Football Thoughts and Rankings Explanation.
Written Saturday September 7th at 1:15 AM
The Red went 4-1 this week with some impressive wins against the White outscoring the division 171-41. Oxford had the biggest win of the week stunning Harper Woods 38-0. This was supposed to be a matchup of two different styles but it wasn’t meant to be. West Bloomfield fell 28-13 to Groves in a tough matchup that could had gone either way. Lake Orion had no issues with Stoney Creek winning 42-13. Clarkston won 48-0 over Southfield Arts and Tech. Adams had a struggle with Rochester winning 28-0. Overall the Red had a good week besides West Bloomfield which is mind boggling. It should be very interesting to watch with Clarkston/Oxford and West Bloomfield/Adams looming next week. Lake Orion will host Troy next week.
The White went 1-4 this week against the Red getting outscored 171-41 this week. Groves had the biggest win of the week stunning West Bloomfield 28-13 on their home field. Stoney Creek fell 42-13 to Lake Orion. Rochester battled with Adams falling 28-0. Southfield Arts and Tech fell 48-0 to Clarkston. The biggest upset had to be Harper Woods falling 38-0 to Oxford. Overall the White had a rough week. It should be very interesting with Rochester and Southfield Arts and Tech and Groves and Stoney Creek looming while Harper Woods has to go to Novi Detroit Catholic Central next week.
The Blue had an interesting week. Farmington was really impressive against Holly winning 33-7 in northern Oakland County. Oak Park won 19-7 over Royal Oak. Troy won 35-0 over Pontiac. Seaholm won 21-7 over Avondale. Troy Athens beat Berkley 20-0 but North Farmington fell 20-12 to Ferndale. Bloomfield Hills fell 42-0 to Dearborn Divine Child. Overall the division really hasn’t changed with Farmington and Seaholm right now ahead of Troy and Oak Park. Seaholm plays Bloomfield Hills, Troy Athens plays Oak Park, and the Farmington Cup is next week. Troy has a tough matchup looming with Lake Orion next week.
The Gold had a rough week. Ferndale had the biggest win of the week by beating North Farmington 20-12. Avondale fell 21-7 to Seaholm. Royal Oak fell 19-7 to Oak Park. Pontiac fell 35-0 to Troy. Berkley fell 20-0 to Troy Athens. Overall Ferndale looks like they are the early favorite but can’t count Avondale out after two really tough losses. Berkley has not scored a point and has lost 14 straight games. Pontiac has really improved despite falling to Troy. Royal Oak it’s really hard to trust them going forward. This division as mentioned is still wide open.
Rankings Explanation.
I’m introducing a new segment called rankings explanation explaining the rankings each week.
Lake Orion moves up to the top spot after their win over Stoney Creek. Adams was ranked ahead of the Dragons to start the season and is also at 2-0. The reason why the Dragons are ahead of the Highlanders in the poll is because Northville is 1-1 after coming back to beat Plymouth after they had a strong second half. Romeo is 0-2 after losing to Grosse Pointe South.
Clarkston goes up to three in the poll. I kept them at five after losing to Belleville in week one and that’s because they came back from two touchdowns down to tie Belleville only to see Bryce Underwood have the best game of his career. Felt the Wolves resiliency kept them at five and wasn’t right to move them down despite the loss. Clarkston moves up two spots after losses by West Bloomfield and Harper Woods.
Groves looks like they are the best team in the White after making a statement. They moved up three spots in the last two weeks from seven to four with wins over Detroit University-Detroit Jesuit and West Bloomfield. The 28-13 win over the Lakers was a stunner. The Cubs are sitting at 0-2 which is surprising to the season. The Falcons are in a really good spot to keep moving up in the rankings.
Oxford makes the biggest jump in the poll. The Wildcats started the season ranked sixth because of quarterback play and the rushing attack. I had concerns about their defense. It didn’t fair well with a 33-16 loss to Utica Eisenhower after Bryce Hurley went nuts on them. I thought of dropping Oxford out of the poll after that loss but the Eagles have been a proven powerhouse so I kept them in at nine in week two. The statement win over Harper Woods moves them up four spots from nine to five in the poll this week.
West Bloomfield started at two in the poll and retained the spot after winning 42-0 over West Bloomfield but the 28-13 loss to Groves dropped them to six in the week three poll. The Lakers have a ton of opportunities ahead of them to go up with the schedule looming.
Farmington is off to a strong start after an impressive 33-7 win over Holly. Farmington started the year at ten but has moved up three spots after beating Oak Park 17-6 and Holly as mentioned. The Falcons have a big test with North Farmington. They are at seven for this reason.
Seaholm has been really impressive. I had questions about how they would do after losing a ton of talent but Coach Jim DeWald knows how to do more with less. They moved from being unranked to eighth after two impressive wins. The Maples are at eight because of their impressive start especially against Avondale who is shockingly off to a slow start.
Harper Woods made the biggest drop in the poll. The Pioneers started at the top spot but they have been shaky as of late especially defensively. Harper Woods won 43-21 over Redford Union but was shut out 38-0 by Oxford. The Pioneers have not fared well against the M-24 corridor getting outscored 66-6 in the last two years. Harper Woods sits at nine in the poll after their loss to Oxford.
Troy comes into the poll at ten. The Colts haven’t played the most impressive schedule with Pontiac and Bloomfield Hills. They have a tough schedule coming up so we’ll see what happens.