The football season concludes Thanksgiving weekend with state finals at Ford Field. I’ll wind up this column with a tale of a happy ending for one of our CHSL teams, but, first, these items:

Johnny and Jimmy: Continuing the story of Johnny Liike, the 13-year-old lad with Down syndrome who has captured the hearts of the Catholic Central community, comes this note from Suzy Gavin along with a photo of Johnny and her son, Jimmy:

“I was especially touched by the story of our dear friend Johnny (in the Nov. 13 edition). Jimmy is 31 and has Angelman syndrome (a chromosome deletion) and like Johnny, enjoys going to the football games to see the excitement — the players and the marching band! He is unable to speak, but his smile says it all.

“My husband, Jim Gavin, is a counselor at Catholic Central and has run the clock for the CC home football games since 1990. We remember when Johnny first came and were very glad that the CC family embraced him as part of their own. It is a great community and we, too, are very touched to be a part such a supportive family.”

 

Emma and Katherine: Betty Wroubel has much to brag about her Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball squads: 2007 and 2013 state champs and, perennially, among the state’s finest teams. Lately, she’s proud of two of her players for their individual accomplishments.

Emma Kowalkowski, who just a couple of weeks ago formally accepted an athletic scholarship offer from Western Kentucky, seems a shoo-in to repeat her junior year all-state and all-Catholic post-season honors. The senior defensive specialist piled up 1,068 digs (best in Michigan, third best in the USA) and 2,525 for her prep career.

Then, there’s Katherine Carlson, who won the Miss Volleyball title last year and set the school record with 1,042 kills her senior year. She’s at Valparaiso University on a scholarship, where she was named to the Horizon League’s all-freshmen squad. Playing in about two-thirds of the team’s matches, she recorded 175 kills, fourth-best on the team.

 

Connor, a sidelined Bronco: Connor Tava has been the workhorse for the aptly named Broncos of Western Michigan University. The 6-foot-6, 245-pound senior forward — a 2012 alum of Warren De La Salle — started all 67 games the past two seasons. He was the leading scorer last year at 12 points a game as well as team leader in assists and rebounds. Unfortunately, Tava broke his left foot during a practice in October, necessitating surgery. There’s no timetable for his return to the lineup.

At De La Salle, he led the Pilots his senior year, averaging 22 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists per game, and earning  Class A First-Team All-State honors.

 

Jacob leads the Pioneers: They’ll be talking for a long time at Riverview Gabriel Richard about when it won its first-ever state playoff game.

The Pioneers trailed Grosse Pointe University Liggett in this Division 6 pre-district contest, 14-0, before senior quarterback Jacob Lipetzky took control. He hit John Blaszczak with a 20-yard touchdown pass, and then raced 20 yards himself to make it 14-13. Junior kicker Zach Loewengruber muffed the extra point.

But, so did Liggett’s kicker miss after its third touchdown for a 20-13 halftime advantage.

Lipetzky connected with Eric Wigginton on a 29-yard touchdown to tie the score at 20. Liggett answered with a TD for 27-20 lead. Lipetzky and Wigginton collaborated again on a 32-yard aerial to re-tie the score at 27-27.

Richard got the ball back at its own 17-yard line with 4:51 to play. Once again, Lipetzky rallied the forces. He converted three third-down-and-long situations to keep the offense on the move.

There were just nine seconds in the game when the Pioneers reached the 35-yard line. Lipetzky hooked up with Blaszczak for a 10-yard pass to the 25, and quickly called time out. Two seconds remained.

Loewengruber trotted out to try a 42-yard game-winning field goal. The ball wobbled as it moved toward the goalpost, but cleared the crossbar by about five feet. Gabriel Richard won, 30-27.

It was the only lead the Pioneers needed.

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Don Horkey may be reached at [email protected].