A Game for Every Fan: Week 5
September 24, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Halftime of this weekend’s games will mark the midway point of the 2015 football regular season.
And the final results this Friday and Saturday could prove to be turning points for a number of teams playing for league titles all over the state.
The Week 5 slate is filled with matchups of teams tied for first place in their respective leagues, plus others pitting leaders against those in second and hoping to move up. The report below touches on many, but not all of these – tune in to the Score Center this weekend for scores and updated standings as those games are decided.
Bay & Thumb
Frankenmuth (4-0) at Millington (4-0)
The latest chapter in this Tri-Valley Conference East rivalry should again decide the champion. Millington handed the Eagles their only loss of the 2014 regular season – although these two then shared the title with Birch Run after the Panthers beat the Cardinals. Millington has won nine of the last 15 meetings, but Frankenmuth holds a slim 22-20 edge going back to their first reported meeting in 1956.
Others that caught my eye: Almont (4-0) at Richmond (4-0), Mount Pleasant (3-1) at Lapeer (4-0), Flint Powers Catholic (3-1) at Midland Dow (3-1), St. Clair Shores South Lake (4-0) at Marine City (3-1).
Greater Detroit
Detroit Cass Tech (4-0) at Detroit Martin Luther King (4-0)
This Detroit Public School League rivalry game always is anticipated, but this season more than most. King’s only regular-season loss last season was to Cass Tech, in the PSL championship game; the Crusaders then saw their season end in the first round of the playoffs the next week. However, they opened this fall by beating reigning Division 2 champion Warren DeLaSalle. Cass Tech hasn’t lost a regular-season game since Week 8 of 2012 – to King – but despite dominating four opponents that had winning records a year ago, might be behind the Crusaders in terms of generating statewide buzz.
Others that caught my eye: Warren Mott (4-0) at Clinton Township Chippewa Valley (3-1), Belleville (3-1) at Dearborn Heights Robichaud (4-0), Southfield (3-1) at Farmington Hills Harrison (3-1), Warren DeLaSalle (3-1) at Orchard Lake St. Mary's (4-0).
Mid-Michigan
Olivet (3-1) at Lake Odessa Lakewood (4-0)
Lakewood has plenty of history it would like to still make, but consider this from the Vikings’ start: they are 4-0 for the first time since 1974. Those four wins tie the total for all of last season and tie the team’s most for a season since 2005. Lakewood’s 176 points through four games is more than they scored during 14 of the last 20 seasons. But Olivet certainly can dampen the excitement by winning tonight’s Greater Lansing Activities Conference matchup, like the Eagles did last season 42-9 on the way to winning the league title.
Others that caught my eye: Jackson (3-1) at Grand Ledge (4-0), Flint Beecher (4-0) at Corunna (3-1), Haslett (3-1) at Mason (2-2), Holt (2-2) at East Lansing (2-2).
Northern Lower Peninsula
Boyne City (4-0) at Traverse City St. Francis (4-0)
By the smallest of margins, this game gets top billing over two others matching undefeated teams. For starters, Boyne City won the matchup last season 28-27 – and eventually, the Northern Michigan Football Conference Leaders division title. The Ramblers then made the Division 6 Semifinals, and then graduated a significant group of contributors – but has come back to shut out two of its first four opponents. Then again, St. Francis didn’t give up a point this season until last week and is sparking statewide chatter like its contending teams of a few years ago.
Others that caught my eye: Gaylord (4-0) at Traverse City Central (4-0), St. Ignace (4-0) at Johannesburg-Lewiston (4-0), Onekama (4-0) at Maple City Glen Lake (3-1), McBain (3-1) at Manton (2-2).
Southeast & Border
Clinton (4-0) at Morenci (4-0)
Morenci won 10 games last fall for the first time since 1996 – but the only blemish on an otherwise incredible regular-season run was a 28-26 loss to Clinton that ended up deciding the Tri-County Conference championship. All four of the Bulldogs’ wins this season are against teams .500 or better so far, lining this up as again a likely league title decider – Clinton has shut out two of its first four opponents and won 31 straight regular-season games.
Others that caught my eye: Brooklyn Columbia Central (4-0) at Ida (4-0), Monroe (3-1) at Ann Arbor Pioneer (4-0), Chelsea (4-0) at Tecumseh (2-2), New Boston Huron (2-2) at Milan (3-1).
Southwest Corridor
Berrien Springs (4-0) at Bridgman (4-0)
Both of these programs have enjoyed recent success; Bridgman has made the playoffs three straight seasons, and Berrien Springs made the postseason last year and two of the last four. But there’s a little more intrigue although these teams don’t play in the same division of the Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Conference. Bridgman has never started 4-0 – and looks like the BCS Blue favorite. Berrien Springs likely will battle Buchanan in the BCS White and hasn’t allowed a point in two weeks, most recently shutting out BCS Red favorite Cassopolis.
Others that caught my eye: Saugatuck (4-0) at Decatur (3-1), Dowagiac (3-1) at Edwardsburg (4-0), Jackson Lumen Christi (4-0) at Marshall (3-1), Sturgis (3-1) at Vicksburg (3-1).
Upper Peninsula
Lake Linden-Hubbell (4-0) at L'Anse (3-1)
The Lakes are used to success and have made the playoffs nine of the last 11 seasons – but are 4-0 for the first time since winning 10 games in 2009 and on pace to score their most points since 1997. L’Anse has bounced back from 4-5 a year ago but has a tough schedule over the season’s second half – and would enjoy the momentum from playing a tough opponent well this weekend.
Others that caught my eye: Crystal Falls Forest Park (2-2) at Newberry (3-1), Detroit Country Day (3-1) at Escanaba (2-2), Ishpeming Westwood (2-2) at Iron Mountain (2-2), Felch North Dickinson (1-3) at Bark River-Harris (4-0).
West Michigan
Montague (4-0) at Whitehall (3-1)
The season’s first half has been one of resurgence for Montague, one of the state’s most successful programs during the first decade of the 2000s. The Wildcats are 4-0 for the first time since 2010 and after going only 2-7 a year ago. They’re giving up points, but scoring more including 70 on Ravenna and 55 against Shelby. Whitehall did fall by a score to undefeated Traverse City Central last week, but otherwise navigated well a solid nonleague slate – and beat Montague 48-20 a year ago.
Others that caught my eye: Hudsonville Unity Christian (3-1) at Byron Center (3-1), Grand Rapids Christian (3-1) at Hudsonville (3-1), Zeeland East (3-1) at Muskegon Mona Shores (4-0), Caledonia (2-2) at Rockford (2-2).
8-Player
Posen (4-0) at Pickford (3-1)
Pickford should be finding 8-player football to its liking so far. The Panthers, in their first season, have one more win than they earned all of 2014 and have lost this fall only to reigning MHSAA runner-up Cedarville. Posen has shown to be in a similar elite class so far, especially after last week’s 30-point win over always-tough Bellaire – and the Vikings have guaranteed tying their best finish since 2010.
Others that caught my eye: Webberville (4-0) at Waldron (4-0), Owendale-Gagetown (4-0) at Akron-Fairgrove (3-1).
PHOTO: A Detroit Cass Tech ball carrier breaks through during the Technicians’ win this season against Detroit Renaissance. (Photo courtesy of Detroit Public School League.)
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.