1st & Goal: Week 5 Preview
September 24, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Most years, we’d talk this weekend about Michigan high school football teams being in midseason form.
They’re getting there quickly – and with another series of big-time matchups these next few days helping all of us get back up to speed.
Major rivalries will play out again in Muskegon, Flint and Metro Detroit among various communities all over the state. Some of the most noteworthy games are briefly previewed below. Check out the MHSAA Score Center beforehand for kickoff times and locations of all games, and come back Friday and Saturday for scores as they’re reported.
This week we’ll also have 53 varsity football games broadcast on MHSAA.tv; click the link for listings.
Bay & Thumb
Flint Hamady (1-0) at Flint Beecher (1-0)
Anthony Branch’s coaching tenure after Courtney Hawkins left for Michigan State began with a 27-19 win over Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard last week. The Bucs’ biggest game of the regular season is up next, and Branch has plenty of experience in Hamady matchups after serving previously as an assistant coach and having played in the Beecher program. The Hawks have won all three regular-season matchups with the Bucs since the teams rejoined the same league in 2017.
Keep an eye on these: FRIDAY Davison (1-0) at Grand Blanc (1-0), Frankenmuth (1-0) at Saginaw Swan Valley (1-0), Sandusky (1-0) at Harbor Beach (1-0), Saginaw Nouvel (0-1) at Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary (1-0).
Greater Detroit
Sterling Heights Stevenson (1-0) at Macomb Dakota (1-0)
These two finished fifth and fourth, respectively, in the Macomb Area Conference Red in 2019. But together last week they defeated reigning champion Clinton Township Chippewa Valley (Dakota 29-20) and runner-up Utica Eisenhower (Stevenson 7-3). Dakota owns a five-game regular-season winning streak against the Titans, including last year by a 40-14 score. But Stevenson may be continuing a surge that took it to last year’s Division 1 Semifinals – a run which included a 38-35 win over Dakota in the District Final.
Keep an eye on these: FRIDAY Dearborn Fordson (0-1) at Belleville (1-0), Detroit Mumford (1-0) at Detroit Cass Tech (1-0). SATURDAY Detroit Catholic Central (1-0) at Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice (1-0).
Mid-Michigan
Midland Bullock Creek (1-0) at Ithaca (1-0)
These two are in different divisions of the Tri-Valley Conference West this fall. But a year ago they were in the same division and shared the championship, breaking Ithaca’s streak of nine straight outright league titles. The Yellowjackets won last year’s matchup 35-21, but Bullock Creek was able to grab a championship share after Ithaca fell to Hemlock 30-6 in the league finale. Both opened last week with wins over 2019 playoff teams, Ithaca over Saginaw Nouvel and Bullock Creek over Carrollton.
Keep an eye on these: FRIDAY DeWitt (1-0) at Grand Ledge (1-0), LeRoy Pine River (1-0) at Beal City (1-0), Leslie (0-1) at Stockbridge (1-0), St. Johns (0-1) at Williamston (1-0).
Northern Lower Peninsula
Ogemaw Heights (1-0) at Kingsley (1-0)
Ogemaw Heights is coming off its first winning season since 2013 after going 8-3 a year ago. Kingsley, meanwhile, posted its best finish since 2005 at 12-1 and with a run to the Division 5 Semifinals. A 36-19 Week 2 win over Ogemaw Heights was among seven victories total the Stags posted against teams that finished with winning records. And this matchup should mean more in the future as Ogemaw Heights has joined Kingsley in the Northern Michigan Football Conference Legends division.
Keep an eye on these: FRIDAY East Jordan (1-0) at Harbor Springs (1-0), Traverse City St. Francis (0-1) at Grayling (1-0), Petoskey (1-0) at Traverse City Central (1-0), Oscoda (1-0) at Rogers City (1-0).
Southeast & Border
Breckenridge (1-0) at Reading (1-0)
Added just this week, this might be one of the top small-school matchups in the state this season. Reading has won the last two Division 8 championships and defeated Breckenridge 39-20 in the 2018 title game. This could be a preview of another playoff matchup to come. Together they defeated their season-opening opponents last week by a combined score of 95-6.
Keep an eye on these: FRIDAY Blissfield (1-0) at Hillsdale (1-0), Brooklyn Columbia Central (1-0) at Clinton (1-0), Riverview (1-0) at Milan (1-0), Battle Creek Pennfield (1-0) at Parma Western (1-0).
Southwest Corridor
Saugatuck (1-0) at Schoolcraft (1-0)
This might have gotten a little more attention a year ago, as these two frequently are the best or near the top of their divisions of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Schoolcraft was a co-champion in the Lakeshore last season, but Saugatuck finished sub-.500 overall for the first time since 2006. Saugatuck got off to a winning start last week, however, as did Schoolcraft – and this fall both are in the SAC Valley.
Keep an eye on these: FRIDAY Marshall (0-1) at Coldwater (1-0), Portage Northern (1-0) at Mattawan (1-0), Decatur (0-1) at Cassopolis (1-0), Coloma (1-0) at Kalamazoo United (1-0).
Upper Peninsula
Sault Ste. Marie (1-0) at Marquette (1-0)
Granted, it’s just one week to go on. But based on early returns, these might be the best in the Upper Peninsula this fall. Sault Ste. Marie opened with a seven-point win over Traverse City St. Francis, while Marquette downed Menominee by 23. Marquette has beaten the Blue Devils in four straight including 31-0 a year ago, but despite last year’s defeat Sault Ste. Marie went on to its winningest season since 2013. A win tonight could end up the Sault’s highlight of this shortened season.
Keep an eye on these: FRIDAY West Iron County (1-0) at L'Anse (1-0), Hancock (1-0) at Bessemer Gogebic (0-1), Menominee (0-1) at Marinette, Wis. (0-0), Norway (0-1) at Houghton (1-0).
West Michigan
Muskegon Mona Shores (1-0) at Muskegon (1-0)
This easily is the headliner of the week, matchup up a pair of teams that reached Ford Field a year ago. A 53-0 Muskegon win over Shores in Week 8 was among dominating victories that pushed the Big Reds to a Division 3 runner-up finish. The Sailors, meanwhile, didn’t lose again after that night, stringing together a series of mostly close wins on the way to the Division 2 title. Muskegon has a five-game winning streak in this rivalry matchup, but a much closer finish than last year’s has to be the expectation this time.
Keep an eye on these: FRIDAY Montague (1-0) at Muskegon Oakridge (1-0), Rockford (1-0) at Caledonia (1-0), Byron Center (1-0) at Grand Rapids Christian (0-1), Hudsonville Unity Christian (1-0) at Grand Rapids West Catholic (1-0).
8-Player
Colon (1-0) at Adrian Lenawee Christian (1-0), Saturday
Colon’s move to 8-player in 2018 proved beneficial and then some as the Magi went a combined 23-2 over the last two seasons and won the 8-player Division 1 title a year ago. Lenawee Christian’s move this fall could usher in similar dominance for the Cougars, who finished 10-2 and just missed defeating eventual Division 8 champion Reading in the Regional Final last year. Lenawee opened its 8-player era with a 62-0 win over another first-year 8-player team Athens last week, while Colon downed frequent playoff qualifier Bellevue 45-6.
Keep an eye on these: FRIDAY Portland St. Patrick (1-0) at Vestaburg (1-0), Merrill (1-0) at Atlanta (1-0), Pickford (1-0) at Cedarville (1-0). SATURDAY Newberry (0-1) at Munising (1-0).
PHOTO: Johannesburg-Lewiston opened last week with a 47-14 win over Mancelona. (Photo by Robert Batzloff.)
As Football Launches Again, Reeths-Puffer Fueled for Fresh Start
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
August 9, 2021
MUSKEGON – A Reeths-Puffer running back tripped and plowed into the Kit Kat-shaped bags he was supposed to be hurdling Monday, and his teammates laughed. The offensive line coach wore a shirt, like line coaches always do, that read “No One Works Harder Than The Offensive Line.” The sun came out about halfway through, but the breeze kept the weather just right, and after a hands-in, all-together “R-P!” someone shouted, “I’ve missed that!”
The setting was as typical as could be for the first day of football practice at any high school across Michigan over the last many years … except for 2020.
Remember a year ago? When COVID-19 precautions meant little to no contact for the most contact-filled sport? When locker rooms were closed and footballs were wiped down after every snap? And the possibility of the season ending at any moment hung in the air?
“I was telling the team (last year) we could play our first game and the rest of the season could get canceled, so you don’t know,” Rockets senior lineman Marco Fields recalled. “The seniors only got to play half their season, and some got hurt.
“Now that we know we have a full senior season ahead of us, for us seniors, all we can do now is stay focused.”
Indeed, although there’s little debate that COVID-19 is still lingering, just about everything Monday at Reeths-Puffer felt differently from the first day of football practice a year ago. And although varsity head coach Matt Bird thought he might have an answer to what remained the same from 2020 … he really didn’t.
“The same is … (searching for his thought)
“… that you are … (pause)
“Kids … (trailed off)
“Actually, I don’t feel that anything is the same,” he admitted. “Other than we have a football, and we have some things involved from that standpoint.”
Monday marked a fresh start for high school football across Michigan, after last season included multiple COVID-related delays before finishing up in late January – which followed also an abbreviated regular season during which the conversation was forced at times into much more serious topics than the highlights on the field.
But every first day of practice means starting anew. And when it comes to fresh starts, Reeths-Puffer is a great place to begin Fall 2021.
Start with Bird, something of a master when it comes to building from a clean slate.
Way back in 2000, he was an offensive assistant when Grand Ledge won the Division 1 championship, the only Division 1 title that’s been won by a Lansing-area team. Six years later, he took over the Comets program and debuted with back-to-back 3-6 seasons (which predictably didn’t go over too well) before rattling off 10 winning seasons over the next 12 including a Semifinals trip in 2015. That eventually led to a rarely-seen career move after the 2018 season – leaving an established power for a new challenge, as Bird took the Reeths-Puffer job and took on a program that was coming off a second-straight 5-4 finish but accomplished with just under 30 players on the roster.
Bird led his first Rockets team to another 5-4 finish in 2019 … and then 2020 hit. Reeths-Puffer finished 2-5, but all things considered there were plenty of positives to take away.
When practice started, Bird was just finishing up recovery from COVID-19. And despite the unpredictability the season promised, the varsity still managed to grow to 53 players.
“As a coach you have to acknowledge it,” Bird said Monday, recalling 2020. “But the thing that is frustrating to me is you want to acknowledge it, but when you look at it everything was done so differently; it didn’t even feel like a season. At times you’d get started, then kicked back, then started and kicked back. We couldn’t do team dinners, we couldn’t do a lot of the bonding things we do as a group, and that hurt us.”
Monday was the beginning of another fresh start for the Rockets. Set aside that the great majority of COVID restrictions are off – the program is still emphasizing a number of hygiene and health-related concepts to help players avoid illness – and the football-related details provide plenty of excitement.
On one hand, Reeths-Puffer still plays in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Green – which includes the winningest program in MHSAA history in Muskegon High, back-to-back Division 2 champion Mona Shores and powerful neighbors Zeeland West and East. Grand Rapids Union, Holland and Wyoming all provide some intriguing possibilities as well heading into the new season.
But Bird’s varsity roster looks to push past 50 again, with 20 seniors including four returning senior starters on both sides of the ball. Fields is a Division I-caliber college line prospect, and the sophomore class is shaping up to be special with 6-foot-7 Travis Ambrose of particular note.
“I know every coach says their sport is the best team sport, but there’s something about football where you’ve got 11 guys out there and everybody can contribute,” Bird said. “The 6-5 kid to the 5-7 kid, and you can find a way to make that come together. I’ve always been a big fan, where it’s ‘Tell me that we can’t do something, and let me prove that (we can).’ … We compete using our strengths rather than focusing on some of the things that we don’t have.”
And there are lessons learned last season which, despite its wildness, should pay off. For example, last year teams were forced to focus more on technique with contact cut down substantially, and then rely on technology to cut down on face-to-face conversation. On Monday, Bird was recording his quarterbacks’ footwork with a tablet so he could share the video later over Google Meet, the new norm in communication but something Bird considers a valuable teaching tool brought on by the last 18 months.
The players, for their part, could allow themselves to feel a little lighter than a year ago. Fields and his teammates got to have more fun this time. And they were able talk about the expectations and aspirations that always make the first day a special one.
“I’ve heard people are expecting a normal Reeths-Puffer, and some say ‘Rocket failure again,’ which is just us going 2-5 or whatever they’re trying to say,” Fields said. “But I think we’re going to take this thing all the way.”
“This is normalcy, to an extent,” was Bird’s take on the day. “And it’s just really nice.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Reeths-Puffer running backs hurdle a series of bags during a busy first practice Monday. (Middle) Clockwise from top: Assistant coaches Jari Brown (left) and Jeff Uganski work with the linemen; senior Marco Fields (front, blue sleeveless shirt) is among those working on his form; varsity coach Matt Bird works with one of his quarterbacks and their receivers. (Below) Bird gathers with his team at the end of their first practice of the season. (Photos by Geoff Kimmerly.)