Amazon Prep Kickoff Classic | August 27, 2026 | 20:26
Two programs headed in different directions opened the Amazon Prep Kickoff Classic Thursday at Tom Adams Field on the campus of Wayne State University.
Detroit Catholic Central is coming off a resounding Division 1 championship, beating Detroit Cass Tech at Ford Field, and have reloaded as evidenced by its 55-0 victory over the outmanned Big Reds.
"In the beginning it was a little messy on offense, we had a couple of penalties,'' said CC coach Justin Cessante. "We got to get some guys in for experience. We know we have a tough game coming up. We've been focused and worked really hard over the summer. These guys wanted their own identity and wanted to get off to a good start. We put a lot of work in over the summer. We don't do a lot of 7-on-7s. We just focus on our process and our scheme with out special teams.''
While Catholic Central's fortunes have flourished, Chippewa Valley has floundered since Scott Merchant left the program.
The BIg Reds have gone 3-6 and 2-7, winless in the MAC Red, under Terry Wilson. CV won the state title in 2018 with a thrilling 31-30 victory over Clarkston when the Wolves decided to go for two points and the win.
CC opened the scoring by overcoming three penalties and used a two-yard TD run by Jalen Montlouis with eight minutes, three seconds left in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead.
Mr. Football candidate Gideon Gash returned an interception 36-yards on Chippewa Valley's next possession to give the winners a 14-0 lead with 6:32 left in the first quarter.
Enjoy Gash while you can because he'll be headed to Texas Tech as an early graduate.
"I'm trying everything under my power to do what's best for the team,'' said Gash. "I try my best not to make coach mad. It was a great camp. We had hours of practice. We said we might face adversity the first game and that happened with the penalites.''
Banta threw his first TD pass of the season to a lonely Montlouis from 22 yards out to make it 21-0 with 2:17 still left in the first quarter.
Reserve running back Aiden Kolchuk scored from two yards out to give CC a 27-0 lead 8:55 before halftime.
CC made it 34-0 with 1:13 left before halftime on a 14-yard pass from Banta to Aiden Kersey.
Gash finished a dominate first half with a 48-yard punt return TD to make it 41-0. The second half was played with a running clock.
Kolchuk opened the third quarter with a 7-yard TD run to increase the rout to 48-0.
