Drive for Detroit: Week 7 in Review
October 15, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Numbers are part of most conversations at the end of high school football season. We keep an eye on movements within league standings, monitor daily playoff point averages and watch in awe as some of our biggest stars put up incredible statistical performances.
Consider a few numbers from Week 7 that fascinate:
- Lawrence and Kingston combined for 132 points in their 8-player game, won 88-48 by the Tigers.
- In Detroit Cesar Chavez's 64-41 win over Mayville, receiver Nate Drew caught 17 passes for 459 yards and seven touchdowns. Once confirmed, the 459 yards would be a national single-game record.
- Cesar Chavez quarterback Omar Salih completed 32 of 52 passes for 689 yards and nine touchdowns. The yards and touchdowns would be MHSAA records.
- With all results in, there are 71 teams qualified for the 11-player playoffs, but another 231 that have the opportunity to make the 256-team field by winning the rest of their regular season games.
Those scratched the surface of significant numbers put up as champions continued to be crowned and postseason berths were earned.
Read on for more of those reports from all over the state.
Greater Detroit and Southeast
Canton 34, Plymouth 23
If recent history is an indication, these neighbors will see each other again in a few weeks – they’ve met in the playoffs as well the last five seasons. But Canton has bragging rights for now after moving to 7-0 overall and claiming the Kensington Lakes Activities Association South title outright by edging the second-place Wildcats (5-2). Click to read more from MLive Detroit.
Also noted:
Farmington Hills Harrison 60, Oak Park 52: Although Harrison (6-1) has only a dim chance of catching Southfield in the Oakland Activities Association White, the Hawks did make the playoffs with this win while leaving Oak Park (5-2) needing one more victory to qualify.
Detroit Cass Tech 41, Detroit Mumford 6: The Technicians (7-0) claimed their fourth straight league championship, earning the Detroit Public School League West title by one win thanks to this victory over second-place Mumford (6-1).
Belleville 20, Dearborn Fordson 17: Belleville (5-2) earned a share of the Western Wayne Athletic Conference Blue title, with Fordson (4-3) now needing to beat Edsel Ford this week to also claim a share.
Clinton Township Clintondale 37, Mount Clemens 22: The Dragons (7-0) solidified at least a share of the Macomb Area Conference Bronze title with Mount Clemens (3-4) falling into a second-place tie with Clawson, its opponent this week.
West Michigan
Muskegon Mona Shores 49, Zeeland East 26
One of our favorite watch lists is made up of teams seeking their first appearance in the MHSAA playoffs, which began in 1975. Cross off Mona Shores, which improved to 6-1 and earned its first postseason berth thanks to this victory. The Sailors also remain only one win back of the co-leaders in the O-K Black. Despite falling out of that race, Zeeland East (5-2) still can extend its three-year postseason streak with one more win. Click to read more from the Grand Rapids Press.
Also noted:
Spring Lake 36, Ludington 26: The Lakers (6-1) can do no worse than share the Lakes Eight Conference title and can win it outright this week; Ludington (4-3) must win out to guarantee a playoff bid.
Allendale 38, Sparta 7: The Falcons (6-1) beat Sparta to earn a playoff berth, and would love the Spartans (5-2) to join them in the postseason if it means Sparta beats O-K Blue frontrunner Comstock Park in Week 9 – which could then give Allendale a share of the league title.
East Kentwood 34, Holland West Ottawa 18: The Falcons (5-2) guaranteed their first winning regular season since 2009 and remain atop the O-K Red, tied with Rockford, while West Ottawa (4-3) fell to fourth.
Lowell 53, Caledonia 25: The Red Arrows (7-0) needed to survive a challenge from Caledonia (5-2) to set up this week’s O-K White decider against also first-place Grand Rapids Christian.
Southwest and Border
Paw Paw 15, Plainwell 13
These teams have dominated defensively all fall, and that remained the theme when they met with a share of the Wolverine B East on the line. The win gave the Redskins (7-0) nine in nine games over Plainwell (6-1) since the two became league foes in 2006 – although Paw Paw has to beat co-second place Otsego this week to win the league title outright. Click to read more from the Kalamazoo Gazette.
Also noted:
Battle Creek Pennfield 15, Olivet 14: This turned the Kalamazoo Valley Association race back into a three-team battle with Pennfield, Olivet and Schoolcraft all 6-1 and having played each other; fourth place Constantine plays Olivet and then Pennfield and could have a giant impact on the final order.
Dowagiac 14, Three Rivers 7: The Chieftains (6-1) needed to beat third-place Three Rivers (4-3) to remain undefeated in the league heading into this week’s Wolverine B West deciding game against also first-place Edwardsburg.
Hartford 17, Decatur 14: It’s still possible for four of five teams in the Southwestern Athletic Conference South to earn playoff berths, but Hartford (4-3) needed this win over Decatur (5-2) to keep that hope alive.
Niles Brandywine 24, St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic 6: With seven wins, Brandywine (7-0) equaled last season’s total and its most since winning eight 1997, while handing the Lakers (5-1) their first loss of the season.
Lower Up North
Cadillac 26, Traverse City West 21
This Big North Conference showdown literally came down to the final seconds and a few yards, with Cadillac’s defense making a final stand at its 3-yard line to stay ahead as the game ended. By doing so, the Vikings (7-0) claimed a share of the Big North championship while dropping Traverse City West (4-3) one win back with one more league game to play. Click to read more from the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Also noted:
Grayling 35, Kalkaska 18: Three of seven teams in the Lake Michigan Conference could still have a hand in the league title, but Grayling (6-1) remained tied for first while eliminating Kalkaska (5-2) from contention.
Evart 31, McBain 28: The Wildcats (6-1) earned a second straight playoff berth while leaving McBain (4-3) needing to win out to qualify.
Ogemaw Heights 41, Standish-Sterling 28: Ogemaw Heights (5-2) pulled within one more win of making the playoffs by handing Standish-Sterling (6-1) its first loss.
Maple City Glen Lake 55, Suttons Bay 14: By beating third-place Suttons Bay (3-4), Glen Lake (7-0) finished a second straight undefeated run through the Northwest Conference.
Thumb and Bay
Montrose 34, Flint Beecher 18
The Rams (7-0) ran their Genesee Area Conference Red winning streak to 17 over the last three-plus seasons and set themselves up well to play for a third straight league title, with seventh-place Perry up next before a face-off with also first-place Lake Fenton in Week 9. Beecher (5-2) fell two games back and needs one more win to make the playoffs, with opponents a combined 9-5 left on the schedule. Click to read more from the Flint Journal.
Also noted:
Reese 55, Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port 13: This decider in the Greater Thumb Conference West didn’t end up close, as Reese (6-1) claimed a share of the title and the Lakers (5-2) fell one game back with one to play.
Saginaw Nouvel 28, Traverse City St. Francis 14: The Panthers (6-1) made it six straight wins since falling on opening night, while putting St. Francis (4-3) in position of having to win out to avoid missing the playoffs for the second straight season.
Gladwin 19, Sanford Meridian 14: The Flying G’s (5-2) are back in the Jack Pine Conference title hunt, tied with Sanford Meridian at one game behind leader Clare, with Clare and Meridian (6-1) set to meet in Week 9.
Grand Blanc 17, Hartland 7: Grand Blanc (6-1) missed out on the KLAA West title last year by falling to eventual champion Hartland (2-5) in the final league game of the schedule; this time the title belongs to the Bobcats thanks in part to a win over the Eagles.
Upper Peninsula
Ishpeming 28, Negaunee 24
This one had been circled since the end of last season, even as Ishpeming claimed the MHSAA Division 7 championship despite losing out on the Mid-Peninsula Athletic Conference title to Negaunee earlier in the fall. Alex Briones, who quarterbacked that MHSAA title run, was the star of this one for the Hematites (7-0), who clinched a share of the league title and need to beat only fourth-place Gwinn in Week 9 to claim it outright. Negaunee (6-1) will be cheering Gwinn on in hopes of still claiming a share. Click to read more from the Marquette Mining Journal.
Also noted:
Iron River West Iron County 30, Eagle River Northland Pines, Wis. 6: The Wykons (7-0) remained undefeated in winning a share of their second West Peninsula Athletic Conference title in three seasons.
Felch North Dickinson 36, Powers North Central 20: The Nordics (6-1) finished a second straight perfect run through the Mid-Eastern Conference schedule by beating the second-place Jets (5-2).
Sault Ste. Marie 34, Cheboygan 14: The Blue Devils (4-3) kept playoff hopes alive by beating a likely qualifier in Cheboygan (5-2).
Houghton 32, Lake Linden-Hubbell 26 (OT): The Gremlins (4-3) needed overtime to keep their playoff hopes alive against another team in Lake Linden-Hubbell (4-3) that also must now win out.
Mid-Michigan
Beal City 42, Lake City 35 (OT)
One of the most highly-anticipated small-school games this season lived up to the billing, with Beal City not taking its first lead until earning the advantage for good in overtime. In what was certainly the toughest test this season so far for both teams, the Aggies’ offensive prowess proved superior to Lake City’s stingy defense. Beal City (7-0) claimed a share of the Highland Conference title, while Lake City (6-1) fell to second place. Click to read more from the Mount Pleasant Morning Sun.
Also noted:
Carson City-Crystal 51, Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart 49: The Eagles (7-0) hung on after opening a big early lead to not only beat Sacred Heart (5-2) but claim the Mid-State Activities Conference South title, its first league title since 1961.
Pewamo-Westphalia 25, Fowler 0: The Pirates (7-0) avenged last season’s loss to their biggest rival and in the process won a share of the Central Michigan Athletic Conference title; Fowler (5-2) remains in second place, a game back with one to play.
Hillsdale 31, Ida 14: Four teams are tied atop the Lenawee County Athletic Association standings with two games to play, and that’s thanks to Hillsdale (4-3), which toppled Ida (5-2) from its former spot in first place alone.
Grand Ledge 41, Lansing Everett 19: The Comets (4-3) continue to battle back from an 0-3 start and now are a game behind first-place Lansing Sexton in the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue, with Everett (5-2) facing the Big Reds this week.
Trophy Games
Each week the MHSAA highlights trophy games across the state. Last week’s slate included:
Little Brown Jug: Brighton vs. Howell. These KLAA rivals have faced each other every season but one dating to 1977. Final: Brighton 27, Howell 20.
Baseline Jug: Northville vs. Novi. In the KLAA Central, Northville won this rivalry game to claim the league title outright. Final: Northville 40, Novi 13.
Cedar Log: Menominee vs. Marinette, Wis. These old rivals played for the 107th time, with Menominee tying the series record at 50-50-7. Final: Menominee 56, Marinette 27.
Champions of the North: Traverse City Central vs. Alpena. The Trojans claimed this trophy game for the fourth consecutive season. Final: Traverse City Central 45, Alpena 0.
Ford Cup: Newberry vs. Manistique: This series restarted in 2012 after eight seasons off with a big Manistique win, now followed by a close one by Newberry. Final: Newberry 7, Manistique 6.
Pioneer-Thunderbird Spirit Bowl: Dearborn vs. Dearborn Edsel Ford. The Pioneers own a four-game winning streak in this city rivalry game between teams 2.5 miles apart. Final: Dearborn 41, Edsel Ford 14.
Battle of Bogie Lake Road: White Lake Lakeland vs. Walled Lake Northern. These two both sit, logically, on Bogie Lake Road separated by a 1.6-mile trip around said lake. Final: Walled Lake Northern 45, Lakeland 26.
Skipper's Oar: Waterford Mott vs. Waterford Kettering. The Captains have claimed five of the last six against their rivals located a mere 3.9 miles away. Final: Kettering 27, Mott 0.
PHOTO: Beal City (white jerseys) remained undefeated and claimed a share of the Highland Conference championship by edging Lake City in overtime. (Click to see more from High School Sports Scene.)
Honoring Lost Teammate, Jackson Rises
By
Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
September 10, 2015
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
JACKSON – Hollywood producers do not make movies about football teams just two games into a season.
But if they did, Jackson High School would be a good place to start.
Take an urban football team that hasn’t made winning a habit in decades, mix in the recent addition of a successful coach from a nearby smaller rural school and throw in an eye-popping start this season, and you have a nice story. But there is more.
This also is a heart-wrenching – yet somehow uplifting – story of a bunch of teen-aged boys trying to move on a little more than three months after one of their teammates was killed in a triple-fatal automobile crash.
Meet the 2015 Jackson Vikings. Roll the film.
Dealing with adversity
It was the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend when everything changed. Jackson junior Maseo Moore, 16, was killed in a triple-fatal automobile accident on I-94 in Calhoun County. Also killed in the accident were former Jackson High School secretary Ella Blackwell, who had retired five years earlier, and her sister, Ethel Brinstone.
Moore, a wide receiver on the varsity in 2014, showed improvement late in the season and was in position to move up the depth chart for his senior year, according to Vikings head coach Scott Farley.
Moore’s death presented Farley with a challenge he had never faced during nearly 30 years of coaching.
“There is no session at coaching clinics that tells you how to deal with something like that,” Farley said. “We talked as a staff and kind of talked through what we wanted our reaction to be and how we could support the kids and each other at that point.
“I talked to my brother (Mike), who has been a head coach for years coaching down in Georgia, and he had kind of dealt with something similar, and I talked to a couple of other coaching colleagues to kind of pick their brain a little bit.”
The answer was simple but not so easy: Communication.
“We were just available to the kids,” Farley said. “We met with them in the library first hour and spent a couple of hours with them just talking about Maceo and what he would have wanted us to do going forward, and how we needed to support each other and love each other; basically, because we were all hurting.”
About 100 students, many of them football players, attended Moore’s funeral, and as the summer progressed, the players and coaching staff kept in touch with Moore’s family. A few decisions were made about the upcoming season: One, the team would dedicate its season – and in particular its opening game – to their friend and teammate, and two, running back Shonte’ Suddeth would inherit the No. 14 uniform that had been worn by Moore.
Not only did Suddeth have Moore’s number on the back of his uniform for the season opener, the name “Moore” was across the back instead of “Suddeth.”
“He was like a brother to me,” Suddeth said. “He was with me every day. I’d take him to get his hair cut and everything – everything he needed, I was there for him. Everybody noticed it, and we had a group meeting, and they said I should be the one to wear his number.”
With his emotions running high, Suddeth had an inkling of something special that might happen on opening night: He had talked with his uncle, who told him, “You have to score the first time you touch the ball.”
Just two and a half minutes into the game, Suddeth, on his first carry, raced 11 yards for a touchdown.
He dropped to one knee in the end zone and pointed toward the sky.
“I pointed up to the air to tell him, ‘This is for you,’” Suddeth said. “I think about him before every game.”
Suddeth finished with 110 yards rushing and three touchdowns on just eight carries as Jackson defeated Ann Arbor Huron 40-7. After the game, the entire team presented Moore’s mother with the game ball.
“I think the good Lord uses bad things and bad situations for good,” Farley said. “I think our kids have – where some of them could have gone in another direction because of their sadness and their depression over the loss of their friend – they have used it to become stronger as individuals and as a group, and that has been a positive.”
Moving forward
When you walk into the football locker room at Withington Community Stadium, the first locker on the right has tape with the name Moore on it. It looks like every other locker, but what it represents makes it special to the players and the coaching staff.
Moore’s presence always will be felt by the players, and the locker helps keep his memory fresh. But life and football games go on, certainly as Moore would have wanted. Jackson followed its opening-night win with an even more impressive 56-27 victory over Lansing Everett.
Tonight, Jackson travels to East Lansing in search of its first 3-0 start in football since 2003, the last time the Vikings also started 2-0 prior to this season.
Winning isn’t exactly a tradition in football at Jackson, where the Vikings have not won a conference championship since 1945. (Yes – 70 years!) But the first two games with a combined score of 96-34 offer a huge contrast from a year ago when the Vikings lost to Ann Arbor Huron and Lansing Everett over the first two games by a combined score of 57-12.
The players say the difference is experience and a better understanding of the system that was brought in by Farley, in his third season at Jackson after a long and successful run at Leslie.
“About halfway through last year, we started to get it,” Jackson senior offensive guard Nate Lavery said. “It took us longer than it could have. We came into the season knowing pretty much everything we needed to know – at least the basics.”
Lavery is one of several standouts for Jackson. He helps anchor a strong line while Suddeth, quarterback LaJuan Bramlett and Corey Pryor II offer game-breaking potential on every play. Bramlett scored five touchdowns in the victory over Lansing Everett, and Suddeth, Bramlett and Pryor each have rushed for more than 200 yards just two games into the season.
“We have more speed than normal this year,” Farley said with a grin before adding that the Vikings are much more than speed at the skill positions.
“Guys like Maurice White, who has caught one or maybe two passes up to this point, he’s such a great leader and such a steadying force on the entire team,” he said. “Nate Lavery was an all-conference guard last year and has just been outstanding in the first two games. Carl Albrecht and Mac Carroll on the offensive line have been outstanding seniors. Cain Flowers has had four interceptions in two games.”
Optimism about football isn’t something that has been common around Jackson very often. Since 1950, the Vikings have posted a record of 186-379-14 for a .333 winning percentage, and they won a total of four games from 2011-14.
Farley knows all about football programs in a tailspin. He faced a similar situation more than 20 years ago when he took over at Leslie.
The man in charge
When Farley was hired at Leslie in 1993, the Blackhawks had not had a winning record in 10 years. In fact, since finishing 10-1 in 1983, Leslie was 15-66 over the following nine seasons.
Not unlike Jackson, Farley took over a team in despair, and he said the similarities were striking.
“It was no different than when I took over at Leslie in 1993,” he said. “You have a program that has been down for a while; you’re going to have people who have bad attitudes. If they had winning attitudes, they’d be winning, so that was not a surprise. I anticipated that. I think some of the guys on my staff who have been here for a while were more discouraged about that than I was just from the standpoint of they had been here a while and they were frustrated by it. They kind of felt like it was different here than it is other places, and it’s not.
“The problems that we’ve had here are the same problems we had at Leslie 23 years ago.”
At Leslie, Farley achieved his first winning season in his second year, but it took until 2000 before the Blackhawks made it to the playoffs. When he left Leslie, about 15 miles north of Jackson, he had a record of 117-82, including 84-42 over his final 12 seasons with the Blackhawks.
In 2008, Leslie played for the MHSAA Division 6 championship, losing to Montague 41-20.
So, why would a coach leave such a successful program for one in so much turmoil?
“I think people looked at me and thought, ‘This guy is crazy. He had a good gig in Leslie, and he’s never going to be successful here,’” Farley said. “I could have rolled out of bed for the next 14 years doing the same job, but it was an easier decision because of the situation.
“I think this is what I’m built for. Part of my personal journey for taking the position was to kind of push myself outside of my comfort zone.”
In doing so, Farley has found himself using many of the same techniques he used when he took over the rebuilding job at Leslie.
“It’s the same thing,” he said. “It’s developing work ethic, and you develop work ethic by getting kids to buy into you more than what you are selling. Often, people don’t buy a car; they buy the guy they are getting the car from. It’s just getting them to believe that they want to be on your team.”
By all accounts, the 2015 Vikings want to be on Coach Farley’s team, and his handling of the Maceo Moore tragedy was just another reason for the players to put their trust in their coach.
“It showed he was really there for us,” Suddeth said. “It lit a match, and we were going from there.”
Farley has a keen perspective on the attitudes of today’s youth, one that might have helped him connect with his players.
“People talk all the time about how kids are different today, and kids are different,” he said. “I’ve been coaching for 28 years total, 23 as a head coach, and kids are different, but it’s not a bad different. In society in general, people don’t trust each other, and there is so much dishonesty that goes on out there that there is a reason to be distrustful.
“Kids get burned enough times, and they get to the point where they don’t trust people. They need to know who you are and what you’re about and what you stand for before they are going to buy into whatever you are selling.”
White, the senior receiver whom Farley praised for his leadership, said he has paid into what Farley was selling.
“At the beginning of the summer, I believed it and bought into it and could see we could be where we are now,” he said. “This is the second year in the system for me, and most of us returning are seniors, so we are pretty confident that we know what we are doing.
“This feels good. We feel pretty confident after two games, but at the same time, we’re not satisfied with being 2-0 right now. We want to keep on winning. I think we are playing more as a team and as a collective group. We’re like a band of brothers, and we come together as a team on Friday nights.”
Chip Mundy served as sports editor at the Brooklyn Exponent and Albion Recorder from 1980-86, and then as a reporter and later copy editor at the Jackson Citizen-Patriot from 1986-2011. He also co-authored Michigan Sports Trivia. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTO: Jackson football players (left to right) Nate Lavery, Maurice White and Shonte' Suddeth and coach Scott Farley stand in front of the locker that continues to bear the name of teammate Maseo Moore (inset).