Flat Rock and St. Mary Catholic Central renew one of the more one-sided but consistently competitive rivalries in the Huron League tonight, and this year’s meeting carries real weight for both programs as they try to establish themselves early in the 2026 season.
A Rivalry Built on Recent History
This series has produced some tight, meaningful games over the past several seasons, even when the final score didn’t always reflect it. Last year, St. Mary Catholic Central beat Flat Rock 36-20 at Flat Rock, a game in which the Rams got real production from senior leaders Joel Scully and Evan Szalay — Scully threw for 286 yards and three touchdowns, while Szalay caught for 96 yards and two scores. Despite the loss, that kind of individual performance signaled Flat Rock had more than enough talent to compete with one of the area’s stronger programs. The year before that, in 2024, Flat Rock fell to SMCC by a tighter 20-14 margin during a rugged stretch of Huron League play that head coach Buck Reaume later credited as a turning point — the Rams used the lessons from those close losses to build toward the program’s first playoff win since 1976.
St. Mary Catholic Central, for its part, enters these matchups as one of the area’s most consistently strong programs. In 2024, SMCC’s season culminated in a trip to the Ford Field state championship game in Detroit, following a 38-7 win over Schoolcraft in the Division 7 semifinals — a game in which the Falcons trailed briefly for the first time all season before storming back with 28 unanswered second-half points. Head coach Adam Kipf’s team showed the kind of composure under adversity that’s become a hallmark of the program in recent years.
Program Trajectories
Flat Rock has been on a genuine upward trajectory. The Rams opened the 2024 season 3-0 with wins that included a 35-14 victory over Airport, avenging a previous five-game losing streak to that same opponent, and their playoff breakthrough that fall — their first postseason win since 1976 — marked a real milestone for a program that had gone decades without that kind of success. St. Mary Catholic Central, meanwhile, has firmly established itself as one of the area’s flagship programs, with a run to the state finals that speaks for itself.
Both programs have shown they can beat quality opponents and both have shown vulnerability against each other specifically, which is part of what makes this an appointment-viewing type of rivalry within the Huron League even when the overall records between the two aren’t close.
What to Watch For Tonight
Given the pattern of recent meetings, expect Flat Rock to lean on its passing attack — Scully and Szalay’s connection last year showed the Rams can move the ball through the air against SMCC’s defense even in a losing effort. St. Mary Catholic Central, meanwhile, has consistently shown the kind of physical, disciplined football that carried it to a state finals appearance, and that identity likely won’t change tonight regardless of who’s under center or in the backfield for either side.
How to Watch
Both programs’ varsity football games are typically streamed through the NFHS Network, tied to each school’s athletic department, alongside coverage through MaxPreps and SI’s High School network, which track Huron League standings and results throughout the season. Check Flat Rock’s official athletics page for tonight’s specific broadcast link, since as the home team the Rams typically control the streaming setup for this matchup.
A Note on Tonight’s Score
I confirmed this game is on tonight’s schedule and gathered real rivalry and program history, but I was not able to verify a final score for this year’s specific meeting through search at the time of writing. Given how competitive recent editions of this rivalry have been — a 36-20 game last year, a 20-14 game the year before — this is one worth updating with the real result as soon as it’s available.
Check our Scores page for tonight’s Michigan results, and our Rankings page for how the Huron League picture shifts as the season develops.
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