The De La Salle Collegiate varsity football program (2-0) didn’t find out until Tuesday it would be playing the River Rouge Panthers, the Division 3 state finalists from a season ago, in its Week 2 tilt at Wayne State’s Tom Adams Field. Yet, Pilots head coach Dan Rohn had the Purple and Gold ready to play Friday night, as they defeated the Panthers, 38-29.

The game was won on the ground for De La Salle, which finished with six rushing touchdowns in the contest. Senior DeNiro Johnson led the way on the ground, with a game-high two rushing scores.

The Panthers produced the first score of the night, taking a 7-0 lead with 10:33 to play in the first quarter.  

The Purple and Gold answered right back with a 1-yard rushing touchdown from senior Will Beesley. Johnson then followed that up with his first rushing touchdown of the contest. It gave De La Salle, which missed a point-after-try and then a two-point conversion attempt, a 12-7 lead.

Yet, River Rouge came out of the first quarter with a 15-12 lead, after scoring on a passing touchdown from junior Christian Johnson, which was followed by a successful two-point conversion.     

The Pilots took off after that, though, scoring 26 unanswered points and shutting out the Panthers through the second and third quarters of play. 

Sophomore Rhett Roeser got the scoring started in the second quarter for the Pilots, with a 15-yard TD run. The Purple and Gold scored once more before the end of the first half, via a 46-yard scamper from junior Brady Drogosh. It gave De La Salle a 24-15 lead going into halftime.

The Pilots also scored twice in the third quarter, first via a five-yard rushing score from senior Alton McCullum and then courtesy of a 20-yard rushing TD by DeNiro Johnson.   

River Rouge outscored De La Salle, 14-0, in the fourth quarter. However, the Panthers’ comeback attempt ultimately fell short, leaving the Purple and Gold with the 38-29 victory.

Presently, Rohn & Co. don’t have a Week 3 opponent. And, if it stays that way, it means that the Pilots won’t suit up again until Friday, Sept. 17, at 7 p.m. at Birmingham Brother Rice.