MADISON HEIGHTS – St. Clair Shores Lake Shore would like to add some Ram-like seasoning to boost its football fortunes.
Braylon Cox passed for two touchdowns and ran for another, and Devin Gardner Jr. returned a fumble and a punt for touchdowns Friday night as Madison Heights Lamphere defeated the visiting Shorians 59-8 in a Macomb Area Conference Gold Division game.
Five seniors scored the Rams’ eight touchdowns, all in the first half, as Lamphere overwhelmed a Shorians team that has only four seniors on their roster.
“I’m starting four freshmen,” first-year Shorians coach Tony Savage said. “It’s tough. We’re going up against teams with a lot of seniors. This (Lamphere) team has 17 seniors.”
Savage took over a team that finished the 2025 season with 14 players on its roster. He said the current Shorians average 14 ½ years of age.
“It’s an uphill battle,” Savage said. “My biggest thing with these kids is teaching them to overcome adversity. In this program, they were never taught that.”
Lake Shore hasn’t had a winning season since 2018.
“The culture is turning around, but it’s not going to happen overnight,” Savage said. “The culture has to change before the wins come. We’re learning about sticking together, building the program.”
Madison Heights Lamphere’s Peyton Archer (13) maneuvers through traffic Friday during this 59-8 Macomb Area Conference Gold Division win over St. Clair Shores Lake Shore on Sept. 18, 2026. (GEORGE SPITERI — For MediaNews Group)
Lake Shore scored the final points of the game. Freshman Denver Nance ran three yards for a touchdown and added a conversion run in the fourth quarter.
Lamphere, which is trying to qualify for the state playoffs for the seventh consecutive season, improved to 2-0 in the Gold Division and 3-1 overall.
“This is a good situation for our kids to have some success this year,” first-year Rams coach Hannibal Roda said, pointing to Lamphere’s strong senior class. “We don’t get too high or too low.”
Roda was an assistant to coach Ray Ostrowski in 2025 and was named the head coach after Ostrowski took a position on St. Clair Shores Lakeview’s staff.
“I was really lucky to be trusted with taking over the program,” Roda said. “And then, after becoming the head coach, you see an administrative team that really wants to be involved, to see the program succeed.
“And it’s more than just football and it’s more than just athletics that they want to succeed. There is the complete picture here at Lamphere.”
St. Clair Shores Lake Shore freshman Denver Nance (3) escapes the tackle of Madison Heights Lamphere’s Chase Dort (19) Friday during this Macomb Area Conference Gold Division contest at Lamphere on Sept. 18, 2026. (GEORGE SPITERI — For MediaNews Group)
Peyton Archer scored on runs of two and one yards, and Georgio Kourtesis kicked two of his six PATs to give Lamphere a 14-0 lead in the first seven minutes of the game.
Cox lofted a 25-yard touchdown pass to 6-foot-5 Keegan Burton in the corner of the end zone and Gardner, a four-year varsity player, returned a fumble 29 yards as Lamphere built a 27-0 lead before the first quarter ended.
Austin Dort scored on a one-yard run; Cox ran six yards for a TD before Jack Heumann’s conversion run; Gardner returned a punt 58 yards for a score and Burton caught a three-yard touchdown pass from Cox in the second quarter.
“We had to dedicate ourselves to running the ball this week,” said Cox. “We’ve been making too many penalties – stupid penalties.
“We watched a lot of film. We were ready.”
Cox did all of his passing in the first half when he completed seven of 12 attempts for 106 yards.
Kourtesis kicked a 19-yard field goal for Lamphere’s only points of the second half, which was played with a running clock.
“We told the kids that there’s a lot of ways that we need to get right,” Roda said. “We haven’t felt like we’ve strung together a full game.
“We want to peak at the right time. Our goal is to continue to stay in the playoffs and try to make a run. We’re going to have to deal with adversity and roll with the punches and play a complete game – that’s what we preached this week in practice.”
Lake Shore is 1-1 and 1-3.
Photo gallery of the St. Clair Shores Lake Shore at Madison Heights Lamphere football game