Fordson Goes Down Hard to Catholic Central in Season Opener

History repeated itself for the second year in a row tonight as Detroit Catholic Central’s football team blanked Fordson High School in the season opener, 42-0.

The Tractors hosted the Shamrocks, who scored six unanswered touchdowns. Fordson’s offense had some trouble with turnovers, which allowed the Shamrocks to capitalize and run the ball more often.

“They (Fordson) played very hard and I thought we got the right breaks at the right time, which led to touchdowns,” said Catholic Central head coach Tom Mach. “I thought they played a great game.”

All eyes were on Fordson, while the majority of the team was fasting throughout the first three quarters. Hundreds of Fordson fans attended the game–many of them were Muslim and broke their fast in the stands.

The added pressures of the media didn’t help the team either, according to Fordson linebacker Jawad Bazzi.

“There are a lot of (new) kids that are starting (and) there was a lot of pressure,” Bazzi said. “There were cameras everywhere.”

TLC cameras followed the team for its upcoming reality series on and off the field as well as other local news stations fascinated with the fasting players.

The game began in favor of the Shamrocks, who scored first early in the opening quarter. Alex Kozlowski ran a four-yard touchdown to give his team the lead. Fordson tried to fight back when the Shamrocks fumbled the ball at their 35-yard line with five minutes left in the first half. Tractor Ahmad Leila recovered the ball.

However, Fordson was unable to convert the turnover into points. In the last two minutes of the first half, senior David Houle doubled the lead for Catholic Central on a six-yard run that made the score 14-0.

Fordson came back in the second half with a lot more energy, and the physicality of the game excelled. The Tractors almost lit the scoreboard through the third when Ali Farran dropped the ball from a pass in the end zone.

“Right after that–that’s when it changed,” Bazzi said. “Everyone looked down, had their heads down and that’s when everyone gave up. That was the turning point–that play.”

Catholic Central never looked back after the drop and continued to dominate the game.  

“We knew they wouldn’t go away,” said the Shamrocks’ Pat Collins, who scored the final touchdown of the game. “We knew they would come out, they’d be angry, and they’d be ready to go. They had a pretty good drive on us, but when we stopped them, it gave us a ton of momentum and after that, we couldn’t be stopped.”

Fordson will prepare to play against Dearborn Heights Crestwood on Sept. 2. Assistant coach Mohamed Bazzi said the team will need to focus on blocking and tackling for next week.

Correction: The scorer of Catholic Central's first touchdown was originally incorrectly reported. It was actually Alex Kozlowski.