Shrine Football Drops Catholic League Title Game 40-0 to Detroit Loyola

DETROIT – Kids grow up dreaming of playing football at Ford Field.

For the varsity football team, that dream didn't have a happy ending the past two years.

The Knights lost 40-0 to Detroit Loyola on Saturday at Ford Field in the Michigan Catholic League C-D Division title game. Last year, the Bulldogs beat Shrine 38-6 in the championship game on the Detroit Lions home field.  

“Very tough,” Shrine head coach John Goddard said of the back-to-back losses. “This team is not 40 points better than us.”

Things started going south for Goddard’s team late in the first half when the Knights had to punt with less than 30 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

Loyola wasn’t content to just take a knee and go into halftime up 6-0 lead. Quarterback Montel Cooks scored the first of his three touchdowns on a 61-yard pass to Amos Houston with only 15 seconds left before halftime.

Houston beat his man up the sideline to put the Bulldogs up 14-0.

“It was one of those things where you take a chance,” Loyola head coach John Callahan said. “It could be an intercepted if they are playing prevent, we just caught them off guard and got it (the play) off quick before they could line up properly.”

Cooks came out of halftime and made sure the offense didn’t let up.

On Loyola’s first possession of the half, he scored on a tremendous 46-yard run. The senior spun out of multiple tackles to get into the end zone and give the Bulldogs a 20-0 lead.

Running back Raymond Brown fumbled on Shrine’s ensuing possession and Cooks didn’t waste anytime getting his team back in the red zone. He scored two minutes later on a 2-yard run at the goal line. A successful two-point conversion extended Loyola’s lead to 28-0.

Offensively, the Knights weren’t able to respond at all. Shrine turned the ball over twice in the second half and went nearly 20 minutes in the second half without a first down.

“They lit us up in the second half,” Goddard said. “You have to stay in the fight, we climbed out of the ring in the second half.”

Not over yet

The loss dropped Shrine to 8-1 on the season, but it's not over yet. The Knights move on to the district round of the playoffs next week against an opponent that will be announced Sunday.

Brackets for all of the divisions will be announced on Sunday night when Fox Sports Detroit airs its Selection Sunday Show at 7 p.m.