The Grand Rapids Catholic Central Cougars welcomed West Catholic to the CAT for a classic old-school rivalry battle with a District Championship on the line. GRCC has two straight State Championships, and they continued their quest for a third with a 44-6 victory against the Falcons.

This game was all Cougars early, scoring the first 34 points. In the first quarter, John Passinault showed his versatility with a touchdown on both sides of the ball. First, he found Nolan Ziegler on a 10-yard toss. Later, he stepped in front of a Falcons’ pass and returned the interception 30 yards for a score. This gave the Cougars a 14-0 lead.

Passinault and Ziegler paired up twice more, with 6 and 32-yard strikes. Passinault rounded out the first quarter scoring with a fourth touchdown throw. This last toss went to Joe Mullet and it covered 8 yards. Before the half concluded, Tim Kloska powered across the goal line from 2 yards out, bringing the halftime score to 34-6 in favor of the Cougars.

Grand Rapids Catholic Central scored ten more points in the third quarter. First, John Meyer booted a 27-yard field goal. Finally, Passinault found Brady Redmer on a 2-yard toss to give the Cougars a 38-point lead. The running clock remained in effect for the remainder of the contest.

Tim Kloska led West Catholic offensively with 144 yards on 28 carries. That was nearly all of the West Catholic 215 yards in this game. Noah Arsulowicz had the rest with 48 passing (5/15 completions) and 23 rushing. Michael Ignatoski had four receptions for 47 yards, and Andrew McAlary had 1 catch for 1 yard.

John Passinault was 15/25 passing for 168 yards and five touchdowns. Jacob Rellinger had 83 rushing yards on 13 carries. Nolan Zeigler had a team0high in receptions (7), yards (82) and touchdowns (3). Jack Klafeta had 11 tackles to pace the defensive side. Passinault, Zeigler and Brady Redmer each added 7 tackles.

Grand Rapids Catholic Central and their 34-game winning streak will continue on to next week’s regional championship. This is the sixth straight year that the Cougars have won the district title, and they have also won the regionals in each of those campaigns. They hope to continue that streak when they face Oakridge next week. Oakridge’s offense exploded against Tri-County in a 58-22 victory on Friday night.