On a four-game winning streak, Rice will visit St. Mary's for Round 2.

Had the Brother Rice football team won its last three regular-season games in 2024, it likely would've made the playoffs in coach Aaron Marshall's first season.

And that was a goal for the Warriors, who instead went 0-3, suffering huge losses to Warren DeLaSalle, eventual state champion Orchard Lake St. Mary's and Sterling Heights Stevenson to close out the fall.

This year? They sat at 2-4 entering Week 7. They faced those exact same stakes against the exact same opponents: Win, and you're in. Lose, and you're sitting at home.

"Do you guys want to go home?" Jacob Johnson said he asked his teammates in the locker room after trailing Walled Lake Western 14-13 at halftime of the Division 2 pre-district on Oct. 31.

The

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