matter. It’s just throwing it.”
Lawton’s athletes who specialize in field events also compete in some running competition. Mayne has run the 200 this season and took a turn running the 100 last spring as well.
“We usually have our throwers run the 200,” Meyer said. “We like athletes instead of just specializing in just one or two things for the (Southwest Athletic) Conference.
“We have all of our kids run two, three and sometimes four events. It can be a long day at a track meet if your events are done and you have nothing to do.”
Mayne is not only an accomplished athlete, but carries a 4.19 grade-point average.
“With the way my mom (Pat) raised me and my brother (Carter) both, she’s a teacher at Paw Paw in the elementary,” he said. “She raised us with the idea that academics are very important. That’s where I’m academically driven.
“She might get mad at me for saying this, but if I miss an assignment, I’m getting a picture on my phone with a circle around it of the assignment missing in my grade book. It’s very important to me.”
That emphasis motivates Mayne’s advice for freshmen who play sports.
“Stay on top of (academics),” he said. “For so many years my mom kept me on top of things. Now I’m able to stay on top of things better myself.
“Your freshman year is the make-or-break it. Having an older brother helped a lot because without him, he wouldn’t have told me that and I wouldn’t have stayed ahead of it.”
Tough decisions
Mayne’s outstanding performances in throwing events last year attracted several college scholarship offers for track in addition to several he’d received previously for football. Choosing a college was not an easy decision for the defensive lineman, who is a two-time Kalamazoo Gazette Dream Team selection in that sport.
“It’s funny because I was really, really considering track for a while,” said the 6-foot-3, 275-pound Mayne. “After my sophomore year when I had a very successful track season, I started to lean toward track.”
But a trip to the Big House to watch University of Michigan play tilted the scale to football.
“I was watching and I realized I just couldn’t give it up,” he said. “I love both sports, but something about football, the team atmosphere, just sitting in the stadium gets me antsy, that atmosphere and that vibe. That’s really what flipped me into the football aspect. That electricity from the fans and the guys around you. I haven’t experienced any other sport like it.
“It was a very tough decision. I was sad that I couldn’t go multiple ways. Many fantastic coaches recruited me. It’s unfortunate that you have to tell coaches you can’t go to their program because you’re choosing a different program.”
Mayne said he had specific criteria in mind when choosing a college. “Academics is a priority here,” he said. “I also want to play football at a very high level, and then the last is a family aspect.
“Northwestern just checked all the boxes.”
Before the season, Meyer thought he might lose Mayne to early graduation since “he’s a very, very good student. We chatted and he said, ‘Coach, I definitely want to be throwing. I love throwing,’ and he’s a man of his word.
“Once he told me that, I was more excited for the season.”
At one point, Mayne did indeed consider leaving high school to enroll early at Northwestern, which would have meant missing his final spring throwing season.
However, “my mom wasn’t ready for me to leave, which I’m fine with,” he said. “I understand that. I’m her youngest child, I get it.
“Also, you get to start throwing indoors and it’s like, ‘I don’t want to give this up, either.’”
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) Lawton’s Mason Mayne begins to unwind while throwing the shot during a meet. (Middle) Lawton track & field coach Mike Meyer. (Below) Mayne stands tall on the football field. (Action photos courtesy of Mason Mayne; headshot by Pam Shebest.)