'Lights Out' D Keys DeLaSalle's D2 Repeat
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
November 23, 2018
DETROIT – Not once had Muskegon Mona Shores been held under 33 points this season. Keeping opponents off-balance with their veer option attack, the Sailors averaged 45.6 over 13 games leading up to Saturday’s Division 2 Final, and 47.5 per game during the playoffs.
But Mona Shores hadn’t faced a defense like the one Warren DeLaSalle brought to Ford Field.
Since allowing 36 points to Muskegon in its opener, DeLaSalle’s defense has been as formidable as any in the state – and the Pilots demonstrated that once again on the big stage.
Led by senior linebackers Jacob Dobbs and Devon Campbell, DeLaSalle held Mona Shores to 217 yards in defeating the Sailors, 29-16.
Yes Bear Bryant, defense does indeed win championships (the iconic college football coach is considered to have been the first to make that statement). The Pilots (12-2) held their five playoff opponents to a combined 36 points on the way to not only repeating as Division 2 champions but winning their third title in five seasons.
“Our defense was lights out,” DeLaSalle coach Mike Giannone said. “They’ve been that way all year, and I want to compliment them on it.
“Offensively, we did what we had to do.”
The Pilots set the tone on the first series when Dobbs and safety Derek Roskopp stopped running back Sincere Dent for a four-yard loss on a 4th-and-1 from the Mona Shores 35. The Sailors also went for it on a 4th-and-1 on their next series and were stopped short. The latter stop led to DeLaSalle’s first touchdown, a Nolan Schultz one-yard sneak to give the Pilots a 7-0 lead.
Mona Shores (12-2) tied the game with 1:26 left in the half on a two-yard run by quarterback Casen Boersma. The Sailors had but one first down before their scoring drive, and they received a boost when Dent, a 5-foot-11, 217-pound senior, busted loose for a 24-yard run. Boersma then ran 17 yards to set up his score.
It was a ragged first half as each team gained three first downs, punted four times and combined for 183 yards.
Each team scored on each of its first two possessions to begin the second half, and Schultz’s second one-yard touchdown run gave the Pilots a 21-10 lead with 10:44 remaining.
Mona Shores answered with an eight-play, 63-yard drive that ended with Boersma’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Da’Varius Carter with 7:26 left.
The Pilots put the game away with their best drive, which took 5:29 off the clock and ended with Schultz’s third one-yard sneak for a touchdown. The 12-play drive went 65 yards, and DeLaSalle used 11 running plays, eight by running back Evan Vaillancourt. Vaillancourt gained 24 yards on the drive and had 52 for the game on 18 carries.
Roskopp ended Mona Shores’ last drive with an interception with 31 seconds left.
“Hats off to DeLaSalle,” Mona Shores coach Matt Koziak said. “Defensively, they are tough. I thought our defense did well matching up with their physicality. Then it became a possession game. They wanted to run the clock, and that’s what they did.”
Yes, it was a team effort by the Pilots – but two players stood out: Dobbs and Schultz.
Schultz, a senior, was third on the depth chart before the start of the season. Junior Anthony Stepnitz was the starting quarterback, but he suffered an injury in the fourth game against Birmingham Brother Rice, and Schultz took over the following week.
“(Assistant coach) Bob Schroeder called me up after Anthony went down and told me to try Schultz,” Giannone said. “He liked the fact he was a gamer. He was our starting safety, and I didn’t know if I wanted to do that. He started some (at quarterback) on the JV as a sophomore, and we decided to go with him.”
Giannone simplified the offense until Schultz gained confidence. Accounting for 300 yards in total offense against Detroit Catholic Central in a 24-6 victory at Ford Field in the Catholic League championship game did much to build upon that confidence. After a so-so first half against Mona Shores, Schultz was 6-of-7 passing for 132 yards and one touchdown during the second. He also rushed for 41 yards on five carries over the final 24 minutes.
“We’ve been to Ford Field before,” Schultz said. “It wasn’t a big deal for us.”
Dobbs led all players with 16 tackles and forced one fumble. At receiver he had three receptions for 65 yards and one touchdown, a 44-yarder that gave DeLaSalle a 14-7 lead.
“He has a great nose for the ball, and he has great instincts,” Giannone said. “To play with your friends, it means more. These guys have been playing a lot together. It’s more fun.”
Dobbs couldn’t decide which play was more fun, the stop on fourth down or the touchdown catch.
“Everybody did their job,” Dobbs said. “Our defense is amazing. It’s all you can asked for.
“We didn’t see any weaknesses on film (of Mona Shores). They have a big running back. They have a good quarterback, and they have two good receivers. We knew they wanted to run the midline and the veer. Our coaches prepared us for that.”
Campbell had 10 tackles to support Dobbs’ play, and Dent had 10 tackles from his linebacker spot.
Giannone completed his third season at DeLaSalle after spending 15 at Macomb Dakota, where he led the Cougars to two MHSAA Division 1 titles. Much of the credit for the play of his defense goes to Brandon Bush, a starter on the second Dakota championship team (2007), and he’s been Giannone’s defensive coordinator all three seasons at DeLaSalle.
“He was coaching the freshmen at Dakota,” Giannone said. “I saw in him somebody I could trust. It’s all continuity. At Dakota we had the same staff for 15 years. We try to pay it back.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Warren DeLaSalle’s Jacob Dobbs brings down a Mona Shores ball carrier Friday at Ford Field. (Middle) Pilots quarterback Nolan Schultz pushes for one of his touchdown sneaks.
Heston Football Celebrates 1st League Title as Seniors Cap Extraordinary Rise
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
November 5, 2025
St. Helen Charlton Heston Academy finished this football season with a five-game winning streak and in possession of a trophy representing the school’s first North Star League Big Dipper championship in any sport.
The feat is especially incredible considering where the Patriots’ football program stood just four years ago.
Those Patriots welcomed a new assistant coach who would soon take over the program, but also five freshmen – Dylan Chichowski, Owen Romancky, Corbin Greenless, Desyln Klumpp and Tiernan Hinmon – in the starting lineup.
“If you rewind the clock, and go back to, like 2022, we went four straight games without even scoring a point,” said third-year head coach Matt Whelchel, who joined the staff that fall. “So to come from that and fast forward to this year, those (five) have been assistant coaches almost to me. They've really led this program to where it is right now.”
Those five seniors were part of a team than snapped a 43-game program losing streak as sophomores. They then led the Patriots to a 4-5 finish last year and 6-2 overall record this fall – with an undefeated run through league play. Heston was not eligible for the MHSAA Playoffs in 8-player because its enrollment exceeds the 215-student maximum to compete in the postseason. But Whelchel noted that the school remains ecstatic about what the team accomplished.
Before turning the program around last year, the Patriots found wearing jerseys to school on game days more than a little difficult.
“We would not get made fun of, but when we talked about having a football game or had our jerseys on and we were in that losing situation, it wasn't a very prideful thing,” noted Klumpp, the team’s kicker, running back and receiver. “You're wearing a football jersey, and everyone else thinks that you're just a joke because we never win.
“And being able to turn that around, people, you know, just mentioning how fun the football games have been to watch. It's also been something we had to fight through.”
Klumpp, Greenless, Romancky and Chichowski also experienced a winless season as eighth-graders as Whelchel served the school as the middle school head coach and varsity assistant. Whelchel took over the varsity program in 2023.
The players credit Whelchel with instilling an offseason work ethic. The focus on studying film, spending time in the weight room and dedication to maintaining mental and physical health were also among keys to the Patriots’ turnaround.
“Our senior class had it extra hard starting out from middle school,” said Romancky, who played on both the offensive and defensive lines. “I think after our freshman year, once we lost every game, the drive to win the first one just became very apparent and we really took that step forward.”
Whelchel is quick to point out the school had had a good deal of talent over its 11 years of football history. Dedication, though, is at an all-time high for the Patriots.
“I have no doubts in my mind that we had players in the past that wanted to win, but you've got to have more than that,” said Whelchel, who also serves as an elementary physical education teacher. “We had talent sometimes – we just didn't have the drive. You've got to have more than the will to win. You got to spend time in the weight room and keep grades up – and it takes a lot of dedication.”
Whelchel also credits his coaching staff for much of the Patriots’ success. The assistant coaches are Jory Klumpp, Graham Church, Liam McKeage and Nathaniel Snyder.
Heston always has found community support for football, but things are a little different nowadays. The varsity players are often asked for autographs from youth football kids.
“The community has always had our back — even last year, coming into some of our home games without a winning season — we always had our stands full and stuff,” said Chichowski, the team’s quarterback. “And this year, as I work out of school during the day, everybody who comes in is asking about the game, when it starts, and just telling us that they're going to be there and stuff. It's awesome.”
Chichowski racked up 1,076 passing yards and threw 12 touchdown passes. He also had four rushing TDs and 308 yards rushing for 1,384 total offensive yards. He was named to the Big Dipper’s all-conference team, as was Klumpp, Romancky, Tiernan Hinmon and Corbin Greenless.
Greenless, a senior lineman, led team in tackles with 114 plus six sacks. He added defensive touchdowns via a blocked punt and an interception.
Hinmon, also a senior, led the team in touchdowns scored with 18. Twelve were on the ground, where he compiled 780 rushing yards. He also came through with a pick six against Au Gres-Sims in the fourth quarter of Heston’s 43-6 season-concluding victory.
Romancky, who also had interception return touchdowns against Hillman and Whittemore-Prescott, admitted losing wore on the Patriots.
“I think all the losing left a bad taste in the mouth, and we just wanted to like clear it out and get that winning feeling,” he said. “All the losses that piled up fueled the drive to win.”
The Patriots had eight seniors this fall, but Whelchel is not at all thinking about a rebuilding year in 2026.
“We're going to lose a lot of talent for sure. But we had some really talented sophomores this year, and the only reason they didn't see the field a lot is because we had a lot of those guys playing ahead of them,” Whelchel said. “The seniors obviously had talent on the field, but they're leaders off the field too. And so they've set an example for next year’s seniors and juniors. I think we'll pick up – maybe not exactly where we left off – it might take some growing pains.”
Hinmon believes these seniors have paved the way for future Patriots football players to keep the winning tradition alive.
“Everybody used to call us the pity-party Patriots,” Hinmon indicated. “They never thought we were good, and now this season, we really proved ourselves. We worked hard. I think our next season, the younger ones are going to have a great season.”
“I think it's a thing of standards,” Klumpp added. “It just sets at the bar even higher for everyone else that's going to go through this program.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) St. Helen Charlton Heston players huddle on a game day this season. (2) Patriots quarterback Dylan Chichowski works to elude a Rogers City defender. (3) Owen Romancky (21) leaps to haul in a pass against Hillman. (4) Tiernan Hinmon sets up to make his move while carrying the ball against Breckenridge. (Owen Romancky photo by Ashley Patti/Houghton Lake Resorter. All other photos submitted by Jessica Romancky.)