Sterling Heights Stevenson can hurt you with the pass.

Novi Detroit Catholic Central can hurt you with the run.

That pretty much sums up the offenses that will be on display this afternoon at Ford Field in the Division 1 state championship football game.

“And they’ve been so successful at running the football, you can’t get the ball back,” said Titans coach Rick Bye, whose team takes a 13-0 overall record into the 1 p.m. kickoff against the undefeated Shamrocks. “Anytime a team controls the ball like that it makes each of your possessions that much more crucial.

“You have to make sure you don’t have any three-and-outs,” Bye added. “You have to make sure you don’t have a penalty on a big play. You don’t want to be put in predictable situations where you can’t get out of them.”

On the season, the Shamrocks have rushed for nearly 3,800 yards. In last week’s 31-0 win over Holt in a Division 1 state semifinal game, Niko Palazeti ran for 172 yards on 25 carries, while Anthony Capatina had 15 carries for 75 yards.

And it’s that patient and very potent ground attack that’s help lead Catholic Central to eight shutouts this season. The Shamrocks have given up just 54 points all year, 24 of which came in an overtime win against Canton in a Division 1 regional final.

“We really don’t feel anybody has been able to run against their defense and without our running backs, we’re certainly not going to try,” Bye said.

Stevenson starting running back Justice Wright, who ran for more than 900 yards this season, tore his ACL a the pre-district win over Roseville, while backup running back Mike Kirksey broke his arm in practice before the playoffs began.

Both are progressing and are hopeful to see some action today.

So without a true running game, the Titans have relied on what’s been so successful for them all season — throwing the football.

Senior Jason Fracassa has thrown 50-plus times in each of Stevenson’s last two playoffs wins. Along the way he has re-written the Michigan High School Athletic Association record books. He holds the record for passing yards in a season (4,140), pass attempts in a season (1,071), pass completions in a season (251) and passing touchdowns in a season (42).

“Oh we’ll run it, but we won’t be packing it in and running the football,” said Bye, whose team has scored a county-best 514 points this season. “I just think in order to neutralize a great run defense, you spread them out. They know what we’re going to do, because we have to do that.”

Fracassa’s main target is senior D.J. Mershman, who holds the record for receiving yards in a season with 1,734.

“With risks comes reward,” Bye added. “We don’t have the running backs to run against them, so we have no choice.”

What Bye doesn’t know is how the Shamrocks’ offense will progress.

“They will probably start off in a T-formation and try and run over us,” Bye said. “If that doesn’t work, then they’ll probably try and spread us out and still try and run over us. But if we were able to get ahead, perhaps we can force them out of their comfort zone and they’ll have to throw the ball.”

CC quarterback Sam Landry has attempted fewer than 100 passes this season.

Iowa-bound Carl Davis anchors the Titans’ defensive line at nose guard. The rest of the line consists of Demetrus Howard, Corey Stone and Kyle Kimball, while the linebacking corps is made up of Mark Kovalcik, Jon Sulek and Charlie Walker.

The Shamrocks score just more than 33 points a game on average, while allowing opponents a mere 4.2. The Titans’ offense score close to 40 points a game and the defense allows just more than 17.

Stevenson, which has scored at least 28 points in every game this season, is 0-3 in state finals appearances and 0-3 against Catholic Central in the playoffs. All three meetings in the postseason have been at the state semifinal level. The Shamrocks, who have won nine state championships in 12 appearances, beat the Titans in 1998 (35-21), 1997 (21-17) and 1995 (29-13).



Contact Chuck Pleiness at chuck.pleiness@macombdaily.com.