Week Three Review - Or Valleys Get Too Low

The dog days of summer are gone. I’ve seen the crimson leaves on some trees in my neighborhood. That can only mean that fall is here and it’s a complete

The dog days of summer are gone. I’ve seen the crimson leaves on some trees in my neighborhood. That can only mean that fall is here and it’s a complete and total sports-o-rama. When else can you go catch a Tigers game, head across Brush Street, watch a Lions game, and then talk about the “dangle dangle” of Datsyuk or the scoring ability of the Mule? It’s a beautiful time of year and you can’t turn on the TV without flipping past some sporting event. There were some great games at all levels last week. Let’s take a second look at the games profiled here on Spartan Nation.

Mid Michigan

Midland 34 Bay City Western 16

It was a tough game between two of the Saginaw Valley League’s top teams. The Chemics ran crazy on the Warriors, racking up 297 rushing yards. Former Colts offensive line coach (and Midland alum) Howard Mudd was in attendance and I bet he was proud of the offensive line play. Western had problems with field position all night. Their coverage teams couldn’t bring down the players until they had given up great field position. A punt block by Ty Whittlesey gave the ball to Midland on the BCW 33 yard line while another punt was botched and the ball ended up on the BCW three yard line. Midland scored on both ensuing drives. Western just couldn’t get their ground game going. Alex Rapanos was seven of eight for 54 yards and a pick for Midland and also ran in a 16 yard touchdown. Matt Alcott had six catches for 44 yards. For Western, Austin Pichiotino was 15 of 26 for 231 and a score. Caleb Boileau had seven receptions for 124 yards. With stats like that, you can see they were able to pass, but like I said, their ground game wasn’t moving the ball.

Capital Area

Jackson 41 Lansing Eastern 37

In the fourth quarter, it looked like Jackson had the game wrapped up. Then, Lansing Eastern woke up and got mad. They scored 19 points in a 42 second span to take the lead. Unfortunately for Lansing, Jackson scored with 23 seconds left on the clock to preserve the victory. Jackson High’s Desmond Edwards had 214 rushing yards and three touchdowns (15 yards was the shortest scoring run for Edwards). Linebacker John White had 16 tackles. Penalties hurt Lansing Eastern. They had 10 penalties for 105 yards. In the end, it was a 4 yard touchdown pass from Tom Fleming to Jordan Union and Adam Maxson’s extra point that gave Jackson the W.

Detroit

Birmingham Brother Rice 13 Highland Park 6

Highland Park dominated this game. Their defense was spectacular, just like Cedric Dortch coaches. Unfortunately, Highland Park gave up 77 yard touchdown pass in the second and a 74 yard fourth quarter kickoff return (to the one yard line) which sealed their fate. Brother Rice receiver Kevonte Martin-Manley was the one doing the damage on those two plays. It’s not like Highland Park didn’t have any chances; Raymon Tayler dropped a 40 yard touchdown pass in the fourth. The clock said six minutes left in the game when Highland Park got the ball back, but Cameron Janack was picked off by Michael Johnson. BBR coach Al Fracassa said that they beat them his team up pretty good and it was one of the worst offensive games that his team has ever had. Highland Park had 373 yards on 73 plays and the defense only gave up two first downs in the losing effort.

North

Whittemore-Prescott 44 Oscoda 16

This game got out of hand before halftime. W-P had the lead 38-0 at halftime. Chris Downes had 202 rushing yards on 16 carries and three scores. One of those plays was a 99 yard run on 3rd and 28 in the second quarter. He scored all three of his touchdowns in a six minute span. Kieran Clarke had two touchdown passes for Oscoda in the second half, both of which went to Ian Perkins.

West

Comstock Park 19 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern 7

It was Comstock Park’s Zach Mull who got his team on the board first and Mull who got his team on the scoreboard last. It was all tied up at halftime 7-7 after Leighton Watson caught a six yard pass from Cam Wysocki and future Spartan Mike Sadler kicked the extra point. Both teams relied on the run much more than the pass, with Comstock Park throwing 14 passes to Forest Hills Northern’s 12 while running the ball a combined 84 times (38 for GRFHN and 46 for Comstock). Justin Lyon had a two yard touchdown run in the third quarter to give Comstock Park the lead for good. The game was the OK Blue opener for both teams.