Week Twelve Thoughts.
Written Saturday November 11th at 4:30 PM
Harper Woods: The Pioneers had no issue with Carleton Airport on Saturday afternoon at Harper Woods winning 46-19. The Pioneers went through the air behind the play of Nate Rocheleau and Stephone Buford. Colby Bailey started the Harper Woods scoring with a 44 yard touchdown giving them the 7-6 lead in the second quarter. Rocheleau added a 77 yard passing score to Dakota Guerrant to give them a 14-6 lead. They would connect again going 53 yards and a 21-6 lead into the half. Rocheleau would continue his strong play through the air in the second half as he connected with Yasin Milton to extend the lead to 28-6. Carleton Airport got a touchdown and a fourth down stop but an interception from Willie Powell brought momentum back to Harper Woods. Bailey had another big run and Buford had a one yard rushing score making the score 34-12 Harper Woods. Carleton Airport would add another score to make it 34-19 but Buford put the game away with a 50 yard rushing touchdown making it 40-19 Harper Woods. Donald Adams went 66 yards for the Pioneers making the score 46-19 which was the final. The defense looked very good as well. Corey Bailey, Javonta Lee Forbes, and Eilron Beaman had sacks and big plays which included a fumble and Jacob Oden and Powell interceptions on defense. The Pioneers will play Goodrich next week.
Southfield Arts and Tech: The Warriors earned their first regional crown in school history with an impressive 31-21 win over Chippewa Valley on Friday night. Isiah Marshall played lights out football. He threw four passing touchdowns on the night with two to Xavier Bowman and two to Juwan Jarrett. The Southfield Arts and Tech defense played well despite allowing 14 points to a very good Chippewa Valley offense that had a really good quarterback in Andrew Schuster. The Warriors will play West Bloomfield next week.
West Bloomfield: The Lakers came from 20-0 down to beat Clarkston and earning revenge after falling 44-36 in week six winning 21-20 in the regional finals at the Swamp. West Bloomfield got a block on the winning field goal by Nigel Dutton who also added a rushing score in the game. Kameron Flowers had a ten yard touchdown and Reqez Nance had the winning 42 yard run off the zone read on a fourth and one. The Lakers defense calmed down and was solid all night. They picked off Desman Stephens in the red zone. West Bloomfield behind a stout defense and timely plays they found a way to win the game. The Lakers have a week eight rematch with Southfield Arts and Tech looming next week.
Clarkston: The Wolves lost a tough one to West Bloomfield 21-20 on Friday night. Clarkston had a very controversial holding penalty called against them which set them back. Eddie Langton had his field goal attempt blocked with two seconds to go in the game. Clarkston had a really good start behind two touchdowns from Brady Collins, one to Brody Kosin (13 yards) and the other to Desman Stephens (94 yards.) Lukas Bowman added a passing score to Kosin from 23 yards out. The Wolves had everything lined up very similar to the Lake Orion game. They connected on a fourth and nine from Collins to Kosin at the two yard line but the West Bloomfield defense locked in stopping Griffin Bowman on two rushing attempts but the Wolves had a chance with the Langton field goal attempt but it was blocked. The extra point miss after the second quarter proved to be very vital in the game. Clarkston has a case that the officials called a roughing the kicker penalty against West Bloomfield that would had given Clarkston another shot. The officials called an unsportsmanlike penalty but they said that time had expired. If they had time they would had one more shot. They lose Kosin and Stephens to graduation but has Brady Collins and the Bowman twins coming back. The Wolves will be back in the hunt next season.