Dan Stickradt
Sports Scene
NOVI — For a program that is used to winning, the 2014 season was sour pill to swallow for those around Novi Detroit Catholic Central’s football program.
After reaching the Division 1 state title game in both 2012 and 2013, the Shamrocks took a step back and finished a rare 4-5 last season.
To put that into perspective, that was only the fourth time in 40 years that Catholic Central finished below the five-hundred mark. The Shamrocks’ veteran coach Tom Mach, who has a 348-93 record, said his team is eager to get back to its winnings ways.
The 1975, 2004, 2006 and 2014 campaigns were the only seasons in four decades where CC failed to post a winning record. In 24 seasons under Mach, the Shamrocks have reached the postseason and in 36 seasons they finished with at least five wins.
There were several campaigns back in the 1980s and 1990s where this program fielded some impressive teams but did not make the postseason because the tournament field was much, much smaller.
“For whatever reason, we just didn’t get it done last season,” offered Mach, not making any excuses.
Some of the reasons were the Shamrocks entered the season with many first-year starters. And with a brutal schedule — two teams on CC’s schedule eventually captured state titles in 2014 while another reached the elite eight — the Shamrocks came up short.
This year CC is hoping for better fortune.
“They’re hungry,” admitted Mach. “They want to get us back to where we have been in the past.”
Five different players are vying for the starting spot at the QB position, and Mach is waiting to see which player steps up out of the pack to lead the hungry Shamrocks. There will be experience around the quarterback position as five starters are back on offense and seven more on defense.
Plus, five returning starters can play both ways.
Running back Alex Bock has some swift feet, running the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds. Tom Kowalski (6-foot-5, 280) is a two-way tackle and a leader in the trenches.
Tyler Laurentius is a hard-nose running back and defensive back, Phil Schmit leads the linebackers unit and Austin Darkangelo suits up as another running back and also plays linebacker. Defensive end Michael Edwards (6-4, 230) is another pile-moving terror in the trenches.
“Over the years, our running backs have always been tough people,” said Mach. “That’s been the (mantra) of this team. We always have tough kids. We have kids that can play two ways, we have speed and we have some big (mobile) lineman.”
And, in most seasons, they are kids that can win.
Are this year’s Shamrocks tough enough to quickly right the ship and return this storied program back to the winning side? Only five times in the past quarter century has CC failed to make the postseason.
If history has any say in the matter, CC will be back on track.