Rejuvenated Dryden Football Hungry for More After Undefeated Start, Signature Win
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
October 1, 2026
Santiago Perales and his Dryden football teammates aren’t patting themselves on the back for anything.
The Cardinals are 5-0 and just knocked off the Thumb’s 8-player giant, Deckerville. It’s the start of a season anyone would be celebrating, but especially a program that just restarted in 2023 after a four-year hiatus.
But looking back on how far they’ve come only makes Perales more resolute in making sure he and his senior classmates don’t lose the edge that helped them get here.
“For me, it kind of still feels the same,” Perales said. “I still feel like we’re the underdogs. The job’s not done. We have to keep working. We have to motivate the younger players to keep working hard. Everyone on the team still has more work to put in. We have to keep our heads down and keep working.”
Perales is one of six Dryden seniors who has been there since Year 1 of the return, enduring the ups and downs of a program starting from scratch.
He, Gianni Coscione, Luke Taylor, Tyler Roberts, Logan Korth and Collin Tyrkus are all in their fourth years with the program and at the heart of the unbeaten start.
“It’s pretty amazing, honestly, watching them grow from freshmen,” said Dryden coach Hunter Gall, who is also in his fourth year leading the program. “They weren’t that confident in that first year, and even the second year. But I think, honestly, it’s been good for us. They’re still super hungry even though we’re 5-0, because they’re not used to it and they don’t want that feeling to go away. But it’s been interesting to watch these freshmen who barely spoke the first year turn into huge leaders on our team. Now we’re watching them teach the underclassmen everything they learned.”
Gall, a 2018 graduate of Dryden, was part of the 2017 team, which was the last to complete a season before 2023.
The following year, the Cardinals played through September before low numbers and injuries forced them to forfeit their final three games. In 2019, they never started, and eventually players from Dryden who were interested in playing football could join Imlay City as part of a co-op.
That included at the middle school level, where Perales, Coscione and some others were playing, and succeeding.
While the co-op provided opportunity, Gall and others wanted to bring back the identity and community excitement that came with having a team representing the school.
A petition was circulated and enthusiastically moved through the process to start things back up again for the 2023 season, with Gall in charge along with his classmate and assistant coach Sam Peyerk.
The Cardinals actually won their first game back, defeating Carsonville-Port Sanilac 52-12, but they would finish the season 2-7, dropping seven in a row before defeating Akron-Fairgrove in Week 9.
“The biggest challenge, honestly, was just teaching the game of football to a bunch of kids who had virtually never played,” Gall said. “Just basic football terms. Teaching sophomores, juniors and seniors how to get into a three-point stance is not a typical issue for most football programs. Almost half our starting lineup was freshmen, and everyone else, they were older, but they had the experience of freshmen. The biggest hurdle was just keeping them confident and keeping them from hanging their heads.”
Fortunately for Gall, his players bought in and even had a belief that very bright days could be ahead.
“I really did know that, eventually, after us putting in the hard work, we’d get to this point,” said Coscione, who is now in his fourth year as starting quarterback for the Cardinals. “Our whole team believed it. I’m not gonna lie, it was pretty hard to believe, but we all (toughed) it out together, stayed together as a team and put in the work. You can’t just start up a new program and expect to be undefeated. We all knew we had to go through those ups and downs of it sucking really bad. (Gall and Peyerk), all the coaches definitely motivated us and got us through that.”
Not all players who had to suffer through the building years were able to enjoy the fruits of the program’s labor, however, and they knew it. That, Coscione said, made their hard work even more impressive. That includes Gall’s younger brother Owen and Coscione’s older brother Sonny, who both graduated in 2025 and were part of the 2023 and 2024 teams.
“(Sonny) is so proud of not just me, but everyone,” Gianni Coscione said. “Even though he’s not out there playing with us, he knows that us being out there and doing what we are today, it wouldn’t be possible without him and the other upperclassmen that we learned from. Without them, all of this probably wouldn’t be possible. I think that shows a big part in how they’re great people. They knew they weren’t going to be part of the greatness, but they were going to be a part of the rollercoaster.”
Dryden won four games in 2024 and five in 2025, barely missing the 8-player playoffs. With just one senior graduated from the 2025 team, expectations were high surrounding this year’s group.
“The first two years, I would have said no, that I didn’t think this was going to happen,” Taylor said. “We were never going to be able to keep up with these kids at the bigger schools. But as a junior we were able to stick with them, and we knew if we locked in over the offseason (the current success was possible). A lot of us got in the gym over the summer, and we really wanted to get in and go far in the playoffs.”
Starting 4-0 was certainly a sign that it was all coming together, but it was the win against Deckerville that has added a new layer of belief in the team, at least in the community. The Eagles were the 2024 Division 1 8-Player Finals champion and advanced to the Semifinals a year ago. They’ve won two Finals titles and have two other runner-up finishes since moving to 8-player in 2012.
“It was a huge win,” Gall said. “Probably one of the biggest wins that we’ve had in program history so far. My high school coach, who was also on the 2008 Dryden team that went undefeated, he’s on my staff, and he said that even including the 2008 season, that was the biggest win of his career. Definitely, by far, it’s the biggest win of mine.”
The players acknowledge how big that win was, especially after suffering through a 2023 game against the Eagles during which they were shutout and gained just 25 yards of total offense.
But last weekend’s success hasn’t changed their goal moving ahead, which is to beat Byron, their Week 6 opponent.
“It definitely feels good, and we know that we deserved it because we put in a lot of work throughout the years,” Perales said. “But we’re not satisfied with our record right now. We want to go undefeated every week, and we know we still have to keep our heads down and keep working toward what we want.”
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) From left, Gianni Coscione and Santiago Perales stand with their team for the national anthem. (Middle) Coscione eyes his target before throwing a pass. (Top photo courtesy of the Dryden football program. Action photo of Coscione by Dane Pelkowski.)
Drive for Detroit: Week 1 Preview
August 23, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Football remains the most played high school sport in Michigan, not to mention the most popular for fans who fill our stadiums every fall weekend.
Finally, it’s time to start talking about it again – and you’ve come to the right place.
Below is the first of 14 “Drive for Detroit” weekly previews aimed at giving you the most intriguing games in your corner of the state every week through November’s 11-Player Finals at Ford Field.
The original motivation of our weekly football previews has been to give fans a few games they can check out no matter where they live or might be visiting in our great state. For that reason, you’ll see the games at University of Michigan this weekend under “Southeast & Border” although those teams playing don’t necessarily call that part of the state home, and you’ll find the rest listed under regions where the home team is located even if the away team is from far away.
With most of the state’s games this weekend split over Thursday and Friday, we’ve also listed which day all of them below will be played – but check out the MHSAA Score Center for the full schedule plus scores all three nights as they come in.
Be sure to check out as well the list of 19 games airing this weekend on MHSAA.tv, including all three from the Vehicle City Gridiron Classic at Flint’s Atwood Stadium, seven games from the Prep Kickoff Classic at Wayne State University and all four games from Saturday’s GRidiron Classic at Grand Valley State University.
The weekly “Drive for Detroit” previews are powered by MI Student Aid. Please click the adjacent linked logo and read below for more information on how MI Student Aid is providing Michigan’s high school students with money to help pay for college.
Bay & Thumb
Marysville (10-1) at Richmond (8-2), Thursday
A 38-21 win over the Blue Devils in last season’s opener was the start to Marysville’s best finish since 2000, as the Vikings’ only loss came in a District Final to eventual Division 4 runner-up Detroit Country Day. Richmond still went on to a perfect run through the Blue Water Area Conference and fifth straight playoff berth, and will look to make it three wins in four years over the reigning Macomb Area Conference Gold champ.
Others that caught my eye: THURSDAY Marine City (4-5) at Algonac (11-2), Flint Carman-Ainsworth (6-4) vs. Grand Blanc (5-5) at Atwood Stadium, Lake Fenton (8-2) at New Lothrop (10-2), FRIDAY Unionville-Sebewaing (9-2) at Ubly (12-1).
Greater Detroit
Macomb Dakota (7-4) at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (10-4), Thursday
A host of intriguing games will be played this weekend as part of the Prep Kickoff Classic at Wayne State University; four of them are listed below. But it’s tough again to look past this one. The Cougars won the opener with the Eaglets 35-28 a year ago on the way to a 16th straight playoff appearance. St. Mary’s, meanwhile, rebounded to only win a third straight Division 3 championship with a one-point nail-biter over Muskegon in the season’s final game at Ford Field.
Others that caught my eye: THURSDAY Southfield Arts & Technology (8-4) vs. Davison (10-1) at Wayne State University, Walled Lake Western (12-2) vs. West Bloomfield (6-5) at Wayne State University, SATURDAY Oak Park (7-4) vs. Utica Eisenhower (12-1) at Wayne State University, River Rouge (11-2) vs. Detroit East English (5-4) at Wayne State University.
Mid-Michigan
Hudsonville (8-2) at Grand Ledge (7-3), Thursday
Grand Ledge was considered the Lansing area’s best team for most of last season and will vie for that status again with a senior-loaded squad; more on that next week when the Comets take on another contender in DeWitt. Grand Ledge’s only loss through the first eight games last fall was in the opener 21-14 to Hudsonville, which went on to a fourth straight playoff appearance with losses only to Ottawa-Kent Conference Red rivals Rockford and Grandville.
Others that caught my eye: THURSDAY Haslett (4-5) at Fowlerville (7-3), Battle Creek Pennfield (5-5) at Williamston (5-5), FRIDAY Beal City (7-4) at Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart (5-5), East Lansing (6-4) at St. Johns (5-4).
Northern Lower Peninsula
Roscommon (9-2) at Grayling (7-4), Thursday
The Bucks turned a 20-14 opening-night win over Grayling last year into the start of their best season since 2006, including their first playoff appearance since 2012. The Vikings, meanwhile, continued as one of the most consistent programs in the north, putting together their best record in three seasons and seventh playoff appearance in eight seasons.
Others that caught my eye: THURSDAY Big Rapids (3-6) at Cadillac (6-4), FRIDAY Hillman (5-5) at Gaylord St. Mary (6-4), AuGres-Sims (7-3) at Rogers City (4-5), Lansing Sexton (7-4) at Gaylord (4-5).
Southeast & Border
Rockford (7-4) at Saline (11-1), Thursday
A team-wide illness took the Rams out of this much-anticipated matchup a year ago, but it’s a go this week and with no less expectation. After taking a forfeit loss to start and then falling the following week to Lowell, Rockford strung together six straight wins to make the playoffs for a 21st straight season – tied for longest active streak in the state with Menominee. Saline is coming off a second straight 11-1 finish, and with its 2014 run to the Division 1 Final is a combined 34-4 over the last three seasons. The Yellowjackets might have been the second-best team in Michigan in 2016, falling to eventual Division 1 champion Detroit Cass Tech 43-42 in a Regional Final.
Others that caught my eye: THURSDAY Brighton (7-3) vs. Belleville (7-3) at University of Michigan, Constantine (6-4) at Homer (8-3), FRIDAY Clarkston (9-3) vs. Lapeer (7-3) at University of Michigan, Pewamo-Westphalia (14-0) at Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central (4-5).
Southwest Corridor
Dearborn Divine Child (10-3) at Benton Harbor (10-1), Friday
Its former struggles becoming a distant memory, Benton Harbor has proven to not be a one or even two-year phenomenon. The Tigers once again won’t have an easy go as an independent this fall playing teams from all over the Lower Peninsula and one from Chicago. But they started 10-0 last year before falling by a point in a Division 4 District Final, and expectations are high again despite starting out against a Division 3 semifinalist from a year ago. Divine Child bounced back last fall from a sub-.500 record in 2015 to post its best since 1985. This one will be key for the Falcons as well with their nonleague slate also including playoff regulars East Lansing and Warren DeLaSalle.
Others that caught my eye: THURSDAY Portage Northern (5-5) at Battle Creek Lakeview (6-3), Fennville (3-6) at Schoolcraft (10-1), Marcellus (4-5) at Decatur (4-5), FRIDAY Lawton (8-2) at Watervliet (7-3).
Upper Peninsula
Iron Mountain (8-3) at Ishpeming (3-5), Friday
After Ishpeming’s dominance of the Mid-Peninsula Conference for most of this decade, last year belonged instead to Negaunee and Iron Mountain. The Mountaineers opened 2016 by handing the Hematites their first loss since 2014 and ending Ishpeming’s 27-game regular-season winning streak; Iron Mountain went on to its best overall finish since 2011. But Ishpeming, which hadn’t had a sub-.500 season previously since 2001, surely has been looking forward to starting over against this familiar opponent.
Others that caught my eye: FRIDAY Gladstone (3-6) at Gwinn (6-4), Niagara Northern Elite, Wis. (1-0 this season) at Norway (9-3), SATURDAY Marinette, Wis. (0-1 this season) at Menominee (12-2), Hancock (5-4) at Lake Linden-Hubbell (10-1).
West Michigan
Jackson Lumen Christi (12-2) at Grand Rapids West Catholic (12-2), Friday
The Grand Rapids area in particular is loaded this weekend with matchups of some of its best against contenders from the Detroit and Lansing areas, including a replay of last season’s Division 4 Final between Grand Rapids Catholic Central and Detroit Country Day. But West Catholic/Lumen Christi wins out by a step this time because both are reigning MHSAA champions – West Catholic in Division 5 for the fourth straight year and Lumen Christi in Division 6. The teams have split openers the last two seasons, as West Catholic won last year’s meeting 30-13 – and the Falcons might be favorites off the bat again returning star quarterback Gaetano Vallone while Lumen Christi graduated 2,000-yard rusher Bo Bell.
Others that caught my eye: THURSDAY Farmington Hills Harrison (5-4) at East Grand Rapids (8-3), DeWitt (10-2) at Grand Rapids Christian (9-2), Hudsonville Unity Christian (10-3) at Allendale (8-3), FRIDAY Detroit Country Day (13-1) at Grand Rapids Catholic Central (13-1).
8-Player
Battle Creek St. Philip (5-4) at Wyoming Tri-unity Christian (11-1), Friday
Tri-unity broke into the playoffs last season for the first time and drove all the way to the 8-Player Semifinals before falling for the first and only time in 2016. So this likely won’t resemble at all the Defenders’ only other matchup with St. Philip, a 68-0 11-player loss in 2008. The Tigers, 8-player runners-up in 2015, lost four of their last five last season to just miss the playoffs – proof of the improving strength of the 8-player field. That said, it wouldn’t be a surprise if they returned to the elite.
Others that caught my eye: THURSDAY Peck (5-4) at Lawrence (8-2), Rudyard (5-4) at Cedarville (6-4), FRIDAY Rapid River (6-4) at Crystal Falls Forest Park (9-2), Bellaire (3-6) at Pickford (10-2).
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PHOTO: A Montague receiver snags a pass over a Whitehall defender last season. (Photo by Tim Reilly.)