Dearborn Divine Child celebrates the Catholic League AA title Saturday at Ford Field.
Ball security decided Saturday’s Catholic League Prep Bowl wild-card game between Detroit Loyola and Dearborn Divine Child at Ford Field.
Three first-half fumbles and an interception put Loyola in a hole it couldn’t escape as the Falcons won, 35-24.
“We traded them (turnovers) for a while, and there were some bizarre plays,” Divine Child coach John Filatraut said. “We turned it over, they turned it over. They scored off one. They (Loyola) were really nicked up. They had some of their kids after the middle of the second quarter that weren’t playing. That obviously made it easier for us to run.
“Loyola has been the gold standard in (the Double-A division) for like 100 years. They’ve won six or seven in a row. I hope this shows the growth in our program.”
The teams met earlier in the year with the Bulldogs winning, 34-24, but the turnover disparity swayed Saturday’s game.
Divine Child junior Theo Day also picked the right time to have his best game, passing for 129 yards and rushing for 117.
“He’s just getting more and more in sync with what we want to do,” Filatraut said.
After the teams exchanged turnovers, Loyola scored first on a 17-yard run by Malcolm Mayes. He also caught the two-point conversion pass to make it 8-0.
Divine Child (7-2) came right back with a 60-yard pass from Day to Evan Lathan on the first play from scrimmage to make it 8-7.
Loyola (7-2) drove to the DC 4, where Antony Robinson fumbled and Jordan Jones recovered for the Falcons. It was Loyola’s second turnover.
The Falcons, pinned deep in their territory, exploded for runs of 14 and 78 yards by Day, resulting in a touchdown by the junior quarterback to give the Falcons a 14-8 lead with 8:55 left in the half.
“That was huge; John Bierman had huge block or I probably would’ve been caught from behind,” Day said. “He helped me out big. I thought I was more confident today than I’ve ever been, and I thought I led the team.”
On the first play from scrimmage, Loyola fumbled again with Divine Child’s Aidan Hutchinson recovering at the Bulldogs’ 21.
Divine Child turned the miscue into a 17-yard TD pass from Day to tight end Liam Soraghan to make it 21-8.
Loyola held the ball long enough to put it safely in the hands of Mayes, who drove the Bulldogs to the Divine Child 11. Watkins scored on an 11-yard run, and the two-point conversion pass made it 21-16.
A face-mask penalty helped the Falcons drive to the Bulldogs’ 7. Using some trickery, Patrick Hoover took a pitchout and threw to Soraghan in the end zone for a TD pass to give the Falcons a 28-16 lead.
Loyola finished its turnover-filled first half with Price Watkins throwing an interception to Scott Combs.
Divine Child scored the only points in the third quarter when Jordan Jones bulled his way to the end zone, fumbled, but had a teammate recover to give the Falcons a 35-16 lead with 1:33 left in the third.
Watkins closed the gap to 35-24 on a TD pass to Hunter Harris, but only 5:21 was left.
“They’re way too good to not play perfectly,” Loyola coach John Callahan said. “This was a story of a team that came to play and a team that … I don’t know. They were the better team.”
Contact Perry A. Farrell: 313-222-2555 or pafarrell@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @farrellperry.