Week Five Thoughts.

Written Friday October 16th at 11:10 PM

Probably the biggest win of the night came off the foot of Sara Huston, the kicker who sent shockwaves at Hurley Field on Friday night in Bloomfield Hills 35-34 overtime victory over Berkley. Tanner Slazinski had five passing touchdowns in the game but the attention has to go to Huston with her performance. She has been very good for the Blackhawks down the stretch. This created a huge mess in the Blue race. This is a very tough loss for the Bears but they still control their destiny in the Blue and Rochester comes to Hurley Field next week. The Blackhawks will need some help from Berkley if they want to clinch a share of the Blue and they need to beat Avondale next week.

Rochester clinched a share of the Blue title with a 40-16 statement win over Ferndale on Friday night. The Eagles have struggled against bigger schools which has been a problem for Coach Eric Royal and his team. The Falcons have been rolling and they have a big one looming next week when they go to Hurley Field to take on Berkley for the outright Blue title and then the playoffs start where they could possibly see Lapeer or Adams and there is motivation there. Ferndale heads to Wisner Stadium next week to play Pontiac.

Troy had no problem with Pontiac winning 49-0 on Friday night at Don Hill Stadium. I was impressed with the Phoenix sportsmanship. The Colts have a big showdown looming with arch rival Troy Athens next week after they got a week of rest. Pontiac should be fine heading to the playoffs but they have a challenge looming with Ferndale at Wisner Stadium.

Avondale is starting to click after a 26-10 victory over Royal Oak at Dick Bye Field on Friday night. The Yellow Jackets have outscored their last two opponents by a combined 96-12. Avondale will be tested when they head to Bloomfield Hills to take on the Blackhawks. The Ravens are hard to explain as they sit at 1-4 with a very dangerous Fraser squad looming. It would not surprise me if Royal Oak finishes the regular season at 1-5.

Stoney Creek keeps impressing me by going into Southfield and blowing out the Warriors 36-7 on Friday night. The Cougars are not to be messed with. I hope that the MAC Red and especially “The MAC Attack with Zach and Zack” is taking notes. The district is going to run through Tienken and Sheldon Road. Southfield Arts and Tech is going to be fine going forward but they will need to go back to the drawing board a little bit. The good news is their first round playoff matchup is looking bright. They head to Oxford next week to battle the Wildcats.

Oak Park 0-5 is mind boggling after losing 38-20 to Groves on Friday night in Knight Valley. The positive for the Knights is that they scored 20 points but the defense gave up 38. Oak Park needs to take baby steps heading into the playoffs even though they have a very tough task looming when they head to Clarkston. The Falcons bounced back after that heartbreaking loss to Seaholm last week. Groves heads to Stoney Creek next week.

West Bloomfield really had no problems with Adams on Friday night winning 37-0 in the Swamp. The Highlanders are very young and the Lakers are veteran heavy. The Lakers host Lake Orion while Adams heads to Farmington. I think both teams are fine.

Lake Orion needed a bounce back game after losing 31-7 to Clarkston last week. Their offense was clicking on all cylinders by beating Farmington 35-7 on Friday night at Dragon Stadium. Kyler Carson had a monster game with two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown. The Dragons will need a ton of balance when they head into the Swamp to play West Bloomfield next week. The Falcons are very young but I was very impressed with their sportsmanship and class. Farmington also didn’t quit, they will be a force to watch in the future. They will host Adams next week.

I was very disappointed in Oxford after losing 14-3 to North Farmington at Wildcat Stadium. The Wildcats have some problems offensively. They scored three points in two weeks, that’s not good. Oxford is going to need to find some offense and quick with the playoffs looming. The Wildcats host Southfield Arts and Tech next week. The Raiders look like they are back heading in the right direction outscoring their last two opponents 52-17 in that span. North Farmington will host Seaholm next week.

Clarkston had a very slow start on Friday night against a very good and well coached Seaholm team but they exploded in the second half which resulted in a 35-7 win over the Maples at home. The Wolves are up and down but Davis York a former Scripps Middle School alum had two touchdowns in that game which should help his confidence moving forward. Seaholm is fine and I wouldn’t panic on them. It was going to be a tough task for them. Both teams have interesting matchups with Clarkston playing Oak Park and the Maples traveling to North Farmington next week.