Lumen Christi 'Adds to Tradition' Once Again, This Time in Record Fashion
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
November 29, 2024
DETROIT – The more things change in high school football – with the proliferation of spread offenses and sophisticated passing attacks – the more things stay the same at Jackson Lumen Christi.
The Titans won their state-record 14th title of the MHSAA playoff era Friday with an old-fashioned power running attack which didn’t look a whole lot different than what they rode to their first championship at the Pontiac Silverdome back in 1977.
Only the names have changed, and the big name for these Titans was senior running back Kadale Williams (6-foot-1, 180 pounds), who rushed 27 times for a Finals-record 314 yards and five touchdowns in a 56-18 victory over Lansing Catholic at Ford Field.
“It’s a very special moment,” said Williams, who had been committed to Central Michigan, but re-opened his recruiting after the recent retirement of head coach Jim McElwain.
“I couldn’t have done it with those guys up front. We have a special chemistry and bond and, honestly, it’s going to be sad moving on.”
Lumen Christi, which finished 13-1 with its only loss coming at Pontiac Notre Dame in Week 2, simply couldn’t be stopped Friday – as its offense (which features 10 senior starters) scored touchdowns on its first eight possessions, building up a 21-6 lead after one quarter, 42-12 by halftime and 56-18 with a running clock after three quarters.
“I thought we played great,” said 45th-year Lumen Christi coach Herb Brogan. “That was a very, very dangerous offense over there on the other side, and to hold them to 18 points is something that hasn’t been done in a while.
“On offense, we were just relentless. We blocked well, and Kadale had a great game.”
Williams registered scoring runs of 36 and six yards in the opening quarter, 76 and five yards in the second quarter and, finally, a two-yard run in the third quarter.
Williams was able to get a head of steam on many of his runs behind the offensive line of senior center Tim Smiley, senior guards Drew Sweeney and Andy Salazar, senior tackle Maverick Stergakos and junior tackle Antwon Baker. Salazar was also 8-for-8 on extra-point kicks.
Also making key blocks on Williams scoring runs were fullback Isaac Rehberg and tight end Charlie Saunders.
Lansing Catholic (10-4), which lost three games in the Capital Area Activities Conference White but found its stride in the postseason, tried to keep up with the Titans through the air.
Cougars senior quarterback Alex Fernandez (6-3, 230) was outstanding, completing 21-of-29 passes for 284 yards and two touchdowns – both to senior wideout Xavier Luea, covering six and 41 yards – while rushing 18 times for 82 yards and another score.
The difference was on the ground, where Lumen held a commanding 435-87 edge.
“I am very proud of this team, to go from 3-6 last regular season to Ford Field, which is every boy’s dream in this state,” said fourth-year Lansing Catholic coach Jim Baker, who led the Cougars to a Division 6 championship in his first season in 2021.
“We ran into a very good team and tried to throw some different things at them, but at the end of the day, we just couldn’t stop No. 1 (Williams).”
The Titans also came up with some huge individual defensive plays to keep the Cougars from drawing closer.
Senior safety Adam Fuller made a big hit on Fernandez as he scrambled toward the end zone on the final play of first half. Junior Jack Fitzpatrick also tackled a Lansing Catholic receiver short of the first down on a key fourth-down play, and junior defensive lineman Antwon Baker was regularly in position to stop Fernandez on scramble plays.
Amarion Clay led the Titans with nine tackles, while Josh DuMont and Saunders each had seven stops.
The Cougars were led defensively by Noah Jungwirth and Braden Rabideau with eight tackles and David Magaway and Fernandez with seven stops.
Brogan, who now has been the head coach for 12 of Lumen Christi’s 14 titles, picked up career win 421, leaving him trailing only John Herrington (443 at Farmington Hills Harrison) and Al Fracassa (430 at Royal Oak Shrine Catholic and Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice) in the MHSAA record book.
A closer look at his record reveals that Brogan, 75, appears to be getting better with age.
Brogan, who took over as Lumen Christi’s coach in 1980 at the age of 30, won six state championships during his first 36 years as head coach – and has won six more over the last nine years.
“It’s too much fun,” said Brogan, when asked about retirement. “As long as, God-willing, I’m healthy enough, I want to be out there.
“We have a great tradition at Lumen Christi, and I ask the kids every year: ‘Are you going to try to live off that tradition, or are you going to add to it?’ These kids certainly added something to it.”
PHOTOS (Top) Lumen Christi’s Kadale Williams (1) follows his blocker into an opening Saturday at Ford Field. (Middle) The Titans’ Josh DuMont attempts to elude a Lansing Catholic tackler. (Below) The Cougars’ Alex Fernandez (2) breaks a tackle as Cassius Griffin (23) closes in. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Vandercook Lake Football Returns, Growing Despite School's Decreased Enrollment
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
September 17, 2024
A few weeks ago, Daniel Midena noticed someone watching his Vandercook Lake football team practice in Jackson.
Upon some quick investigation, he discovered it was a friendly visit.
“I found out it was one of our alumni,” Midena said. “Turns out he just wanted to congratulate our guys on that win. I told our kids, if we do this right, the community is going to support you.”
The Jayhawks had defeated East Jackson 43-28 on Sept. 6 to win their first 11-player varsity football game since 2018.
“I’m just so proud of the kids,” he said. “They put in a lot of hard work. To just experience that win and to know, ‘Yeah, we can do this.’ That was great for the kids. This is what winning feels like. So many people reached out with congratulations – some people that I don’t even know.”
The last winning season for Vandercook Lake was in 2015. It’s been a rocky road since for the football program, which has struggled to field full varsity teams and win games for the last decade. The Jayhawks moved to 8-player football in 2020 in an effort to save the program, but by 2022 the team was down to 10 players or fewer at times. They lost games that fall by scores of 79-0, 58-0, 65-0 and 70-0 before halting the season.
Midena, 32, a physical education and health teacher at Vandercook Lake, has been the architect of the rebuild. A Brooklyn Columbia Central graduate, Midena took over the Vandercook Lake Middle School football program a couple of years ago and saw some success. One of his teams went undefeated.
Once he entered the picture, the team more than doubled its turnout for football, from 11 players in 2022 to 30 players last season. This year he has nearly 40 athletes participating on the varsity and JV.
“We were at rock bottom,” he said. “I said, ‘Let’s see if we can change this. I was able to reach some of the kids in the hallways. We were able to double the numbers. There were a lot of kids who should have been playing. They just expected to lose here and didn’t want to play. I am trying to change that – to get an expect-to-win mentality.”
He’s also teaching the game to some athletes who never had the opportunity to play youth football or learn the game growing up.
“Still today, I’m teaching things I wouldn’t think I would have to,” he said. “From not playing football, some of these just need to be taught the simple rules. Every day we teach the game more than we play it. They must know the game before they can do it. That was a big thing. We’re literally teaching basic rules and schemes.”
Midena has no trouble teaching the rules of the game. He’s officiated basketball, baseball and football for the MHSAA for several years. Last year he was one of the officials for the 11-player Division 4 Final at Ford Field.
“I think that helps big-time with the rule knowledge and teaching the kids,” he said of his referee background.
Most of all, he’s building relationships with a new era of football players at the Jackson County school. When he was asked to take over the program once the school decided to return to 11-player football, he decided to take off his referee hat and pick the coaching whistle. Having coached several of the current varsity players while they were in middle school was an advantage.
“I feel we have done a tremendous amount of growth from last year to this year,” he said. “I had relationships with them; they knew my expectations.
He is now looking to build consistency in the program.
“Most challenging is consistency,” Midena said. “That is our big word. I still fight numbers every day. Monday, we finished the JV game with 11 players, and we won. That is still a problem. The kids have to learn that you have to show up every day for practice. It’s the process over the outcome. You can’t just show up and think we are going to do okay on Friday.
“We’re still trying to drive home to the kids you have to be consistent in everything you do.”
The Jayhawks are focused on building a foundation for football teams of the future. The current team has two seniors, six juniors and more than 30 freshmen and sophomores.
While he hopes there are more wins on this year’s schedule, he is not taking anything for granted.
“We take things on a game-by-game basis,” he said. “Our goal is to go out and compete and see how we are going to do.”
Some players are pulling double duty, participating in cross country or marching band this fall.
“They run in, I give them some details, and they go out and perform in the band. We share athletes in other sports,” he said.
The Vandercook Lake school district is going through a steady decline in enrollment, something Midena says keeps him up at night. In 2008, the high school enrollment was two students shy of 400. This fall, the enrollment is 190.
“I have to keep reaching the kids that we have here,” he said. “I can only concentrate on the kids we have here at the school. That’s what I am going to continue to do – try to get more kids to come out and play football.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Vandercook Lake’s Leland Barton carries the ball against East Jackson this season. (Middle) Jayhawks coach Daniel Midena, middle, high-fives his players. (Photos by Jeff Steers.)