Wake-up call: De La Salle streaking since ‘reality check’ loss to Brother Rice
De La Salle Collegiate had won 16 games in a row and was ranked No. 1 in the state when Brother Rice visited the Pilots in September.
Four touchdown passes by Blake Marrogy led the Warriors to a 43-42 Catholic League Central Division victory over the defending state Division 2 football champions.
“I felt like we needed that loss,” slot receiver Sherron Sutton II said Monday. “We were kind of on a high horse.
“That loss brought us down to earth, let us know we had to be on our Ps and Qs.”
Since that defeat, the Pilots have won nine games in a row. Aside from a 19-18 nonleague victory over River Rouge, they’ve won every game in the streak by at least 28 points.
The Warren team goes for 10 in a row and a second consecutive state championship when coach Dan Rohn’s club plays unbeaten Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central at 1 p.m. Friday in the Division 2 final at Ford Field.
“We needed a little bit of a reality check,” senior quarterback Brady Drogosh said in reference to the loss to Brother Rice. “We realized we weren’t invincible.”
The Pilots, Drogosh said, were back at work the next day, and they blitzed Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 56-14 in their first game after the defeat.
During the winning streak, the Pilots have posted two shutouts and in three other games allowed one touchdown or less.
In four playoff games, De La Salle has allowed a total of 29 points.
“Our starting defense has not given up a point in the playoffs,” Rohn said.
The Brother Rice experience
helped the Pilots absorb a key lesson, Rohn said.
“We’ve got to prepare, no matter who it is,” he said. “Teams are always going to play their best against the state champs, and they’re going to play their best against a team ranked No. 1 in the state.
“We have to be at our best. It’s never about who we’re playing; it’s about how we’re playing.”
Getting in line
Dante Pancotto was the only returning starter from De La Salle’s 2021 offensive line.
A team captain, the 5-foot-11, 250-pound senior has played center, guard and tackle to help the Pilots reach a third consecutive state championship game.
Another mainstay has been Ryan Ross, a 290-pound junior.
“The O-line has come alive, in my opinion, in the playoffs,” Pancotto said.
“Over the winter and summer it was kind of shaky. We didn’t know who was going to fill in the roles and be there and be good. But as the season went on, we got better and better, and now we’re rolling. We’re pretty dang good.”
Pancotto hasn’t decided whether he’ll go to college, but he is certain that his experience at De La Salle has been special.
“I’ve met so many new friends, so many new people,” he said. “Football means everything to me.
“This school means everything to me. I don’t know what I’d do without it.”
Final bow
Brady Drogosh was a member of De La Salle’s 2022 state Division 1 championship basketball team, but he won’t be part of the Pilots’ bid to repeat.
That’s because the 6-5 quarterback will enroll early at the University of Cincinnati for the next phase of his football career.
“It’s been incredible,” Drogosh, who’s 32-6 as the Pilots’ starting quarterback, said of his playing career at De La Salle, which will end with Friday’s Division 2 championship game against Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central. “The thing I’ll remember most is being at Ford Field (for the finals) three years in a row with my brothers, the guys I love. Being at Ford Field three years in a row is pretty special.”
De La Salle lost in the 2020 championship game before winning its fourth state crown last year.
“The O-line has come alive, in my opinion, in the playoffs.”
— Dante Pancotto, De La Salle lineman
On the block
The running of quarterback Brady Drogosh (1,188 yards) and back Rhett Roeser (818) is a significant part of De La Salle’s offense.
The Pilots’ receivers do their part to make it happen, slot Sherron Sutton II said.
“There are a lot of receivers who don’t like to block,” the senior said, “but as a team we (receivers) pride ourselves on getting pancake blocks.”
Sutton has caught four touchdown passes this year. He also returns kickoffs and punts.