Jeffrey Cottrell's Week One Prep Football Blog
Football is upon us. Get ready for the school pride, hotdogs, The Star Spangled Banner, chinstraps, blood, guts, and heart. I know we are lining up our rookies (freshmen) at 4pm today and if our scrimmage against our JV squad tells us anything, we have good, tough players. Our freshman team has only 14 players. Are any other teams having problems with numbers? If you have a story about it, hit me up with an email. The coaches I’ve talked to have said that many schools won’t have freshmen football and small junior varsity teams. Maybe it’s a product of starting the football season so far in advance of the school year. If players come out the first week of school, by the time they have their mandatory three conditioning days and get their equipment, we’ll be in Week Four. For teams that will not make the playoffs, it’s about the mid point of the season.
When I started looking at the schedule in order to pick the games for each region, I came to a conclusion. This first week of the season is the most important for everyone. It sets the tone of the whole season. I’m not saying if you lose that your season is done (that starts October 26th with the district first round playoffs) but those “W’s†will begin to count towards the all important six wins.  For those who don’t know, if a team wins six games, they make the playoffs. Ok ok ok, enough of my thoughts about the beginning of the season, let’s get into the games of the week.
Detroit Area
Novi Detroit Catholic Central Vs. Detroit Southeastern (at Novi Detroit Catholic Central)
At one point, I thought about writing all of the MSU recruits since it is the first week of the season. Fred Smith, who committed to MSU, will line up at wide receiver and defensive back for Detroit Southeastern. Southeastern has returned a fair number of players and being the largest school in the Detroit Public School League might give them a numbers advantage.
Catholic Central had a down season last year. That’s bound to happen when you play powerhouses like Birmingham Brother Rice, Warren De LaSalle, and Orchard Lake St. Mary. Their defense should be good and the facilities at the school are top notch. Coach Tom Mach has coached 273 wins and should be able to turn the program back to its winning ways.
Mid Michigan
Midland High vs. Mount Pleasant (At Midland Community Stadium)
This should be an interesting game. Midland has good teams every year, but hasn’t gotten it done in the playoffs. They’ve made it to the quarterfinals, but haven’t found their way into a state championship game yet. They’ll be tough again this season. Two year starting quarterback Andrew Maxwell should keep his team in contention of a Saginaw Valley League crown, as long as they can get past Mount Pleasant Week One and beat preseason favorite Bay City Central at Bay City in Week Two. Unfortunately, they lost three players due to “violation of training rules.â€Â They will return just in time to play a team that’s hoping to be on the rise, Saginaw High.
Mount Pleasant is my preseason pick to win the Saginaw Valley League. They return their starting quarterback Will Arnold, wide receiver Tyler Mills, and a team ready to make a move. The Detroit Free Press has them ranked as the third best team in their preseason rankings. I guess the question is whether or not Coach McIntyre can get his team to meet their expectations. The schedule isn’t kind to them and they will have to earn their championship by winning tough road games. They sure looked like a good team when I saw them play last year.
West Coast
Lowell vs. Davison (at Lowell)
Davison is a great team. They are the five time defending champions of the Big Nine Conference. Their out of conference schedule is almost unreal. They play Lowell, Rockford, and Holt, three very tough teams. Fortunately, they have an experienced three year starter at quarterback in Jared Cowan. They put together this schedule to get them prepared for the playoffs and hopefully give them insight to some teams they might go up against in the playoffs. The Big Nine Conference should be tough every week and Davison will have to bring it every game.
After my love-fest for the Ottawa-Kent Conference in my last entry, you should know that Lowell plays in a tough division. The OK White conference defending champions have a tough schedule ahead of them as well. Besides playing Davison, they also play a tough Hudsonville team in Week Two, and close the regular season with defending Division 3 State Champions East Grand Rapids. The game with Davison should be a great game to watch!
Northern Michigan
Suttons Bay vs. Traverse City St. Francis (at Traverse City St. Francis)
This has the makings for a fantastic game. Suttons Bay has really turned their program around since 2000. Last season they lost in the playoffs to Saginaw Nouvel (Division 7 Champions) in the semifinals. I’ve heard that the team has one dominate player but I don’t buy it. No team can have success like Suttons Bay had and not have the younger players learn something along the way. I wanted to make it to a game while I was in Suttons Bay for my wedding, but my fiancé didn’t like the idea of the groom missing the rehearsal dinner to go to a football game. (“Over my dead body!†were her exact words.)
Traverse City St. Francis, historically, is an awesome football team. This year will be no exception. They are looking to build on last season’s 10-2 record and make it further into the playoffs. TCSF is another example of a religious school having a fantastic football program. The last two losing seasons they had were in 1989 and 1982. One thing that might go in Traverse City’s favor is the depth issue. It might come down to who’s deeper and better towards the bottom of their rosters.
Have ideas for a game of the week? Think I’m off base? Just have a general comment? Send me an email! Click on the Email Hondo Now at the top right and make sure to put “Preps†in the subject line!
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