DETROIT — Warren De La Salle Collegiate left no doubt Friday that they're one of the best high school football teams in Michigan and beyond. The Pilots beat Forest Hills Central 52-13 at Ford Field to secure their fifth state championship in the last decade.
"We got outplayed in all facets of the game. That's a good football team," said Forest Hills Central head coach Tim Rogers.
"We looked long and hard to find weaknesses. We couldn't find it on film and we found it out today. They're well coached. Dan Rohn does a great job. And then they're deep. There's not many weaknesses in terms of their players. The secondary is good. The defense is good. The line is good. The linebackers are tough."
Rohn, who took over at De La Salle in March 2020, made a name for himself in Grand Rapids as the coach of the West Catholic Falcons, who were quite successful under his leadership.
The Pilots got off to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and didn't look back. They were led by quarterback Brady Drogosh. The future Cincinnati Bearcat had two passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns for De La Salle.
"We just couldn't slow down the quarterback. Why he's not recruited by Alabama, I don't know," Rogers said.
"He's a darn good quarterback. He can make all the throws. He runs really well. He obviously checks a lot of things at the line of scrimmage. Man, he's an excellent football player."
FHC was able to take some momentum into the locker room at halftime after their defense forced two fumbles for turnovers in the second quarter. That led to touchdowns by Ty Hudkins and Roman Brummel. De La Salle took a 38-13 lead into the half and did not look back in the second half.
The season was still historic for the Rangers. It was the first state championship appearance since 1994 for a team that's been reliably good over the last several years.
"A lot of people doubted us and before the year nobody really knew what to expect because we graduated a lot of seniors [last year], but this is the toughest team that I've ever played on and the most courageous guys and it just means a lot to get here," Hudkins said.
Quarterback Justin Osterhouse agreed that this Rangers team still has a lot to be proud of.
"I'm super proud of our guys. We came out and did the job every week until this week, obviously. But it was a lot of fun coming here as my last senior season in high school," he said.
The Rangers finish the season with a 13-1 record.
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