Week Three Predictions

Top 25 Games

 Ann Arbor Pioneer over Saline by 14

Bay City Western over Saginaw Arthur Hill by 20 (B)

Birmingham Brother Rice over Highland Park by 13

Birmingham Seaholm over Bloomfield Hills Lahser by 14

Canton over Livonia Franklin by 17

Clarkston over Troy Athens by 14

Macomb Dakota over Chippewa Valley by 17

Davison over Flint Powers by 10

Detroit Catholic Central over Inkster by 17 (G)

Detroit Cody over Detroit Crockett by 2 (U)

DeWitt over Haslett by 10

Hudsonville over East Kentwood by 13

Farmington Hills Harrison over Rochester Hills Stoney Creek by 20 (B)

Grand Haven over Holland West Ottawa by 6

Grand Ledge over Okemos by 21 (B)

Lowell over Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills by 14 (G)

Muskegon over Grandville by 15

Pontiac over Lake Orion by 2 (U)

Novi over Livonia Stevenson by 6

Milford over Grand Blanc by 6 (U)

Portage Northern over Portage Central by 3 (G)

Romeo over Utica Eisenhower by 7

Detroit Martin Luther King over Detroit Mumford by 27 (B)

Detroit UD Jesuit over Ferndale by 18

Farmington over Oxford by 14

Games of the Week (G)

Detroit Catholic Central vs. Inkster

Lowell vs. Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills

Portage Central vs. Portage Northern

Upsets of the Week (U)

Pontiac over Lake Orion

Milford over Grand Blanc

Detroit Cody over Detroit Crockett

Best Bets of the Week (B)

 Farmington Hills Harrison over Rochester Hills Stoney Creek

Grand Ledge over Okemos

Detroit M.L. King over Detroit Mumford

LAST WEEK:  15 Right, 10 Wrong

SEASON RECORD:  27 Right, 23 Wrong

Top 25 Teams

Week Two

1.  Lowell 2-0 (last week #2)

2.  Canton 2-0 (3)

3.  East Grand Rapids 2-0 (4)

4.  Farmington Hills Harrison 2-0 (6)

5.  Rockford 2-0 (5)

6.  Detroit Catholic Central 2-0 (7)

7.  Grand Haven 2-0 (9)

8.  Detroit M.L. King 2-0 (10)

9.  Lake Orion 2-0 (11)

10.  Mt. Pleasant 2-0 (15)

11. Warren DeLaSalle 2-0 (14)

12. Portage Northern 2-0 (16)

13.  Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 2-0 (17)

14.  Farmington 2-0 (HM)

15.  Midland 1-1 (20)

16.  Muskegon 1-1 (21)

17.  Portage Central 2-0 (22)

18.  Inkster 1-1 (23)

19.  Grand Ledge 2-0 (HM)

20.  Howell 2-0 (NR)

21.  St. Joseph 2-0 (24)

22.  Lansing Sexton 2-0 (25)

23.  Rochester Adams 1-1 (8)

24.  Troy 2-0 (NR)

25.  Bay City Western 2-0 (NR)

Others to watch (listed alphabetically)

 Adrian 2-0 (HM), Ann Arbor Pioneer 1-1 (HM), Chelsea 2-0 (NR), Clarkston 1-1 (19), Detroit Country Day 2-0 (HM), Detroit Crockett 2-0 (HM), Detroit Cass Tech 2-0 (HM), DeWitt 2-0 (HM), Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills 2-0 (HM), Livonia Franklin 2-0 (NR), Macomb Dakota 1-1 (1), Marine City 2-0 (NR), Romeo 1-1 (NR), Southgate Anderson 2-0 (HM), Stevensville Lakeshore 2-0 (HM), Utica Eisenhower 2-0 (HM)

 Dropped Out

 Grand Blanc 1-1 (12), Highland Park 1-1 (13), Birmingham Brother Rice 0-2 (18), Hudsonville 1-1 (HM), Saginaw Nouvel 1-1 (HM)

Rice came into the game with a number of key players out, but the players that suited up fought hard and came up just short.  Toledo St. John’s (2-0) is a good team–one that probably would be competitive in the CHSL Central.  Overall the Titans outplayed the Warriors and deserved the victory.  But, they had a little luck on their side. 

The first half was all St. John’s, although the score was only 10-7.  St. John’s had 14 first downs to two for Rice and the Titans outgained Rice 246 yards to 67.  But, a big play in the 1st Quarter kept Rice in the game.  Conor Hart scooped up a fumble on the Rice 25 yard line and raced 73 yards to the St. John’s 2 yard line before he was knocked out of bounds.  Two plays later Rice took a 7-0 lead on Tyler Lendzion’s one yard sneak.  St. John’s tied the game on its next drive (80 yards, 7 plays, 2:32 minutes) on a 7 yard run by QB Brogan Roback.  St. John’s took the lead with 19 seconds left in the 1st half on a 23 yard field goal by Brandon Smith.  The Titans had it 1st and Goal at the Rice 6, but the Warriors defense held and forced the three pointer. 

The St. John’s lead didn’t last long as Jimmy Pickens ran back the opening kickoff of the second half 88 yards for a touchdown.  Pickens outraced the kick coverage, then ran by and over the last three tacklers inside the ten yard line for the score.  The play gave Rice the lead and a lot of confidence to start the second half.  Rice played a lot better in the second half, but St. John’s still managed one more scoring drive–13 plays, 80 yards, 6:03 minutes–to take the lead for good.  There was no scoring in the fourth quarter, but Rice threatened twice, both on long sustained drives.  The first was a 16 play, 78-yard drive that stalled at the St. John’s 15 yard line.  Adam Gorski attempted a 32 yard field goal into a stiff cross wind.  Everyone thought it was good, but the refs called it wide left.  There was 11:00 left in the game at that point.   Both teams traded three and out possessions and St. John’s had the ball near mid field with 8:00 minutes left when Robert Trask, first time starter, stripped the ball from running back Kent Kern and gave Rice one more chance.  The Warriors responded with a nice 15 play, 63 yard drive that took them down to the one yard line and a first and goal.  In the key play of the game, Rice made a huge mental mistake and didn’t realize the play clock had been started.  Confusing the situation was the fact that the scoreboard clock had not started yet.  The Warriors were flagged for delay of game and the ball was moved to the six yard line.  It was still first down, but two Pickens runs netted minus one and a Lendzion pass to a wide open Matt Ogren at the goal line was high.  That forced Gorski’s second field goal attempt.  This one wasn’t as close as the first one and also missed wide left.  .  Using timeouts to stop the clock and playing aggresive defense, it looked like Rice might get another chance, but on 3rd and 12, Nate White scampered 20 yards for the first down.  St. John’s ran out the clock for the big victory.

While Rice played well enough to win, it was not a stellar performance.  The offense sputtered most of the game.  There were a lot of dropped passes and overthrows.  Lendzion was 6 of 18 passing with one interception and 74 yards.  The running game struggled once again.  Lendzion was the leading rusher with 66 yards on 14 carries.  Kent Kern, playing both running back and quarterback, had 122 yards rushing for St. John’s.  Nate White had 90 yards.  The two big plays (Hart’s fumble recovery and return and Pickens’ kickoff return) kept the Warriors in the game.  Aside from that, they didn’t show much.  Defense was particularly disappointing.   They simply couldn’t tackle.  The QB keeper was  effective for St. John’s.  They had two athletic quarterbacks who were able to find the holes and avoid the Rice defenders.  St. John’s finished with 376 yards of total offense to Rice’s 200.  Robak was 10 of 15 passing for 145 yards and one TD.  He effectively picked apart the Rice secondary.

Rice needs to make some big improvements to salvage the season.  The next game is against Highland Park, a 27-6 loser to Orchard Lake St. Mary’s this week.  Success in the Catholic League will be necessary to make the  playoffs .  The tough league schedule can often result in a loss or two, so the early season non-league games are very critical.  Last season, Rice started 3-0, and barely qualified for the playoffs at 5-4.  This year will be more challenging, but until they hit the five loss mark, the team will keep fighting.  No one likes to start 0-2, but it’s not the end of the world as history shows.  The last time Brother Rice started 0-2 was in 1991.  They lost the first two games to F.H. Harrison and Ypsilanti and also lost during the regular season to Detroit Catholic Central.  But, they made the playoffs and got to the Championship Game, only to lose to East Lansing.  Now, it’s one week at a time, with the first goal a win against Highland Park.

I think everyone connected with the Rice program will agree that the Warriors did not play one of their best games, but there were some bright spots and when you look at the game stats there were some positives to be found.  If the line can open some holes and protect the passer better, there could be a different outcome this week.   With a difficult schedule looming, this week’s game against Toledo St. John’s is a must win.  TSJ is a good team that is coming off a 49-7 opening week win.  In many ways, they are comparable to the teams in the CHSL Central Division.

The big news coming out of last week’s game is that King is an outstanding team that could be the best in the PSL this year and a factor in the Division 2 playoffs.  I don’t think there are many teams in the state that could have handled the Crusaders last week.  Unlike some of the PSL teams that have huge lines and speedy skilled players, but are out-of-shape and undisciplined and beat themselves with unforced errors and silly mistakes, King does just about everything well.  Their big guys are in great shape and have speed to go along with size.  Both O and D lines dominated Rice.  That was not a complete surprise on defense since Rice’s O-Line was all new.  But, the King O-Line handled Rice’s experienced D-Line pretty effectively.  King did have two weaknesses–special teams and passing.  The special teams play, particularly on kickoff and punt returns, almost cost them the game and did allow Rice to race to a 16-0 1st Q lead.  As good as Junior, Dennis Norfleet was on offense, he fumbled three times (losing one) on kick returns.  The passing game was completely ineffective until the 4th quarter when Davon Williams finally hit Mycial Allen for a 56 yard gain.  It almost went for a touchdown as the speedy Allen out-raced the Rice secondary, except for Jimmy Pickens.  A couple of the passes barely missed their mark, so King and Williams are not that far from some success.  But, they will need to improve the passing game to take some pressure off  Norfleet.

King’s biggest strength is its running game, led by  Norfleet.  A second running back, Junior Armani Samuel is a good backup when Norfleet is out of the game, but Rice didn’t have much trouble stopping Samuel.  Rice did have trouble stopping Norfleet.  I’ve been thinking about Norfleet’s performance and have concluded that it might be the best performance ever by a running back vs. Brother Rice.  This is Rice’s 50th year playing football and they have faced several outstanding backs.  I haven’t seen all the Rice games, nor do I have access to all the stats, but I’ve gone back into my memory bank and talked to some other old-timers and I can’t recall a better individual performance by a running back.  Norfleet had 254 yards rushing on 30 carries and he scored five rushing touchdowns (80, 28, 4,2 15 yards).  He also had a 2 point conversion on a rush.  He had 43 yards of kick returns.  He kicked off seven times and punted five times.  Altogether, Norfleet had 297 yards of all-purpose yards.  Although he is one of King’s better defensive players, he didn’t play defense in this game in order to stay fresh on offense.  The strategy worked.

There have been some great backs who have faced Rice over the past 50 years.   There were a couple good ones last year:  Austin Graham, Lowell, (221 yards/37 att.) and Charlie Leffingwell, Midland, (2TD’s, 156 yards/17 att).  Ricky Crider, Evansville Reitz, was a Division 1 commit when Rice faced him in 2005, but he only managed 137 yards, but scored three times.  Noel Alleman, East Kentwood, was a touchdown machine and led EK to a 44-7 win over Rice, but I don’t think he had anywhere near five TD’s.  I’m not sure how many yards he got, but I don’t think it was more than 254.  The Granger brothers and Marcus Woods from F.H. Harrison were outstanding, but never had huge games against Rice.  CC had a couple good ones in Derek Brooks and Aaron Roberts, but I don’t think they matched Norfleet’s numbers.  Jerome Bettis, Detroit Mackenzie, was held in check pretty well in Rice’s playoff victory.  Randy Kindner, East Lansing, helped his team beat Rice in the State Championship Game but didn’t have big numbers.  Edwin Baker and Glen Winston were two recent high profile backs, but they didn’t do much in Oak Park and Denby losses to Rice.

Two of the better individual performances against Brother Rice were by quarterbacks in the State Playoffs.  Both of these were comparable to Norfleet’s performance, but fell short in TD’s.  Mark Caitlin, the Lowell quarterback sensation in the 2002 Championship Game, had 259 rushing on 31 attempts and three rushing touchdowns.  He added a 28 yard interception return for a TD and had 152 yards of passing.  He accounted for 439 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns.  Jacob Ball, Rochester Adams, had 324 yards of passing, including an 80 yd. TD pass (17 for 22) and 20 yards rushing  against Rice in a 2005 Semi-Final loss.

I’m not about to pronounce Norfleet as the best runner ever in Michigan history, or even the best in Michigan this year–just the best Rice has faced.  I know Justice Hayes from Grand Blanc is rated very highly by the media, scouting services  and Notre Dame.  I’ve only seen him on film vs. Walled Lake Central and in person in 7 on 7’s.  I thought he was a good back, but not among the best I’ve seen over the years.  As for Norfleet,  I think he has the potential to be one of the best ever.  He needs to stay healthy.  He needs to stay level-headed.  He needs to work hard.  He needs to take advantage of his big offensive line.  He should eat up the PSL this year and if King gets a good playoff draw (Detroit teams usually do), they should go a ways in the playoffs.  With all that, Norfleet has a good shot at 2,000+ yards this season.  He will be on every recruiter’s radar, if he isn’t already.  He will also face Rice in the opener next season at King.  I think Rice will be better prepared to face him next year.  I think they knew about him this year, but hadn’t seen that much of him.  He only played in about 10% of King’s offensive plays in the 4-Way.  That was the extent of Rice’s exposure to Norfleet.

I hope people with better memories than me can weigh in with comments about some of the better backs Rice has faced over the years.  Unfortunately, there’s no record book that you can look at that lists opponents’ performances.  Rice’s record book does show some Norfleet-like performances, but you have to go back into the 60’s to match some of the numbers.  Steve Jones had five touchdowns vs. Redford St. Mary’s in 1969.  He had 291 yards rushing in that game.  Two other Rice players bested Norfleet’s rushing yards:  Greg Pilette (275 yds. vs. CC) in 1966 and Danny Henneghan (259 yds. vs. Mishawaka Penn) in 2008.  Apart from those three players, no one in Rice history matched last Friday’s performance.

So when someone asks whether King was that good or Rice was that bad, consider the above.

Week Two Predictions

Top 25 Games

Canton over Grand Blanc by 14 (G)

Davison over Lapeer West by 17

East Kentwood over Inkster by 7 (U)

Warren DeLaSalle over Flint Carman Ainsworth by 17

Rockford over Holt by 15

Detroit Catholic Central over Hudsonville by 7 (G)

Grand Ledge over Lansing Everett by 7

Macomb Dakota over Romeo by 18

Plymouth over Howell by 6 (U)

Southgate Anderson over Gibraltar Carlson by 10

Traverse City West over Grandville by 7 (U)

Utica Eisenhower over Sterling Heights Stevenson by 13

Novi over Walled Lake Western by 6

Chelsea over Monroe by 10

Clarkston over West Bloomfield by 21 (B)

Detroit UD Jesuit over Detroit Country Day by 7

Detroit M.L. King over Detroit Northwestern by 22 (B)

Farmington Hills Harrison over Southfield by 13

Monroe St. Mary’s CC over Monroe Jefferson by 14

Mt. Pleasant over Bay City Central by 18 (B)

Orchard Lake St. Mary’s over Highland Park by 3 (G)

Saginaw Nouvel over Traverse City St. Francis by 12

Birmingham Brother Rice over Toledo (OH) St. John’s by 3

Rochester Adams over Farmington by 8

Troy Athens over Pontiac by 3

Games of the Week (G)

Canton vs. Grand Blanc

Hudsonville vs. Detroit Catholic Central

Orchard Lake St. Mary’s vs. Highland Park

Upsets of the Week (U)

East Kentwood over Inkster

Plymouth over Howell

Traverse City West over Grandville

Best Bets of the Week (B)

Clarkston over West Bloomfield

Detroit M.L. King over Detroit Northwestern

Mt. Pleasant over Bay City Central

LAST WEEK:  12 Right, 13 Wrong

]]> 1 Prepseer http://www.prepseer.com/?p=560 2010-08-30T00:22:31Z 2010-08-30T00:22:31Z

Norfleet did it all for the Crusaders.  He scored five touchdowns–all rushing–kicked off and punted.  He ended up with 254 yards rushing on 30 carries.  His touchdown runs were 80, 28, 4, 2 and 15 yards.    He also had a 2 point coversion rush.  Norfleet also had 45 yards of kick returns, giving him 291 all-purpose yards.  Rice couldn’t stop him and despite rolling to an early 16-0 lead, King pecked away at the lead and eventually moved ahead 26-19 on Norfleet’s fourth touchdown with 10:00 minutes left in the game.  Norfleet had 254 of King’s 271 rushing yards.  King didn’t do much through the air, until the 4th quarter when quarterback Davon Williams connected with Mycial Allen on a 56 yard strike to the Rice 3.  Allen was caught from behind by Jimmy Pickens to save the touchdown, but Norfleet scored two plays later to put King ahead for good.

In spite of the outstanding performance by Norfleet, Rice could have won the game had it not been for the smothering defense of King, led by Tyrone Butler and Jalen Williams.  They combined for 20 tackles and Butler had 2 sacks and 5 tackles for loss.  He was in Rice’s backfield all night and Lendzion never had time to set up and throw.   He was sacked four times for 32 yards and on one of the sacks lost a fumble, which led to a King score.  King’s defense would have been even better had their best player played.  Norfleet did not play his usual cornerback spot in order to be fresher on offense.  The strategy obviously worked, and King didn’t really need him on D.  Rice had three fumbles losing two while King had five fumbles, losing two.  Norfleet’s two special teams fumbles on kicks were the only thing he did wrong all night and helped give Rice the early lead.

It was all Rice early as Devin Church scored on a 12 yard run at the 9:00 minute mark of the 1st.  Rice’s Dillon Ervin got a safety as a bad snap from center sailed into the end zone and the runner was covered by Ervin.  Nick Dunn made it 16-0 on a nice 21 yard pass over the middle from Lendzion.  Adam Gorski kicked a 31 yard field goal to complete the scoring for the Warriors.  Rice’s game plan called for Lendzion, a dual-threat quarterback, to carry the ball as much as throwing it.  The strategy paid off with a goose egg–0 net yards in 17 attempts for Lendzion.  The offensive line couldn’t clear any holes for the Rice runners and they got banged up pretty badly by the huge King defensive line.  Lendzion did have some success carrying the ball, but the 34 yards of losses, including the four sacks, nullified his gains.  Pickens led Rice with 57 hard-fought yards.

Rice’s kicking game was the bright spot for the Warriors.  Travis Ferguson’s booming punts (long of 51) kept King at bay in the first half, but a couple poor punts later in the game hurt.  Adam Gorski is going to be a weapon for Rice this year  He booted two into the end zone and one down to the one.  On the latter kickoff, Norfleet fielded the kick at the one, fumbled, picked it up and broke free for a 42 yard return.  He would have scored had kicker Gorski not made the tackle.  Norfleet would have had another kick return for a touchdown but his punt return was called back by a blocking in the back penalty.

Defensively, Rice’s Tim Hamilton led all tacklers with 15, but they had trouble with #21.  Overall, it was not a good effort by Rice.  The offensive line needs a lot of work.  Two defensive standouts, Conor Hart and Levi Richards, played two ways, but they were not able to help the line either on the run or in pass blocking.  Rice also needs some help in the running game.  That should come in the form of DeShun Brown, the outstanding Soph. running back, who is out with an injury, but due back soon.  One of the better linemen, Tommy Schneider, is also due back from injury soon.

Rice will have to improve in several areas by next week when they face a strong Toledo St. John’s team, a 49-7 winner over Toledo Scott yesterday.  At least until Brown returns, look for Rice to become more of a passing team, like last year.  Lendzion showed he has a strong arm, just missing on several long passes downfield.  He finished with 10-24 for 120 yards.  He’ll need better protection from the line.  Toledo St. John’s features a Three Star Division 1 defensive end, Jack Miller who has committed to Michigan.

The loss to King could have a bearing on Rice’s playoff  hopes.  This was a game they needed in light of the tough schedule the Warriors have.  With St. John’s and Highland Park in the next two weeks, Rice will have to win at least one, then run the table in the Catholic League.  The week eight trip to Indianapolis to face Cathedral, one of Indiana’s best teams, will probably find Rice as a major underdog.  But, it’s a long season and I’m sure the coaches are already working on fixes to the problems that surfaced tonight.

1.  Rockford (Prepseer ranking #6, News #2)

2.  Macomb Dakota ( Prep #1, News # 5)

3.  East Grand Rapids (Prep #4, News #1)

4.  Canton (Prep #3, News #7)

5.  F.H. Harrison (Prep #8, News NR)

6.  Holt (Prep #23, News # 4)

7.  Lowell (Prep #2, News NR)

8.  Brother Rice (Prep #5, News NR)

9.  Highland Park (Prep #9, News NR)

10. Midland (Prep #10, News NR)

11. Detroit Catholic Central (Prep #13)

12. Menominee (Prep NR)

13. Clarkston (Prep #7)

14. Muskegon Heights (Prep NR)

15. Lake Orion (Prep #17)

16. Muskegon (Prep #11)

17. Rochester Adams (Prep #14)

18. Haslett (Prep NR)

19. Grand Blanc (Prep # 18)

20. Detroit Country Day (Prep HM)

21. Inkster (Prep # 12)

22. Mt. Pleasant (Prep # 20)

23. Grand Haven (Prep # 15)

24. Kingsford (Prep NR)

25. Redford Thurston (Prep NR)

We have nine common teams (different order) in our Top Tens.  McCabe has Holt, Prepseer has Clarkston.  McCabe features smaller schools in his list.  I tend to put them either in HM or don’t rate them.  Sometimes, I just miss one, e.g. Menominee and Muskegon Heights.  I’ll watch them and put them in if appropriate.  I’m a little surprised to see Haslett in McCabe’s Top 25.  I thought DeWitt was more deserving.

One final note, I question the Detroit News #1 ranking for East Grand Rapids.  It’s a great program, but until they play a more difficult schedule, I don’t think they deserve the #1 ranking.   They play only one good team all year–Lowell.  Even if EGR wins every game decisively, I don’t see how they can be number one.  Maybe if they blow out Lowell and the other contenders have slipped, they could sneak in at the end of the season.  Actually, I think Lowell beats EGR this year.  Lowell isn’t much better as far as schedule is concerned, but at least they are traveling east to face a big school in the Detroit area.  But, the team they are facing isn’t expected to be very good this year.  I’m probably guilty myself of ranking Lowell and EGR too high.  Unfortunately, until the playoffs, we won’t know whether these lofty rankings are deserved or not.

I know pre-season rankings are very difficult to do.  It takes a lot of research and an in depth knowledge of the teams and players.  That’s the main reason I only did the CHSL Central this year instead of a half-dozen leagues.  I see a lot of games–I suspect a lot more than Markowski.  And, I have a lot of statistical data to fall back on.  People can have different observations about the same teams, and in the CHSL Central you have four teams that you could put in a hat and draw to determine the order of the standings.  Maybe that’s what Markowski did.  Any of the big four is capapble of beating any of the big four on any given day.  So if Markowski wants to go with CC as #1, I’m not going to say he is wrong.  There is no right or wrong when it comes to personal opinion.

Markowski’s position on Brother Rice is a mystery.  He either: 1) Didn’t do his homework; 2) Was smoking something funny; 3) has turned senile; 4) has had a falling-out with Al Fracassa; 5) All of the above.

Although I completely disagree with Markowski on his predicted order of finish, it was his statement that UD Jesuit might even pass Brother Rice for 4th place that has me scratching my head.  I doubt there’s anyone at UD Jesuit that even thinks that.  I don’t care if UD has all their players returning from last year.  They weren’t very good last year.  Not because they were young.  But, because they did not have good players.  I do think they will be better this year, but they won’t be better than the team most observers think will be the #1 team in the league.

If Markowski’s rankings were based on the supporting facts (information about returning starters) that he proffered in his video presentation, then I can see why he picked the teams the way he did.  Small problem.  He was way off on his facts.  Some examples:  “CC has 6 starters returning–most on offense”.  In reality, CC has four starters returning and only one of the four is on offense.  He raves about the CC team, including the first year quarterback, who is a speedster, but ignores the fact that the tight end is the only starter of last year’s 11 to return.  No O-linemen, No skill players.  Now CC does have some good players ready to step up, but they will be largely inexperienced.  I think they will be a good team later in the season, but look for some big-time growing pains.  DeLaSalle, Tom’s pick for #2 has “more returning starters than any team–6 on offense, 6 on defense.”  By my count, I have DLS with two offensive linemen returning on offense and three defensive players returning.  And one of the defensive players may not be eligible.  You could argue that there are three on offense, if you count QB Shane Morris, last year’s freshman QB who came in late in the season for the injured starter.  In reality DLS has no mo more than any other CHSL team returning, and they did not have a strong JV team to rely on for replacements.  #3 OLSM.  “needs to replace the offensive line, but has six starters returning on defense.”  Basically, all he did was talk about Allen Robinson and James Ross.  Both are very good, but they are not going to carry the team, which will lack depth. As for the OLSM defense, they return four starters, not six.   For Rice #4, he only mentioned Jimmy Pickens and the fact he is going to get killed by an all-new offensive line.  No mention of the fact that this year’s line will be better in spite of being new. The newcomers are either up from the league best JV team or moving over from defense.   No mention of the defense, which is led by two committed Div. 1 players and four other returning starters.  He completely skipped over the team strengths of Rice, moving quickly to the statement about UD Jesuit possibly passing Rice for 4th place. No mention of a dual threat QB who helped Rice get to the semi-finals last year.  No mention of a new running back who could be the best in the league.

I think Tom should have read my CHSL Preview on this site.   I’ll stand by my predicted order of finish, with one exception.  I’ve moved CC ahead of DeLaSalle into second place.  Once I heard that the two big linemen who had transferred from Kentucky were no longer in school and the potential senior QB transfer from G.P. North might not be playing and that two projected starters were likely out because of either academics or concentration on basketball, I re-thought my #2 spot for the Pilots.

I didn’t look at any of the other leagues to see if Tom was off on those as well.  I don’t think many leagues have the parity of the CHSL, so maybe the order is a little easier to predict.  I’m curious as to who will be in his pre-season Top 10.  I think we can expect some surprises.  I’ll also be anxious to see where McCabe has Brother Rice.  We’ll know in the morning.  He has CC at #11 and he will reveal 6-10 on Wed.  If Rice isn’t in tomorrow’s group, they will either be 1,2 or not in the top 25.  But, they are picked #1 in the Catholic League in the Freep Preview.

Isn’t pre-season fun?  I will be very anxious to see how this all works out.  If I’m wrong, I will apologize to Mr. Markowski for this post.

P.S.  After reading the actual CHSL review online, I’m even more convinced Markowski has lost it.  The team reviews are full of errors, wrong assumptions and misstatements.   Whoever is doing his research, either talked to the wrong people or just guessed at the numbers.  There’s very little insight into the teams’ strengths and weaknesses.  After reading the CHSL review, I won’t bother looking at the other leagues on the assumption they will be off base as well.

The game will be played on a Sunday afternoon, just like the old Boys Bowl clashes.  It will be Rice’s home game and played at Wayne State University at 2:00 pm,  October 10.  The game culminates a weekend-long All-Class Reunion that celebrates Brother Rice’s 50th Anniversary.   Based on pre-season prognostications, there’s a good chance both teams will be state-ranked when they meet in Week 7 of the season.  Who knows, they could both be undefeated, just like many of their previous meetings.  Regardless of the records, the game will be a battle and a toss-up as to the outcome.

In addition to the Wayne State venue, there will be many special activities surrounding the game.  The week before the game, there will be a one-hour special on Channel 4 that will highlight the 50 years of Brother Rice High School and its academic and athletic excellence.  The program will chronicle the “Rivalry for the Ages,” the football series between Brother Rice and Catholic Central.  Highlights from the series, including interviews with former players and coaches from both schools will help fans relive some of those great memories.  There also will be an in-depth preview of this year’s game, which will be the 500th football game in Brother Rice history.  The special will be produced by Emmy Award winning State Champs.

Another special event surrounding this year’s game is the national coverage that will result from the game being featured in ESPN-U’s Great American Rivalries series.   The production crew will be in town for the week leading up to the game and will be filming at both schools as they prepare for the Sunday battle.   The game play-by-play will be aired on a tape-delayed basis on ESPN-U.  Only a handful of games are selected as Great American Rivalries each year, and with its long history of nail-biter classics between two Michigan state powers, this game has made the list of this year’s games.

Special game day activities  currently are being planned.  A special halftime show, coin toss ceremonies, alumni tailgates, etc. will add to the usual excitement of this game.  There will be a special game program produced just for this game.  It will feature a game summary for each of the 53 games in the long series and top individual performances in these games.   A spirit tee shirt has been produced and distributed at both schools.  It features the special rivalry between Rice and CC, not only in football but also in all other sports.  All sports and the state championships of each school in each sport are highlighted.  There have been 102 MHSAA State Championships between the two schools (55 Brother Rice, 47 CC).  The shirt has been produced in two colors (orange for Rice, white for CC).  It should make for a couple of interesting student sections at Wayne State.

The game will serve as the kickoff for a new trophy that will be awarded to one of the two schools after the 2010-11 school year.  Dubbed the Catholic-Brother Cup, points are awarded for each win in each sport at each grade level for the entire school year.   It will add an interesting twist to the already great rivalry that exists between the schools in all sports.  In a dry run last year, it was a virtual tie heading into the final contest of the year–the MHSAA Lacrosse Championship Game.

The Sunday date for this year’s game should allow fans of other teams to come out and see what this Brother Rice-CC series is all about.  Circle October 10 on your calendar and head over early to Wayne State.  A sellout crowd is expected.