HOLLY PREVIEW: Bronchos aiming for first league crown since 1952

ON THE SURGE: Holly's A.J. Lewandowski is one of many seniors who are trying to help the Bronchos right the ship and win their first conference championship since 1952. Staff Photo | Dan Stickradt

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

HOLLY — For decades Holly bolstered a football program that every team in the Flint Metro League looked forward to on its schedule.

The Bronchos were a doormat program, a team that was considered an easy win, a pushover, a laughing stock.

Over the past 60 years Holly has struggled, to put it kindly. Dating back to 1950, there have only been 13 seasons where the Bronchos finished above the five-hundred mark. There were four other times the school finished right at .500, but those all came in the 1950s or 1960s.

The situation has been downright bad in the past 30 years. There have only been four winning seasons in that time period —1984, 1989, 2006 and 2010. The Bronchos went from 1990 through 2005 without a winning season, 16 straight seasons with four or fewer wins.

The past 46 seasons, Holly has recorded six wins or less each time. The last time the Bronchos won more than six games was in 1964, where they finished 8-1. That was still not good enough to win a league title. Holly was second to Milford in the old Wayne-Oakland County League that year.

The league championship drought for Holly is somewhat unbelievable. The last time Holly captured a league crown in football was in 1952, a total of 59 years ago. That year the school was a perfect 9-0, believed to be the only unbeaten season in school history, although records are sketchy in the decades before 1950. The last championship team finished 4-0 in winning the Wayne-Oakland title.

To put that in perspective, the players on that team are now senior citizens. In layman’s terms, it has been far too long for Holly to have to wait to celebrate a conference title in football.

That’s a culture that Ryan Culloty wants to change at Oakland County’s most northern school. Entering his fourth season, Holly has made some strides to shake loose the doormat tag. But there is still plenty of work to do.

DIRECTING THE RALLY: Ryan Culloty is in his fourth season in charge of Holly and has worked relentlessly with his staff to change the losing culture. Staff Photo | Dan Stickradt

“There are a lot of things that need to change,” admitted Culloty. “We knew that coming in here in 2008. There were some changes put in place a few years before I got here. They had one winning season (in 2006).”

By its own standards, Holly was a proud 6-4 last season after losing in the opening round of the Division 2 state tournament to eventual state semifinalist Walled Lake Central (46-6). Holly finished fourth in the FML at 5-3. Culloty and Co. hope to bad to that momentum.

“We have a really good group of seniors,” noted Culloty. “This is the first group to go all the way through the youth program. They didn’t have a youth program in Holly until the early 2000s. Once that got started, it has helped. This group of seniors started in third grade and now they have gone all the way up to being seniors. They have worked hard and come up together. I think the results are starting to show.”

Holly was second in the FML in 2006, finishing 6-2 and in a three-way tie with Oxford and Lapeer West. Linden finished 8-0 that season to win the league. You would have to go back to the 1964 season to find Holly that high in the final league standings.

“I think we have a chance this season. I think the race is wide open,” noted Culloty, who helped rebuild the program at Madison Heights Madison before heading north to Holly. “There are 4-5 teams that I think have a shot at it. How often has Holly been discussed as a team that could win a league title?”

Holly will join last year’s champion Linden (7-1), Fenton (6-2), Lapeer East (6-2), Lapeer West (4-4) and Ortonville Brandon (4-4) as teams that are eyeing the prize this season.

There are over 40 players on the varsity and 25 seniors. There are seven returning starters back on offense and eight on defense, creating a buzz that has been rare in this cozy little town nestled along the interlock of the Canadian National and CSX railroads.

The offense is well-seasoned with two returning all-conference players back in uniform. Junior quarterback Johnny Williams (5-9, 170) is back, as is talented receiver Austin Hopkin (6-4, 190), a senior who will also serve as the team’s punter.

Williams will be well-protected with the return of four senior linemen — center Joel Schuermann (6-0, 230), guard David McNeely (6-0,200), and tackles Nick Vandlanduytt (6-4, 220) and Lance Millis (6-2, 250).

GETTING READY: Jared Plawski and his Holly teammates are well aware of his team's goals, one which is to change history after decades of losing seasons. Staff Photo | Dan Stickradt

Senior running back Pat O’Connor (5-10, 175) also started last season and is joined in the backfield by senior AJ Lewendowski (5-10,175), who will see an increased role. Senior wide-out Shawn Scott (6-2, 200), senior tackle Kyle Liford (6-2, 220) and junior guard Kyle Vandell (6-0, 210) will also move into the starting unit.

Senior Blake Ordiway (6-2, 145) has a strong leg and will serve as the placekicker.

“We should be able to move the ball,” said Culloty. “We have a quarterback who gained a lot of experience last season and most of our line and skilled players are back.”

Defensively, there’s even more experience and a unit that hopes to improve upon giving up 260 points in 10 games last season.

The aforementioned Scott was an all-conference pick as a linebacker last season and is one of four defensive players that earned either first-team or second-team honors in the FML a year ago.

Senior Jared Plawski (6-2,190) and junior Evan Papuga (6-0, 185) return at linebacker, Hopkin is a returning starter at cornerback, senior Allen Strode (6-1, 190) is a fine defensive end, Ryan Housworth (6-2, 190), an all-state wrestler, is an underrated defensive end and Jimmy Duncan (6-2, 200) returns to defensive tackle. Hopkin, Strode, Scott and Housworth were all-conference last season.

Williams and junior Nick Sammunt (5-4, 150) will roam for prey in the secondary.

“I think we potentially could be better defensively this season,” predicted. “We started a lot of juniors there last season and they have put in a lot of time in the offseason to prepare for this season. We have some tough, physical kids that have been around the game for a while now.”

With a not-so-memorable past, Culloty wants to give sports fans in the community a reason to follow high school football. The school has enjoyed its most success in recent years in wrestling and track and field.

“We’ve told the kids that this community deserves to watch quality football and they have taken that challenge on,” said Culloty. “This is a really good group kids. There are seven or eight of them that have really high ACT scores. They are a smart group, not just athletes. We return a lot of starters and we can have some great practices with a lot of good athletes. Practices are competitive.”

One additional change will be the uniforms this season. The school has brought back grey to the football uniforms, a color that has been missing in the red and white blend since the 1960s.

“We want to unveil our new uniforms. The kids are stoked about that,” added Culloty. “Everything about this season is positive right now.”

The community of Holly is stoked, too. It’s been far too long without championship-style football.

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Tags: featured, Flint Metro League Football, high school football, Holly Football, Holly Football Preview 2011, prep football

Category: High School, High School (M-Z), Holly, Prep Wraps