Written Saturday October 31st, at 4:35 PM.
It
wasn’t a happy Friday night for the OAA especially in the Red and White. The
Red lost both their teams in Clarkston and West Bloomfield and now there are no OAA teams left in Division One because of it. The Lakers were
upset by Novi while the Wolves lost to Romeo. The White lost its champion as Harrison
was shocked by Groves 10-0, Farmington lost 33-30 to Livonia Franklin, and Berkley
ended Lathrup’s season with a 27-0 win on Friday night. Southfield destroyed Oak Park 38-14 on
Saturday afternoon getting them a match-up with Berkley next weekend while Groves goes to Walled Lake to play Walled Lake Western.
Romeo
28, Clarkston 14: There will be no three peat this season in Clarkston. This
was the Wolves first game on grass since 2008, ironically it was against
Romeo where Clarkston lost that game 37-8. Oddly enough it was in great shape and not like the mud bowl when Orion
played Romeo in two of those games in 2005 and 2007. The Bulldogs was just the better team in this match-up in their 28-14 win over the Wolves. Clarkston had chances to get points but they couldn't pull through as either an interception in the end-zone or being shut down by Romeo's defense forcing them to punt derailing a drive. The Wolves scored on a 96 yard kickoff return by Mike Fluegel for one of their
touchdowns. Fluegel will be the starting running back next season but Romeo’s defense shut Clarkston's running game down especially all Stater Nolan Eriksen. He had 12 carries for
22 yards and a touchdown. Wolves quarterback Alex Kessman struggled against a good Bulldogs defense going 18 of 31 for 189 yards and two
interceptions. He missed two field goal attempt which would had given them points. Romeo is a
senior heavy team led by quarterback Paul Hurley and running back Brad Tanner, both were huge in this game. Clarkston's defense struggled in this match-up against a talented Bulldogs offense especially in the second half, they gave up a 71 yard sweep play along with a 59
yard pass play both were for touchdowns both in the second half. The loss snaps the Wolves six game winning streak and 10 game playoff streak. Romeo will travel to Lapeer next week in a rematch with the Lightning.
Novi
31, West Bloomfield 28: This was supposed to be the season that the Lakers were
to make a big statement, they finished 9-0 for the first time since 1968, won the Red, and beat Orion and
Clarkston. This was their most talented team they have ever had at West Bloomfield but they saw their season unexpectedly come to an
end at the hands of the Novi Wildcats 31-28. The Lakers defense got burned on six
third and fourth down conversions which led to touchdowns for the Wildcats. Also pre-snap penalties on offense killed West Bloomfield as well. Novi had a perfect scheme to contain quarterback Tristan Jackson and their other Division One recruits where coach Jeff Burnside's defense did just enough to shut the Lakers offense down. The Wildcats got their first playoff win since 2007 when they
beat Livonia Churchill and first vs an OAA team since 2002 when they beat Orion
on the road. For Burnside who coached at Berkley before getting the Novi job, this was huge for him. The Wildcats will face Novi Detroit Catholic Central on the road
next weekend. West Bloomfield will be thinking about what happened in this game and
what could had been.
Groves
10, Harrison 0: The
Hawks had a lot of revenge thinking in their minds and felt confident they can
go into Beverly Hills and beat Groves. Harrison was a strong pick to possibly
get to Ford Field but instead will be going home at the hands of the Falcons
10-0. This is a major upset and huge win for Groves beating an established program in the Hawks. The Falcons used
a fourth quarter field goal to get the lead and got a touchdown late in the
game off a bootleg. The defense shut Harrison down most of the night but the Hawks had their chances, they had the ball four straight times in Groves territory but didn’t score
on any drives. Harrison now faces an uncertain future while the Falcons will
travel to Walled Lake Western next weekend.
Livonia
Franklin 33, Farmington 30: The Falcons defense knew they had a tough
chore with the Patriots run oriented offense but to get outscored 20-14 in the
second half after leading 14-13 at half isn’t very good and it’s the reason why
Farmington is going home. The Falcons did lose Kyle Brunson to an ankle injury and had to relay a lot on David Resse on both sides of the football but still this is inexcusable for the Farmington to lose this type of game. Livonia Franklin will meet Jackson next weekend.
Berkley
27, Lathrup 0: The
Bears ended the Chargers football season and career Friday night at Hurley
Field with a 27-0 victory. Berkley’s defense shut Lathrup down while scoring
themselves in the game. The Bears won 41-0 in week eight but for the Chargers
they will move on and merge next season with Southfield to become one big
Southfield High School. Berkley will get "The High", the Blue Jays at Hurley Field next
weekend.
Southfield
38, Oak Park 14: It
was the Knights that dominated the regular season meeting 50-14 at Knight
Valley in week eight so heading into the playoff game it was at Southfield and it was a different outcome. The Blue Jays
got their revenge in eliminating Oak Park for the second straight season by dominating the game and controlling the line of scrimmage.
Southfield is probably the greatest threat besides Detroit East English Village Prep to beat Detroit Martin Luther King and get to Ford Field. The Blue Jays now has to travel to Hurley Field to play the Berkley Bears next
weekend.
We’ll
see what happens next week with Southfield, Berkley, and Groves all in Division Two
representing the OAA.
