Catholic Central readying for Davison
Catholic Central healing up, focused on being ready for Davison
It’s not been easy to find the positives for high school teams still alive in their respective fall postseason tournaments.
A layoff of at least three weeks at this stage of the season is a new adjustment for everyone, but Detroit Catholic Central football coach Dan Anderson is trying to see the bright side for his team.
After a competitive nine-game schedule, his Shamrocks were feeling a little beat up.
This break has allowed his team to heal up prior to colliding with the 2019 Division 1 state champion, Davison, in a regional championship.
“I think they will come back in good shape. I know some had some nagging injuries that are getting a chance to heal up, which is a positive,” Anderson said. “I think we will have to work off some rust for sure, but I don’t think it will take too long to do that. These kids are resilient. I see the break as more about being able to come back fresh, as opposed to being a step back in terms of continuity and performance. These kids have the muscle memory and conditioning to be ready to go after a few practices.”
Catholic Central certainly found its next gear over the postseason. After grinding through the Catholic League schedule, the Shamrocks started to pile up the points against non-conference opponents.
The Shamrocks brought in former Detroit DePorres quarterback Kevin Glenn to take over as offensive coordinator this fall. With COVID-19 presenting roadblocks in training during the preseason, it took some time for CC to get in tune with the new offense.
“We changed some things in our offense, so early on I don’t think we were as crisp as we would like to be because we were still working through a new scheme,” Anderson said. “As the season has progressed, the guys have a better grasp of the system and are executing much better.”
After averaging just 20 points per game over their first five contests, Catholic Central is putting up 42 points per game over its last four outings.
A big reason behind the offensive surge is the play of junior quarterback Declan Byle. Byle has thrown for 1,746 yards and 19 touchdowns this season.
“Declan has done a great job leading the offense, and I think what you are seeing now is the kids are all much more comfortable with what we are doing offensively,” Anderson said. “I am really, really impressed with Declan. His maturity and the way he runs the offense is very good. He’s really taken on the role of being the starting quarterback and making sure he’s prepared to the best of his ability for each game.”
Byle has a deep roster of skill position players to work with. Senior Sam Dersa has 352 receiving yards and five touchdowns, while junior Kamron Davenport has 411 receiving yards and three scores, and junior Owen Semp has 349 yards and six touchdowns.
In the backfield, junior back Mohamed Jaffer has rushed for 493 yards and three scores.
Most of these guys are two-way players, and combined with a dominant front line led by seniors Bruno Guberinich, Gavin Nafso and Connor Dewan, the Catholic Central defense has allowed just nine points per game.
“Joe Mach, the defensive coordinator, does a great job of getting the boys prepared. Our philosophy has always been about us getting ready to play. We don’t care about the other team, no matter who is put in front of us,” Anderson said. “We concern ourselves with what we are doing on the field and I think Joe does a great job of getting the kids in positions to make plays.”
While Catholic Central tries not to concern itself with its opponent, that has been hard to do with over a month to prepare for Davison.
The Cardinals are 9- 0 with two forfeit victories. In the seven games they have played, Davison is averaging 46.5 points per game on offense and allowing just 9.4 per contest.
Davison quarterback Brendan Sullivan is committed to Northwestern and has thrown for over 5,000 yards in his prep career.
“They are a great team,” Anderson said of Davison. “Obviously their quarterback is very good. They
have a really good running back and great group of receivers. Defensively, they are really impressive up front. Their down linemen are very good, so we are going to have to contend with that. We have to bring our ‘A’ game that’s for sure.”
Currently the game is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. from Davison High School. That is pending that the current epidemic order from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services doesn’t extend past Dec. 8.
Until then, the Shamrocks will continue to go about their business and train individually in isolation as they await word on when they will get to face off with the Cardinals.
“I think our kids have done a great job,” Anderson said. “They aren’t allowed on campus, so it’s been on them to stay vigilant and focused on being prepared while dealing with all of the other challenges of being a studentathlete. We have been doing team Zoom calls every week to stay in communication, and we have position groups doing Zoom film studies together. It’s challenging, but it is the world we are living in.”