Michigan Collegiate moves on to district championship, handles Shrine Catholic 52-0

WARREN – For a brief moment, Royal Oak Shrine Catholic opened the eyes of Warren Michigan Collegiate with a defensive stop to open up the game and a methodical offensive drive.

A Shrine holding call would negate a 13-yard touchdown score from junior Brandon Donley, which would’ve given the Knights a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter.

Little did Shrine know it would be its last trip into the Michigan Collegiate (9-1) redzone while the Cougars’ explosive offensive unit would find the endzone at will, defeating Shrine Catholic (7-3) Nov. 2 at Warren Lincoln High School.

“We came out a little iffy in the first quarter, but as a team we came back together and realized what we had to do to get this win today,” senior Maurice Pope, who paced the defensive effort, said.

It’s been the Moore brothers all season carrying the offensive effort, and seniors Caleb and Jacob once again made their presence felt, but junior wideout Taye Redding was the force to be reckoned with in this contest.

Hauling in a pair of touchdown receptions, adding a 49-yard touchdown run, and putting the nail in the coffin with a pick-six late in the third quarter, Redding was simply untouchable and unguardable all afternoon.

Michigan Collegiate opened up the scoring with a 13-yard touchdown run from junior Patrick Baker as Caleb Moore led the offensive unit down the field late in the first quarter, connecting on five passes for 67 yards with Redding and Jacob Moore on the receiving end.

From there, it seemed like every Cougars’ offensive possession was met with multiple big yardage plays as Caleb Moore was consistently piercing the Shrine secondary.

“I want to come out and score first,” Caleb Moore said. “I want to come out harder than we came out and play together.”

When Michigan Collegiate had too much fun in the pass game, Baker would change the pace with a run, gashing the Shrine interior.

Redding would tally back-to-back scores, one courtesy of a 16-yard find from Caleb Moore, as Michigan Collegiate held a 22-0 lead while  Caleb Moore would add the final score before halftime on a six-yard quarterback keeper to make it 30-0.

The running clock and another Moore-Redding connection would put the game out of reach for the Knights, who finished the season 7-3 and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2020 and posted its best regular season record since 2019.

Michigan Collegiate will now focus its attention on a red-hot Marine City squad, who has won its last four matchups and defeated Clinton Township Clntondale 50-30 in the first round of the playoffs.

The Cougars, who reached the Division 6 state championship game in 2021, know the focus is on one game at a time, but it’s difficult not to get excited about a team with this much firepower on both sides of the ball.

“It really doesn’t (matter who we play),” Caleb Moore said. “We can beat anybody as long as we stay together, talk, and stay tight. I feel like we can beat everybody and win the finals.”

Michigan Collegiate will face Marine City (8-2), who also last reached the state championship game in 2021 in Division 5, next weekend at Warren Lincoln High School. Time and date are still to be determined.

As far as the Cougars’ journey goes, the No. 28 jersey, in honor of teammate Corey Williams who passed away two years ago, will be along for the ride.

The team holds two of his jerseys up before each game to make sure he’s still a part of the team.

“As a tradition, we just hold his jersey up for memories every game,” Pope said.