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.
Notre Dame Prep Seniors Leave Legacy in Leading Irish to Historic Heights
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
December 11, 2025
DETROIT – Understandably, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep head football coach Pat Fox couldn’t even get the words out before getting choked up.
At the start of the postgame press conference following his team’s 42-14 loss to Grand Rapids West Catholic in the Division 5 championship game Nov. 30, Fox tried to introduce several members of a historic senior class.
Then, the reality set in that he wouldn’t get to coach them again.
“I love my kids, and it’s hard to say goodbye,” Fox said while fighting back tears.
With a Division 5 championship last year and a runner-up finish this fall, Notre Dame Prep has likely established itself as a perennial contender with such a great foundation laid during Fox’s 12 years at the helm.
But to Fox’s point, it certainly will be hard for future players at the school to top the standards set by this year’s senior class.
Notre Dame Prep had never advanced to an MHSAA Final before the last two years and wasn’t a program known for sustained playoff runs.
“They were (32-5) as a group,” Fox said, referring to the team’s combined record the last three years.
What made it even harder for Fox was that he has known those seniors since they were starting kindergarten at the school.
Fox recited a story about how quarterback Sam Stowe, who threw for more than 5,000 yards combined over the last two seasons, took something from his sister during a holiday concert at the school when they were young kids, and Stowe’s sister tried tackling him to get it back.
Standouts such as linebacker Brody Sink, who has signed with Miami (Ohio), wideout Drake Roa, running back Ben Liparoto, and linemen Henry Ewles and Jack Williams also have been in the building with Fox for seemingly their whole lives and last year helped deliver Fox and the school their first Finals championship.
“I’ve known all of them since they were little boys,” Fox said.
Sink said if there was a turning point where the seniors knew they could help take the program to heights never before attained, it came when they were sophomores.
“My sophomore season, we had a great team, a great quarterback and great players,” Sink said. “We ended up losing to a really good Corunna team (in a District Final). But I didn’t hang my head. I knew we’d come back next year. We had a great (senior) class coming back last year and knew it would be something special for the next two seasons. We stayed the course, and it was a very special last two years.”
After going 9-1 two years ago, Notre Dame Prep went 12-1 last fall and 11-3 this season.
Through it all, the group became heroes to younger kids in the school, who regularly came up to them in the halls to say congratulations or just chat.
“It’s pretty cool,” Stowe said. “I used to be that kid too, looking up to all the Notre Dame Prep quarterbacks. To be that guy, you have to appreciate it and I’m totally humbled to be in the spot where I’m at today.”
Fox did say that before the senior class arrived at the varsity level, the program was “knocking on the door for a while” of becoming a state power, citing a close loss in Districts to eventual Division 4 champion Detroit Country Day in 2020 as one example.
Ultimately, it was this senior class that busted through that door, and now Fox hopes those younger players will take the torch and keep the program among the best in the state.
“You would hope they do,” Fox said. “But every year is different and every challenge is great. We have great kids.”
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.
PHOTOS (Top) Pontiac Notre Dame Prep quarterback Sam Stowe (15) throws a pass during the Division 5 Final while protected by lineman Adrian Fernandez (56). (Middle) Fighting Irish coach Pat Fox leads his team – including Henry Ewles (72) and Brody Sink (7) – off the field.