Football Families Carry on Tradition
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
November 12, 2015
WATERFORD – Football always has been a family affair at Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes.
It started with longtime coach Mike Boyd and continues on with Josh Sawicki, who’s in his third season as Lakes’ football coach.
Boyd retired after 2012 with 361 career victories, third most in MHSAA history. His sons, Mike, Jr., and Andy, played for him and contributed significantly to the Lakers’ success.
Mike Boyd played for his cousin, Leo “Smokey” Boyd, at Saginaw St. Peter & Paul.
And Boyd coached a number of siblings in his 48 seasons at Lakes. Josh and Jake Sawicki were two. Josh played linebacker and guard for four seasons, three times selected to all-state teams. Jake was a running back.
Sawicki took over for Boyd and has continued the winning tradition. Lakes was 8-3 his first season, 9-2 last season, and the Lakers are 11-0 heading into Saturday’s 1 p.m. Division 8 Regional Final against Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary (10-1).
Those family ties continue as well. Quarterback Clay Senerius and receiver Devin Senerius are fraternal twins.
Clay is a three-year starter and is one of the top quarterbacks in Division 8. He’s 6-foot-3, 185 pounds and has been offered a scholarship by Avila University, an NAIA school in Kansas City (Mo.). Kalamazoo College, Hope College and St. Francis, located in Fort Wayne (Ind.) have also shown interest.
Senerius threw a school-record seven touchdown passes in a game as a junior. During his career he’s thrown at least five touchdown passes in a game five times. Through 10 games this season, he’s completed 107 of 171 attempts for 2,226 yards, 26 touchdowns and five interceptions.
And if Lakes wasn’t such a well-balanced team, those statistics would be even more impressive.
“He’s a drop-back passer,” Sawicki said. “He has some athletic ability. What I like about him is he’s coachable. He throws a pretty pass. When he’s locked in, it’s like a video game.
“We throw it, but we don’t throw it that much.”
To the point, Lakes – Senerius, that is – threw for 2,900 yards last season and rushed for 1,200. This year the Lakers have gained half of their yards on the ground.
This team is primed to make a long playoff run. It’s dominated by seniors, and for a small school, the linemen are big. The offensive linemen average 235 pounds, the defensive linemen 260.
The best on offense is left guard Liam Sutton (6-0, 280), one of four seniors on the line. Sawicki will often run plays to Sutton’s side or use him as a pulling guard.
At nose guard is senior Anthony Clark (6-1, 310). Clark started playing football last season and is still developing. A state champion powerlifter, Clark is used just on defense.
Sawicki said a family member discouraged Clark from playing football.
“It took a while for his mom to allow him to play,” Sawicki said. “She was afraid he was going to get hurt. I assured her that Clark wasn’t going to be the one getting hurt.”
But what makes Lakes a team to be reckoned with is its offense, led by the Senerius twins and their other playmakers like Ryan Kostich, a 6-1, 215-pound linebacker and slot receiver, and running back-receiver Chris Cartier. Devin Senerius has 12 touchdown receptions and Cartier is averaging 13 yards every time he touches the ball, rushing and receiving.
“We have some really good receivers,” Clay Senerius said. “The last few weeks we’ve run the ball well, too. The offensive line is excelling.
“It’s great playing with my brother. I know typically what he’s going to do. I know where he’s going to be."
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes football coach Josh Sawicki fist-bumps his players during a Prep Bowl appearance at Ford Field. (Middle) Receiver Ryan Kostich (81) races through an opening during a 36-10 win over Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood. (Photos by Paula Imboden.)
1st & Goal: 2025 8-Player Finals Preview
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 21, 2025
The competition truly will be superior again at Saturday’s 8-Player Football Finals at Northern Michigan University’s Superior Dome.
Three of four teams playing in the two championship games are undefeated – and the one loss among the four came when two played each other during the final week of the regular season.
Blanchard Montabella and Martin will kick off at 11 a.m., and Felch North Dickinson and Portland St. Patrick follow at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $10 and are good for both games, and may be purchased online through NMU or at the door – click for details.
Both games will be broadcast by the NFHS Network:
Audio of both games will be streamed live on MHSAANetwork.com.
Below is a look at all four finalists:
Division 1
BLANCHARD MONTABELLA
Record/Rank: 11-1, No. 2
Coach: Tim Webb, sixth season (32-23)
League finish: First in Mid-State Activities Conference Blue
Championship history: Has never played in an MHSAA Final.
Best wins: 32-28 over No. 3 Norway in Semifinal, 26-0 (Regional Final) and 36-26 over No. 9 Merrill, 64-26 (Regional Semifinal) and 54-18 over Breckenridge.
Players to watch: RB/DB Austin Jensen, 5-10/155, jr. (828 yards/14 TDs rushing, 681 yards/6 TDs receiving); QB Gabe Kauffman, 5-9/160, jr. (1,215 yards/14 TDs passing, 481 yards/9 TDs rushing); RB/LB Brady Kieff, 5-10/160, sr. (1,561/19 TDs rushing); DL Cody Omo, 6-0/160, sr. (95 tackles, 12 sacks).
Outlook: Montabella’s longest playoff run has included its first Regional title and second-straight league championship, The Norway win – during which the Mustangs came back from a 20-point deficit – was Montabella’s only single-digit win, with the lone defeat to Division 2 finalist Portland St. Patrick. Kieff missed all of last season but has led a rushing attack that averages nearly 300 yards and five touchdowns per game. Omo made the all-state second team last season. Junior linebacker Mason Bogart always seems to be around the ball and has 145 tackles.
MARTIN
Record/Rank: 12-0, No. 1
Coach: Brad Blauvelt, eighth season (78-14)
League finish: First in Southwest Michigan 8-Man Football League Red
Championship history: Three MHSAA Finals titles (most recent 2023).
Best wins: 20-8 over No. 5 Kingston in Semifinal, 36-20 over No. 10 Climax-Scotts in Regional Final, 48-26 over Division 2 No. 6 Grand Rapids Sacred Heart, 52-6 over Gobles, 58-20 over Bridgman.
Players to watch: QB/S Haylen Buell, 5-10/175, sr. (1,528 yards/32 TDs rushing, 866 yards/13 TDs passing); WR/DB Weson Elkins, 6-0/170, sr. (408 yards/6 TDs receiving); RB/OLB Seth Toris, 5-3/155, jr. (1,331 yards/10 TDs rushing); OL/DL Peyton Schuring-Harris, 6-3/280, sr. (Statistics through Regional Finals.)
Outlook: Martin is back at Superior Dome after most recently winning back-to-back championships in 2022 and 2023. Buell as a sophomore was among the team’s leading rushers and receivers in the 2023 title game, and he earned an all-state honorable mention last year at linebacker. The Clippers’ closest game this season was the Semifinal win; no other opponent has come closer than two touchdowns. Senior Bryer Watson also has been among offensive leaders, with 562 yards and nine touchdowns rushing and 379 yards and five TDs receiving heading into the Semifinal.
Division 2
FELCH NORTH DICKINSON
Record/Rank: 12-0, No. 7
Coach: Mike Christian, 10th season (37-59)
League finish: First in Great Lakes Eight Conference Central
Championship history: 11-Player Class D runner-up 1998.
Best wins: 44-28 over No. 2 Onekama in Semifinal, 32-12 (Regional Final) and 38-34 over Lake Linden-Hubbell, 40-22 over St. Ignace in Regional Semifinal.
Players to watch: TE/DE Trenton Kramer, 6-4/190, jr. (1,062 yards/18 TDs receiving); FB/LB Jason Graham, 5-8/160, jr. (1,207 yards/17 TDs rushing); QB/DB Brady Jungwirth, 5-10/155, sr. (1,888 yards/28 TDs passing); HB/LB Tyler Fleming, 5-3/110, sr. (612 yards/6 TDs rushing). (Statistics through Regional Final.)
Outlook: North Dickinson has gone from not having a team two years ago to reaching its first championship game in nearly three decades. The Nordics have played only one single-digit game this fall, defeating Lake Linden-Hubbell by four in their season opener before winning the rematch two weeks ago by 20. North Dickinson missed the playoffs last season but did win their final five games, giving them a current 17-game unbeaten streak. Jungwirth’s ability to throw gives the Nordics more balance than most, and Kramer was averaging 19.3 yards per catch heading into last week.
PORTLAND ST. PATRICK
Record/Rank: 12-0, No. 3
Coach: Patrick Russman, 19th season (138-61)
League finish: First in MSAC Red
Championship history: 11-Player Class D champion 1992, five runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 36-15 over No. 4 Deckerville in Semifinal, 51-22 over No. 1 Mendon in Regional Final, 14-7 over No. 9 Morrice, 42-16 over Division 1 No. 2 Blanchard Montabella, 62-12 over Division 1 No. 9 Merrill.
Players to watch: QB/DB Jerryd Scheurer, 5-1/165, jr. (572 yards/10 TDs passing, 306 yards/11 TDs rushing, 32 tackles/7 interceptions); RB/DB Brady Leonard, 6-0/185, sr. (1,263 yards/17 TDs rushing, 55 tackles/10 interceptions); RB/DB Hudson King, 5-8/160, sr. (932 yards/16 TDs rushing); OL/LB Augustus Teachworth, 6-3/190, sr. (85 tackles)
Outlook: St. Patrick most recently finished Division 2 runner-up in 2017, 2019 and 2020 and will make this trip to Superior Dome after navigating arguably the toughest playoff path of any team in 8-player. After defeating Division 1 finalist Montabella in Week 9, the Shamrocks opened the postseason with a 62-16 win over Marion before taking on Mendon and Deckerville, and Morrice is the only opponent this fall to get closer than 21 points. It’s easy to point to the powerful offense, but the defense has given up only 10.2 points per game and been opportunistic with 24 interceptions and seven fumble recoveries.
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