DETROIT — Last year, Novi Detroit Catholic Central “finished what it started” by defeating Detroit Cass Tech to win the MHSAA Division 1 state football championship.
But are the Shamrocks really finished? Head coach Justin Cessante said that might not be the case with his squad.
“They are a different personality as far as the previous two or three groups, but I’m excited because they’re very talented, they’re very coachable and they’re hungry to prove it to themselves — even after losing guys like Samson Gash, Benny Eziuka and Jack Janda — that they can do this with the group of guys that they have, as a senior class leading the program.”
Having returned to coach the Shamrocks four years ago, Cessante (a 1999 Catholic Central graduate) is excited to be working with a senior class that he has seen progress from their common rookie season.
“They’ve been with our program and our staff for four years, and understand our culture and they understand what it takes to get there, but they also have seen it not go our way,” he said. “Now that they have seen it getting over the hump, the big message to our program is, ‘Success has enemies,’ as far as the noise, as far as the praise. We are really focused on finding our own identity and the seniors leaving their own legacy.”
While the Shamrocks are tabbed as the pre-season favorites in the Central Division, they understand that the bar has been set high with two other opponents that also reached their respective state finals last season in Orchard Lake St. Mary’s and Toledo Central Catholic. Cessante is also looking forward to squaring off against an improved Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice team at Ford Field in the final week of the season.
“The emotional toughness, the mental toughness that you get from playing in the Catholic League pays off,” he said. “You have to be ready for it every day, but you can’t get too low and you can’t get too high.”
Catholic Central, which returns nine starters on offense but only two on defense, starts its season against Clinton Township Chippewa Valley at 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27, as part of the Amazon Prep Kickoff Classic at Wayne State University.
“We know that Chippewa Valley was getting better at the end of last year, and this year they’ve got some really good coaches, a great offensive coordinator,” Cessante said. “We’re getting ready to really make sure we set the tone, and don’t get caught on the chin or by any surprise. We fear none and respect all.”
The pre-season poll of Central Division coaches ranks Catholic Central atop the league, followed by Toledo Central Catholic, St. Mary’s, Brother Rice, Warren De La Salle, Toledo St. Johns and Toledo St. Francis.
AA Division: Defending state champ Divine Child ‘in a good spot’
Like Catholic Central, Dearborn Divine Child was also able to revel in a state championship. The Falcons edged Hudsonville Unity Christian to claim their first state crown since 1985, but they’ll hardly have time to catch their breath as the two squads meet for a rematch Friday, Aug. 28, in Dearborn.
“We’re going to re-run that state championship game we won, so we’ll know pretty quick where we’re at as a program going forward,” head coach Chris Laney said. “When you play a good opponent week one, your summer becomes a lot more intense. The kids are more focused on that, rather than maybe playing someone who you know is going to be a lesser opponent, which I like.
“In week one, if you win, it catapults you into the season, and if you’re not successful, I think it allows you eight more weeks to kind of refocus.”
Win or lose, the Falcons will face an increased level of competition throughout the year in the Catholic League’s beefed-up AA Division — even with seven returning starters on offense and eight on defense.
“We’ve played Country Day the last couple of years as a non-league (opponent), so having them in the league amps that game up a little bit,” Laney said. “U of D Jesuit is always a program that’s been formidable; they’re one we have to worry about. And Ann Arbor (Fr. Gabriel) Richard comes in the league; we used to play them years ago, so we’ve got them back in there now. And then Lumen Christi, obviously. We finally got them last year and it was a good football game. I think it gave us some confidence. We felt we were a good team, and then they realized we do have a really good team, so that kind of propelled us.”
To raise the stakes, the rematch against Lumen Christi takes place at Ford Field on Oct. 24 — the final game of the regular season.
But the Falcons seem to be extra motivated, in light of how last season turned out.
“It’s been good,” Laney said. “The kids have worked really hard. Attendance has been about 95 percent all summer, so I’m very optimistic that our kids will be in the right frame of mind and ready to go.
“Our season was long, and by the time all the celebrations and everything kind of died down, we were ready to get going in the weight room right away,” he continued. “There wasn’t a whole lot of down time this year, but it’s been good. I’ve talked to a few coaches who have won titles, and kind of picked their brains a little bit on that, but the kids are very motivated right now. We’re in a good spot.”
In the AA Division pre-season coaches’ poll, Divine Child is ranked first, followed by Lumen Christi, Country Day, Fr. Gabriel Richard and University of Detroit Jesuit.
Intersectional-1 Division: Cranbrook tabbed as the favorite
There might have been no one caught more off guard by the Intersectional-1 pre-season coaches’ poll than Marcus Green. And he’s the head coach of Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood, which is favored to win its division for the first time since a three-year run from 2015-17.
“It’s very surprising; this is a rebuilding year,” said Green, who took over the Cranes’ program last season. “I think last year was the result of the amount of talent that Cranbrook had when I got there. I had the benefit of putting things in place because the talent already existed, and so this year really is that rebuilding year. I’m really looking forward to seeing the buy-in from last year’s freshmen, sophomores, juniors, into our program’s expectations, and really seeing how it blossoms this season. But as far as those rankings, it’s a really big shock to me.”
Last year, Green led Cranbrook to its first winning season since 2019, averaging just under 30 points a game.
But because of the nature of the prep school, the Cranes are often hard to get a read on. The Cranes graduated nearly all of last year’s starters, and Green said there was a low turnout for summer workouts, as many of the students come from afar and board on campus during the year.
“While we have 800 kids in the school, it’s not a school where the majority are football players,” he said. “We have to be getting guys up to speed in 11 days (in the pre-season). We want them to have the same commitment when school starts and tests come and quizzes come, because Cranbrook’s education is top-notch, and even though I’m the football coach, I would prefer them to put their efforts into their grades more than football. Really, competing week after week, that’s the goal.”
So far, Cranbrook’s season has started on an up note. Barely 24 hours after returning from a productive team camp in Metamora, the Cranes looked impressive in their pre-season scrimmage on Aug. 20 — a stepping-stone to the first regular-season game against Detroit Mumford on Thursday afternoon (Aug. 27). Green says that game will be “a benchmark against a strong PSL team,” but he has other contests on the schedule circled as well.
“(Against) Country Day there’s going to be a lot of emotions, because we’re neighbors,” he said. “The community really rallies behind the Friday Night Lights game against Liggett, so that will be a fun one.”
Green is looking forward to seeing what his squad can accomplish, regardless of who’s lined up on the opposite side of the ball.
“We’ve played everyone up there, except Clarkston Everest, and when I was across the field from all those teams, that was some really good talent, and I see a lot of them have a lot of their talent coming back,” he said. “I think we have a tall mountain to climb. The Catholic League’s competitive across the board.”
“We’re really modest in how we approach the game,” he added. “Polls are just that. There’s some strong talent that we’re going to face this season, so we’re really looking forward to it.”
In the Intersectional-1, coaches tapped Cranbrook as the pre-season favorite, followed by division newcomer Everest, University-Liggett and Loyola.
Intersectional-2 Division: Cabrini’s strong 2025 season paying dividends
For Allen Park Cabrini, the 2025 season might be hard to top. But it doesn’t mean the Monarchs won’t have a good chance at doing that.
Last season, Cabrini won a school record 11 games, finished first its division, played in the Prep Bowl championship and had a strong post-season run, which took the Monarchs all the way to the MHSAA Division 8 semi-finals.
Since Cabrini has several playmakers coming back among six players returning on each side of the ball, head coach R.J. Chidester shares the optimism shown in the Monarchs by the other Intersectional-2 Division coaches.
“It’s going to be exciting; we’ll see,” he said. “I don’t know if we’ve necessarily set what we did last year as our goal (this year), but the biggest goal has been to show up with a great attitude, great work ethic, and just do your job and be the best you can be.”
Chidester said the “buy-in” — whether it’s from the players, parents, athletes, or even the parish’s new priest — has been the key as the Monarchs prepare for 2026.
“The kids kind of set the goals, and if we want to make it to the Catholic League championship or if we want to go to the state championship, my goal for them is to just get out there, and get them to execute and be their best,” he said. “The standard is raised, and they continue to raise the bar.”
To go along with the team’s recent accomplishments, Cabrini has upgraded its schedule in an effort to prepare for another possible playoff run.
“After playing that Hudson game (in the semi-finals) at Adrian College, we figured playing Ithaca at Ithaca would be a good test to get us going and get the kids in that environment again,” Chidester said. “The Shrine game will be a big one. I think our game against (Saginaw) Nouvel will be another big one; that’s a very good team as well. Down the road we’ve got Loyola — we haven’t played them in a while — and playing Our Lady of the Lakes at home late in the season, they’re always tough.”
Nouvel is the home opener for the Monarchs, at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27. And Chidester thinks his team will be ready, following a solid off-season worth of conditioning.
“They’re really excited, and we’ve got some good seniors coming back, so it’s a pretty good environment,” he said. “I don’t know if (being favored) has changed really anything, because I haven’t experienced it yet. We’ve been progressing for the last four years, so nothing’s changed, so far. I guess we’ll see how it plays out.”
Behind Cabrini, Intersectional-2 Division coaches predict Royal Oak Shrine, Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes, Madison Heights Bishop Foley and Marine City Cardinal Mooney should follow in sequence.
