On November 26, 2021, the Warren De La Salle Pilots met the Traverse City Central Trojans to decide who was the best in the state for Division 2 football. De La Salle was making their second trip to Ford Field for the second year in a row, while Traverse City Central was making it back to the finals for the first time since 1988.
De La Salle got the ball to start the first quarter and drove it 80 yards down the field a 30 yard run by Quarterback Brady Drogosh set up a first and goal situation where it would take two additional plays but Running Back Rhett Roeser would pound it in from a yard out and that would give them a 7-0 lead with 6:02 left in the first. On the Trojans first, drive they would go backward and be forced to punt it back to De La Salle who would go on to control the ball for the last 5 minutes and change an additional 5 seconds into the second quarter would be enough as Drogosh would find a streaking Triston Nichols for the 19-yard score.
The second drive for the Trojans would be better as they would drive it into Pilots territory, however, they would be unable to convert on a 4th and long to give it back to the Pilots at their own 49, and two plays later the Pilots would let their man Brady Drogosh take it himself 45 yards for the house call. It would be more of the same confusion on both sides of the ball for the Trojans, and the Pilots were able to score twice more as Drogosh would find Nichols from 16 yards out for their second connection on the day with 24 ticks of the clock left in the half. That would be it for the Pilots in the half, right? No, an interception with 15 seconds left would allow Drogosh to find Alton McCullum from 29 yards out to give them a 34-0 lead going to the half.
After more of the same on the Trojans’ first drive, they would punt it back to the Pilots. A dropped pass in the end zone for the Pilots would give the Trojans the ball back for the first time without a score from the Pilots, but a second interception on the day would set De La Salle up in the red zone and DeNiro Johnson would do the honors to put the Pilots up 41-0 with just under 2 minutes left and that is where we would stay headed to the 4th.
In the fourth De La Salle decided that they were up enough and sat the starters for the game. Josh Burnham and the TC Central Trojans had other plans as they would drive downfield and Burnham would cap off their best drive of the day with a 5-yard score with 6:36 left in the game. With a running clock going late in the game De La Salle would give it back to TC Central for a last drive and backup Quarterback Josh Klug would take it for the final score of the game to make it a final of 41-14.
The win over TC Central gave De La Salle their first undefeated season in school history. Following the game when asked about being the first undefeated team in school history Junior Quarterback Brady Drogosh said “Being the first one in school history is crazy.” He would go on to say “Going undefeated and winning the state championship there’s no better feeling for us.”
Sugared Petal Cake Shoppe Player of the Game
The Sugared Petal Cake Shoppe Player of the Game for the Division 2 finals is De La Salle Quarterback Brady Drogosh. Drogosh finished the season on a high note as he went 14/19 passing for 147 yards and three touchdowns, he would also add 169 rushing yards and a touchdown on 18 carries.