DETROIT – Understandably, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep head football coach Pat Fox couldn’t even get the words out before getting choked up.

At the start of the postgame press conference following his team’s 42-14 loss to Grand Rapids West Catholic in the Division 5 championship game Nov. 30, Fox tried to introduce several members of a historic senior class. 

Then, the reality set in that he wouldn’t get to coach them again. 

“I love my kids, and it’s hard to say goodbye,” Fox said while fighting back tears. 

With a Division 5 championship last year and a runner-up finish this fall, Notre Dame Prep has likely established itself as a perennial contender with such a great foundation laid during Fox’s 12 years at the helm.

But to Fox’s point, it certainly will be hard for future players at the school to top the standards set by this year’s senior class. 

Notre Dame Prep had never advanced to an MHSAA Final before the last two years and wasn’t a program known for sustained playoff runs. 

“They were (32-5) as a group,” Fox said, referring to the team’s combined record the last three years.

What made it even harder for Fox was that he has known those seniors since they were starting kindergarten at the school.

Fox recited a story about how quarterback Sam Stowe, who threw for more than 5,000 yards combined over the last two seasons, took something from his sister during a holiday concert at the school when they were young kids, and Stowe’s sister tried tackling him to get it back. 

Standouts such as linebacker Brody Sink, who has signed with Miami (Ohio), wideout Drake Roa, running back Ben Liparoto, and linemen Henry Ewles and Jack Williams also have been in the building with Fox for seemingly their whole lives and last year helped deliver Fox and the school their first Finals championship.

“I’ve known all of them since they were little boys,” Fox said. 

Sink said if there was a turning point where the seniors knew they could help take the program to heights never before attained, it came when they were sophomores. 

“My sophomore season, we had a great team, a great quarterback and great players,” Sink said. “We ended up losing to a really good Corunna team (in a District Final). But I didn’t hang my head. I knew we’d come back next year. We had a great (senior) class coming back last year and knew it would be something special for the next two seasons. We stayed the course, and it was a very special last two years.”

After going 9-1 two years ago, Notre Dame Prep went 12-1 last fall and 11-3 this season. 

Through it all, the group became heroes to younger kids in the school, who regularly came up to them in the halls to say congratulations or just chat.

“It’s pretty cool,” Stowe said. “I used to be that kid too, looking up to all the Notre Dame Prep quarterbacks. To be that guy, you have to appreciate it and I’m totally humbled to be in the spot where I’m at today.”

Fox did say that before the senior class arrived at the varsity level, the program was “knocking on the door for a while” of becoming a state power, citing a close loss in Districts to eventual Division 4 champion Detroit Country Day in 2020 as one example. 

Ultimately, it was this senior class that busted through that door, and now Fox hopes those younger players will take the torch and keep the program among the best in the state.

“You would hope they do,” Fox said. “But every year is different and every challenge is great. We have great kids.”

Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Pontiac Notre Dame Prep quarterback Sam Stowe (15) throws a pass during the Division 5 Final while protected by lineman Adrian Fernandez (56). (Middle) Fighting Irish coach Pat Fox leads his team – including Henry Ewles (72) and Brody Sink (7) – off the field.