A Game for Every Fan: Week 6
October 1, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Week 6 annually is one of celebration and sadness for Michigan high school football teams.
A total of 66 can clinch automatic playoff berths with a victory this weekend, joining Ishpeming, which qualified by winning the fifth game of its eight-game schedule a week ago. Meanwhile, 122 teams are 2-3 and can't afford another loss as they attempt to win out and clinch an automatic berth.
See below for some of the most intriguing games from each region of the state, and as always, follow results as they come in on the MHSAA Score Center.
Bay & Thumb
Ithaca (5-0) at Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary (5-0)
Ithaca’s regular-season challenges are generally few; the Yellowjackets haven’t lost a regular-season game since Week 8 of 2009. But Michigan Lutheran Seminary gave Ithaca an early challenge last fall on the way to playing in a Division 7 Semifinal and is especially strong on defense again – Ithaca is one of only three teams over the last two seasons to score more than 15 points on the Cardinals.
Others that caught my eye: Flint Beecher (4-1) at Lake Fenton (4-1), Sterling Heights (4-1) at Marine City (3-2), Flint Carman-Ainsworth (3-2) at Midland (5-0), Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker (3-2) at Unionville-Sebewaing (4-1).
Greater Detroit
Detroit Cass Tech (4-1) at Detroit East English (5-0)
The Technicians are looking to bounce back from their first regular-season loss since 2012, by three last week to Detroit Martin Luther King. East English is no doubt ready to extend Cass Tech's new streak to two. The Bulldogs, who fell to King in Week 3 by five points, lost to Cass Tech twice last season by a combined 12 points – and like Cass Tech have had little trouble this season aside from the Crusaders.
Others that caught my eye: Walled Lake Northern (4-1) at Walled Lake Western (5-0), Allen Park (4-1) at Trenton (5-0), Northville (5-0) at Livonia Stevenson (5-0), Romeo (5-0) at Macomb Dakota (4-1).
Mid-Michigan
DeWitt (5-0) at Haslett (3-2)
This grand rivalry hasn’t been as much with DeWitt winning the last 12 meetings including multiple during the playoffs. But despite the Panthers’ 39-0 victory a year ago, the 2015 version should be much closer. Rebuilt DeWitt has done well against a solid schedule, but Haslett hasn’t been far behind with losses the last two weeks by a combined seven points. The Vikings should slow the tempo enough to stay within striking distance.
Others that caught my eye: Brighton (5-0) at Hartland (3-2), Lansing Sexton (1-4) at Holt (3-2), Olivet (3-2) at Stockbridge (4-1), Eaton Rapids (2-3) at Portland (5-0).
Northern Lower Peninsula
Beal City (4-1) at McBain (4-1)
Beal City has owned the Highland Conference for most of the last four seasons with 21 straight wins dating to a 2011 loss – to McBain. The Ramblers are hoping to break that streak as they continue toward what should be their best finish since at least 2011 – they’ve already equaled last season’s win total and avenged two of its five losses.
Others that caught my eye: Traverse City St. Francis (5-0) at Grayling (4-1), Boyne City (4-1) at Maple City Glen Lake (4-1), Lincoln Alcona (4-1) at Oscoda (4-1), Traverse City Central (5-0) at Petoskey (4-1).
Southeast & Border
Ann Arbor Pioneer (5-0) at Saline (5-0)
The last two meetings between these two haven’t been competitive, with Saline winning both by a combined score of 68-10. The Hornets haven’t given up a point in two weeks and can clinch a share of the Southeastern Conference Red title with a victory tonight. But this is Pioneer’s best team since 2012, when it split two games with Saline. The Pioneers have equaled last season’s five wins and come through in a pair of close games – good experience if this one goes to the wire as well.
Others that caught my eye: Pontiac Notre Dame Prep (4-1) at Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard (4-1), Ida (5-0) at Dundee (3-2), Homer (4-1) at Springport (3-2), Ypsilanti Lincoln (2-3) at Ypsilanti Community (2-3).
Southwest Corridor
Pittsford (4-1) at Climax-Scotts (5-0)
Climax-Scotts has won an incredible 42 straight games in the Southern Central Athletic Association, dating to a 2008 loss to Pittsford. The Wildcats are the team that most recently has come close to snapping that streak, in 2013, and fell to Climax-Scotts twice a year ago – but might be the only league team capable of slowing a Panthers attack averaging nearly 53 points per game.
Others that caught my eye: Jackson Lumen Christi (4-1) at Coldwater (5-0), Watervliet (4-1) at Constantine (3-2), Dowagiac (3-2) at Plainwell (3-2), Benton Harbor (3-2) at St. Joseph (4-1).
Upper Peninsula
Kingsford (3-2) at Marquette (2-3)
The Flivvers last week become one of the few of the past few seasons to come close to beating Menominee. But despite that three-point loss, Kingsford is driving toward a return to the playoffs after a season away and needs only one more win to equal last season’s total. Marquette has won two straight over the Flivvers, but this meeting is the most urgent of late because of an 0-3 start and tough games to finish against Negaunee and the Maroons.
Others that caught my eye: Escanaba (2-3) at Menominee (5-0), Hurley, Wis. (5-1) at Bark River-Harris (5-0), Iron River West Iron County (1-4) at Calumet (3-2), Sault Ste. Marie (3-2) at Gladstone (2-3).
West Michigan
Reed City (5-0) at Big Rapids (4-1)
Reed City gets overlooked a bit at the intersection between the Grand Rapids powers and the Big North Conference. But the Coyotes have won 36 of their last 37 games in the Central State Activities Association and can keep step with a sixth straight win over Big Rapids. That won't be as easy a task this fall, however; the Cardinals won four games total over 2013 and 2014, but are only a seven-point loss to Bay City John Glenn last week from perfection in 2015.
Others that caught my eye: East Grand Rapids (4-1) at Grand Rapids Christian (3-2), East Kentwood (4-1) at Hudsonville (4-1), Muskegon Reeths-Puffer (3-2) at Muskegon Mona Shores (5-0), Zeeland East (3-2) at Muskegon (5-0).
8-Player
Cedarville (4-1) at Posen (5-0)
Cedarville has lost only four games in five seasons of 8-player football, and to no one but rival Rapid River since 2011. But Posen could change things up in the Bridge Alliance Conference if it can continue a defensive performance rare for the 8-player game – the Vikings give up only 15 points per – and come back from the 52-0 loss to Cedarville on opening night a year ago.
Others that caught my eye: Deckerville (5-0) at Morrice (4-1), New Haven Merritt (4-1) at Owendale-Gagetown (5-0), Webberville (4-1) at Battle Creek St. Philip (5-0).
PHOTO: Ithaca’s Jake Smith tries to break the grasp of a Breckenridge tackler during a Week 4 win over the Huskies. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Lessons Learned, Goodrich Laughs Last
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
October 25, 2017
The joke wasn’t incredibly original, nor was it incredibly funny, especially if you had any connection to the Goodrich football program.
But when you suffer through a winless season like the Martians did in 2016, people are going to have jokes.
This one was a knock-knock joke, and Owen was at the door. Owen Nine.
Goodrich senior defensive back and captain Ryan Aylmer can at least smile now when he tells it, because with the Martians having just completed an 8-1 regular season, there are no more jokes.
“This year, people go through the school and they talk about who we got next week, and what we’re looking like in the playoffs,” Aylmer said. “Now teachers are talking about the games in school, and I’ve got little kids recognizing who I am. People are back into the program now that we’re succeeding. It feels great, especially after last year when it felt like we were nothing, that forgotten team. But now we’re back in the community.”
This isn’t a story of some moribund program finally finding its way to the postseason. In fact, when Goodrich hosts Pontiac Notre Dame Prep on Friday in the first round of the MHSAA Division 4 playoffs, it will be in a familiar spot.
From 2008 through 2015, Goodrich qualified for the playoffs six times, and had a losing record just once.
The question in Goodrich was how does 0-9 happen?
“That team we had last year, they weren’t an 0-9 team,” Goodrich coach Tom Alward said. “I should have done a better job last year, and we should have won several games. It just didn’t happen. This year, kids are making things happen that we couldn’t make happen last year.”
Alward took over the Goodrich program in 1993, and in 1995 led the Martians to the postseason for the first time ever. His 146 wins since are the most in program history, and he already has been inducted into the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Despite all of that previous success, a moment at the end of last season led Alward to say he had never been more proud of any team he had ever coached.
“After our ninth game last year at St. Johns, when we just got beat 52-0 to finish an 0-9 season, that entire team stayed on the St. Johns football field for probably a half hour, 40 minutes just talking to one another, hugging one another -- they knew it was the end,” Alward said. “They played their tails off all year. I can’t say enough about them. I just feel so bad that they have that 0-9 stigma. I’ve got that stigma myself from when I played at Tampa on the 0-14 team (for the NFL’s Buccaneers in 1976). But I just feel bad, because they didn’t deserve that.”
Alward and his staff didn’t panic and make drastic changes following the winless season, but in his 25th with the Martians, he was able to look at all aspects of the program, including himself, to see where things needed to be different.
“We did exit interviews at the end of last year, because we were concerned about the culture,” Alward said. “We’ve been able to win here for a number of years, and we didn’t want to all of the sudden have kids thinking that they couldn’t win because we went 0-9. We wanted to address that part of it, so we did exit interviews, we did a lot of offseason bonding exercises, team building and all of that stuff. This team is pretty close. We were fortunate to get off to a good start, and the rest has kind of just taken care of itself.”
That bond, players say, is what has sparked the rebound.
“We would go out to dinner together, we would do everything together all summer long,” senior defensive lineman and captain Sebastian Foglio said. “We would work out together, we would push each other. There’s no age, there’s no ‘freshmen get the water,’ none of that stuff. We just came together and did what we had to do. Everybody is close with everybody, nobody dislikes anybody. If we do, we’ll talk and change that.”
And the start, well, it couldn’t have been much better.
In Goodrich’s opening game against Burton Bendle, freshman Tyson Davis returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. It was an immediate announcement that the 2017 season would be different.
“It was a sigh of relief,” Aylmer said. “Last year we scored (66) points all year. Seeing, literally, the first play of the brand new year getting taken back, and scoring (44) points our first game, it was just a sigh of relief getting that out of the way and realizing that we can do that this year.”
Goodrich rolled to a 3-0 start, outscoring opponents by a combined score of 132-12 before falling 20-7 in Week 4 against Genesee Area Conference Red rival Lake Fenton. But a resounding 42-0 win the next week against Otisville-LakeVille started a five-game winning streak to end the regular season for the Martians, who outscored opponents by an average of nearly 26 points on the year.
Suddenly all of the social media chatter from the area was gone, along with the jokes. But the lessons learned from an 0-9 season were not.
“There’s been a chip on our shoulder,” Aylmer said. “It seems like every week these guys last year thought we were bad, or we played them last year and they beat us. We had a chip on our shoulder and everybody has taken it to heart, and it seems like we’ve been fighting every week as an 0-9 team, but we’re really a good team this year.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Goodrich celebrates seeing itself on the playoff bracket during Sunday’s selection show on FOX Sports Detroit. (Middle) Goodrich freshman Tyson Davis contends for a loose ball during the season opener against Burton Bendle; he returned the opening kickoff that game for a touchdown. (Top photo by Paul Costanzo; bottom photo by Terry Lyons.)