Don Horkey | Special to The Michigan Catholic

Detroit — Clay Senerius is a slender, 6-foot-3 quarterback. Nick Robak is also slender, a 6-foot-4 wide receiver. It’s easy for them to see eye-to-eye, and it’s natural for them to form a passer-receiver relationship that can win football games.

They used their athleticism to lead Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes’ 28-10 conquest of Royal Oak Shrine for the Prep Bowl C-D championship at Ford Field.

During pre-game warmup, athletic director and assistant coach Mark Smith suggested there was some doubt Senerius had recovered enough from a sore arm that benched him the last two games.

What  everyone else saw was Senerius, a sophomore who quarterbacked last year on the JV team, connecting on seven of nine passes, all to Robak for 84 yards and two touchdowns.

A couple of the throws required Robak to use his basketball rebounding abilities to gather in the ball over shorter defenders.

“We spend time at every practice working on that,” Senerius said.

On the other end of the height scale, senior Zach Zednik is a 5-foot-8, 185-pound speedster who was the answer to first-year Coach Josh Sawicki’s search to strengthen the return game.

“That’s what we worked on the last two weeks — before, during and after practices,” said Sawicki, only 26, who succeeded the legendary Mike Boyd and who was named Coach of the Year in the CHSL Intersectional Division.

Lakes trailed 10-7 at the half. That changed quickly and dramatically in the third quarter, sparked by Zednik’s 79-yard return of the second-half kickoff down the left sideline to Shrine’s 11-yard line.

“The big boys opened up some holes for me,” he said.

That set up an 11-yard TD pass to Robak to put the Lakers in front, 14-10. Four plays later, Zednik returned a punt 30 yards to the Knights’ 20. Lakes didn’t waste the opportunity. Senior halfback Sean Thomas — the Lakers workhorse with 95 yards on 21 carries and two TDs — barged over the goal line from nine yards out to increase the Lakers’ lead to 21-10.

Thomas bulled his way over for another touchdown from two yards out following a 61-yard return of an interception by senior cornerback Charlie Campbell. In less than eight minutes, the Lakers had scored three touchdowns to ice the game.

Senerius and Robak cooperated on a 17-yard pass for the Lakers’ first TD. Shrine responded with a 20-yard field goal by senior Stevie Erwin and a 4-yard run by senior halfback Jordon Gee (21 carries, 95 yards) to create the Knights’ halftime lead.

Shrine’s passing game was non-existent. Junior QB Tim Niehaus completed only five of 15 attempts for 34 yards.

 

Loyola wins fourth in a row

About six weeks ago, Detroit Loyola easily handled Ann Arbor Fr. Gabriel Richard 40-15. It was more of tussle for the Prep Bowl wildcard game. The Fighting Irish struck early for a 14-0 first quarter lead that only served to arouse the Bulldogs for a 24-point second quarter eruption en route to a 30-21 victory.

Richard senior QB Kevin Masini threw TD passes to senior tight end Steve Timm for 13 yards and a 40-yard pass-and-run score to senior wideout Evan Fosha. The Irish wouldn’t score again until a minute left in the game on an 11-yard pass from Masini to Fosha.

Meanwhile, Loyola opened the second quarter with senior halfback Keith Graves zig-zagging his way 31 yards for a TD after taking a pass from senior QB Garrett Schaller.

Midway through the quarter, Graves circled left end for a 12-yard score. With 17 seconds left, senior back Allan Taylor plunged a yard.

Sophomore linebacker Anthony Fitzpatrick returned an interception early in the fourth quarter 52 yards for Loyola’s final points.

“This was a huge win for us,” said John Callahan, the CHSL AA Division Coach of the Year. “It’s always an honor to play in the Prep Bowl.”