A Game for Every Fan: Week 2
September 5, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Most will agree that the first week of high school football season generally is a little sloppy, with players excitedly shaking off the rust in a game that matters for the first time in nearly nine months.
This week they'll operate a little more smoothly – and the tune up is over for many facing make-of-break league games already in this young season.
Below is a look at some of the most significant to be played this weekend in every corner of the state. Make sure to tune in to MHSAA Score Center after the final horn for all the scores as soon as they are reported.
Bay and Thumb
Flint Carman-Ainsworth (1-0) at Saginaw Heritage (1-0)
The North and South divisions of the Saginaw Valley League cross over this week, and this game could feature contenders from each. Heritage, from the North, opened with a 19-10 win over Walled Lake Central and is trying to avenge a 45-7 loss to Carman-Ainsworth a year ago. The Cavaliers opened with a shutout of Grand Blanc, 13-0.
Others that caught my eye: Richmond (0-1) at Croswell-Lexington (1-0), Linden (0-1) at Holly (1-0), Lansing Everett (1-0) at Saginaw (1-0), Ithaca (1-0) at St. Charles (1-0).
West Michigan
Muskegon (1-0) at Grand Rapids Christian (1-0)
For the second week to start this season, Grand Rapids Christian faces a team that made it to Ford Field in 2012. Last week the defending Division 3 champion Eagles came away with a 41-13 win over reigning Division 4 champion South Christian. Now they get Muskegon, last season’s Division 2 runner-up and a 41-7 winner last week over Grand Haven. The Big Reds and the Eagles haven’t met since 1993.
Others that caught my eye: Muskegon Oakridge (1-0) at Montague (1-0), Zeeland East (1-0) at Zeeland West (1-0), Grand Rapids West Catholic (0-1) at Comstock Park (1-0), East Kentwood (1-0) at East Grand Rapids (1-0).
Southwest and Border
Constantine (1-0) at Schoolcraft (1-0)
Constantine made it all the way back to Ford Field and the Division 6 Final for the second straight season in 2012. But the Falcons didn’t win the Kalamazoo Valley Association title either time – thanks last season mostly to an undefeated run by Schoolcraft. With 10 teams in the KVA, all games are league games, and Constantine opened last weekend with a 64-20 win over Delton Kellogg. The Eagles have a lot of new faces, and Constantine is the league title favorite.
Others that caught my eye: St. Joseph (1-0) at Battle Creek Harper Creek (1-0), Kalamazoo Central (1-0) at Battle Creek Central (1-0), Saugatuck (1-0) at Marcellus (1-0), Fennville (0-1) at Decatur (0-1).
Greater Detroit
Rochester Adams (1-0) at Farmington Hills Harrison (1-0)
Even the best are prone to a down year, and Adams’ came last season when it missed the playoffs for the first time since 1996. But the Highlanders got back on the right foot last week with a 12-7 win over similarly-stellar Clarkston. Now comes an old nemesis in Harrison, which has beaten Adams in three straight and is coming off a 43-0 win over Detroit Renaissance.
Others that caught my eye: Canton (1-0) at Brighton (1-0), Detroit Martin Luther King (1-0) at Detroit East English (0-1), Plymouth (1-0) at Milford (1-0), Detroit Country Day (0-1) at Detroit U-D Jesuit (1-0).
Lower Up North
Maple City Glen Lake (1-0) at Charlevoix (1-0)
Glen Lake is getting plenty of attention in the greater Traverse City area after last season’s 9-2 finish and Northwest Conference title and last week’s opening 27-13 win over another 2012 playoff team, Boyne City. In steps Charlevoix, defeated by Glen Lake 32-0 last season but winner last week 20-0 over usually-strong St. Ignace. The Red Rayders haven’t had much success since their last playoff season of 2009, but a win tonight would be even bigger than beating the Saints last week.
Others that caught my eye: Sault Ste. Marie (0-1) at Alpena (1-0), Kingsley (1-0) at Elk Rapids (1-0), Frankfort (1-0) at Harbor Springs (1-0), St. Ignace (0-1) at Mancelona (0-1).
Upper Peninsula
Felch North Dickinson (1-0) at Newberry (1-0)
The Nordics appear to be off and running again; after scoring more than 40 points in all of their 2012 games but their Regional Final loss to St. Ignace, North Dickinson put 60 on Florence (Wis.) last week. But Newberry has a little something to prove. The Indians started 3-1 last season – their only loss 42-6 to North Dickinson – before losing their final five. They bounced back with a 32-0 win over Rudyard in last week’s opener, and can really make an impact by moving to 2-0.
Others that caught my eye: Posen (0-1) at Rapid River (1-0), Iron Mountain (0-1) at Gwinn (1-0), Ishpeming (1-0) at Manistique (0-1), Cheboygan (1-0) at Marquette (1-0).
Mid-Michigan
Beal City (1-0) at Clare (0-1)
Clare shouldn’t be overly worried about last week’s opening loss to Freeland; the Pioneers also lost to Freeland in openers in 2011 and 2012 and ended up a combined 18-5 over those two seasons. In fact, Clare also fell to Beal City in Week 2 last season before rattling off nine straight wins. Of course, no team wants to start 0-2 – but the task will be tall if last week’s 61-0 Aggies win over rival Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart is an indication of that team’s prowess.
Others that caught my eye: Jackson (0-1) at Jackson Lumen Christi (1-0), Fowlerville (1-0) at Williamston (0-1), Monroe (1-0) at Lansing Sexton (1-0), Mason (1-0) at Eaton Rapids (1-0).
PHOTO: Saginaw Swan Valley (purple) opened its season with a win over Saginaw Nouvel in one of the most intriguing matchups of opening night. (Click to see more from High School Sports Scene.)
King Eager to Begin Next Championship Pursuit Following Familiar Leader Patrick
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
August 22, 2024
DETROIT — To many around the state, it was a collective gasp and curiosity as to how the Detroit Martin Luther King football program would move forward.
To those within the King program itself, it was a collective shoulder shrug and “we’ll be fine.”
Days after a 26-20 loss to Mason in a Division 3 Semifinal last fall, King saw longtime head coach Tyrone Spencer leave to take the same job at East Kentwood.
It was no small loss, given Spencer had guided the Crusaders to one Division 2 and three Division 3 championships over eight seasons.
Not long after, longtime assistant Terel Patrick was named the new head coach for King. But even he was still processing what happened.
“A little bit of shock,” Patrick said of his initial reaction. “Every year, there were people trying to gauge whether he would or not leave. It wasn’t new that people were interested in him because he did that good of a job. But he always said no. With him saying yes, it kind of shocked me a little bit.”
But after the initial shock, it became business as usual for one of the top programs in the state.
Spencer certainly didn’t leave the cupboard bare in terms of the elite blue-chip talent the program usually enjoys, and there was about as much continuity in a coaching transition as one could hope.
All of King’s assistants stayed with the program, and Patrick said 14 are graduates of the school. Patrick has been on King’s staff since 2009 and called the continuity within the coaching staff a “unique situation.”
“Spence was always in charge of the defense, and I was always in charge of the offense,” Patrick said. “The biggest thing for me was that I had to relearn a different side of the football.”
To do that, Patrick spent the offseason at clinics and in phone conversations with defensive experts he knows. “Just to pick their brains and see what they think in certain situations,” he said.
Patrick shouldn’t be too concerned about picking up any new defensive acumen, given it helps to have supreme talent as always.
Senior defensive ends Xavier Newsom and Willie Fletcher, Jr., are highly-rated college prospects and considered among the best players in the state. Newsom said because the coaching staff remained mostly intact after Spencer left, there was no need to reassure the rest of the team and others that everything would be OK.
“We didn’t have to do that,” he said. “We still had Coach TP, so it’s not like we got a whole new coach. We told everybody that the program is still going to be the same. Nothing is going to fall off.”
King also should be loaded on offense, with sophomore quarterback Darryl Flemister coming off a terrific freshman year as the starter. He is already on the radar of prominent college programs.
Junior running back Michael Dukes rushed for 925 yards last year as a sophomore, while shifty senior slotback David Calmese is also back.
“The biggest thing is keeping the main goal the main goal,” Calmese said.
The coaching change certainly wasn’t enough to change the expectations of others within the Detroit Public School League. The Crusaders were picked to win the Blue division ahead of rival and fellow state power Detroit Cass Tech.
In addition to still being talented, King will be plenty motivated after not making it down the street to Ford Field last year thanks to the Semifinal loss to Mason.
“We’re not used to losing,” Newsom said. “Seeing us fall short, it definitely made us hungry.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Detroit Martin Luther King’s Xavier Newsom awaits the next play during last season’s Detroit Public School League Blue championship game at Ford Field. (Middle) First-year Crusaders head coach Terel Patrick speaks during PSL media day Aug. 1. (Top photo by Olivia B. Photography; middle photo by Keith Dunlap.)