Division 1 Football Final: Right at Home in Detroit
November 26, 2011
DETROIT – For a year, Royce Jenkins-Stone and his teammates were reminded, if not haunted, by the playoff run that should’ve been a year ago but ended one game short.
On Saturday, the Technicians finished what they didn’t in 2010 – and stunned one of the state’s powerhouse programs to do so.
Cass Tech entered the playoffs 6-3 and unranked in The Associated Press poll. Detroit Catholic Central was 8-1 and No. 2. The Shamrocks have won 10 MHSAA football championships. But the Technicians, in their first Finals appearance, ended this fall No. 1.
Their defense has become known. Their freshman quarterback was not. But the combination of the two turned into a 49-13 win over DCC at Ford Field, just a mile away from Cass Tech’s campus.
“Last year, we took a loss to Lake Orion. And that was that year we were supposed to win. And I still think about it to this day,” said Jenkins-Stone, a senior linebacker and fullback, of the 24-21 Semifinal loss that ended his junior season. “It was a heart breaker. But we stepped it up. The seniors said … we’re going to come back, win the state championship, go further than we did ever before. Make our names in the history books.”
Cass Tech coach Thomas Wilcher said he asked his offense for six points against DCC. He has that much confidence in a defense that gave up just 9.7 points per game this fall.
He ended up needing 14. But that wasn’t a problem. Although it was easy to expect much from the Technicians’ defense – five players have committed to sign with Division I college programs in February – it was tough to predict the performance of freshman quarterback Jayru Campbell.
He tied the MHSAA Finals record of five touchdown passes – hitting five receivers for scores – and threw for 240 yards completing 13 of 20 attempts.
“My team told me if they could have three points we’d win the game,” Campbell said. “Our defense is remarkable. There’s not a word that can describe our defense.”
Fast is an obvious one. Dominating on the line are a few more. Cass Tech allowed the Shamrocks (12-2) just one first down in the second quarter and none in the third.
Junior cornerback Jordan Lewis led the Technicians (11-3) with eight tackles, and the Michigan-bound Jenkins-Stone had seven and returned an interception 36 yards for a score. Jenkins-Stone also ran for a touchdown and caught a pass for a third.
“I told the defense from the beginning that there is no way people should score on us,” Wilcher said. “I told them I think we have the best defense in the country. I said there’s no way I’m going to have 11 Division I players on defense and not win the state title.”
Junior David Houle ran for a score for DCC, and senior Kyle Cooper connected with junior Anthony Darkangelo on a 47-yard pass for the other.
“We’re a pound-it-out type team, and that’s what we like to do. We weren’t able to do that today,” DCC coach Tom Mach said. “They’re very fast, and we didn’t stay with them. … We’ve been great up to this point, and today we just became unraveled.”
Week 9 Football Playoff Listing
October 22, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Here is a list of Michigan High School Athletic Association football playing schools, displaying their win-loss records and playoff averages through the eighth week of the season. Schools on this list are in enrollment order. An asterisk (*) beside a record indicates that a team has eight or fewer games scheduled. A caret (^) beside a school’s name indicates that a team is one win away from playoff qualification.
Those schools with 11-player teams with six or more wins playing nine-game schedules, or five or more wins playing eight games or fewer, will qualify for the MHSAA Football Playoffs beginning Nov. 1-2. Schools with 5-4, 4-3 or 4-4 records may qualify if the number of potential qualifiers by win total does not reach the 256 mark. Schools with six or more wins playing nine-game schedules or five or more wins playing eight games or fewer may be subtracted from the field based on playoff average if the number of potential qualifiers exceeds the 256 mark.
Once the 256 qualifying schools are determined, they will be divided by enrollment groups into eight equal divisions of 32 schools, and then drawn into regions of eight teams each and districts of four teams each.
Those schools with 8-player teams will be ranked by playoff average at season’s end, and the top 16 programs will be drawn into regions of eight teams each for the playoff in that division, which also begins Nov. 1-2.
To review a list of all football playoff schools, individual school playoff point details and to report errors, visit the Football page of the MHSAA Website.
The announcement of the qualifiers and first-round pairings for both the 11 and 8-player playoffs will take place on Oct. 27 on the Selection Sunday Show at 7 p.m. on FOX Sports Detroit. The playoff qualifiers and pairings will be posted to the MHSAA Website following the Selection Sunday Show.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11-Player Playoff Listing
1. Sterling Heights Stevenson, 2781, 4-4, 51.500
2. Utica Eisenhower, 2772, 4-4, 53.750
3. Clarkston, 2737, 7-1, 95.500
4. Macomb Dakota, 2693, 8-0, 108.000
5. Howell ^, 2672, 5-3, 64.625
6. Grand Blanc, 2624, 6-2, 81.625
7. East Kentwood ^, 2612, 5-3, 66.750
8. Rockford, 2572, 7-1, 92.750
9. Clinton Township Chippewa Valley, 2506, 7-1, 95.875
10. Lake Orion, 2490, 6-2, 78.375
11. Dearborn Fordson ^, 2309, 5-3, 68.589
12. Holland West Ottawa ^, 2293, 5-3, 66.000
13. Northville, 2275, 7-1, 97.250
14. Detroit Cass Tech, 2262, 8-0, 107.000
15. Brighton ^, 2164, 5-3, 69.000
16. Monroe ^, 2145, 5-3, 62.500
17. Detroit Catholic Central, 2132, 7-1, 94.161
18. Plymouth ^, 2126, 5-3, 61.625
19. Canton, 2078, 7-1, 95.750
20. Novi, 1986, 4-4, 52.375
21. Livonia Stevenson, 1983, 4-4, 49.000
22. Macomb L'Anse Creuse North, 1965, 7-1, 89.500
23. West Bloomfield ^, 1941, 5-3, 63.750
24. New Baltimore Anchor Bay, 1899, 4-4, 48.875
25. Saline, 1897, 7-1, 94.275
26. Westland John Glenn ^, 1880, 5-3, 61.375
27. Holt, 1866, 4-4, 53.250
28. Warren Mott, 1796, 8-0, 99.000
29. Romeo, 1793, 4-4, 54.750
30. Oxford, 1782, 4-4, 51.625
31. Rochester Hills Stoney Creek, 1759, 6-2, 79.250
32. Hudsonville ^, 1736, 5-3, 70.875
33. Ann Arbor Skyline, 1715, 4-4, 49.250
34. Grand Ledge, 1715, 4-4, 51.250
35. Belleville ^, 1714, 5-3, 64.750
36. Davison, 1692, 4-4, 44.250
37. Walled Lake Northern, 1688, 6-2, 80.125
38. Traverse City West ^, 1653, 5-3, 66.500
39. Rochester, 1615, 4-4, 52.125
40. Waterford Kettering ^, 1604, 5-3, 66.125
41. Temperance Bedford, 1600, 8-0, 114.000
42. Grosse Pointe South ^, 1598, 5-3, 62.500
43. Rochester Adams ^, 1582, 5-3, 67.000
44. Saginaw Heritage ^, 1575, 5-3, 60.250
45. Warren DeLaSalle ^, 1564, 5-3, 74.500
46. Walled Lake Western, 1556, 8-0, 108.000
47. Flint Carman-Ainsworth, 1488, 7-1, 86.875
48. Detroit U-D Jesuit, 1476, 4-4, 55.500
49. Midland, 1462, 7-1, 90.750
50. Ypsilanti Lincoln, 1460, 7-1, 85.875
51. Pinckney ^, 1452, 5-3, 65.625
52. Traverse City Central ^, 1448, 5-3, 60.571
53. Oak Park ^, 1438, 5-3, 64.875
54. Detroit Martin Luther King *, 1432, 7-0, 103.571
55. Royal Oak, 1414, 4-4, 47.625
56. Southgate Anderson, 1409, 4-4, 48.500
57. Ypsilanti Community, 1399, 4-4, 45.000
58. Port Huron ^, 1398, 5-3, 63.107
59. Wyandotte Roosevelt, 1373, 8-0, 110.000
60. Portage Central, 1372, 8-0, 108.000
61. Lansing Everett ^, 1369, 5-3, 58.625
62. Portage Northern, 1364, 6-2, 74.625
63. Garden City, 1362, 4-4, 47.125
64. Southfield, 1356, 7-1, 95.875
65. North Farmington *, 1352, 5-3, 56.286
66. Caledonia ^, 1350, 5-3, 60.000
67. Battle Creek Lakeview, 1348, 8-0, 90.000
68. Birmingham Seaholm, 1337, 8-0, 103.000
69. Birmingham Brother Rice, 1326, 8-0, 111.200
70. Grosse Pointe North ^, 1323, 5-3, 65.375
71. Muskegon Mona Shores, 1314, 6-2, 79.500
72. Midland Dow, 1304, 7-1, 85.036
73. Farmington Hills Harrison, 1300, 7-1, 93.750
74. South Lyon, 1277, 6-2, 82.250
75. Swartz Creek, 1277, 4-4, 52.768
76. Birmingham Groves, 1274, 7-1, 85.875
77. Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills ^, 1231, 5-3, 52.500
78. Fenton, 1188, 8-0, 101.000
79. Grand Rapids Northview, 1182, 4-4, 49.750
80. Mattawan, 1176, 4-4, 45.625
81. Warren Woods Tower, 1170, 6-2, 62.750
82. Muskegon Reeths-Puffer, 1151, 7-1, 92.500
83. Lowell, 1146, 8-0, 118.000
84. Taylor Truman, 1131, 6-2, 74.500
85. East Lansing, 1124, 4-4, 52.750
86. Holly, 1124, 4-4, 49.375
87. Muskegon, 1118, 7-1, 97.875
88. Lapeer East, 1113, 4-4, 50.625
89. Marquette *, 1110, 5-2, 73.286
90. Detroit East English ^, 1109, 5-3, 59.750
91. Detroit Cody ^, 1106, 5-3, 57.250
92. Allen Park, 1103, 6-2, 76.625
93. Detroit Renaissance ^, 1097, 5-3, 53.268
94. Detroit Mumford, 1090, 6-2, 72.732
95. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, 1079, 6-2, 71.250
96. St. Johns, 1079, 4-4, 47.625
97. Zeeland East ^, 1071, 5-3, 67.125
98. Lapeer West, 1063, 7-1, 91.375
99. Redford Thurston ^, 1063, 5-3, 65.375
100. Auburn Hills Avondale, 1055, 4-4, 42.375
101. Byron Center, 1039, 6-2, 68.750
102. Mt. Pleasant, 1033, 7-1, 92.875
103. Riverview, 993, 6-2, 66.625
104. St. Joseph, 986, 7-1, 88.875
105. Orchard Lake St. Mary's, 980, 4-4, 54.625
106. Petoskey ^, 965, 5-3, 62.000 &a