NOVI — Three weeks ago in the KLAA Championship, the entire state of Michigan learned that Belleville was beatable when Howell used a last-second play to beat the Tigers by a single point.

On Friday night, a record crowd of over 7,800 packed the campus of Detroit Catholic Central and saw the Shamrocks beat Belleville 35-21.

Catholic Central will play Cass Tech in the Division 1 state semifinals on Saturday, Nov. 23.

“I believed in our team, and they believed in our process, our habits and our goals,” Catholic Central coach Justin Cessante said. “I’m so proud of our football team and our staff. We earned this victory from day one. We do things the right way. We take no shortcuts, and we finished the job today.”

Two years ago, the Tigers handed Catholic Central a 33-10 loss in the regional final. It was a loss that festered throughout a program that hangs its hat on championships.

“We knew what we wanted two years ago, they sent us home at their place, so we knew it was personal all week,” Shamrocks senior quarterback Skylar Hunter said. “We made sure everyone knew how personal it was. We all remember that pain we felt when we went home that night. So now, fast forward, two years later, at our place, we wanted to replicate that pain.”

The Shamrocks’ opening drive stalled and the CC defense stood up and picked off a tipped Bryce Underwood pass that set up its first scoring drive of the night. A five-play, 64-yard drive was capped on an impressive 48-yard touchdown run by Jaden Pydyn for a 7-0 lead.

Underwood, the No. 1 recruit in the country and Mr. Football candidate, was given a short field thanks to a failed onside kick attempt, and answered with a 40-yard touchdown pass that was caught with an acrobatic catch at the goal line by Trey Graham for a 7-7 game late in the first quarter.

From then on, it was all Catholic Central who scored on its next two offensive possessions. After a Sam Gash score for a 14-7 lead, Belleville faced a 4th-and-34 from its own 1-yard line that Gash returned to the six.

Pydyn extended the lead with a 4-yard touchdown out of the wildcat formation for a 21-7 lead with 4:25 to play in the half.

“We just wanted to block out the noise all week, and trust in ourselves. Every time we’re in the wildcat, our offensive line has some extra juice and opened up running lanes for me,” the senior said.

Pydyn finished the game with 24 carries for 141 yards, two touchdowns, and a fumble. He also had two receptions for 37 yards.

Just before the half, Underwood stopped the bleeding for Belleville with a 9-yard touchdown run that cut into the lead, 21-14.

The Shamrocks changed the script in the second half when they began to face a loaded box to stop their traditional run game. That’s when CC went to its passing game for two straight touchdowns.

“We knew when we established the line of scrimmage they were gonna stack the box, and Coach Lusky just dialed up the right plays. They were just over-aggressive,” Cessante said.

After a big stop again by the Shamrock defense, Hunter hit Gash down the seam and in stride for a 46-yard touchdown pass. After a three-and-out by the CC defense, Hunter found senior Casmer Moir on a 60-yard wham pass that blew the game open 35-14 with 3:10 to play in the third quarter.

Forcing Belleville to rely on the arm of Underwood and be one-dimensional the rest of the game put pressure on the Shamrock secondary, but they stood up to the challenge, as did CC’s defensive line.

Under duress, Underwood did find the end zone one more time on a 20-yard touchdown run that pulled the Tigers within two scores, 35-21. But the Shamrock defense forced two turnovers to keep Belleville at bay.

Photos from No. 1 Detroit Catholic Central vs. No. 3 Belleville in D1 football regional final action

The first turnover was on a 35-yard pass from Underwood to Graham that the Shamrock defense hunted down at the 8-yard line and punched the ball out. The other was on Underwood’s final pass of his high school career that was picked off by Luca Genrich with 2:05 to play in the fourth quarter.

Underwood finished the game 11-of-22 for 196 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He carried the ball 11 times for 31 yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked three times.

Catholic Central advanced to the state semifinals for the first time since 2017, ending a seven-year drought. It hasn’t won a state title since 2009, a fact that isn’t lost on Cessante.

“We didn't come here to get this far,” he said, holding the regional championship trophy. “This is a great step, but the job isn’t done."

NOVI — West Bloomfield has been trying to find its offensive identity for nine weeks. Head coach Zach Hilbers has seen it in spurts but he saw a complete game on Friday night at Novi High School.

“We played really well today, and I’m happy with the result. We had a lot of games this year where we played really well in spurts, and our whole goal was to finally put it together. Obviously with a really hard schedule, it shows you your strengths, but your weaknesses, too,” he said.

“It gave us a lot to work on. I’m proud of our players for working on those things because now is when it counts.”

Or, as William Shakespeare once wrote in “The Tempest,” what’s past is prologue.

Behind the legs of junior quarterback Jamal Shakespear, the Lakers improved to .500 while toppling Novi 49-15 to advance to the Division 1 district finals.

The Lakers (5-5) jumped out to a 21-0 lead scoring on the game’s first five drives.

Shakespear finished West Bloomfield’s opening 14-play drive with a four-yard touchdown run up the middle of the Wildcat defense for a 7-0 lead. On its second possession, the Lakers took advantage of a controversial play when senior Beau Jackson fumbled the football on the three-yard line, but Josh Tate scooped it up immediately and scored for a 14-0 lead.

According to Novi coach Jim Sparks, Novi’s players thought the play was dead and heard an official say the play was dead. But it was determined by the officials that because no whistle was blown, the play stood.

On the next drive, Novi threw a 55-yard pick-six to West Bloomfield’s Corey Pittman for a 21-0 lead.

“Both plays were heads-up plays. (Tate) has played a lot of varsity snaps and has a high football IQ, and credit to him for not giving up on the play. (Pittman) is just a ballhawk and that’s what he does. He finds the ball and makes plays,” Hilbers said.

Novi was able to find a groove on offense before the end of the first half when Johnny Aurilia connected on a back-corner fade to Sele Cox on an eight-yard touchdown pass.

Aurilia finished the day with two touchdown passes, while going 13-of-30 through the air.

West Bloomfield slammed the door with a 28-point second half that began on the first play from scrimmage when Shakespear scored on a 77-yard QB keeper for a 35-7 lead.

‘We ask so much of him. He’s playing quarterback, running back, receiver, and free safety. The free safety and QB have to know everything that’s going on, on the field. Every time he has success, we’re proud of him because we put so much on his plate,” Hilbers said.

“Coaches always tell me just to run downhill,” Shakespear said, chopping his hands forward. “But on that play, the outside was wide-open because the defense just crashed the middle. Once it hit the hole, I bounced outside and took off.”

He finished the day with 10 carries for 128 yards and three touchdowns, the third coming at the start of the fourth quarter when he finished an eight-play drive for a 42-15 lead. He also had a 12-yard pass on his only throw, and added four tackles on defense and a pass break-up to his stat line, also.

The Lakers’ two-QB system worked all game as Jackson went 6-for-9 for 126 yards and a touchdown that came in the third quarter when he completed a 61-yard over-the-shoulder throw to Elisha Durham.

The road gets extremely tough next week for the Lakers with undefeated Detroit Catholic Central, who beat Livonia Stevenson 33-0 in the first round, and have given up an average of 9.1 points a game this season, including the playoffs. But Shakespear believes his team can repeat this performance again.

“We just need to focus, and stay confident. We were 4-5 in the regular season. We just needed to put that aside and start the playoffs 1-0. Anything can happen on any given Friday. We just need to play our game and execute,” he said.