Hornets Prevail in Record-Setting Final
November 24, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
DETROIT – Clint Galvas didn’t need to tell Avery Moore what his junior quarterback already knew.
In fact, the New Lothrop coach didn’t necessarily want Moore to try to match Madison Heights Madison senior signal-caller Austin Brown on Saturday. Moore just needed to stay within himself, play his game, if the Hornets were to have their best shot at winning the Division 7 championship.
But Galvas also knew better. “He’s a 16-year-old kid who wants to go out there and outplay every kid,” the coach admitted, not long after the Hornets clinched a title seemingly years in the making.
Moore vs. Brown? Let’s call it a draw. But New Lothrop finished with the final edge in a record-breaking championship performance, outlasting Madison 50-44 to claim its first MHSAA football championship since winning Division 8 in 2006.
The combined 94 points broke the previous MHSAA Finals record of 91 set in Belding’s 50-41 Class B win over Detroit Country Day in 1994. Brown and Moore, meanwhile, both made the Finals record book in one or more categories.
“I respect him a lot. He’s a heck of an athlete,” Moore said of his counterpart Brown, who has committed to play collegiate baseball at Marshall University.
“But I knew to get the win I had to play my best game.”
Brown completed 17 of 30 passes for 298 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 105 yards and four scores on 25 carries – his 403 total yards tied for fifth-most in a championship game, and the four rushing TDs tied for third most. Moore threw for 99 yards on 7 of 13 passing and ran for 132 yards and four scores, also making the single-game rushing TD list.
They provided historical highlights to a game already deep with narrative.
New Lothrop (13-1) has lost just two regular-season games over the last nine seasons, but before Saturday’s hadn’t made the Finals since 2006. Three times over that nine-year run, the Hornets were stopped in Semifinals.
One of those regular-season defeats came this fall, 35-14 to Traverse City St. Francis in Week 9. That combined with moving to the first-year Mid-Michigan Activities Conference might have nudged the program that final step back to Detroit.
“Getting in a new league, playing a tougher regular season, definitely made us more battle-tested,” Galvas said. “Going to Traverse City and playing that team – that was a heck of a team that I thought we’d see down here as well. But at the end of the day, coming out of that loss Week 9, it kinda forced us all to take a step back, maybe have a little bit of humble pie because we were feeling good about ourselves.
“So I think that was actually a big thing for us. Since then, we hit another gear, like we can do this.”
And it was a big thing again Saturday morning.
New Lothrop built leads of 22-8 early in the second d quarter and 30-16 going into halftime. But Brown – who entered the game with 2,060 yards and 22 touchdowns passing and 1,831 yards and 33 scores rushing – capped two straight drives with short touchdown runs, and then answered a Moore scoring run early in the fourth quarter with one more to make it 36-36 with 6:38 to play.
“Our whole team is built for it, so in those situations we’re just looking forward to them,” Brown said of the back-and-forth. “But that’s a good team over there. You’ve got to give credit where credit is due.”
Moore led the Hornets back down the field, capping a nine-play, 66-yard drive with another rush score. And then, amid a battle of quarterbacks, a junior defensive back made one of the biggest plays of the game’s 130.
With Madison facing 3rd-and-12 at its 24-yard line, and trying to match scores again with just more than two minutes to play, New Lothrop junior Dylan Shaydik ripped away what would have been a first-down pass and returned the interception 33 yards. Two plays later, Moore broke through for a 13-yard score to make the advantage 14 point.
Madison added one last touchdown with 29 seconds to play. But off the onside kick, who ended up with the ball? Moore, of course.
“I never thought that we wavered at all,” Galvas said. “It wasn’t like heads hanging. It was like let’s go, let’s get the ball back and get (the lead) back. Just from having the schedule we had, from the games we played throughout the year, we knew we’d been in tight games, been in those games. No big deal, let’s keep playing, and that’s kinda how they handled it.”
Senior Aidan Harrison – who will play next at University of Missouri – added 93 yards and a score on the ground and returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown. Sophomore Will Muron added a rushing score as well.
Senior Tanner Barndollar caught four passes for 102 yards for Madison, while senior Sylvester Whitley caught five for 71 yards and a score and junior Makai Johnson also pulled in a touchdown grab.
Madison (13-1) was making its first Finals appearance since finishing Division 5 runner-up in 2006, and was seeking its first MHSAA football title. The Eagles just missed returning to the Finals last fall, losing by seven to Saugatuck in a Division 7 Semifinal. They are 25-2 over the last two seasons.
“We definitely had a bitter taste in our mouth last year after falling short in the Semifinals,” Madison coach James Rogers said. “These kids have been working super hard in the offseason and the entire season to get to this point today. And I’m glad they got here and got a taste of it. But I’m sure they’ll be calling my phone in December ready to get back after it again.”
New Lothrop’s run included a Regional Final win over two-time reigning champ Pewamo-Westphalia and then a Semifinal victory over previously-unbeaten Lake City. The championship would have been memorable in the small community for a long time on its own.
But the Hornets also were playing in honor of Braden “Buddy” Miller, who had died Oct. 19 at age 9 after a fight with a rare brain cancer. Miller had been best friends with Galvas’ son Jude, and the lime green socks worn by the Hornets on Saturday were in his honor.
“We kinda embraced him as our inspiration, and obviously when he passed it was a big healing process,” Clint Galvas said. “Our football team did a huge service to help heal and continue healing with that loss. We tried the best we could to represent him, obviously with the green socks and those things, but this is really big for the community in that regard as well. … I’m just proud of the way we represented our team and represented Buddy.”
PHOTOS: (Top) New Lothrop quarterback Avery Moore scores one of his four touchdowns Saturday at Ford Field. (Middle) The Hornets’ Dylan Shaydik (10) snags an interception late as his team held off Madison Heights Madison.
Flint Elite Beginning to See Results as Program Continues to Grow
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
September 4, 2025
Deion Wright isn’t shy about his early feelings for the Flint Elite football program he watched as a middle schooler.
“The first couple of years it was tough,” said Wright, who entered Flint New Standard Academy in sixth grade. “There were a couple times where I was begging my dad to let me transfer.”
Wright did not transfer, and as the Flint Elite Warriors – a cooperative program between New Standard and Madison Academy in Burton – came under the direction of coach Paul Carmona, Wright and his classmates have seen the benefits of sticking it out.
That started with some late-season success a year ago, and continued in a massive way this past Friday, when the Warriors defeated Erie Mason 46-20 as part of the Vehicle City Gridiron Classic at Atwood Stadium.
“It felt amazing,” said Wright, who threw five touchdown passes in the win. “It brought back memories, a lot of memories, and I’m glad I could do it one more time with my teammates. It brought back memories from Pop Warner, and from being (at Vehicle City) last year watching the games. We weren’t invited, but I went and watched. It was a great opportunity that we were presented, and we had to make the most of it.”
The win at Atwood is the first step in what Flint Elite is hoping can be a special season. The program is in its sixth year as a co-op, and second back playing a varsity schedule after some growing pains. The Warriors previously dropped to JV only and forfeited all varsity games in 2023, and had 26 freshmen on the varsity team in 2024.
But, with seven of those freshmen starting on offense alone – four along the offensive line – the Warriors showed growth through a 3-6 season, playing several tight games and going 3-1 over their final four.
Now, 11 offensive starters and nine on defense are back for the varsity, and the program has grown to the point where it has a JV team as well.
“When I came in, it was just trying to change the culture,” Carmona said. “There were not a lot of guys that realized what it takes to win in football. But we tried to change the mentality of everyone, that they’re student-athletes first, and good kids first. We’re trying to get them to be good kids – open doors, ‘Yes, sir,’ ‘Yes, ma’am,’ – and if we can win some football games along the way, I’m happy doing that. Last year was tough for us, they were learning what it took to play varsity football. But we ended last year with a couple wins, and that got us excited for the next year.”
At the heart of this turnaround are five seniors who have seen all the ups and downs. That includes Warriors quarterback Wright, receivers Jeffrey Turner, Razach Spillers and DiGion Perkins, and running back Patrick Isaacs. Some of those seniors also have been part of the basketball turnaround for Flint Elite, as the team won its first District and Regional titles this past season.
“(Wright) has been a QB his whole life, and he was here as a freshman and sophomore when things were rough,” Carmona said. “He loves Flint Elite, and loves being a part of the New Standard Academy. I’m happy for this senior group to be able to see the other side of the stick now.”
There’s plenty of work still to be done, of course, and that starts with a Genesee Athletic Conference opener Friday night at Genesee.
“We think pretty highly of what we’re trying to do around here,” Carmona said. “I know everyone says state championship, and that’s the ultimate goal, but we wanted to build it up: win a conference championship, make the playoffs, just stuff the school has never done before. We’re teaching these kids how to win, what it takes to win and the work you have to put in. We saw that the talent was there. The sky is the limit for these young men. I’ve got guys that are trying to pursue playing football at the next level.”
Wright is one of those, and this past Friday, he received his first college football offer.
“It felt great – it came as a shock,” Wright said. “I was talking to my dad and our athletic director came up and told me. It was just a shock. I saw the pride on my dad’s face once he told me. When my teammates found out, they were really hype.”
It was a special moment for Wright on a day full of them, and those have been made even more special because of what he and his teammates have gone through, together.
“It’s great that I’m still here with people I’ve known my whole life,” he said. “It’s a great feeling knowing that I’m able to accomplish things not only with my football teammates, but people I’ve grown up with. I know their whole story. We’re a family.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Flint Elite’s Phil Matthews carries the ball with a defender approaching. (Middle) Warriors quarterback Deion Wright throws a pass during warmups. (Below) Flint Elite takes a photo together after winning its Vehicle City Gridiron Classic matchup with Erie Mason. (Photos courtesy of the Flint Elite football program.)