Rochester, Rochester Hills

On the rise

By Mike Moore
C & G Staff Writer

Goals of playoffs win, best record ever dominate Rochester Lutheran Northwest
football

ROCHESTER HILLS — Don Justice vividly remembers his final game as head coach of the Harper Woods Lutheran East football team.

The year was 2003. The final score was a 62-7 victory.

The opponent that night was Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest, and in a move that turned the phrase, “If you can’t beat them, join them,” upside down, Justice beat them and then joined them.

Some five years later, Justice has turned the Lutheran Northwest program upside down, transforming it from one that struggled to win more than three games a year into one that now has the expectation of winning playoff games.

“I remember when I got here in 2004, the weight room was essentially used for storage,” Justice explained. “We finished the season 3-6, and really shouldn’t have won the three games we did.”

Since that moment, Justice has been rebuilding, laying the foundation for success only he could imagine.

Almost instantly, things started changing. In 2005, the Crusaders finished the regular season 6-3 before falling in the opening round of the playoffs. In 2006, a couple close losses resulted in a 4-5 mark. In 2007, they began the year 2-0 but finished 2-7.

“Last year was tough, but we had such a young team,” Justice explained. “We went 2-7, but every game was a learning experience for us.

"The guys took a lot of those lessons into the offseason, worked their butts off, and now we’re in a position to possibly do some great things.”

Those things are already happening.

Through four weeks of the season, The Crusaders were a perfect 4-0. They’ve been explosive on offense, scoring 124 points, and dominant on defense, allowing just 33 points with two shutouts.

And in a road game that Justice predicted would be the most difficult of the season thus far, they cruised past Clarenceville High 29-13 Sept. 19.

“It’s been pretty amazing so far,” said senior lineman Steve Sadler. “You can’t be any better than undefeated, so we’re doing pretty well.”

“We’ve had some real solid talent in this program since our sophomore season, so I can’t really say we’re that surprised,” senior quarterback Matt Rolf said. “We’ve played well and stayed healthy, that’s been key.”

Also key are the lessons the Crusaders learned over the past few seasons. After starting 2-0 last season, Rolf said the team became content and complacent. The next thing it knew, the season was over.

“Nothing like that will happen again,” Rolf said. “We went into the offseason with a new attitude, a new demeanor. We wanted to be good this season, and we knew it wasn’t going to just happen.”

Justice called this summer, “a great one.” He spoke of the commitment he saw from every one of his players, not just the 19 seniors.

He called 2008 a season, “we’ve been building toward for quite some time now.”

So now, with four wins in four weeks, the preseason goals are starting to take shape.

“These guys came in with big ambitions,” Justice added. “They wanted to break the school record for wins, which is six. They want to win a Metro Conference title.

"They don’t just want to make the playoffs, they want to win a playoff game. We’re in a pretty good spot right now where most of, if not all, of those things could happen.”

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Mike Moore at mmoore@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1038.