Track and Field Regional Preview.

Written Sunday May 12th at 2:00 PM

Happy Mothers day to all the Mom's out there. Here is my preview and predictions heading into the regionals affecting OAA teams. We will talk more on the podcast this week.

Track and Field Regionals

Region 7 @ Farmington

BERKLEY

GROVES

SEAHOLM

FARMINGTON

OAK PARK

NORTH FARMINGTON

SOUTHFIELD ARTS AND TECH

WEST BLOOMFIELD

ROYAL OAK

Birmingham Brother Rice

Detroit Renaissance

Detroit University-Detroit Jesuit

Farmington Hills Mercy

Livonia Stevenson

Redford Thurston

BOYS FAVORITE/PREDICTION: The boys regional could be interesting. The early favorite is Oak Park but they will have a ton of competitors. Watch for Seaholm, the Maples have balance in the distance to score along with Farmington, Birmingham Brother Rice, Royal Oak, and Groves to counter the Knights in the sprints. I think this will be a close meet between Oak Park, Farmington, and Seaholm. Oak Park had a strong showing in the Blue/Gold meet last week so I expect it to continue this time around. PICK: OAK PARK.

GIRLS FAVORITE/PREDICTION: This will be an interesting regional in the girls side. Oak Park is the early favorite based on the talent they have back and they are loaded in the sprints and hurdles. Detroit Renaissance should challenge with the sprinters they have but balance will be an issue. Seaholm should challenge with their field events and distance. Farmington should score in the field events. However end of the day I see the Knights winning this regional closer than the experts think. PICK: OAK PARK.

Region 10 @ Warren Mott

TROY

TROY ATHENS

Chippewa Valley

Fraser

L’Anse Creuse

Macomb Dakota

L’Anse Creuse North

New Baltimore Anchor Bay

Port Huron

Port Huron Northern

Warren Mott

Utica Eisenhower

Utica

Sterling Heights Stevenson

Sterling Heights

Utica Ford

BOYS FAVORITE/PREDICTION: This is an interesting regional with the Troy schools and the Macomb County regional. The early favorite is Warren Mott as they are loaded in the sprints and relays but don’t count out Chippewa Valley whom is also loaded in the sprints, relays, and field events. Macomb Dakota is a darkhorse to watch but end of the day. I like the Big Reds to win this regional close over the Marauders and the Cougars. PICK: CHIPPEWA VALLEY.

GIRLS FAVORITE/PREDICTION: This will be an interesting regional because you have a ton of teams that have great chances to win this regional in Troy, Chippewa Valley, and Macomb Dakota. The Colts are loaded in the hurdles, distance, and the relays. The Big Reds are loaded in the sprints. The Cougars are a darkhorse contender and they could very well do that. I think it will come down between Troy and Chippewa Valley with the Colts winning the regional. PICK: TROY.

Region 9 @ Lake Orion

AVONDALE

BLOOMFIELD HILLS

CLARKSTON

LAKE ORION

OXFORD

STONEY CREEK

ADAMS

ROCHESTER

Davison

Grand Blanc

Holly

Lapeer

Romeo

Waterford Kettering

Waterford Mott

BOYS FAVORITE/PREDICTION: This will be an interesting regional in Lake Orion. I see a three team clash between Lake Orion, Grand Blanc, and Romeo. Stoney Creek is a darkhorse when you look at things coming in. I think this will be a close meet between the four teams. I like Grand Blanc to survive closer than the experts think. PICK: GRAND BLANC.

GIRLS FAVORITE/PREDICTION: This will be an interesting regional as mentioned just like the boys side of things. I see a Lake Orion/Grand Blanc battle looming early in the sprints but the Dragons balance could be the story in this regional. Lake Orion has the balance to compete with anyone and if things go right it should show itself. I think Stoney Creek is a darkhorse to watch but at the end of the day it will be the Dragons that pull strong on their home track. PICK: LAKE ORION.

Region 14 @ Dearborn Divine Child

FERNDALE

HARRISON

Detroit Cornerstone Health and Technology

Detroit Cesar Chavez

Detroit Communication of Media Arts

Detroit Cody

Detroit Fredrick Douglass

Detroit International Academy

Detroit Mumford

Detroit Old Redford

Detroit University Prep

Detroit Westside

Livonia Clarenceville

Redford Union

River Rouge

Dearborn Divine Child

Dearborn Annapolis

Dearborn Henry Ford Academy

BOYS FAVORITE/PREDICTION: The Boys will be interesting but the favorite has to be Dearborn Divine Child. They are loaded in the distance and field events. If they get points in sprints then they should run away with this meet. Harrison could threaten along with Ferndale but end of the day too much Dearborn Divine Child. PICK: DEARBORN DIVINE CHILD.

GIRLS FAVORITE/PREDICTION: The Girls in this regional could be very interesting. Dearborn Divine Child has a ton of balance and has loaded up on several events. I don’t think anyone has a chance here in this regional to knock off the host school. PICK: DEARBORN DIVINE CHILD.

Region 15 @ Madison Heights Lamphere

PONTIAC

HAZEL PARK

Pontiac Notre Dame Prep

Orchard Lake St. Marys

Birmingham Detroit Country Day

Detroit Osborn

Harper Woods Chandler Park Academy

Harper Woods

Macomb Lutheran North

Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood

Birmingham Marian

Madison Heights Lamphere

St. Clair Shores South Lake

Warren Regina

Warren Woods Tower

Warren Lincoln

BOYS FAVORITE/PREDICTION: This will be an interesting regional but there are two teams that clear the field in this regional in Orchard Lake St. Marys and Birmingham Detroit Country Day. The Eaglets are well represented in the relays along with the field events and sprints. The Yellow Jackets can match them strength for strength as well. I think at the end of the day this will be close between Orchard Lake St. Marys and Birmingham Detroit Country Day but I like the Yellow Jackets to win this regional close. PICK: BIRMINGHAM DETROIT COUNTRY DAY.

GIRLS FAVORITE/PREDICTION: I think there is more balance in ladies then the guys. Harper Woods Chandler Park Academy is well represented in the sprints, hurdles, and field events. Birmingham Detroit Country Day will certainly try to match them in balance. Watch for Pontiac Notre Dame Prep in the distance along with Birmingham Marian whom can score some points as well. I like Harper Woods Chandler Park Academy to win this regional close over Birmingham Detroit Country Day. PICK: HARPER WOODS CHANDLER PARK ACADEMY.

My Podcast
https://soundcloud.com/user-539915961/oaa-now-5-13-19

What the MHSAA basically did with the new rules.

Written Friday May 10th at 5:40 PM

This week the MHSAA handed down new rules which will affect football, basketball, and soccer effective next season. Here are some winners and losers that will be affected by this decision.

Football.

If you’re a big school or a school that plays a brutal schedule you’re loving this format because it forced teams to play you particularly teams that are in your league.

If you’re a small school, your hating this because it is forcing you to play bigger schools just for playoff points and the elimination of the six wins really hurts you because strength of schedule becomes a big time component.

Basketball.

If you’re a team that plays a brutal non conference and league schedule you’re loving this because you’ll likely be seeded as one of the top two seeds come playoff time. If you’re a team that plays an easy non conference and have a weak league schedule it will hurt you come playoff time because you might not have one of those top seeds despite winning 17 or 18 games in districts. With the MHSAA going to a Michigan Computer Index it will force teams to play a tougher schedule next season.

Soccer.

In soccer it’s the same thing as basketball. If you play a tough schedule then you will be rewarded but if you don’t then it will hurt no matter if you win or lose.

Notice the trend here???

The new rules come next season for Basketball and Soccer looks very hard at your strength of schedule and quality of wins when it comes to district seeding.

In football the MHSAA Representative Council rewarded those who play a brutal schedule and penalized those who play a soft schedule by eliminating the six win playoff mandate but that will be for the 2020 season.

We shall see what happens heading into the new season.

My Podcast
https://soundcloud.com/user-539915961/oaa-now-5-13-19

Evola has a change of heart turns down Adams job.

Written Friday May 10th at 1:05 PM

It looks like someone has a change of heart.

According to my accurate source, Evola has turned down coaching at Adams just days after accepting the job last week.

The Highlanders have had a turmoil offseason with the recent rumblings of Gunner Walters and the Emerzian brothers (Jake and Ethan) possibly departing along with coach Brad Crighton who stepped down last month and now adding that Evola has turned down coaching this program. He coached at Warren Woods Tower from 2011 until last season when he stepped down there because of family and travel.

Evola currently works at Rochester High School.

The Adams Boys Basketball job is still currently open as of right now.

Thoughts.

I'm stunned that Evola did a complete 360 on Adams. I feel really bad for Adams Athletic Director Jason Rapp and the players. The Highlanders who thought had a coach in place now has to go back to the drawing board and find a new coach.

It's not good not to have a coach this late in the game.

Stay tuned to OAA Now for the latest on this developing story.

My Podcast
https://soundcloud.com/user-539915961/oaa-now-5-13-19

MHSAA Making New Rule Changes.

Written Wednesday May 8th at 12:05 PM

There will be a ton of changes heading into next season.

According to the MHSAA, their representative council made changes to football, basketball, and soccer.

In Basketball and Soccer, the districts will now be based on seeds that will be determined by a new tool called the Michigan Power Ratings Computer formula. The two top seeds will be opposing each other on the bracket. The MHSAA will draw the brackets two weeks before district play starts. The rest of the bracket will be drawn randomly. However the draw process will not guarantee which teams gets byes or who is the home team.

The MHSAA uses the MPR for Boys Lacrosse. They will use it for Basketball and Soccer as well next year.

It is unknown if they will use it for Volleyball as well.

The council also made changes in football to which in 2020 there will be eight divisions of 32 and at the end of the season it will be based on the average playoff points and not through automatic playoff qualifiers (means strength of schedule is very important.) The points formula will be based on the team's wins and also wins from the opponents regardless of who the team beat or lost too. The council said in their reasoning that these changes would encourage teams to play a tough schedule and taking away the main issue of breaking up leagues and conferences.

Also for football the leadership council approved that they are limiting contact from 90 minutes a week to 30 minutes in preseason workouts. During the season the "thud"tempo there would be still unlimited contact.

The new transfer rule is expected to take effect in the 2019-2020 school year which my co-host Ian Locke and myself on the podcast talked about regularly but there was a major change that was added to the rule. The major change to the rule was that the athlete will not be granted immediate eligibility with a residential change if the student follows their coach from their old school to new school. The council also approved a sport specific penalty for the new transfer rule meaning so that the student would not be eligible to play that sport if the student made the athletically motivated transfer.

Thoughts.

I think there needs to be more clarity from the MHSAA how the brackets will play out come district time unless the MHSAA is doing a six team districts and basing their records and MPR off of those records. My guess is what they will do is that they will do the pairings as normal in June but then they will use the new formula with the teams. It will be interesting to see how this will work. In my mind I still need more information.

I like the football changes, it tells those teams who got in the playoffs with the six wins to toughen up the schedule. I think it's a game changer that strength of schedule will determine where you go in the playoffs. I look for example the Red is loaded with tough teams when you look at Clarkston, Lake Orion, Oxford, West Bloomfield, Adams, Southfield Arts and Tech, and Bloomfield Hills. Oak Park and Groves also plays a brutal schedule as well. My point is that these teams play a very difficult schedule and beat each other up. I remember how Royal Oak and Troy got into the playoffs at 6-3 playing a non impressive schedule and how teams like Lake Orion and Oxford were left out playing a brutal schedule. I like this change a lot.

The new transfer rule has taken into affect already this season but I think the Representative Council needs to look at connecting players to certain programs as well. I'm not sure if they do that with players but they do it with coaches. I think they need to shore that rule up as well which would make things more interesting.

Stay tuned to OAA Now for the latest on this developing story. Expect Ian Locke and myself to go more in depth on the podcast.

Here is the article from the MHSAA Representive Council.
https://www.mhsaa.com/News/Press-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/8205/MHSAA-Representative-Council-Adopts-Tournament-Changes-in-3-Sports-at-Spring-Meeting

My Podcast
https://soundcloud.com/user-539915961/oaa-now-5-13-19 

Haney Out at Rochester.

Written Tuesday May 7th at 1:15 PM

The Rochester Falcons will have a new Girls Basketball coach this winter as Jeff Haney has decided to step down coaching the program as confirmed by a very accurate source.

Haney led the Falcons to a 12-8 record which included a 11-1 record in the Blue last season. Rochester shared the Blue with Berkley last season.

The Falcons fell to Utica in the district semifinals in Haney's return to the bench.

Haney has led Rochester on multiple occasions coaching different levels from Girls Basketball and Boys Basketball along with Girls Golf where he won three State Championships and a runner up as well.

Haney has a 144-70 with three district and two regional championships as the coach of the Falcons.

Thoughts.

I feel really bad for the Rochester ladies that they will be going through this again. This will be the Falcons fourth coach in four seasons.

Rochester will be back in the Blue this coming season and compete with the likes of Berkley, Farmington, Ferndale, Oak Park, Seaholm, and Pontiac.

Until there is stability within the program, this program could very well struggle especially with their city rivals Stoney Creek and Adams both having stabilized programs.

It will be very interesting to see who takes over the Falcons Girls Basketball program.

Stay tuned to OAA Now for the latest on this developing story.

Adams has their new Boys Basketball Coach.

Written Friday April 3rd at 10:40 PM

The Adams Highlanders have found their next Boys Basketball coach.

Citing an accurate source, Adams has named Nick Evola as the team's next head coach replacing Brad Crighton who resigned last month.

Evola became a teacher at Rochester this current school year after spending 11 years of his coaching and teaching career at Warren Woods Tower. Evola who stepped down last month, coached the Titans from 2011 until this past season when his team made the district finals. He led Warren Woods Tower to a division crown as a player in 1999 and a Macomb Area Gold division title in 2018 as a coach.

Evola said in an interview to Jason Carmel Davis of C&G Newspapers that the travel from Rochester to Warren was the reason why he left his alum school. He said that it made things difficult for him and his family (has a wife and two children.) "Tower is my home. I wish I could be here forever. The drive to and from practice each day became challenging especially with two young kids at home."

He did mention that he didn't rule out a return to the bench at some point. "I'd love to continue to coach. Hopefully closer to home so I can have more balance with family time and basketball" he concluded.

Evola got his wish, he will be coaching closer to home however it will be with one of his school's city rivals.

The Highlanders had a great year in Crighton's third and final season at his alum school after going 0-21 in his first season but they would rebound and have a successful second year which included a district championship. Adams won the White by going 17-3 and would finish at 18-4 to which they upset of Clarkston in the pre-district however they fell to Lake Orion in district semifinal last season.

Adams has had an turbulent offseason which according to multiple sources that both Gunner Walters and the Emerizian brothers (Jake and Ethan) could be on the way out. That would be a tough pill to swallow if that happened along with losing Crighton.

The Highlanders still have Peyton Prieskorn, Austin Ursuay, and George Gurraj returning but they will need to replace a ton of talent if true involving Walters and the Emerizians.

Evola will bring some well known knowledge to Adams as he will be the team's third coach in five seasons.

Thoughts.

This is an interesting move on both sides but history going from the Macomb Area Conference to the OAA hasn't always worked out well. I'm curious to see how the players from Adams are going to respond to Evola and his system. I'm also curious how his system will work in the OAA compared to when he was in the Macomb Area Conference.

I'm curious how the possible impact of losing Walters and the Emerzians could impact this team moving forward.

Adams stayed in the White instead of going up to the Red after winning the division last season. The Highlanders could be a middle of the pack team next season especially with the likes of Farmington, Troy, Oxford, Southfield Arts and Tech, Stoney Creek, and Groves being in the division.

This will be interesting to keep an eye on.

Stay tuned to OAA Now for the latest on this developing story.

Lake Orion has their new Boys Basketball Coach.

Written Friday April 26th at 2:00 PM

The Lake Orion Dragons have a new Boys Basketball coach and it’s a familiar name to the OAA.

Lake Orion Athletic Director Chris Bell named Pontiac coach Joel Schroeder to the same position replacing Jim Manzo who guided the program on two stints, one from 2000 until 2008 and then from 2015 until last season.

Schroeder who was at Pontiac for three seasons led the Phoenix to an 18-2 regular season record along with a district championship run. The Phoenix fell to New Haven in the regional final and finish 22-3 overall last season.

Bell said in a press release that Schroeder was the perfect fit for the program going forward. “His years of successful coaching experience, his ability to build a championship program, and his ability to work positively with high school athletes make Coach Schroeder a tremendous fit for Lake Orion High School.”

The Dragons went 13-9 overall last season with was tied for second in the Red (finished 12-8 in the regular season.) Lake Orion returns several key players who saw a ton of playing time in Drew Van Heck, Dylan Boegihemier, Cameron Sutton, Isiah Harris, and Jack Cummins to go along with a Junior Varsity that has some talent moving up.

Thoughts.

I think there is a lot to prove here on both sides.

For Schroeder coaching in the Red with a proven group and if he can get the players to buy in. He has never been in the Red. If the players and Schroeder are on the same page with this brutal schedule then who knows. The challenge for Schroeder will be is can he build the program the same way that Manzo did.

For the players having a new coach, adjusting to his system, and most of the players in the program has played Pontiac when they were in the Blue. It’s going to take an adjustment period for them to adapt to his system.

It will be interesting to see what happens.

Stay tuned to OAA Now for the latest on this developing story.

Podcast
https://soundcloud.com/user-539915961/oaa-now-04-29-19

Follow-up from The Dragons Insider
https://saginawbay.blogspot.com/2019/04/written-sunday-april-28th-at-1030-pm.html

The Article from MIPrepZone's Scott Burnstein.
https://www.theoaklandpress.com/sports/miprepzone/prep-notebook-schroeder-leaving-pontiac-to-take-over-at-lake/article_e223e368-6a12-11e9-91ae-7b8dfd15b76f.html

Here is the Press Release from Lake Orion Athletic Director, Chris Bell.
https://lodragonsports.com/2019/04/26/joel-schroeder-named-boys-head-varsity-basketball-coach/