DIVISION 2 FOOTBALL: Brother Rice emerges as repeat champion for first time

Warriors hold off Muskegon in wild affair for D-2 title

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

Twitter: @LocalSportsFans

DETROIT — As many coveted state titles Birmingham Brother Rice has claimed in a wide variety of sports over five-plus decades, the Warriors’ storied football program and legendary head coach Al Fracassa had never won state championships in consecutive years.

Brother Rice finally joined a small band of elite programs to accomplish such a difficult feat Friday at Ford Field in Detroit.

Brother Rice captured its eighth MHSAA state title and ninth overall including a mythical coaches association state title in 1974 with a 35-28 thriller over Muskegon in the Division 2 state finals.

“It’s kind of hard to express, really,” sighed Fracassa. “I’ve never accomplished this. Ever. I’m elated.”

Behind a newly-created motto, the Warriors finished the season No. 1 after bouncing around the top 10 all season. Brother Rice actually lost its opener to defending Division 1 state champion Detroit Cass Tech and again in Week 6 to Division 3 state finalist Orchard Lake St. Mary’s.

“Each year we have a motto and this year is was ‘Never Give Up,’” reminded Fracassa. “Last year our motto was ‘Anything Is Possible.’ They are fitting (mottos) because this team came back the next week and were able to win each time. We really never gave up.

“(These two teams) that won the state championship are going to remember those mottos and I’m sure they’re going to use them as they grow and go to college and become parents (later in life),” continued Fracassa.

It took some trickery for the Warriors to pull into the pole position.

Brother Rice went ahead for good with 2:13 left on a lateral play on a kickoff. Delano Madison returned the ball from the 4 to the 9 yard line before his pitch to Jason Alessi was returned 91 yards for the score.

“There is a lot of risk with that play, but we practiced it and it worked today,” smiled Alessi, who also nailed five extra points for the Warriors.

Even Fracassa, who had 417 career victories and 44 years as a head coach, wasn’t sure the tick play could work.

“I wasn’t sure it was going to work,” he smiled. “We were working on it in practice last week and I figured we’d give it a shot. You’ve got to take chances sometimes.”

The chance helped lead Fracassa, who turned 80 recently, to yet another milestone.

Muskegon had two drives in the final two minutes stalled out, including a desperation heave into the end zone as time expired that fell harmlessly to the ground.

“We were in the game until the end and that’s all I can ask of them,” said Muskegon coach Shane Fairfield. “Of course I want to be the guy to lead them to victory. A lot of life lessons were learned along this 14-week journey and I think it’s greater than wins and losses. We’ll look back the game film and learn a lot. We were that close and only a few plays away from possibly winning this game.”

Brother Rice, which was making its third title game appearance in seven seasons, never trailed. The Warriors built a 14-0 early in the second quarter but could never shake the top-ranked Big Reds until the end.

The fourth-ranked Warriors scored first when Corey Lacanaria hauled in a 16-yard strike from Cheyne Lacanaria with 6:38 left in the first quarter.

Brother Rice (12-2) added to its advantage with 10:12 remaining in the second period when Joshua Flye was on the receiving end of a 9-yard dart from Alex Malzone.

Muskegon (12-2) would have the answer.

The Big Reds countered with Javontae Langston’s 3-yard run with 6:28 left in the second quarter to trim the deficit down to 14-7 at the break.

Muskegon eventually tied the score with 1:58 to go in the third quarter when Deshaun Thrower plunged into the end zone from 1 yard out.

That set up a wild fourth quarter.

The Warriors went ahead with 9:30 to play on Shon Powell’s 12-yard sprint for pay dirt, only to see Muskegon counter with Marcus Smith’s 11-yard TD run.

Again, Corey Lacanaria put Rice up again at 28-21 with 3:29 left in the contest when his 77-yard heave from Malzone was raced into the end zone.

Keondre Craig helped Muskegon answer once again with his 51-yard touchdown catch from Thrower.

Brother Rice coughed up the football inside one minute, giving the Big Reds one final push to try to tie the game. The Big Reds could not convert down the stretch.

“I can’t say enough about how proud I am of this group of young men,” added Fracassa, who didn’t know if he will come back for a 45^th season at Brother Rice. “There’s a lot of pressure playing football all season being (the defending state champions). They battled through it all season and accomplished their goals of winning again here today.”

Craig had three catches for 90 yards, Thrower was 8-for-17 for 143 yards passing, while Jalen Smith had 41 passing yards on a 4-of-12 performance for Muskegon. Smith also had 138 yards on 17 carries as part of the Big Reds’ 261 total rushing yards.

Malzone finished 8-of-10 passing for 167 yards and Cheyne Lacanaria added 44 passing yards for Brother Rice. Corey Lacanaria hauled in five catches for 137 yards, while Powell had 97 rushing yards on seven carries for the Warriors.

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Tags: Al Fracassa, Birmingham Brother Rice Football, football, high school football, MHSAA Division 2 Football State Finals, Muskegon Football, prep football

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