History

Part 1 Recollections of Coach Williams

1985

Undefeated

The middle school had been without a sports program for at least 3 years.  Most of the football equipment had been sent to the high school to salvage their program.  Helmets were no longer useable due to age.  Helmets have to be re-certified each year for safety and the companies that do that will only allow so many years before all helmets need to be replaced.  When sports were re-instated at the middle school we had to replace all of the equipment, just as if we were starting a brand new program from the beginning.  Fred Coleman was the first head coach and Tom Williams was the assistant.  Fred went on  to be the Athletic Director for the District in 1986 and Coach Williams (as of 2006) is still one of the assistant coaches.  Thom Patterson played for the Bulldogs this year and later (2000) became the head coach of the program.  John Montroy, who had a brother playing on the team that year, volunteered his time as an assistant coach.  John had played for the high school.

We practiced on the west side of the football field.  That was before the parking lot was expanded.  We had plenty of room and we did not have to interact with the high school program which still practiced at the high school.  All games were played at our site, however the old field still existed at the high school and was used for practice.

Given that money was tight, the district bought safe (would not pass by today's new standards), but low end equipment.  We had to purchase enough material to outfit fifty players.  Helmets, shoulder pads, practice and game uniforms, everything.  We started by using the tall gym lockers as our team lockers.  The bulldogs of that day had to work hard just to get their helmets to fit in the lockers.  Our home jerseys were yellow numbers on green and our away set was green numbers on white.  We still have a few of them in our collection.  Our practice jerseys were white cotton and mostly too small.

Despite that, our guys were hungry to play football.  We had few if any complaints about what kind of equipment we passed out.  The guys were just eager to put what they had on and go out and hit someone.  Going 6-0 that year proves the point.  We were not in a league so we had to take games were we could find them.  We played teams like Willow Run and River Rouge which are still on our schedule today and schools like  Tecumseh which have never been on our schedule again.  Dexter is rather unique in that we only played them a few times between 1985 and 1990, however, we developed a good working relationship with their coaches and AD and held pre-season scrimmages with them for several years in the 1990's. 

1986

Undefeated

Don Foley took over as the head coach for the Bulldogs.  Don was a math teacher at the middle school.  He stayed with the team when he was transferred to the High School Math Department around 1993.  Don became an assistant principal at the high school in 2000 and had to give up the coaching position.  Don did not like to cut players and we were always keeping as many players as we had equipment.  Fifty or more players on a middle school squad with only two coaches is a real challenge and we took qualified volunteer help when we could get it.

Not being in a league made games hard to get.  We added Northville and Belleville, but had to play Willow Run twice just to fill out the schedule.  A second undefeated season was proof that our guys really wanted to play football.  Small lockers, tight practice jerseys, and long bus rides made no difference.  The game was what was important. 

1987

Third undefeated season in a row.  You can not start a program on a much better note than that.  We added Madison Heights Wilkerson to our schedule ( I went to High School there).  I spoke to the Athletic Director of the Madison District in 2004.  He was  one of the assistant coaches when we played them in 1987 and 1988.  He still remembered how determined and focused our team was.  When invited to scrimmage our team he still declines saying that our program is much more focused than his (they change coaches every few years) and it would demoralize his team to go against us.

This was the first of many years of long road trips.  We went to Madison Heights, Bedford (almost to Toledo, OH), and Erie Mason (by Monroe).  Given all the late nights getting back and all the time on the bus, our team responded in typical Romulus Bulldog Style.  We had five shut-outs and only gave up 12 points all year.

 This is also the first year we started to stop to eat on the way back from a game.  We would have the team put their money in envelopes and coach Williams would hang on to them and pass them back on the bus ride home.  We would stop at a location that had two or more fast food restaurants close together.  Coach Foley would supervise one and Williams the other.  We often got compliments as to how well our team behaved while there.  It was late, often after 5:30 by the time we got to stop.  The restaurants were often crowded (we made a crowd all by ourselves), and it took a while for everyone to get fed.  Even so, we never had much of a problem with our team.  The discipline they had on the field carried over to every day things like sitting down to dinner as a group.  It was obvious that being a Bulldog was becoming more than just being a football player.  It was like being part of a family or a Marine.  Once a Bulldog, always a Bulldog and you do not let each other down.

1988

Lost our first game since the program was re-instated.  Coach Foley called for our quarterback to take a knee and run out the clock for the last minute.  The quarterback chose to run a play and we fumbled.  They recovered deep in our territory and scored on the next play.  Needless to say it was a very quiet bus on the way home.

1989

Got to split our team into separate 7th and 8th grade squads for the first time.  Foley and I were always looking for ways to get our guys more playing time.  Don hated to cut anyone from the team.  However, 8 minute quarters (32 minutes per game) and up to 60 players on the team does not give anyone very much playing time.  We made our first recommendation as to dividing the program into two teams this year.  The same recommendation we have made several more times over the years. 

Went to Yellow Pants for the first time.  Converted all of the original game pants (white with a green and gold stripe) to practice use.

1990

Split the team into two parts.  We were given an opportunity to fill in for a league school where they had separate 7th and 8th grade teams.  We split ours up so our guys could get more playing time. 

Got our first set of gold away jerseys.  Retired the old white and green to practice.

1991

Second year we were able to play fill in and split our team into two parts for at least part of our season. 

1992

Changed the color of our helmets to Gold.

Undefeated

1993

Started to use Decals on the helmets.  Stripe an each side of the center line.  Later added the Block R.

1994

Undefeated

1995

1996

Undefeated

1997

1998

1999

Coach Foley's last year and our only loosing season.

2000

Coach Patterson takes over the head coach position.  5-0-1.  An almost perfect start to what should be a long tenure as Head Coach. 

2001

2002

2003

Changed the helmet color to green.  Added a Bulldog Decal instead of the Block R.

2004

Started the web site.

2005

Undefeated and only gave up 7 points.  It is hard to judge the "best team" you have ever had.  I can remember teams that were bigger in size.  I can remember teams that were more rough and ready.  I can remember teams that had more over-all team speed. However, this was the best group for working with the coaches, having the best attitude and the smartest.  This was the "nicest" group to work with ever.  And that is using nice in the best sense of the word.  They would start their calisthenics on their own.  Very few problems in the classroom or hall way (which come back to haunt a team) and very few missed practices.  Over-all we sent a lot of talent up to the high school.  It should pay dive dins for the next several years.

2006

Got a new set of yellow away jerseys.

2007

Undefeated

2008

First year with a separate 7th and 8th grade squads.

2009