Rouge Primed for 1st-Time Repeat Attempt
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
September 17, 2020
Mareyohn Hrabowski has a tough act to follow after a historic season for the River Rouge football program.
All the same, Hrabowski, now a senior quarterback for coach Corey Parker, is just thankful he and his teammates will get that opportunity.
Hrabowski’s three rushing touchdowns led the Panthers to a 30-7 victory over Muskegon in the Division 3 title game last November at Ford Field. The title was the school’s first in football, and the win over the Big Reds to earn it shocked many football enthusiasts throughout the state.
“It was awesome,” Hrabowski said. “To think the year before I was playing (on the junior varsity). To make the move up, the game was faster and the energy we got throughout the season was amazing.
“Before the season we talked about a state championship. When we got to the (MHSAA) playoffs we knew we had to put the foot on the gas.
“This year, expectations are the same. We don’t want to push anything. We don’t want to make this a one-man show. That title made us hungrier.”
River Rouge weathered a rugged schedule in 2019 finishing 13-1, highlighted in part by a 16-3 victory over state power Detroit Catholic Central in Week 8. Of its five playoff wins, only one, a 14-7 victory over Chelsea, came by fewer than 23 points.
With more than half his starters returning, Parker was optimistic heading into this season. Then COVID-19 hit. Normal preparations were all but cancelled, and until schools were given the go-ahead to begin preseason practice midway through the summer it looked like this season would be cancelled or postponed. The ups and downs continued when football shut down after the first week of practice and before teams were to begin training in full pads.
Earlier this month, Governor Gretchen Whitmer relaxed restrictions that in turn opened up the opportunity to play football again, and the MHSAA Representative Council voted to allow programs to resume practice with the start of the season pushed back to Sept. 18. What we’re left with is a shortened season, six regular-season games for most teams, with the playoffs set to begin Oct. 30.
“You’re setting up dates, scrimmages, games, then you’re shut down,” Parker said. “We didn’t know what was happening. Then we had to deal with the parents and fans, and explaining to them what we would do.
“(The virus) is very scary. Some of our players live with their grandparents. Some have younger siblings at home. (If you get infected) you don’t want to bring that home to them. I have (three) young children at home. We had one player who said he was in contact with someone who had tested positive. We couldn’t let him practice with us. He said he might transfer if he couldn’t practice and I said if that’s your best option, go ahead.”
Parker’s practices are highly monitored. He has what he terms a sanitation station for the players where, when they’re finished with a drill, they wash down and are told to keep their distance.
With its classrooms empty, River Rouge has adopted a virtual classroom schedule for all students from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. As the dean of students and athletic director, Parker’s responsibilities have changed. In addition to the virtual classroom, students have the opportunity to safely meet with teachers, face-to-face, from 2-4 p.m.
“We call it a drop-in center,” Parker said. “It’s like a Q&A. If a student has a question about the work they did (virtually), they can come in and meet with their teacher. We allow two or three students, something like that, in an area at one time.”
This is Parker’s 12th season as football coach and dean of students. In addition, four years ago he became athletic director. Since his arrival, the football program has taken off and the high school’s enrollment has more than doubled to more than 1,000 students.
In the six football seasons prior to Parker’s first (2009), the Panthers were a combined 13-41 with no playoff appearances. Before Parker arrived, over its football history, Rouge had made the playoffs four times with one playoff win.
River Rouge has made the playoffs the last 10 seasons including runs to Division 5 Regional finals in 2012 and 2014, Division 4 Semifinals in 2016 and 2017, and to a Division 5 runner-up finish at Ford Field in 2015.
Success has equated to an increase in participation. Parker had approximately 20 players in the program the first four seasons. This season he has 130 including a freshman team for the first time (River Rouge will not play a freshman schedule due to the lack of freshman teams in the area).
“When I got here, football was something they did before basketball,” Parker said. “We were successful and in 2012 our goal was to win a playoff game then a District title, and we did that. We beat Almont (44-22). That was a turning point. We kept it simple back then. We ran the ball. We’re still a single wing, but we spread it out now.
“(Defeating Muskegon) was huge. (Muskegon) is the cream of the crop. If you talk about football in Michigan, you have to talk about Muskegon. Winning a title changes everything. Our numbers are up, the most ever, and the fan base is different. We have people in their cars in the parking lot now watching practice. It puts our players under a microscope. They realize they’re representing something bigger than yourself.
“Sure there’s pressure. Pressure either bursts pipes or creates diamonds.”
The strength of this year’s team is experience on the offensive and defensive lines plus the play of Hrabowski. Many of River Rouge’s linemen are college-bound players like Jalen Johnson, Chance Moore and Tyler McMillan on the offensive side; Mark Gilbert, Pius Odjugo and Deavontae Miles on defense. Safety Armorion Smith is a playmaker. He had six sacks in the victory over Detroit Catholic Central.
Offensively the Panthers will pin their hopes on Hrabowski, who at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds can control a game with his strength and athleticism. Hrabowski answered the bell time and time again during last year’s Final. He rushed for 175 yards on 15 carries and completed half of his 12 pass attempts for 45 yards. River Rouge did not commit a turnover.
“(Hrabowski) does not believe in turning it over,” Parker said. “He’s a bigtime teammate. He’s old school. At lunch, he’s always sitting with his offensive linemen. He’s a great runner and a better passer. When he has the opportunity to run, he makes plays.”
Lurking in the back of everyone’s mind is the virus. Coaches and players know they must be constantly on their guard, adhering to protocol and using caution at all times.
“I’m an only child, so there isn’t that many I come in contact with at home,” Hrabowski said. “I have my childhood friends, but I’ve noticed I’m not around as many people as I used to. I know my limits. Coach does a great job of reminding us of social distancing and wearing masks.”
River Rouge, which plays an independent schedule, opens the season at Ecorse on Friday. East Lansing is scheduled the following week and, later, Detroit Catholic Central and Detroit Renaissance.
As the COVID crisis continues to evolve, players are expected to wear masks, not only on the sidelines but while participating as well. As difficult as this sounds, Parker said his players are ready for the challenges that await.
“(Wearing masks) is going to be uncomfortable,” he said. “But we don’t mind dealing with that discomfort for these seniors to have a chance to perform and earn a scholarship to move out of their parents’ house.”
Tom Markowski is a correspondent for the State Champs! Sports Network and previously directed its web coverage. He also covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) River Rouge quarterback Mareyohn Hrabowski finds a path during last season's Division 3 Final against Muskegon. (Middle) Panthers coach Corey Parker and his players prepare to except their championship trophy at Ford Field.
Hudson Paying 50-Year Tribute to Winning Streak Record-Setters, Supporters
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
October 14, 2025
It’s a little over two hours’ drive from Mount Pleasant to Hudson. But the November 1975 bus ride seemed to take forever.
The Hudson football team had just lost in the Class C state championship game to Ishpeming, ending a national record 72-game winning streak, and was on the way home.
“It was a really long ride,” said Ray Curran, an assistant coach for the Tigers. “A quiet ride.”
After the game, Hudson head coach Tom Saylor let his players know they had played hard and he was proud of them, but there were plenty of tears.
“We tried to tell them it wasn’t the end of the world,” Curran said.
For nearly everyone except maybe a few coaches, it was the first, and probably last, time they rode the bus home after a loss.
Hudson’s streak still stands today as the record for consecutive wins by a varsity football team in Michigan. From Week 2 of the 1968 season until the Class C Final in 1975, the Tigers never tasted defeat.
As disappointing as it was to lose, what happened on that bus ride home had a huge impact on the program for years to come.
“When we got close to town, we started to see fire trucks and cars lining the streets,” Curran said. “We lost, but the fans still showed up for us. We had tremendous community support from parents and families and community members. I think that made a lot of the players feel like everything was going to be okay.”
Everything was okay. In fact, Hudson went 9-0 the next season, although the Tigers failed to qualify for the MHSAA Playoffs (which had a field of only four teams in each classification, 16 teams total, at the time).
To mark the end of that incredible 72-game win streak, Hudson is inviting back everyone who had a part in those undefeated teams during the 1960s and 1970s – players, coaches, cheerleaders, band and members of the flag corps are all expected to take part in the ceremony before Friday’s final home game of the regular season at Thompson Field in Hudson.
Bill Mullaly, who played for Hudson during that streak and has become a historian for the Tigers, said this celebration will be the last one.
“This is it,” Mullaly said. “It’s been 50 years, and this is the last one we are planning.”
Curran went to see Saylor a few weeks before he died, at the family’s request. Saylor had been in declining health and had dementia. Curran said when they got together, they talked football.
“We were talking about some of the games, some of the players,” he said. “He definitely remembered. It was a good visit.”
Hudson’s football team this season is undefeated, ranked No. 1 in Division 8 and gearing up for what the Tigers hope is another historic playoff run. Head coach Dan Rogers said the record streak remains an important piece of the community’s history, and the celebration Friday and recent passing of Saylor have brought it all back to the forefront.
“It’s definitely a big part of the community,” Rogers said. “I grew up here, and I’ve heard stories about it. You don’t live it, but you are part of it. I think it has helped mold our community, and it has been a way to identify the community. The streak is definitely alive and well.”
To commemorate this season, current Hudson players will be wearing a throwback uniform Friday – black and white jerseys with orange pants and the same design of socks the players in the 1970s wore. The helmet sticker will be the same one used during the streak.
“It’s all been very positive, all season,” Rogers said. “Some of the kids have grandpas that played in the streak, which is great. They weren’t around, but I think it’s my job to pass all of that along to a new generation. We have embraced it.”
Rogers said he’s gone back and talked to former players and coaches, and Hudson plans to pattern much of its pregame routine on the Tigers’ during Saylor’s regime.
“We have people coming back who haven’t been to a Hudson football game since they played here,” Rogers said. “They had a lot of cool traditions back then. We want them to be proud.”
One of the current assistant coaches is Chris Luma, who played on that 1975 team. Luma was Hudson’s head coach before Rogers took over six years ago. He and Saylor were close. Luma will speak at Saylor’s memorial service later this month.
“It just seemed like with Tom you were learning life lessons along with how to win football games,” he said. “He installed discipline in all of us. What he had us go through was the things you needed to know to go through life.”
Mullaly also played for Saylor.
“He didn’t put Hudson on the map, but he took it to another level,” he said. “He was a great coach and a great man. His legacy is with Hudson football.”
Rogers said after Saylor died, more RSVPs started coming in for Friday’s event.
“It’s brought it to another level,” he said. “There are people flying in from all over the country to be a part of it. This is the final one. After this, it’s only the stories.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) A wall in the Hudson press box tells of the football program’s rich history. (Middle) Tom Saylor, top, was the longtime coach of the Tigers dynasty, while Tim Decker (18) was among standouts during the streak. (Below) Hudson players come together for a quick photo on a game night this fall. (Wall photo by Doug Donnelly. Saylor photo courtesy of Todd Saylor; Decker photo courtesy of Jackson Citizen Patriot/Hudson Historical Museum. Current team photo by Rachel Stiverson.).