Top Five Games:
By Sammy Taormina
Romeo at Stoney Creek: The Cougars are having a special season and made everyone in the State know who they were after pulling off a huge 28-21 victory over Chippewa Valley last week behind a 250 yards and three scores off 44 carries for running back Cam Burford. Burford also got an interception last week as well. Ryan Echout has been outstanding at quarterback as well for the Cougars and the Stoney Creek defense has been stout under defensive coordinator Gary Griffith. This will be the first meeting between these two neighborhood schools. Romeo has been a weird team to figure out this season but they are peaking at the right time. The Bulldogs has won three straight games including a controversial 15-14 upset win at Macomb Dakota last week behind a controversial fourth and goal by running back Brian St. Clair that according to the replays that I saw was that he threw the football into the end zone when his forward progress should had been stopped but the football was recovered by wide receiver Luke Rolfs in the end zone. The officials gave the touchdown to Romeo which upset many Macomb Dakota players, coaches, and fans and thus putting Romeo in the district finals. The Bulldogs are a hardworking team very similar to the Cougars but they are riding a ton of momentum but so is Stoney Creek. The running back battle should be very interesting between Burford and St. Clair. The quarterback matchup between Logan Rolfs and Echout is also going to be interesting as well. The coaching matchup is not too bad as well between Curt Rienas and Nick Merlo. This should be a very interesting matchup at Stoney Creek.
Groves at Warren Mott: This is going to be the first meeting between the Falcons and the Marauders. Warren Mott is coming off a 49-14 beat down of Berkley behind wide receiver KJ Allen whom had five catches for 128 yards and three touchdowns while running back N Christian Gilbert had six carries for 128 yards and two touchdowns against the Bears. They also have a very good quarterback throwing to them as well in James Chaney. He had three passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns himself against Berkley. Chaney is more than capable of putting numbers himself in the zone read. He had 29 carries for 188 yards and two rushing touchdowns and was five for nine for 46 yards and a passing score earlier in the season against Utica. Groves is coming off a 30-21 victory over arch rival Seaholm behind the play of quarterback Kaleb Garner threw for two touchdown passes both to wide receiver Orion Kendra. The Falcons also have Jaden Mangham for Warren Mott to deal with as well. The coaching matchup is very interesting between Brendan Flaherty and Tom Milonov. This is going to be a very interesting district finals.
Oak Park at Wyandotte: The Knights have earned their first two game winning streak of the season after beating Detroit University-Detroit Jesuit 27-21 last week. This is going to be the first meeting since 2012 with Wyandotte. The Bears beat Oak Park 10-6 in the 2012 regional finals which motivates Coach Greg Carter. Wyandotte has been rolling people. They earned a 38-13 victory over Detroit Renaissance last week. The Bears feature a very good quarterback in Jalen Pitchford. Pitchford has had a monster year this season on both sides of the football (also plays on defense.) Wyandotte also has a ton of talented players as well in running back Logan McGraw and wide receivers/defensive backs Donavan Canterbury and Richard Clark. They are well coached under Coach Ron Adams. Oak Park is back healthy and they has their fair share of athletes as well in running back Davion Primm along with quarterback James Burnley and linemen Rayshawn Benny, among others. This should be very interesting in Wyandotte on Friday night.
North Farmington at South Lyon: North Farmington made a huge statement last week behind the play of quarterback Jacob Bousamra and running back Justus Whitehorn whom were both very impressive combining for five touchdowns in their 44-28 victory over Fenton last week. South Lyon is coming off an impressive 42-37 home victory over Walled Lake Western. The Lions are a very young team which they weren’t expected to do much but they have grown up in a hurry. This will be the seventh meeting all time between these two teams with South Lyon holding a 4-2 season series edge and the first meeting since 1995 when both teams were in the Western Lakes Activities Association. It is shaping up to be a very interesting game in South Lyon.
West Bloomfield at Sterling Heights Stevenson: This is going to be one of the most hyped matchups in the State on Friday night. Who doesn’t love a good OAA Red vs MAC Red matchup??? It will be the first meeting between these two teams. The Titans have a ton of experience back from a team that made the Division One State Semifinals last season. We don’t know about the health of Jordan Ramsey. Ramsey did not play in their 19-14 victory over Southfield Arts and Tech. He hasn’t played in a few weeks due to injury but Sterling Heights Stevenson has some very talented players to fill the void for Ramsey in Jordan Kwaitkowski, Tony Schumate, and quarterback Biagio Madonna. Kwaitkowski and Schumate combined for 200 rushing yards and three touchdowns against the Warriors. Kwaitkowski caught a pass for a score in that game as well. The Titans have heard a ton about the Lakers and especially running back Donovan Edwards. Edwards had two scores in a 56-3 blowout of Troy on Friday night in the Swamp but they saw their four game shutout streak snapped with a Ryan Peluso field goal. The quarterback matchup is going to be very interesting between Alex Short and Madonna. The running back battle should be the key matchup between Edwards, Dillion Tatum, and Mekhi Elam. The battle in the trenches are also going to be interesting between Michigan commit Giovanni El-Hadi going up against one of the best defensive lines in the State led by Amir Herring and Brandon Davis-Swan. The coaching matchup is also going to be very interesting as well between Coach Ron Bellamy and Coach Justin Newcomb. There are going to be a ton of storylines heading into this game at Runkel Field on Friday night.