BOYS BOWL BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN SHAMROCKS, CC STAYS PERFECT WITH DEFENSE AND VERSATILE RUNNING ATTACK

Like an ace major league baseball pitcher, the Novi Detroit Catholic Central football team's defense has been spinning nothing but gems this season on the gridiron. Sparked by their extra-stout defensive unit and some picture perfect ball-control offense, the Shamrocks throttled Warren De La Salle 27-7 in the 66^th annual Boys Bowl game played at the pristine CC campus in Novi on Sunday afternoon.

The dominating win lifts Catholic Central to a perfect 5-0 on the year and extends the team's win streak to 14 games overall. The last time the Shamrocks lost a game of any kind was in November of 2008.

Catholic Central is averaging giving up less than five points per contest and has already put up three shutouts this season. Throughout a majority of the game, it appeared that head coach Tom Mach's defense was going to get its fourth shutout of the campaign as the Shamrocks raced to 27-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

However, De La Salle got on the board with less than two minutes remaining in the game on a 6-yard rushing touchdown. The Pilots drop their first contest of the year and now stand with a record of 4-1.

Last season, Catholic Central romped its way to a Division 1 state championship, decimating nearly every team in its site on the way to the crown. Two years ago, De La Salle advanced all the way to the Division 2 state title game and last fall made an appearance in the state final four.

Behind a pair of touchdown runs from tailbacks Justin Messner and Anthony Darkangelo and one from quarterback Mike Birney, the Shamrocks held a 21-0 lead at halftime. The third quarter was literally all CC. Taking the second half kick-off, the Shamrocks took possession of the ball and didn't give it back until Darkangelo had plunged into the end zone from 1-yard out, they had a four-touchdown advantage and there was less than 60 seconds remaining in the quarter. By that point, mind you, it was all academic.

The CC rushing attack led by the three-headed monster of Darkangelo, Messner and Justin D'agostino was just as effective as its heavily-lauded defense. Darkangelo carried the ball 11 times for 66 yards and two scores. Messner, the son of Shamrocks legend and former college All-American Mark Messner (Michigan), ran the rock 10 times for 93 yards and a 46-yard TD sprint in the first quarter. D'agostino, a three-year starter, carried the bulk of the load for the squad, rushing the ball 17 times for 82 yards.

Birney's TD run was a 22-yarder and Darkangelo's first trip into the end zone was a 20-yarder.

The Boys Bowl was started in 1944 by Father James Martin, CC's athletic director at that time, and was originally played at Tigers Stadium. For 22 years, the game pitted the Shamrocks against Boys Town Academy, an orphanage in Nebraska with a country-wide reputation for great football teams. The match-up of national powers would regularly draw upwards of 40,000 fans, onlookers and scouts throughout the 1940s and 50s. From 1967 until 2003, the game was played between CC and arch-rival Birmingham Brother Rice. Today, the opponent in the hallowed contest is rotated around the CHSL Central Division.

Next up for the Shamrocks is a road affair against University of Detroit-Jesuit, losers to Brother Rice on Saturday, 21-0