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Notre Dame Prep quarterback Sam Stowe (15) winds up to throw a pass Saturday as his line holds off the rush.

Notre Dame Prep Takes to Air, Passes 1st Finals Test to Complete Record Run

By Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com

November 30, 2024

DETROIT – It’s been hard to find room to run against Frankenmuth all season, so on Saturday, Notre Dame Prep went to the air.

Quarterback Sam Stowe threw for 293 yards and four touchdowns as the Fighting Irish made the most of their first Football Finals appearance with a 42-7 victory over the Eagles in the Division 5 title game at Ford Field.

“The lights weren’t too bright for our offense,” Stowe said. “Having playmakers like Joey (Decasas) and Billy (Collins), Drew (Heimbuch) – they make me look good. I couldn’t have asked for a better offense tonight.”

The Fighting Irish’s Billy Collins (4) pulls in a touchdown pass. The win caps off a historic season for the Irish, who won a school-record 12 games and the first Regional title in program history. To end it with a win on the season’s final day was, of course, special for everyone involved, but especially for NDP coach Pat Fox, who finished his 11th season with a Finals title win against his alma mater.

“I actually live there now, too,” Fox said with a smile. “I was the benefit of tremendous coaching, and I played for the greatest head coach in the state, Ralph Munger. He raised all of us in a specific way, and because of him I have a great life. I owe my life to that program. But, I don’t know anybody there anymore except for (Frankenmuth coach Phil Martin), and these are my guys and I was happy to win big. It wasn’t a problem, as long as my house isn’t burned down. … It was hard. It was hard. I love the program.”

Saturday’s game continued a theme for the Irish: winning big in the postseason. They outscored opponents 241-59 over five playoff games on their way to the title. 

“We’ve had a great year this year. We have great young men,” Fox said. “I work with tremendous people, and I’m blessed to tell you that we’re very proud of our accomplishments because we do it the right way. We’re a developmental program. A lot of our players, like Drew and Sammy, have been with me since junior kindergarten. We have great student-athletes, and great young men. And we take the time to develop them, and they stay in our program.”

Fox singled out Stowe, who sat behind Jacob Tuttle, a first-team all-state selection a year ago. Rather than look elsewhere to get his talent onto the field, Stowe stuck it out at Notre Dame and had an unforgettable junior season, throwing for nearly 3,000 yards and 37 touchdowns. 

“I got to sit behind Jacob Tuttle, one of the Notre Dame greats,” Stowe said. “And he taught me everything I know.”

That was on full display Saturday, as Stowe utilized his weapons on the outside to burn a Frankenmuth defense that has been outstanding all season.

Frankenmuth entered the game having allowed just 473 yards on the ground all season, and the Irish didn’t have a ton more luck for most of the game. But the passing game was lethal, and made all the difference.

NDP players hold up their championship trophy toward the crowd.“Honestly, I always trust our offense,” Collins said. “We definitely have the ability to make huge plays. We have some extremely fast guys, a fantastic quarterback in Sam who can get the ball down the field. We just trust our offense, we trust our offensive coordinator, coach (Jason) Whalen. We just trust our team.”

Stowe did most of his damage in the first half, including all four touchdown passes. He hit Collins for 87- and 25-yard scores, Michael Wiebelhaus for a 23-yarder, and Decasas on a 47-yard score.

Collins caught four passes for 126 yards, while Decasas had three catches for 70 yards.

Heimbuch scored the final two touchdowns for Notre Dame Prep on runs of eight and 50 yards in the second half. He finished with 63 yards rushing.

Notre Dame Prep’s defense was equally impressive, holding Frankenmuth to 245 total yards (4.2 per play) and not allowing a score until there was 8:58 to play in the game and the Irish had already built a 35-0 lead.

Luca Gasperoni led the defensive charge, finishing with 13 tackles, while Mark Galle had 11 and Wiebelhaus had 10. Heimbuch added nine tackles, including one sack and three tackles for loss.

Lleyton Hoard scored Frankenmuth’s lone touchdown on an 11-yard run early in the fourth quarter. Cash Tedford had 86 yards rushing to lead the Eagles (13-1), who were making their third Finals appearance over the past five seasons.

Brady Lipka had seven tackles, including two TFLs to lead the Frankenmuth defense.

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Notre Dame Prep quarterback Sam Stowe (15) winds up to throw a pass Saturday as his line holds off the rush. (Middle) The Fighting Irish’s Billy Collins (4) pulls in a touchdown pass. (Below) NDP players hold up their championship trophy toward the crowd. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)

Drive for Detroit: Week 8 in Review

October 21, 2019

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

A season’s worth of highlights are smashing into these final weeks of the regular season.

So this Week 8 “Review” starts with some table-setters before we try to catch up with many more headliners from the weekend.

• River Rouge downed Detroit Catholic Central 16-3 in a meeting of league champions.

• Belleville got past Livonia Franklin and Clinton Township Chippewa Valley defeated Romeo to lock up outright league titles instead of ending up with shared championships.

• Newaygo downed Reed City, giving Central Montcalm an outright league title a year after going 0-9.

• Cedar Springs and Grand Rapids Catholic Central also earned championship shares.

• Posen’s 70-68 win over Au Gres-Sims tied for the fourth highest-scoring 8-player game in state history where the losing team scored at least 40 points.

And don’t forget: In six days, we’ll start this thing over with a fortunate 288 teams setting their sights on the ultimate high school football prize.

"Drive for Detroit" is sponsored by MI Student Aid.

Bay & Thumb

HEADLINER Midland Dow 13, Mount Pleasant 12 THE GAME in this area for Week 6 was Mount Pleasant vs. Midland, and the Chemics’ one-point win put them in first alone in the Saginaw Valley League Red. Now rival Dow (5-3) has put itself in position to claim a share of the league title, after chasing the leaders since losing big to Saginaw Heritage in Week 5. Dow faces Midland this week. The Oilers (6-2), meanwhile, have lost their two games by yes, a combined two points. Click for more from the Midland Daily News.

Watch list Lapeer 34, Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice 10 The Lightning (7-1) will play Davison this week for the outright SVL Blue title. They’ll be riding a boatload of momentum not only with seven straight wins but this one over annual playoff qualifier Brother Rice (5-3) – which must win this week to guarantee a 20th postseason berth over the last 21 seasons.

Remember this one Fenton 42, Goodrich 21 The Flint Metro League split into divisions this season, and the “Upper” champion Tigers (7-1) doubled up the “Lower” champion Martians (6-2) in this first crossover matchup.

More shoutouts Flint Powers Catholic 28, Grand Blanc 24 In the crossover of runners-up in the Flint Metro League, Powers (6-2) clinched a playoff berth for the sixth straight season and put Grand Blanc (5-3) in a position where it must win this week to guarantee advancing for the fourth straight year. Marine City 34, Marysville 3 The Mariners (8-0) finished a perfect run through the Macomb Area Conference Silver and sent the Vikings (5-3) into a must-win-to-get-in playoff scenario as well.

Greater Detroit

HEADLINER North Farmington 13, Farmington 9 The closing of Farmington Hills Harrison this spring certainly changed up football in this community – and heightened this rivalry in the process. The neighbors wasted no time giving this year’s matchup plenty of significance, as North’s first win over Farmington since 2015 gave the Raiders (8-0) their most wins for a season since 1984 and more importantly, the outright Oakland Activities Association Blue championship. Click for more from the Oakland Press and see highlights below from State Champs Sports Network.  

Watch list Dearborn Heights Robichaud 28, Garden City 26 The Bulldogs (7-1) and Redford Thurston ended up co-champions of the Western Wayne Athletic Conference thanks to Robichaud’s close win over Garden City (5-3) and Thurston’s one-pointer over Redford Union. Robichaud also earned a one-point win over Thurston in Week 3 but fell to Union in Week 6.

Remember this one Clarkston Everest Collegiate 27, Royal Oak Shrine 14 The Mountaineers (7-0) locked up their third straight Detroit Catholic League Intersectional II title and this one outright by sending Shrine (6-2) into second place after Shrine (6-2) last season won this matchup to force Everest to share with Madison Heights Bishop Foley.

More shoutouts Clawson 24, Clinton Township Clintondale 6 This matchup was for the outright MAC Bronze title, and Clawson (5-3) won it after finishing runner-up in the league a year ago. Clintondale (5-3) must defeat Hazel Park this week to guarantee a playoff berth. Harrison Township L'Anse Creuse 23, Sterling Heights 20 The Lancers (5-3) guaranteed their best finish since 2012 and shook up the MAC Gold, creating a final three-way shared championship between themselves, Sterling Heights (5-3) and Eastpointe (5-3).

Mid-Michigan

HEADLINER Mason 21, Portland 17 As the regular season worked its way to the end, these two stood alone as undefeated in all of the Capital Area Activities Conference. And Mason (8-0), enjoying perhaps its best season ever and first time at 8-0, owns the claim to the top spot in any of the divisions after handing the Raiders (7-1) their first regular-season loss since Week 2 of 2017. Click for more from the Lansing State Journal.

Watch list Pewamo-Westphalia 41, Fowler 7 The Pirates (8-0) look geared up to make a run at a third MHSAA championship in four seasons as they ran their Central Michigan Athletic Conference title streak to five by handing Fowler (7-1) its lone defeat.

Remember this one DeWitt 30, St. Joseph 14 The Panthers (6-2) can lock up a share of the CAAC Blue title this week, and could also end up owning wins against two more league champs if St. Joseph (6-2) gets past Portage Northern on Friday.

More shoutouts Lansing Catholic 56, Fowlerville 7 Since falling to Portland by a point in Week 5, Lansing Catholic (7-1) has won its next three by a combined 136-21 including this week scoring the most Fowlerville (6-2) had given up since 2015. Williamston 35, Olivet 28 The Hornets (5-3) entered Week 7 at 4-2 and with three undefeated teams left on their schedule. They fell to Mason, but this weekend handed Olivet (7-1) its lone loss. Next up: P-W with the playoffs on the line.

Northern Lower Peninsula

HEADLINER Maple City Glen Lake 42, Charlevoix 18 The Lakers (7-1) quickly bounced back from a Week 7 loss to Kingsley to lock up the Northern Michigan Football League Leaders championship, their fourth straight. Glen Lake with a win this week also can finish its best regular season since 2013. Charlevoix (5-3) ended second in the Leaders and must defeat NMFL Legacy contender Harbor Springs this week to guarantee getting back to the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Click for more from the Traverse City Record-Eagle and see highlights below from MI Sports Now.

Watch list McBain 27, Beal City 0 From a 1-3 start, McBain (5-3) has jumped all the way to the verge of a playoff berth. And the Ramblers should be Houghton Lake’s second-favorite team, as this win created a shared Highland Conference championship between the Bobcats and the Aggies (7-1).

Remember this one Traverse City Central 62, Escanaba 7 Since falling to DeWitt on opening night, Central (7-1) has been on a tear winning all but one of its games by at least 32 points. Including a Week 2 nine-point win over Marquette, this gave the Trojans victories against the top two teams in the Great Northern Conference and after Central fell to the Eskymos (6-2) a year ago.

More shoutouts Ogemaw Heights 24, Grayling 14 The Falcons (6-2) clinched their first playoff berth since 2013 and at six wins have as many as the last five seasons combined. East Jordan 21, Mancelona 6 While there will be no playoffs this season for the Red Devils, they’ve improved substantially after two straight one-win seasons – and may have stifled the playoff hopes for Mancelona (4-4), which must win this week and hope to make the field for the first time since 2014 as an additional qualifier.

Southeast & Border

HEADLINER Milan 20, Carleton Airport 6 The Big Reds (8-0) finished a perfect run through a Huron League that could send half its teams to the playoffs if Carleton Airport (5-3) can finish the regular season with a win this week. Milan had finished second both seasons since its last championship in 2016, and this year’s was the Big Reds’ first outright league title since 2013. Click for more from the Ann Arbor News.

Watch list Addison 48, Napoleon 10 The Panthers (7-1) locked up their second Cascades Conference championship in three seasons, and this one outright. A win this week would guarantee Addison its best regular-season record since 2006.

Remember this one Hillsdale 21, Brooklyn Columbia Central 6 The Hornets shared the Lenawee County Athletic Association title last season with Columbia Central (4-4), and this time downed the Golden Eagles to clinch a share. Hillsdale (8-0) can win it outright this week against Dundee.

More shoutouts Grass Lake 25, Manchester 8 The Warriors (7-1) ended up second in the Cascades Conference after winning a year ago, and pushed third-place Manchester (5-3) into a must-win situation this week as the Flying Dutchmen look to get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Jackson Lumen Christi 49, Battle Creek Pennfield 14 The Titans (8-0) have won three Interstate 8 Athletic Conference titles in four seasons and the last two outright. This win extended their overall winning streak to 31.

Southwest Corridor

HEADLINER Lawton 20, Saugatuck 14 The Blue Devils (8-0) avoided a potential three-team championship in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Lakeshore with wins the last two weeks over Fennville and then Saugatuck (3-5), which finished tied for second. The league title is Lawton’s first since 2012 and first outright since 2010, and the Blue Devils also can equal that team’s perfect regular season with a win over Comstock this week. Click below for highlights from FOX17.

Watch list Battle Creek Lakeview 54, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix 14 The Spartans (8-0) locked up their first Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference East title since 2015 and outright league championship since 2014. They also moved to 8-0 for the first time since 2013, with a chance to avenge last year’s loss to Battle Creek Harper Creek up next.  

Remember this one White Pigeon 8, Mendon 6 The Chiefs (7-1) made headlines a year ago when they beat Mendon (6-2) for the first time in two decades, but they then fell to the Hornets five weeks later in a first-round playoff game – and by this same score, 8-6. Both are headed to the postseason again, with another rematch possible.

More shoutouts Constantine 40, Kalamazoo United 15 The Falcons (6-2) knocked United out of a tie for first place in the SAC Valley but now will be the Titans’ biggest fans – United (4-4) plays first-place Schoolcraft this week, and with a win would create a three-team shared title. Mattawan 35, Portage Central 7 The Wildcats (4-4) kept their hopes for a third-straight playoff berth alive while putting Portage Central (4-4) also in additional qualifier territory as it seeks to extend a seven-year postseason streak.

Upper Peninsula

HEADLINER Marquette 37, Gladstone 14 The Redmen (4-4) edged closer to earning an additional qualifier spot in the playoff field, but that obviously was secondary this weekend as they also clinched a share of the Great Northern Conference title for the second-straight year. Marquette will play Kingsford this week for the outright league title, with the hope as well that another win will get them into the postseason for the first time since 2014. Click for more from the Marquette Mining Journal.

Watch list Iron Mountain 51, L’Anse 6 The Mountaineers (8-0) locked up a share of the Western Peninsula Athletic Conference Copper championship, and can both clinch it outright and finish their first perfect regular season since 2011 with a win Friday against winless Gogebic.

Remember this one Menominee 47, Kingsford 8 After missing the playoffs last season for the first time since 1995, Menominee (5-3) kept its hopes alive of returning – while sending Kingsford (4-4) into an additional qualifier situation after the Flivvers also missed last season for the first time since 2014. Next up for the Maroons: undefeated Hopkins.

More shoutouts Ishpeming 54, Munising 6 The Hematites (6-2) clinched a share of the West-PAC Iron title and moved to 12-0 in the league in their two seasons as a member. Lake Linden-Hubbell 42, Bark River-Harris 0 The Lakes (5-3) moved one win closer to returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2016 and earned some key bonus points as Bark River-Harris (5-3) also is working for a postseason berth.

West Michigan

HEADLINER Muskegon 53, Muskegon Mona Shores 0 The score says it all as the Big Reds (8-0) dominated the reigning Division 2 runner-up – and be sure potential playoff opponents are listening. Muskegon clinched a share of the Ottawa-Kent Conference Black for the fourth straight season and has outscored its first five league opponents by a combined 278-10 with four shutouts. Mona Shores (6-2) averaged 37 points per game entering the night. Click for more from the Muskegon Chronicle.

Watch list Muskegon Oakridge 27, Ravenna 20 (OT) The Eagles (8-0) locked up their first West Michigan Conference title since 2016 by scoring the game’s final 20 points. Ravenna (6-2) also entered the night unbeaten in league play and has guaranteed its first playoff berth since 2016.

Remember this one Grandville 30, Rockford 3 The Bulldogs (7-1) were rewarded for persevering after falling to Hudsonville by 23 in Week 6, as Rockford (7-1) went on to defeat Hudsonville the next week and now Grandville and Rockford sit tied for first in the O-K Red with a league game to play for both.

More shoutouts Grand Rapids Christian 38, East Grand Rapids 31 This matchup has determined at least a share of the O-K Gold championship now four straight seasons, as the Eagles (6-2) clinched a share and sent EGR (5-3) into a must-win playoff scenario. Byron Center 33, Hudsonville Unity Christian 20 The Bulldogs (8-0) clinched a share of the O-K Green title for the first time since 2016 and made things tougher for the reigning Division 5 champion Crusaders (5-3), who must face Zeeland East this week with a return to the postseason on the line.

8-Player

HEADLINER Crystal Falls Forest Park 22, Morrice 14 This matchup came together as a result of Forest Park and Morrice’s original opponents being unable to play – and ended up becoming one of the most notable 8-player games this fall. The Orioles (7-1) had won 20 straight (including 13 during last season’s perfect run to the Division 1 title) and given up only 18 points over their first seven games. The Trojans (6-2) got up 16-0 and scored the final go-ahead points with 3:13 to play. Click for more from the Iron Mountain Daily News.

Watch list Suttons Bay 29, Onekama 18 The first meeting between these two, a 20-14 Suttons Bay win in Week 4, was a late add and nonleague. This one was for the Midwest Central Michigan Conference West title, and Suttons Bay (8-0) held on again to win the championship outright by handing Onekama (5-3) its only league defeat. 

Remember this one Deckerville 42, Kingston 34 The Eagles (8-0) locked up a share of a fourth straight North Central Thumb League Blue championship, but got their first single-digit game of the season from the rival Cardinals (6-2) 

More shoutouts Newberry 20, Brimley 18 The Indians (5-3) would have fallen just outside the playoff field if the regular season had ended a week ago, but defeating Brimley (5-3) could end up the eventual difference. Gaylord St. Mary 65, Mio 28 The Snowbirds (3-5) had to forfeit four wins last week, but a slim chance of making the playoffs remained – and they took a big step toward making it a reality getting past Mio (7-1).

Second Half’s weekly “Drive for Detroit” previews are powered by MI Student Aid, a part of the Office of Postsecondary Financial Planning located within the Michigan Department of Treasury. MI Student Aid encourages students to pursue postsecondary education by providing access to student financial resources and information. MI Student Aid administers the state’s 529 college savings programs (MET/MESP), as well as scholarship and grant programs that help make college Accessible, Affordable and Attainable for you. Connect with MI Student Aid at www.michigan.gov/mistudentaid and find more information on Facebook and Twitter @mistudentaid.

PHOTO: Clinton Township Chippewa Valley's Myles Harris (4) outraces a Romeo defender for a kickoff return touchdown Friday. (Photo by Chris Mudd Photography.)