Michigan high school football playoffs: Detroit Cass Tech tops Macomb Dakota in a rush, 35-21

All night long the Macomb Dakota defense had been keying in on Sean Hodges, and with good reason — the electric tailback scored three touchdowns and gained the tough yards for the Technicians all night.

But when it came to crunch time, Detroit Cass Tech quarterback Leeshaun Mumpfield faked the handoff to Hodges, who drew the defense into the middle of the line. Mumpfield found plenty of open space on the right side, and rambled into the end zone with the winning touchdown with 1:07 to play in Cass Tech’s 35-21 Division 1 regional victory at Dakota on Friday.

Otherwise, it was a showdown between two featured backs, Hodges and Dakota’s Joe Cacevic, who each scored three times in the back-and-forth battle.

Both teams sported strong defenses, and it was a couple of tackles for losses on consecutive plays by Chase Parker and Rasean Randall that stalled a Dakota drive and gave the ball back to Cass Tech to set up with game-winning drive.

Alex Graham put the exclamation point on the win by intercepting a desperation pass on fourth-and-25, and returning it 50 yards for a score with 34 seconds to play.

Cass Tech (9-3) advances to the Division 1 semifinals next weekend, against the winner of Saturday’s Novi Detroit Catholic Central-Belleville game. Despite being one of the state’s most successful programs in recent years, Dakota (11-1) hasn’t reached the state semifinal since its 2007 championship season.

Dakota’s three-game shutout streak lasted just two plays after Cass Tech first got the ball. That’s when Hodges broke through the right side of the line and romped 64 yards to the end zone for a 7-0 lead just 3:06 into the game. Hodges rattled off two long touchdowns in a similar manner in the Technicians’ first-round win at West Bloomfield.

Dakota answered with a five-play scoring drive covering 76 yards. Joe Cacevic ran for an 8-yard touchdown on a sweep to the right. Cacevic set up the first-and-goal situation on the prior play by hitting a seam and bursting loose for a 58-yard gain.

Cass Tech got into the red zone on their next two possessions but big plays by the Dakota defense caused them to come up empty. On the first drive, but Jacob Leija picked off a would-be touchdown pass by stepping in front of Technicians receiver Kareen Sadler at the 1-yard-line. On the next drive, a screen pass from Mumpfield to Rasean Randall put the ball at the Dakota 9, but it was moved back to the 24 by a personal foul call. Cass lined up for a 41-yard field goal attempt, and faked the kick as Mumpfield threw a pass to Randall, but Alan Browning dropped him at the 21.

Buoyed by the momentum, Dakota drove 69 yards in 14 plays to take a 14-7 lead 31 seconds before the break. On third-and-8 from the Cass 9-yard-line, Cacevic was left uncovered out of the backfield and Ethan Hamby connected with him for a touchdown.

Aside from a couple of quarterback scrambles by Hamby, Cacevic had every first-half carry for the Cougars, and he had 110 yards by the break.

Cass Tech got the ball to begin the second half, and tied the game at 14 on a 13-yard run by Hodges, who charged through a hole opened by the interior linemen, cut left, and had a clear path to the end zone.

But Dakota took a 21-14 lead on the ensuing possession. Cacevic, who carried the ball on all but one of the seven plays, bounced off a wall of would-be tacklers and found daylight around the left side, scoring from the 5.

Cass Tech equaled the score with 9:09 to play on another run by Hodges, who was untouched taking the ball in from the 7. Cass had four consecutive first downs on the drive, one of which came on a face mask personal foul against the Cougars.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MHSAA football playoffs: Detroit Cass Tech tops Macomb Dakota, 35-21