C & G Newspapers projected standings for CHSL football

METRO DETROIT — The Catholic High School League is shaping up to have a memorable season on its hands with a slew of teams fighting for the top spot in the Central Division and movement between Intersectional 1 and Intersectional 2 teams shaking up the divisions.

Below is C&G Newspapers’ projected standings for the 2024-2025 CHSL football season (regular season and division records from last year in parenthesis):

 

CHSL Central Division

Warren De La Salle Collegiate (11-3, 5-1)

Toledo Central Catholic (16-0, 6-0)

Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (3-6, 3-3)

Detroit Catholic Central (8-3, 4-2)

Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice (0-9, 0-6)

Toledo St. John’s Jesuit (4-7, 2-4)

 

Similar to how the Macomb Area Conference Red or Oakland Activities Association Red operate, the CHSL Central Division is truly a dogfight each week, and expected improvements from Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s only makes it more of a gauntlet.

Warren De La Salle Collegiate, which lost to Muskegon in the Division 2 state finals, and Toledo Central Catholic, which won its sixth Ohio state title last year, are the two heavyweights hoping one of its league counterparts can do some dirty work and give one of the top teams a loss before DLS and Central Catholic meet up on Sept. 20.

Central Catholic won the first meeting between the two schools 28-23 on their turf, but DLS will have the home field advantage this time around.

It’s always been about retooling a graduating class for DLS, but the Pilots return a healthy amount of all-Region talent in Jacob Hoffman (OL), Damion King IV (WR), Sante Gasperoni (QB), Jacob Tur (DL), Anthony Presnell (DL), Dalton Drogosh (LB) and Isaiah Jones (DB), who are not only motivated to regain control of the Central Division but to take back the D2 state championship.

Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (OLSM) and Detroit Catholic Central (DCC) are prime candidates for throwing a wrench in the plans of a DLS or Central Catholic, but the two schools are also geared up for another battle after a 16-14 DCC win over OLSM last year ultimately swung DCC to finish third and OLSM to finish fourth in the league.

This year will be on OLSM’s turf as the Eaglets host DLS and DCC in back-to-back weeks.

For Brother Rice, you hope the offseason splash of hiring former Southfield A&T football coach Aaron Marshall motivates the guys this year.

Marshall, who led Southfield A&T to its first state title in school history last year, can only improve on a record that saw Brother Rice go winless for the first time since 1963, but his squad will start out with an immediate test in Roseville, which blanked Brother Rice 41-0 to open the 2023 season.

 

CHSL AA Division

Jackson Lumen Christi (13-1, 3-0)

Detroit U of D Jesuit (7-3, 2-1)

Dearborn Divine Child (6-5, 1-2)

Toledo St. Francis De Sales (1-9, 1-5 Central)

 

The CHSL AA Division is really in the hands of Jackson Lumen Christi, which is looking for its third-straight Division 7 state championship.

Lumen Christi outscored league opponents 105-19 en route to an unbeaten league record and 13-1 season.

Toledo St. Francis De Sales will make the jump from the Central Division to the AA, but De Sales hasn’t shown enough to prove it’s a worthy challenger to the Titans.

Until Jesuit or Divine Child steps up, it will more so be about the battle for second as Jesuit and Divine Child continue to put on great matchups.

Our projected standings favor Jesuit this season, which has beaten Divine Child in six-straight matchups and returns a core of all-Region talent in Jacob Bellinger (OL), Elijah Dotson (WR), Zach Green (DL), Kasim Gozic (LB), and DaCari Gilkey (DB).

 

Intersectional 1 Division

Detroit Loyola (4-6, 0-3 AA)

Riverview Gabriel Richard (8-5, 2-2)

Macomb Lutheran North (9-3, 4-0)

Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett (7-3, 4-1 Int 2)

Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard (8-3, 3-1)

Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood (2-7, 1-3)

 

Aside from the Central Division, this may be one of the more fun league title races to watch for the upcoming year.

You could spend hours putting multiple teams in different spots to finish, and the likelihood is it will still be incorrect by the time the season is over.

Detroit Loyola, which is picked to finish in first in the Catholic League’s preseason poll, and Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, which played in Intersectional 2 after leaving Intersectional 1 in 2021, are the two unknowns for this league.

Loyola played one Intersectional 1 opponent last year in Cranbrook Kingswood, and they beat them 59-20, but that’s also a last place Cranbrook Kingswood team.

Liggett, on the other hand, is no stranger to Intersectional 1 play, but it would be better to have an elephant’s memory when trying to think about its tenure in the league.

The Knights were a bottom-half team, but the program is in a much better place than when the division last saw it.

Macomb Lutheran North and Riverview Gabriel Richard both return a core of talent that should have both teams contending again for a league title, but don’t count out Liggett to be a dangerous play each week.

Lutheran North is coming off a season where the program brought home its first district title and the most regular season wins in school history.

Lutheran North will travel to Riverview Gabriel Richard High School on Oct. 11, and Riverview Gabriel Richard has had Lutheran North’s number at home.

Since 2015, Riverview Gabriel Richard has four-straight wins over Lutheran North at home.

 

CHSL Intersectional 2 Division

Clarkston Everest Collegiate (9-3, 5-0)

Marine City Cardinal Mooney (6-5, 3-2)

Madison Heights Bishop Foley (1-8, 0-4 Int #1)

Allen Park Cabrini (5-6, 2-3)

Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes (3-6, 1-4)

Royal Oak Shrine Catholic (1-8, 0-5)

 

It’s Clarkston Everest Collegiate’s league and everyone else is just playing in it.

Everest Collegiate outscored returning league opponents 147-39 last year en route to an unbeaten record, which didn’t include Everest Collegiate’s second win over Cardinal Mooney in the playoffs.

You could make an argument that Cardinal Mooney gave Everest Collegiate its toughest test in the league, but returning only three players on offense and four on defense leaves a lot of questions that only its play on the field can figure out.

University Liggett was the only team to really make Everest Collegiate sweat in a 31-29 game favoring Everest Collegiate, but the Knights are no longer the concern of any Intersectional 2 teams.

Allen Park Cabrini and Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes hope their returning starters can help improve on last year’s finish with the CHSL preseason poll picking league newcomer Bishop Foley to finish ahead of both the schools in third while Cardinal Mooney is slated to be in second.

It was a disaster year for Bishop Foley across the board in 2023, but it’s hoping to find its footing in Intersectional 2 play. Even in as tough of a position as Foley was in, it handled Shrine Catholic 33-6 last year, a Shrine Catholic team that had close losses with Cabrini (13-7) and Our Lady of the Lakes (28-21).