Two of the state’s 28 teams that reached Selection Sunday without a loss, Detroit Catholic Central and South Lyon, are transitioning into the first round of the playoffs in distinctly different ways.
For the Lions, that means running back a rivalry tilt with South Lyon East just seven days following their 28-6 home win over the Cougars.
Now, things are different from 2022 when the rivals faced off in Week 9, then turned around and played each other again to open the postseason. That year South Lyon lost 27-21 in the first game, then beat the Cougars 30-27 in districts. In fairness to East, the gulf in quality wasn’t quite as pronounced.
That doesn’t mean that the Lions shouldn’t be on alert, though, and having to do the job twice in a row is always that much more challenging.
“I’m not a fan, never have been when you play the same opponent the week after, but I wasn’t surprised by it,” Lions head coach Jeff Henson said after learning his team drew East in the opener. “It’s happened in the past. Obviously the number of D2 teams in the area makes it easy to pair up. We have a ton of respect for East. Jacob (Topp) does a great job over there, and like any crosstown rival, they know us, we know them, and they’ll bring their best effort.
“You look at the group we’re in, there’s pretty good teams. Dexter’s pretty good, Livonia Franklin’s perennially good and will be in our league next year. It’s exciting to see some new teams.”
Henson has the experience of managing the mindset of entering the playoffs with an unblemished mark after doing so in 2018 and 2021, the more recent of those resulting in in a run to the state semis. “This is our third one, and obviously, they’re all different,” he said. “This one’s a huge credit to a huge senior class who all pretty much started for us as sophomores and took their lumps (then) at 2-7. Last year, we won four games, but we were in almost all but one of them. It’s a big credit to that class, who are kind of the definition of perseverance.”
South Lyon's Tyler Newton (25) carries the ball in the Lions' 21-20 win over host Waterford Mott on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. (MATTHEW B. MOWERY — MediaNews Group)
Along with a junior class that hasn’t lost a game in high school when combined with their sub-varsity records, and part of that commitment Henson referred to has to do with changing the offense from the program’s usual spread Wing-T to a more traditional under center Wing-T set. “Our kids have really embraced it, and it fits top-down right now with who we have in our program,” he said. “But we still have the ability to do the things (we did before) when we need to. We can still have it in our repertoire (to spread it out) if we need to.”
It might seem like consecutive wins in the middle of the schedule against Walled Lake Western and Waterford Mott — both playoff teams, both victories that came on the road — was where the coaches knew what they had with this team, but Henson goes back to the opener against Lakeland, a 42-14 victory, because of the change in approach.
“That (opener) was a game we needed to win right away, not only for league purposes, but for our kids to prove what we’re doing was going to work with the offense we’re running and how we’re coaching them. But we played the four toughest teams in our league on the road with Lakeland, Milford, Western and Mott, and we adopted the mantra of going out and proving it every week. I think our kids really embraced that.”
Meanwhile, while the expectations were always high for Catholic Central this season, but it wasn’t guaranteed the team would ride into the playoffs coming off a win with having to play Saturday night against Detroit King in the Prep Bowl.
“We’ve been up on teams we thought we should’ve put away and didn’t, and I thought we played a really good football team (Saturday),” Catholic Central head coach Justin Cessante said of the eventual 26-14 win. “It’s great to have a team game. The defense stalled them out a couple times, bend not break, and when the offense had to have our backs it was able to respond. We just have to learn when we have somebody in a situation where we can tilt it our way, we have to make sure it happens. Champions, do that, and I think we’re getting closer. We’ve learned a lot with big leads. You have to, because big teams will get you.”
No one questioned whether the Shamrocks would have the talent to end both the regular season and the postseason at Ford Field with the weapons that quarterback Duke Banda has around him. But Cessante points to the offensive line as the area where there was uncertainty but has carried its weight.
“There’s four new starters on the offensive line and we’re averaging over 30 points per game,” Cessante said. “Our four juniors (Eric Anderson, Joshua Peters, Ryan Richardson, Austin Woodlock) that accompany (Benny Eziuka) have really impressed.”
Those players, along with safety Beckett Glynn and running back Cedric Williams, both seniors, have stepped up for a team that Cessante says has a mentality of giving it 100% even when there’s no cameras pointed at them. The Shamrocks are preparing first for Hartland, but after that they’ll face the winner of Brighton and West Bloomfield. Catholic Central ended the Lakers’ season last year, beating them 41-14 in a district title game.
“We kind of anticipated it being Hartland, and we obviously have to do our homework on them and make sure we prepare,” Cessante said. “West Bloomfield we played last year, so obviously there’ll be some friction there, but there’s some good teams. Hartland plays tough and they have an interesting scheme, so you have to make sure you have high discipline and guys lined up right. That’s what makes the playoffs fun. We see teams year in and year out (in the Catholic League), then I don’t think we’ve played Hartland since 2012.”
As for that outlook on getting back to Ford Field, Cessante added, “I’ve played and coached in seven state championships. There’s consistent factors, but the harder you work, the luckier you get. How hard you play gets you the breaks, but it’s not easy.”