White Division Preview
Written Monday August 21st at 6:25 PM
This is the 2023 Football Preview. This will be updated with various podcasts and information from Media Day along with our special podcast with Civic Center TV’s Tyler Kieft and MIPrepZone’s Scott Burnstein.
ONTV News Media Day-Report
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpC83I_1MZg
Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPxPxsHa_l0
Preview Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hXnjZaV0MY
AROUND THE OAA TOP 10
- West Bloomfield
- Southfield Arts and Tech
- Lake Orion
- Harper Woods
- Clarkston
- Adams
- Groves
- Seaholm
- Ferndale
- Avondale
DIVISION RECAP/STORYLINES:
MANAGEABLE SCHEDULE: Farmington: The Falcons have a very manageable schedule to get to the postseason. It’s unfortunate that they won’t be playing their arch rivals North Farmington this season. They have Muskegon Reeths Puffer, Southfield Arts and Tech, and Harper Woods coming to Falcon Field. Farmington has Lake Orion, Sweinhart, and Beverly Hills on the road which are tough games. The Falcons could be in line for a strong year if things go right.
NIGHTMARE SCHEDULE: Southfield Arts and Tech: The Warriors are a senior heavy team this season. Their first five games looks very lovely on paper with Detroit Cass Tech at Wayne State to open the season then follow that with Clarkston, then Harper Woods, then Groves, and Farmington with the Wolves and Pioneers at home, that’s brutal and that’s not mentioning a trip to “The Swamp” in week eight either. Southfield Arts and Tech could have six losses and still get into the postseason with that schedule, my goodness gracious.
TEAM THAT’S ON THE RISE: Harper Woods: It was a very rough first year in the OAA for the Pioneers but with them getting use to OAA life, Harper Woods is ready to make some noise and make a return to the postseason which they are in Division Four. The Pioneers are well coached under Coach Rob Oden. Depth will be something to watch despite the experience they have back. They have Lake Orion, Roseville, and Groves coming to Wayne County. The Pioneers have Farmington, Clarkston, and Southfield Arts and Tech on the road. This is a program that is on the rise.
TEAM THAT’S IN TROUBLE: Rochester: The Falcons made a ton of history by winning their first ever playoff game by beating Stoney Creek last season but the honeymoon could be over. Rochester goes to Sweinhart to open the season and have road trips to Adams, Groves, and Harper Woods. The final four games are at home but they are against Walled Lake Northern, Farmington, Southfield Arts and Tech, and Stoney Creek. It could be a long season for Coach Eric Vernon and company with the schedule they have this season.
SOUTHFIELD ARTS AND TECH WARRIORS:
LAST SEASON RECORD: 8-3 (7-2), 5-0 White. Lost 25-14 to Detroit Cass Tech in District Finals.
POINTS SCORED: 442 (40.1 ppg)
POINTS AGAINST: 273 (24.8 ppg)
KEY PLAYER: Isiah Marshall-Quarterback.
STRENGTH: Proven Experience, Proven Skill Players.
WEAKNESS: Both Lines, Special Teams, Depth, Program Strength.
GAME OF THE YEAR: August 26 vs Detroit Cass Tech at Wayne State
PROJECTED RECORD: 7-2, 5-0 White
STORYLINES AND PLAYERS TO WATCH:
The Warriors haven’t been able to get over the postseason hump especially with a disappointing loss to Detroit Cass Tech in the district finals. “Its a good challenge, I like opening up with them because it will tell us where we are. We learned a lot from that game last year both of them so playing a game like that of that caliper, it is very good for our program, so we got our work cut out” said Coach Aaron Marshall Southfield Arts and Tech is putting everything into this season if they want to make a deep postseason run. They scored the most points in school history with 442 points last season but they haven’t made it past the regional since their first season as a merged school.
Southfield Arts and Tech has a very talented offense coming back. They had the most points scored in school history last season and a boatload of experience coming back for Marshall.”We’re excited we got 28-29 seniors, we got a lot of experience, a lot of those guys played as sophomores. They have been part of good seasons and part of bad seasons and have been battle tested, really excited for their leadership this year and we’ll see what they are going to do” Marshall said. Marshall has his nephew Isiah Marshall at quarterback coming back. Marshall has a ton of very talented and also proven wide receivers in Xavier Bowman, Juwan Jarrett, Tashi Braceful, and Parker Kennedy coming back. They also have Davier Burt at running back coming back. The offensive and defensive lines are question marks despite having Reggie Gardner and Carlio Pickett on both sides of the football coming back. The defensive side of the football could be the Warriors biggest issues this season despite having Mathais Davis, James Panagos, and Maurcio Clayton coming back at linebacker. They have Wendall Smith, Shamarrion Flemming, Jordan Melton, and Jalen Todd in the defensive secondary coming back. Southfield Arts and Tech has the makings of a Division One State title contender.
The Warriors have the makings of a special season with the proven skill players but depth, program strength, and both lines make this very challenging. Program strength looks very concerning in the future for Southfield Arts and Tech. The schedule is very challenging early with Detroit Cass Tech at Wayne State followed by three home games against Clarkston, Harper Woods, and Groves. They also have to go to Farmington and West Bloomfield which should be very tough tests. “We want to win our league and our goal is to win the State championship” Marshall concluded. The window is closing for the Warriors, it’s now for never for them this season.
HARPER WOODS PIONEERS:
LAST SEASON RECORD: 3-6, 2-3 White. Didn’t Make Postseason.
POINTS SCORED: 175 (19.4 ppg)
POINTS AGAINST: 203 (22.5 ppg)
KEY PLAYER: Stephone Buford-Quarterback, Wide Receiver.
STRENGTH: Proven Skill Players, Depth, Proven Experience.
WEAKNESS: Kicking Game.
GAME OF THE YEAR: August 24th at Stoney Creek
PROJECTED RECORD: 6-3, 4-1 White
STORYLINES AND PLAYERS TO WATCH:
It was a rough first season in the OAA for the Pioneers which saw them go 1-4 in their final five games which was very unusual. They lost two of those games by a combined nine points. Harper Woods had made the playoffs four straight years prior to coming into the league and was 22-16 in that span. “It was very unusual in my 23 years of coaching not to make the postseason with that being a driving force this offseason. The team is kind of taking it personal and are taking the necessary steps so that doesn’t happen again so definitely a different kind of experience for us not being in the tournament” said Coach Rob Oden. The Pioneers could be in line for a strong bounce back season.
Harper Woods was a very young team last season playing in a new league. They should be a much better team this season for Oden. The offense wasn’t themselves in their first season in the OAA. It should be very interesting to see how they do in year two in the league. The Pioneers could have a quarterback competition between Stephone Buford and Nate Rocheleau coming back at quarterback but in talking to Oden, Buford is the starter but Rocheleau has adopted very well to American football coming in from Canada. “Stephone is a returning starter, he’s a program kid, been in the program four years. He has a very distinct skill set, he’s probably considered to be a duel threat athlete, I think away from the ball he’s one of our best two or three wide receivers as well so when Nate does play he’s not out of the game, he’s at a different position. Nate is the young gunslinger, he’s a quarterback by trade. He’s been born to be a QB, he’s the first to arrive and the last to leave, he’s a student of the game, he’s very meticulous, he’s a Canadian, so you know he had to make the adjustments as a freshman to American football, field is not as wide, it’s not as long, its four downs not three and so on and so fourth so he spent his freshman year trying to make those adjustments to American football and I think he’s hitting the ground running right now so having them both has kind of iron sharpens iron type of thing, they push each other and their relationship is great and I think whoever comes out the battle, both guys will be better off for it” Oden added. The Pioneers have two proven runners in Kobe Bailey and Dwight Houston at running back coming back. “Last year both of them fed off each other, inside/outside, thunder and lightning kind of approach. Kobe is more of the scat back, he does a lot of the perimeter stuff, the outside zones and those runs, he’s a threat to you know to take the ball to the distance everytime he touches it and Dwight is more of the downhill thumper, he’s the in between the tackles guy, he’s a lot you know, he’s heavily involved in our screen game and he’s heavily involved in our interior run game so depending on the play and situation and those things you may get a little bit of both or whoever has the hot hand in the second half, may be the featured guy so they kind of do a great job feeding off of each other” Oden added. Whoever the quarterback is will have proven pass catchers in Ramonty House, Jacob Oden (Oden’s son), Dakota Guerrant (Oden’s nephew), Josh Peak, Yasin Milton, Jordan McLemoure along with tight end Nigel Robinson coming back.”Our wide receivers are very explosive, I think it’s one of the best units of our team, we got Jacob Oden, my son he plays our X wide receiver, he’s a stretch the field guy then you have Ramonty House, our slot wide receiver, heavily involved in our kicking and punt return game. He had nine special teams touchdowns last year, he’s explosive, he’s a 4.340 guy, 200 meter guy, track kid through and through so he’s a lightning in a bottle kind of kid and then we have the incoming freshman my nephew Dakota Guerrant, who is going to take the world by storm now that he’s here, he’ll play in the slot and then we have a combination of guys, we have Josh Peak, as a rising senior, big frame, big body kid, 6.2 280 lbs, we got Yasin Milton another slot receiver, very dynamic with the football as well and then we have a big tight end in Nigel Robinson. Nigel will do the short and immediate and work box guys out and set the edge in the run game. I think our wide receiving core is one of our strengths, it’s kind of shown this summer in the passing leagues and they were performing very well” Oden said. The offensive and defensive lines should be solid with Bryant Witherspoon, Jessten Johnson, Elron Beaman, Javon Jones, Justin Thawsen, and Trevon Mendenhall coming back. The defense really struggled adjusting to life in the OAA. They have a lot of proven experience especially in the defensive secondary with Anthony Sims, Johnny Nelson, Jaylen Wilkerson, Oden, Keonte Wilson, Deante Wilson, and Brandon Houston coming back.”Our back seven is looking polished, we have 19 starters returning 10 on defense. Bryant Robinson will be one of our edge rushers, our best inside tackle is Javon Jones, he’s a started as a sophomore last year, he’ll be a junior this year, he’ll handle the duties of stopping the run inside, those are our two best defensive lineman” Oden added. They have Cailin Scott, Matthew McGraw, and Willie Powell at linebacker coming back.”Our backers all return from a year ago we got four year starting captain Willie Powell in there with junior Matthew McGraw, both of them are downhill thumpers and are about six foot, six one 220 lbs in there so they are solid run fitters and develop into the past as well dropping into coverage and our secondary all returns so like I said with Jacob at free safety and Keonte Wilson and Brandon Houston and all of those guys back there, they’ve been together three years so you know their communication and camaraderie is through the roof right now, that defense is right now, they are humming they’re performing at all cylinders. The biggest thing for us is to avoid the injury bug and kind of stay healthy” Oden mentioned. There is a ton of proven experience for Oden and his program coming back.
It will be very interesting to see what the Pioneers have in year two. Harper Woods is back in Division Four for the postseason. Program strength and depth are big question marks for Oden and his program but Oden sees things very differently.”The strength of our program is our culture, guys come here to be blue collared. They want to work hard, they want to be coached hard, they want to be told the truth, they want to be great in the classroom, and they want to be a leader on the field so the culture we’ve created the last few years is what sustains us. The junior varsity has grown, we have about 50 kids and they’ve been strong averaging seven wins the last few years and they’ll be a strong unit this year as well. Our middle school program hasn’t lost a game in three years so they are a solid bunch that will be coming to us in the future years, so all in all I think the program is really trending upward but the culture that has been created is a player led program and those guys kind of feed off each other so establishing that is priority number one for us and building depth will probably be behind that so those are things I look at when it comes to program strength” Oden said. Harper Woods should be better this season. The schedule is very challenging especially the non league. They have Stoney Creek, Lake Orion, Clarkston, and Roseville. The Pioneers have Southfield Arts and Tech, Bloomfield Hills, and Farmington on the road and Groves and Rochester come to Wayne County. Harper Woods should be a postseason team with the move to Division Four, they could be a force to watch.
Harper Woods Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-TDvB97-j8
GROVES FALCONS:
LAST SEASON RECORD: 9-4 (6-3), 3-2 White. Lost 43-15 to Warren DeLaSalle in State Semifinals.
POINTS SCORED: 320 (24.6 ppg)
POINTS AGAINST: 247 (19 ppg)
KEY PLAYER: Avery Gach-Offensive/Defensive Lineman.
STRENGTH: Proven Linemen, Defensive Secondary.
WEAKNESS: Rushing Attack, Program Strength, Wide Receivers, Depth.
GAME OF THE YEAR: September 23 at Southfield Arts and Tech
PROJECTED RECORD: 6-3, 3-2 White
STORYLINES AND PLAYERS TO WATCH:
The Falcons have had surprising postseason runs in the past. They made a ton of noise getting to the Division Two State Semifinals despite having a 6-3 record last season. “Last year we battled through some stuff, grew up and made it to the playoffs and made it to the semis” Coach Brendan Flaherty said. Groves has made the postseason 10 of the last 12 years for Flaherty. The offense has scored over 300 points in each of their postseason appearances and under 200 points when they haven’t made the postseason. Flaherty has some questions when it comes to program strength.
Everything starts and ends with the offensive and defensive line for the Falcons this season. “So far so good, everyone is working hard and getting after it” Flaherty said. Groves has several proven linemen in Avery Gach, Carter Hladki, Henry Bob-Lovett, Nathan Brodjeski, Aiden Wahn, Mohammad Biet, and Brayden Hall coming back. Gach has been getting a ton of attention but Hladki, Brodjeski, Bob-Lovett, Biet, and Hall are very solid players The Falcons got a better season from Cayden Hardy at quarterback. Hardy is expected to have a big year for Groves this season. The rushing and passing attacks have some question marks. They have Zach Rogers, Nick Hardy, Anthony Cameron, Rylie Armbrustmacher at wide receiver and Noah Woods at tight end coming back. Groves has a solid rushing attack with Mario Lavisco and Noah Sanders coming back at running back. Flaherty could have some defensive secondary players also play wide receiver as well. The defense was very good last season especially the defensive secondary. They have Jalen Brooks, Anthony Cameron, Rogers, Aiden Leuing, and Chris Little coming back. Little had ten interceptions last season. Groves has Ivan Beleau, Aiden Leung, and Bryce Lattimore coming back at linebacker. The Falcons have a ton of proven experience with this team coming back.
The Falcons have the makings of a very good team with the proven experience they have this season. It comes down to program strength and depth when looking at Groves. “You have to work your tail off just to have a chance” Flaherty added. The schedule is very challenging especially with five of their last six games on the road which includes North Farmington, Southfield Arts and Tech, Harper Woods, and Seaholm. “We want to win our league and beat our rival, everything will take care of itself” Flaherty concluded. The Falcons are more than capable of having another deep postseason run but they haven’t been able to take that next step to get to Ford Field, could this be the year??? We’ll find out.
FARMINGTON FALCONS:
LAST SEASON RECORD: 6-4 (6-3), 3-1 Blue. Lost 41-28 to Temperance Bedford in First Round.
POINTS SCORED: 311 (31.1 ppg)
POINTS AGAINST: 194 (19.4 ppg)
KEY PLAYER: Cam Pettaway-Running Back/Defensive Back.
STRENGTH: Proven Linemen, Proven Wide Receivers/Secondary, Linebackers.
WEAKNESS: Quarterback, Depth.
GAME OF THE YEAR: September 23 vs Southfield Arts and Tech
PROJECTED RECORD: 4-5, 2-3 White
STORYLINES AND PLAYERS TO WATCH:
The Falcons are coming off a season where they made a ton of noise. “We had a great group of seniors that I got to know as sophomores, our quarterback Dominic Peshel threw for 1300 to 1500 yards. We had a special group, playing North is an emotional battle, its a rivalry game, blocked an extra point to get it to overtime. It was great to get the Jug back in Shiawassee. It was great to beat Seaholm, ultimately we shared the title, looking at the numbers we could have won out but we could have been third, having to travel to Bedford. We were down early, tying it up in the third and had a penalty called back in that game” said Coach Jason Albright. Farmington went into Monroe County and had the lead at one point against Temperance Bedford but ran out of gas and fell 41-28.”We did a cool thing that we got some charter busses, it took us an hour to get down US-23″ Albright said about the bus ride into Monroe County. They won the Blue and moved up to the White this season. Albright should be solid this season despite quarterback issues.
Farmington has the proven playmakers but they need to find a quarterback to run their multiple offense. There is a quarterback competition that might not be decided until they get the pads on. “We got a junior and a senior battling it out, I always joke about seven on seven being that it’s not real football, you kind of get an idea on their decision making. It won’t be decided until they are in pads and after the scrimmages” Albright added. They have Cam Pettaway coming back at running back. “Cam has been great this season, he’s been there working and leading, been to seven on sevens and excelled there. He’s a hard working kid, focusing more on football than he has in the past because he is a multi sport athlete. He’s been really that guy who kids can watch and see what happens when you put hard work in the offseason ” Albright said about Pettaway. The Falcons have proven pass catchers in Michael Woods, Joe Stevens, and Owen Mattison coming back. “We’ve been doing great this offseason, the conditioning and lifting program that we carried through the offseason” The Falcons have Sammy Ramsey, Jacob Braswell, Steven Krager, Christian Jackson, and Ashwin Sureshbabbu coming back on the offensive and defensive lines. The defense should keep them in most games this season. “We have a lot of guys coming back on defense and we do a good job of rotating guys on defense” Albright mentioned. Farmington has Trenton Dardon, Josh Walker, and Cooper Williams coming back at linebacker. They have Cam Hughes, Jaden Vance, Woods, and Mattison in the defensive secondary. This should be a very good team this season.
Farmington as mentioned needs to find their quarterback before their first game. Program strength is a bit of a concern for Albright with a small sophomore and junior class. “The biggest thing I want for my JV is to have kids to have a good experience and prepare them to be a varsity football player. Our staff down there do a great job of breaking down and teach so they know what they’re doing. This year it’s always a crap shoot because you have kids sign up and we end up not seeing every kid that signs up and maybe changes their mind We have a large freshmen class coming in but our sophomore and junior class is not huge to a point where I’m comfortable right now doing a three straight programs because we had some of those freshman start on JV and some of those kids are probably going to be with us this year and with the schedule we got put with this year. In the league I can’t say that I’m going to put together a team of 22 kids that are going to play a JV schedule and play Lake Orion or play Southfield and Harper Woods and Rochester and Groves you know that and Bloomfield Hills that I don’t want kids to get banged up to the point that we don’t have any depth there so we’re going to try to do a freshman game or two only just to see because it’s not always easy to get schedules fit but it will primarily be a JV team” Albright added. The schedule is very interesting, they won’t play arch rival North Farmington this season which is very unfortunate. “The kids are disappointed, it’s kind of a weird thing like no other city rivalry game is being played this year but not ours though” Albright concluded. The Falcons have Detroit Henry Ford, Muskegon-Reefs Puffer, Bloomfield Hills, Southfield Arts and Tech, and Harper Woods coming to Falcon Field. They have Sweinhart (Utica), Lake Orion, Groves, and Rochester on the road. Farmington should be good this season with the strength of schedule component the postseason looks possible for the Falcons.
Farmington Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQCCjxxPYu4&t=657s
BLOOMFIELD HILLS BLACKHAWKS:
LAST SEASON RECORD: 3-6, 1-4. Didn’t Make Postseason.
POINTS SCORED: 157 (17.4 ppg)
POINTS AGAINST: 305 (33.8 ppg)
KEY PLAYER: Kieran Crosley-Quarterback/Defensive Lineman/Kicker
STRENGTH: Proven Lines, Rushing attack.
WEAKNESS: Quarterback, Program Strength, Special Teams, Defensive Secondary, Depth.
GAME OF THE YEAR: September 1 vs Stoney Creek
PROJECTED RECORD: 1-8, 1-4 White
STORYLINES AND PLAYERS TO WATCH:
The Blackhawks took a bit of a step back last season on both sides of the football. People could say that Bloomfield Hills best success was when they were in the Blue. When they went up to the White or Red they have struggled. The defense was out there way too long while the offense struggled as the stats showed. Bloomfield Hills won three games by a combined 15 points including their final two games by a combined 11 points. The Blackhawks have a ton of questions coming into the season. They haven’t scored over 200 points in four of the last five seasons.
Bloomfield Hills will have some changes this season. They need to find a quarterback for Coach Dan Loria. Sawyer Cooney could be a name to watch at quarterback. Cooney played junior varsity last season and could be in line to be quarterback unless Loria goes another direction which he could with Kieran Crosley. Crosley played multiple positions last season and could be called on to do so again this season. The Blackhawks have been well known for their high octane spread offense. They have Gavin Cote, Richard Frankfurt, Mason Miller coming back at wide receiver and Nicholas Guettar at tight end. Bloomfield Hills should have a three headed monster at running back with Jace Reed, Evan Becker, Connor Baggett coming back. The offensive and defensive lines should be very interesting. They have Jack Holton, Neenor Razoky, Aaron Robinson, Jack Shaffer, Brayden Brodsky, Ranuck Doshi, Jonah Jacob, and Max Gripton coming back to anchor both lines. Stevon White could be a player to watch on both lines as well. The defense is where they really struggled last season. They will have Crosley on the defensive line. The Blackhawks have Guettar, Bryan Transou, Parker Ng, Anthony Doria, Becker, and Blake Nagy coming back at linebacker. Bloomfield Hills has Cote and Chris Edwards coming back in the defensive secondary. Crosley should handle the kicking duties. Special teams will also be a question mark as will be the rest of the defensive secondary. It will be very interesting to see what happens with Loria and his program.
The Blackhawks have a ton of questions as mentioned this season. Program strength is a huge concern with Bloomfield Hills. The Blackhawks have a very tough schedule that is looming. They have Stoney Creek, Harper Woods, North Farmington, and Groves coming to Bloomfield Hills. The Blackhawks have Southfield Arts and Tech, Seaholm, Rochester, Adams, and Farmington on the road. It could be a very long season for Loria and company this season.
ROCHESTER FALCONS:
LAST SEASON RECORD: 6-5 (5-4), 4-1 White. Lost 28-14 to Adams in District Finals.
POINTS SCORED: 250 (27.7 ppg)
POINTS AGAINST: 265 (29.4 ppg)
KEY PLAYER: Issac Putts-Offensive/Defensive Lineman.
STRENGTH: Linebackers, Proven Linemen.
WEAKNESS: Proven Skill Players.
GAME OF THE YEAR: September 9 vs Bloomfield Hills
PROJECTED RECORD: 1-8, 0-5 White
STORYLINES AND PLAYERS TO WATCH:
It was a very interesting year for Rochester last season. The Falcons made the postseason for the first time since 2010 (2020 doesn’t count) and won their first ever playoff game by beating Stoney Creek 21-20 on a last second touchdown and extra point. Rochester allowed more points than scored which was very alarming. “It was a big proponent to the culture in terms of expectations, the expectations were a little bit lower building that expectation to win playoff games and that goes a long way into building up the program. You believe you can do it then you can achieve a lot of great things” said Coach Eric Vernon. Vernon will have a ton of address this season.
Rochester lost a lot of proven experience from last season which included Alex Bueno, Khammani Potts, and Grant Calcagno whom they lost to graduation. They will have a quarterback competition which could have Jake Tandy in the mix.”That is the big question, we lost Alex Bueno a four year starter last year, losing Grant Calcagno, we’re losing every touchdown we scored last year. Quarterback situation is up in the air, we got a couple guys who can step up and go from there” Vernon said. Whoever the quarterback will be will have Bassem Yousseff and Jacob Vancoille at wide receiver coming back. If Tandy loses the quarterback battle then he could play at wide receiver as well. The Falcons have Issac Puttus, Josh Harmon, Adam Glinski, Cameron Williams, and Casey Burke coming back on the offensive and defensive lines. The rushing attack will be a question mark for Vernon despite having Marco Leyva coming back. The defense have had their fair share of issues last season. Rochester has Bodie Therkildsen, Jack Lower, and Daniel Kable coming back at linebacker. It is possible that Vancoille, Yousseff, and Tandy could also see some time in the defensive secondary with the lack of depth.
The Falcons will have to replace a ton of talent. Program strength is very concerning for Vernon. The schedule will very tough. Rochester goes to Swienhart (Utica) and Adams early and they have to go to Harper Woods and Groves which will also be tough games. They have their final four games at Falcon Stadium with Farmington, Southfield Arts and Tech, Stoney Creek, and Walled Lake Northern. They also have Bloomfield Hills at home as well. It could be a long season for the Falcons if things don’t go right.