DETROIT, Mich. — For the second consecutive season, the Mona Shores Sailors are hoisting the Division 2 state championship trophy at Ford Field.
The Sailors took on Warren De La Salle and former West Catholic head coach, Dan Rohn who led the Pilots to the state title game in his first season at the helm.
Early on, it was Shores drawing first blood as Brady Rose scored on a 12-yard touchdown run to make it 6-0 after the extra point was unsuccessful.
The Sailor defense would hang tough in the opening half and Elijah Johnson would put the cap to an outstanding first two quarters for Matt Koziak's club with a nine-yard touchdown run before Keegan DeKuiper's extra point made it 13-0.
In the third quarter, the Pilots would get on the board and would start to pick up momentum until Keondre Pierce found the endzone from ten yards out to make it 19-7 Shores with 9:25 left in the game.
Back-2-Back pic.twitter.com/FeiUWgY83U
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Less than two minutes later, De La Salle would find pay dirt once more to cut into the Sailors lead, 19-13 with 7:58 left.
However, with just under two minutes to go in the game, it would be Mr. Football finalist Brady Rose finding the endzone once again with a four-yard run to help put the game on ice.
The Pilots would score in the final seconds but it would be Mona Shores coming away with the 25-19 victory to make it back-to-back state titles for Matt Koziak and the Sailors.
"We are defending state champions and we got everybody's best shot," Sailors head coach Matt Koziak said. "When the AP rankings first came out these guys were ranked number one all year so everybody that plays us, there is just something that elevates their game so I really think it was harder to win this year than last year."
Rose was once again the hero with 165 total yards and two touchdowns in the victory in his last game as a Sailor.
"This was the end of the story, the last chapter of my time at Shores and ended it with a bang," Rose said after the game.
After leading Mona Shores to their first-ever championship last season, it's a storybook ending for Rose.
"Back-to-back, we had this paper in our locker room that said point five percent of people that make the playoffs go back-to-back and we are in that point five percent now so that is awesome," added Rose.
