Heartbreaking loss to motivate up-and-coming Liggett football

GROSSE POINTES — Hold your head up, Knights. It’s been an incredible journey.

As Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett head coach Andre Rison spoke to his team after a heartbreaking 23-21 loss to Leslie in the Division 7 district championship game Nov. 9 at Liggett High School, the message wasn’t about miscues or things that needed to be improved.

“They’re champions in our eyes — to all our coaches,” Rison said he told his team following the loss. “They’re champions.”

Hosting Leslie High School (10-1) for a shot at a district title, the Knights (7-4) fell short after fighting back from an early 14-0 deficit.

Liggett junior quarterback Nikkos Davis, who was as consistent as it gets all year, hit senior running back Gary Stacy in the flat while Stacy did the rest, stiff-arming a Leslie defender and scampering for a 31-yard touchdown to cut it to 14-7 early in the second quarter.

A fumble recovery by junior Liam Kurtz set up shop for the Knights offense again as Davis hit senior wideout Santino Cicarella for a 45-yard touchdown connection on a deep post as Cicarella outran the Leslie secondary, giving Liggett a 15-14 lead just before halftime.

A Leslie field goal and touchdown run would leave Liggett just over three minutes on the clock to answer, and senior Marvin Hartfield was ready to do just that.

Hartfield corralled the kickoff and jetted down the field to the Leslie 35, and he’d take it himself a couple of plays later, as Davis would connect with Hartfield for a 24-yard touchdown to pull within two. The Liggett offense was unsuccessful on the two-point try, but hoped for a defensive stop with one timeout and 2:35 to play.

Leslie would ice the game with a few rushing plays, converting the first down and becoming district champions.

Davis played his heart out, throwing for 282 yards and three touchdowns while leading the defense in total tackles with 14. Freshman phenom Julius Barnett led all receivers with 12 catches for 125 yards and had an interception. Stacy also tallied an interception in the loss.

It’s difficult to think about the season as a whole when you’ve just faced a crushing defeat, but there’s a lot to be excited about when it comes to Knights football.

Posting its third-straight playoff appearance and seven-win season, first-year head coach Andre Rison, who served as the offensive coordinator last season, said he was proud of his guys for what they accomplished.

“It was awesome,” Rison said. “It didn’t end the way we wanted in that fashion, but as a whole we couldn’t have asked more from a team that was preseason picked to finish last.”

It starts with the seniors, and Liggett had plenty of difference makers in the 2025 class, and some who have been around the past three seasons as Liggett had its best regular season record since 2016.

With a senior group like Stacy, Cicarella, Hartfield, Andrew Johnson, Eddie Narva, Austin Allaer, Ari Medvinsky, Alexander Gould and Thomas Howlett, Rison said they’re the kind of group that helped build the foundation for what Liggett football will be in the coming years.

“They set a new precedent for what we are and who we are, and for what we are to become,” Rison said. “We’re here, I’ll say that.”