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2004 – The Year in Review
Division 2 State Football Runners-up (11-2)
OLSM 36 Birmingham Detroit Country Day School 0 at Pontiac Silverdome (1-0)
The 27th renewal of the Gridiron Classic between the Eaglets and the Yellowjackets was not as bad as the 36-0 score indicates. It was worse. St. Mary's took advantage of five first-half Detroit Country Day turnovers to score 30 points and coasted to victory from there. The Eaglets forced two fumbles, two interceptions and a safety as the defense dominated the Yellowjacket offense. Offensively, St. Mary's was led by senior running back Malcolm Arrington, who rushed for 86 yards on 10 carries and 2 touchdowns. Senior quarterback Anthony Alexander completed 4 passes in 8 attempts for 84 yards, including a 50-yard bomb to sophomore wide receiver Dionte Allen for a touchdown. Alexander also scored from 6 yards out on a keeper in the 2nd quarter. On the first drive of the second half, senior running back JD Reed rumbled 47 yards for the Eaglets' final score. Nine Eaglets carried the ball gaining 278 yards. Country Day junior quarterback Nick Potter went 5 of 12 for 65 yards and two interceptions. Junior running back Martin Corniffe rushed for 49 yards. The win was St. Mary's first shutout of the Yellowjackets since 1996, and the largest margin of victory ever.
OLSM 61 Flint Beecher 8 at Milewski Field (2-0)
In their first home game, the Eaglets scored early and often to overwhelm the Buccaneers of Flint Beecher, 61-8. St. Mary's rushed for 325 yards on the day, led by senior Malcolm Arrington's 8 carries for 87 yards and 2 touchdowns. Senior quarterback Anthony Alexander completed 8 of 9 passes for 155 yards and 1 touchdown, and also ran for a 2-point conversion. Junior quarterback Dominic Knight rushed for 6 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Eaglets scored 21 points off of Flint Beecher turnovers. St. Mary's was in the "red zone" 4 times and scored 4 touchdowns. Seniors Chris McLaurin and Malcolm Arrington led the defense with 8 tackles and 7 tackles, respectively. Flint Beecher scored its touchdown on a 72-yard pass in the 2nd quarter.
OLSM 33 Dearborn Divine Child 28 at Milewski Field (3-0)
In a game that entered the fourth quarter tied at 21, the Eaglets were able to outlast the Divine Child Falcons, 33-28, at Milewski Field. Senior Malcolm Arrington led a bruising St. Mary's running attack, carrying the ball 21 times for 136 yards and 3 touchdowns. Senior JD Reed had 7 carries for 56 yards and 1 touchdown. Sophomore Dionte Allen had kickoff returns of 61 and 58 yards to shorten the field for the Eaglets. The Eaglet defense, led by seniors Chris McLaurin, Malcolm Arrington and Kyle Leverett, limited the Falcons to minus 3 yards rushing on 36 attempts, and sacked Falcon junior quarterback Matt Forystek 8 times. Junior linebacker Dominic Knight had 2 fumble recoveries and senior safety Shawn Windey intercepted a pass to prevent a 2-point conversion. Falcon quarterback Matt Forystek completed 19 of 35 passes for 274 yards, and ran for 2 touchdowns. The Falcons scored their final touchdown with 1:30 left in the game, but the onside kick was recovered by senior Kevin Brennan, and the Eaglets ran out the clock for the victory.
OLSM 28 University of Detroit Jesuit 10 at Milewski Field (4-0)
Three times is not a "charm". In search of their third consecutive victory over the Eaglets, the Cubs found themselves down 14-0 before they could work up a sweat. Senior Zach Stogdill returned the opening kickoff 59 yards and on the first offensive play, senior Malcolm Arrington ran 19 yards for a touchdown. The Cubs then went "3 and out", and Zach Stogdill returned Tom Paglia's punt 61 yards to the U of D 2 yard line. On the next play Malcolm Arrington scored the second Eaglet touchdown. In the second quarter, senior quarterback Anthony Alexander completed a 35 yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Dionte Allen, and on the next play Arrington ran 14 yards for another Eaglet touchdown. On the ensuing kickoff, Tom Paglia returned Ian Dupack's kickoff 61 yards to the Eaglet 31, and after a pass interference penalty on the Eaglets, Tom Conti ran 3 yards for the Cubs' only touchdown. On the first drive on the third quarter, the Cubs went 72 yards in 16 plays, using most of the period, and kicked a 13 yard field goal to make the score 21-10. St. Mary's came right back and moved the ball 65 yards in 14 plays, with Anthony Alexander completing a 10 yard pass to Zach Stogdill for the final Eaglet touchdown. Senior Malcolm Arrington rushed 18 times for 107 yards and 3 touchdowns, and senior Anthony Alexander completed 6 of 10 passes for 84 yards and 1 touchdown. Senior Zach Stogdill had 166 all purpose yards. The Eaglets had 297 yards in total offense to 134 for the Cubs.
OLSM 14 Detroit Catholic Central 7 at Milewski Field (5-0)
On Senior/Parent Appreciation Day, the Eaglets stayed unbeaten by defeating Detroit Catholic Central 14-7 before a large crowd at Milewski Field. St. Mary's took the opening kickoff and after a 12-play, 58-yard drive, scored first when senior Shawn Windey ran 9 yards on a reverse. Ian Dupack's PAT try was blocked. The remainder of the first half was scoreless. Senior Zach Stogdill intercepted a Catholic Central pass to prevent a score at the end of the first half. Catholic Central took the 2nd half kickoff and marched 70 yards in 6 plays, aided by an Eaglet penalty, to take the lead. The Shamrocks controlled the ball much of the 3rd quarter, but were stopped inside the Eaglet 20-yard line at the start of the 4th quarter. St. Mary's then marched 77 yards in 12 plays to take the lead on a 43-yard scoring pass from senior Anthony Alexander to sophomore Dionte Allen. The Eaglet 2-point conversion was nullified by a penalty. On the retry, Zach Stogdill fought his way into the endzone after receiving a 15-yard pass from Anthony Alexander to make the score 14-7. Catholic Central had the ball 3 more times, but were stopped each time by the Eaglet defense. On the game's final play, Zach Stogdill intercepted a pass and returned it 47 yards as the clock expired.
OLSM 27 Warren De La Salle 21 at Warren Community Center (6-0)
Quarterback Anthony Alexander tossed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Chris McLaurin with 3:32 left in the game on a rainy Friday night to lift the Eaglets to a 27-21 victory over the Pilots in a Catholic League football game at Warren Community Center . It was McLaurin's second TD catch of the game from Alexander, who completed 8 of 17 passes for 143 yards and no interceptions. J.D. Reed rushed for a pair of touchdowns for St. Mary's, which overcame a 21-14 halftime deficit. Brian Morosso scored two touchdowns for the Pilots. Most of the second half was played in the rain. The Eaglets remained undefeated at 6-0, 3-0 in the Catholic League Central Division.
Birmingham Brother Rice 28 OLSM 7 at Southfield-Lathrup HS (6-1)
The ability to control the line on both sides of the ball led the Warriors to a 28-7 victory against the Eaglets at Southfield-Lathrup High School . Brother Rice rushed 53 times for 281 yards on a blustery Saturday afternoon. The strong wind was a big factor in the lack of passing for both teams. John Goebel led the Warriors with 100 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. Brother Rice kept the running game of the Eaglets in check and allowed two first downs until the final drive. St. Mary's did not have a drive span more than six plays until that series. Early in the first quarter, it looked like the Eaglets would be able to control the ball. On the first play from scrimmage, Lavonte Travis burst through the middle for a 44-yard run and would have scored if Darnell Johnson had not chased him down at the 22. Two plays later, St. Mary's quarterback Anthony Alexander threw an interception in the end zone on a play-action pass. Neither team scored until Joey Henry went in on a 6-yard run with 6:26 left in the second quarter to give Brother Rice a 7-0 lead. An interception by Johnson at the Eaglets' 11 set up the score. The Warriors, ranked fifth overall in the state by The Detroit News, came out strong after the half and rushed 11 times on their opening drive of the quarter. Charley Henneghen ended the drive with a 25-yard run to make it 14-0. St. Mary's came right back with a 93-yard return on the ensuing kickoff, but Dionte Allen was tackled by Johnson at the 5. Travis scored two plays later from the 5 for the Eaglets' touchdown.
OLSM 35 Harper Woods Notre Dame 21 at Ford Field (7-1)
At Ford Field, the Eaglets scored on their first three possessions to take a 21-0 lead in the Catholic League Prep Bowl wild-card game against Harper Woods Notre Dame. St. Mary's went on to win 35-21. Jeremiah Reed's 34-yard run helped set up the first touchdown, a 1-yard sneak by Anthony Alexander. Malcolm Arrington's first of two 2-yard touchdown runs was set up by Alexander's 54-yard pass to Dionte Allen. Irish QB Calvin Wiley was 12-for-26 for 170 yards and Matthew McDaniel had six receptions for 72 yards for Notre Dame. The game was the seventh regular-season meeting between the Irish and the Eaglets. St. Mary's Prep has dominated the Irish, winning all six previous games by a combined score of 173-21, including a 21-0 victory in last season's Week 1 opener.
MHSAA State Playoff
OLSM 21 Pontiac Northern 20 at Milewski Field (8-1)
The first-round Division 2 playoff battle between the Eaglets and the Huskies was an even matchup between two teams loaded with athletic talent. It was the wind - and a guy named Windey - that made the difference, as the Eaglets made the plays they needed to late in winning 21-20 on a fourth-quarter touchdown. St. Mary's put together the winning drive midway through the fourth quarter. Powered by the bullish running of Malcolm Arrington, the Eaglets pushed the ball to the Northern 23. Anthony Alexander then found Shawn Windey on a play-action pass over the top of the coverage for a touchdown. Ian Dupack's extra point gave St. Mary's the lead at 21-20. Northern would rally behind the running and passing of Dontayo Gage, and made it to the Eaglets 28, where it faced fourth-and-8. The Huskies had some trickery in store for St. Mary's. Gage handed off to Arthur Wilson, who ran toward the left sideline, and lofted a soft pass into the end zone toward Qejon Branner, who was open behind the defense. However, Mother Nature stepped in as the 12th man for the Eaglets, as the hard wind blew the pass five yards to the left of Branner and fell to the ground. The first quarter between the Eaglets and Huskies went scoreless, as both teams seemed to feel each other out over the first 12 minutes. Arrington snuffed out Northern's first drive in the second quarter when he recovered a fumble, but St. Mary's couldn't muster anything against the Huskies' stubborn defense and went three-and-out. Northern got an 11-yard run by Dontayo Gage and a 46-yard sprint from Rashid Wilson to get down to the Eaglet 4 for first-and-goal. Two plays later, Gage scored on a quarterback sneak from the 1. The Huskies went for a two-point conversion but didn't complete the pass, keeping the score 6-0 with 8:04 remaining in the first half. St. Mary's answered on the next possession, putting together a 12-play, 51-yard drive that ended when Alexander hit Windey with a 3-yard touchdown pass. Dupack's extra point gave the Eaglets a 7-6 lead with 2:21 left before halftime. Northern would fumble on the next play from scrimmage, with St. Mary's Zach Stogdill recovering at the Huskies' 24. Arrington took the handoff on the next play and went off left tackle and untouched into the end zone. Dupack's boot made it 14-6 with 1:58 to go. Northern's Arthur Wilson returned the kickoff 35 yards to give the Huskies good field position at their own 48. Helped by a 28-yard Gage completion to Marcus Webb, the Huskies capped off the late drive with Gage's 3-yard touchdown sneak just eight seconds before the half. Again, the two-point conversion failed and St. Mary's led 14-12 at halftime. Northern would score the only touchdown in the third quarter, when Gage picked off a pass at his own 25-yard line and raced 75 yards for the touchdown, making the score 18-14 Huskies. Once again Northern went for two, but this time Gage found Webb in the corner of the end zone for the conversion, making it 20-14. Gage finished with 59 yards on 20 carries, while Rashid WIlson ad 47 yards on three carries. Arrington led the Eaglets with 129 yards on 24 carries to go with his touchdown, while Windey finished with three catches for 31 yards to complement his two TDs. Lavonte Travis added 38 yards on 10 carries.
MHSAA District Final
OLSM 18 Birmingham Brother Rice 16 at Southfield HS (9-1)
Two defensive gems by Malcolm Arrington stood out among the many big plays made by St. Mary's as the Eaglets upset the Warriors, 18-16, in a Division 2 district final at Southfield High. Arrington's forced fumble late in the first half helped set up an 8-yard touchdown pass from Anthony Alexander (5-of-9, 99 yards) to Zach Stogdill with 20 seconds left to give St. Mary's an 18-10 lead. In what was a bizarre game in many ways, Arrington's forced fumble came a minute after Dionte Allen's 83-yard kickoff return for a touchdown gave St. Mary's a 12-10 lead. Despite five turnovers Brother Rice (10-1) still had a chance to win when John Goebel made a remarkable 45-yard touchdown run with 3:50 left in the game to bring the Warriors within two. But Arrington, a 217-pound linebacker, stopped the two-point conversion as he blitzed and sacked Rice QB Mike Cappetto. Brother Rice had yet another chance to win after forcing a punt and taking over on its 25 with 1:43 left. Safety Shawn Windey intercepted Joey Henry's halfback pass on first down for the Eaglets' fifth takeaway.
MHSAA Regional Final
OLSM 32 Birmingham Groves 6 at Milewski Field (10-1)
Senior running back Lavonte Travis scored five touchdowns and all but two of his team's points as St. Mary's defeated Birmingham Groves, 32-6, in a Division 2, Region 3 final at home to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2001. For the first time in his career, Travis rushed for more than 100 yards. He had 149 on 20 carries, also a career high. He scored on runs of 6, 57, 11, 12 and 4 yards. Groves (8-4), an excellent defensive team making its first region final appearance, took away St. Mary's' power game as the Eaglets' two fullbacks, Arrington and Kevin Brennan, combined to rush for 56 yards on 17 carries. The defensive line of St. Mary's also did its job as the Eaglets held Groves and its wing-T offense to 113 yards rushing on 36 carries. St. Mary's forced four turnovers and didn't turn it over once. Groves ran just five plays in the fourth quarter, thanks in part to a fumbled punt, for six yards. St. Mary's led 6-0 at the end of the first quarter then missed a short field goal to begin the second. Groves went 80 yards in 11 plays to tie the score on EJ Simmons' 1-yard run. Three plays later Travis went 57 yards for a touchdown. Travis, at his linebacker position, recovered a fumble on the next series to set up his 11-yard touchdown run with 1:35 left in the first half to give the Eaglets an 18-6 lead. Jerry Smith led Groves with 60 yards on 10 carries.
MHSAA State Semi-Final
OLSM 6 Dearborn 0 at Berkley HS (11-1)
Defense led the way on a cool and cloudy Saturday afternoon as the Eaglets defeated Dearborn , 6-0, in a Division 2 football semifinal at Berkley High School . Neither offense got much going in the first half. Led by the running of quarterback David Shunkwiler (18 carries for 56 yards), Dearborn twice got as far as the St. Mary's 30-yard line but was shut down both times. Jeff Skeans helped Dearborn get better field position in the first half, downing three punts inside the 10. While both offenses continued to struggle in the third quarter, the St. Mary's defense rose to the occasion when Lavonte Travis recovered a fumble at the Dearborn 18 with 1:28 left in the quarter. St. Mary's scored five plays after the fumble recovery when Kevin Brennan (9 carries, 27 yards) took it in from a yard out. The extra point was unsuccessful. St. Mary's, led by Malcolm Arrington (eight tackles) and Joe Ham (seven), held Dearborn to 61 yards of total offense in the second half. Dearborn (11-2) had one more chance to score when it moved to St. Mary's 15. But Dionte Allen forced and recovered a fumble with 2:42 to play. The Eaglets advance to the Division 2 State Championship at the Silverdome for the first time since 2001 to face No. 1 ranked Muskegon .
MHSAA State Championship
Muskegon 31 OLSM 7 at Pontiac Silverdome (11-2)
Given no chance of even competing against No. 1 Muskegon in the Division 2 state title game, the Eaglets did just that in taking a 7-6 lead going into the locker room at halftime and having thoughts of yet another state title. In a swift and devastating eight-minute-and-six-second blow, those thoughts vanished as Muskegon showed it was the state's best, stunning the Eaglets with three touchdowns in the third quarter en route to a 31-7 win. Muskegon 's offense especially flexed its muscle in the third quarter after the Eaglets held the Big Reds to 78 yards of total offense and senior quarterback Jason Ruud to 17 rushing yards on six carries in the first half. Ruud quickly skewed those stats upward, racing through the St. Mary's defense 45 yards for a touchdown on the second play of the second half to give Muskegon a 14-7 lead after a two-point conversion run by Breck Chandler. After forcing a three-and-out on defense, the Big Reds then took a two-touchdown lead on a 2-yard touchdown run by Chandler with 6:06 left in the third quarter. With St. Mary's already staggered, Ruud then delivered a knockout punch by tossing a 37-yard touchdown pass to Brian Hunter with 3:54 remaining in the third to make it 28-7. In the third quarter alone, Muskegon gained 141 yards of total offense, while Ruud had 102 yards rushing on eight carries in finishing with 130 yards on 17 carries overall. The Big Reds ended up outgaining the Eaglets 343-56 in total offense for the game. Muskegon struck first with 2:16 left in the first quarter on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Ruud to Darius Merritt, who outfought St. Mary's cornerback Zack Stogdill in the back of the end zone to make it 6-0 Big Reds. After a St. Mary's offsides penalty on the extra-point attempt, the Big Reds decided to go for two, but Ruud was tackled short of the goal line. With 7:58 left in the second quarter, the Eaglets recovered a fumbled lateral pass by Muskegon at the Big Reds' 8 and took advantage, scoring on a 2-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Anthony Alexander to Stogdill with 6:02 left in the first half that made it 7-6. The play was set up after St. Mary's senior tight end Chris McLaurin was interfered with at the goal line on third-and-goal from the 6.
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