ALMONT — After a painful triple-overtime loss to the eventual state champions in the Division 6 semifinals, current Almont senior Miguel Luciano III sought a way to contribute to a better finish to his high school career.
As a junior, Luciano played sparingly in Almont's deep running back rotation. After the last-second loss to Jackson Lumen Christi that ended the Raiders' perfect season
, Luciano faced a personal fork in the road heading into his final year.He could try to break through in Almont's running back room, headlined by the school's all-time touchdown leader Brody Corneau, or move to a new position where the Raiders had holes after graduation.
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"As a running
back kind of buried on the depth chart, I needed to do something that benefited the team," Luciano said during practice on Monday, Oct. 19. "Whether that was playing running back again and getting limited carries or switching to guard and starting this year. And as a team, everybody knew they had to step up in some roles because we are a shallow team with depth. Everybody could play any position if they needed to."
Luciano went from trying to burst through running gaps to creating them. Almont, which returned four starters on both sides of the ball from the 12-1 team in 2025, moved two running backs to starting guard spots.
The new faces on the offensive line have not missed a beat for the Raiders, who have shown once again they can replenish talent at the varsity level with an 8-0 start, earning the No. 2 ranking in Division 6 behind Lumen Christi, which has won four straight state titles in D-6 and D-7.
"When you run the Wing-T, you need really good guards," Almont coach James Leusby said. "Mikey Luciano, he does an excellent job, and we are glad he decided to move there."
Almont started the season with two low-scoring wins over tough opponents, Marysville and Armada, and proceeded to win five of the next six games by at least two touchdowns. The only close call came in a one-point win over new conference foe Macomb Lutheran North, allowing Almont to repeat as the Blue Water Athletic Conference champion.
After graduating lots of starting contributors, including two All-State defensive selections (Cohen Ferqueron, Matthew Bacholzky), Almont wasn't sure what 2026 would look like. But the Raiders did not need to rebuild. They reloaded.
"It has been kind of a surprise," Leusby said of the 8-0 start. "It is not something that we thought was going to happen, but we seem to be getting better each week. ... The expectations [to win] drive our program, and the kids have responded well."
Almont returned its top two backfield players, Blake Lane and Corneau, which has been crucial.
Corneau rushed for over 1,200 yards and 17 touchdowns as a junior and has continued that pace as a senior, allowing him to become the top scorer in Almont's history.
The new faces around him have not changed much, since the whole team grew up in Almont's homogeneous system from youth level to varsity.
"We've all played together since we were young," Corneau said. "So once one senior group leaves, it is just the next grade up. It was not hard to mesh with the new kids because it is just the culture around here."
At quarterback, Lane controls the offense more than most of his peers under center. Almont feeds Lane two or three plays before each snap. The senior reads the defense and selects what he thinks will work against a particular defensive look.
As a freshman and sophomore, Lane picked the brain of former Almont quarterback Chase Davedowski on the tendencies to watch. That knowledge, coupled with copious film study, has allowed Lane to conduct the offense.
"He helped me a lot with getting a full grasp of our playbook," Lane said.
Almont's long practices each day help the team nail the details on both sides of the ball. That daily work may be tedious in the moment for some players, but the Raiders recognize that it is part of their special sauce to keep winning every year.
Heading into the final week of the regular season, it is a balancing act between pursuing 9-0 and preserving health, which is crucial for a November run.
From there, all eyes are on earning a trip to Ford Field and wiping the memory of last year's nail-biting semifinal loss.
"That pushed everyone to work even harder in the offseason and get out here," Corneau said. "It is never, 'When is it going to be our last game?' It is, 'When are we going to see Lumen Christi, and when we're going to beat them?' It motivates everyone to stay engaged and get ready for that."
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Jared Ramsey covers high school sports for theDetroit Free Press. Contact him at jramsey@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Unbeaten Almont football reloaded and ready for redemption
