Drive for Detroit: Week 3 in Review
September 12, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Streaks are made to be broken, it is said. And that being the case, Week 3 saw plenty of the inevitable all over Michigan high school football fields.
See below for quick details on some of the most intriguing results, including a number of teams adding to their best starts in a number of seasons, and a few breaking streaks by beating opponents for the first time in more than a decade.
Bay & Thumb
Lake Fenton 61, Flint Beecher 14
This round of one of the Flint area’s top rivalries goes to Lake Fenton, which fell to Beecher by a point last year (and 38 in 2014) but is definitely one of a few favorites now in the Genesee Area Conference Red. The Blue Devils (3-0) unloaded their highest point total since 2012, with Beecher giving up its most points since 2004. Click for more from the Tri-County Times.
Also noted:
Alma 26, Saginaw Swan Valley 0 – The Panther's first win over Swan Valley (1-2) since 2011 corresponded with Alma’s first 3-0 start since 2012.
Fenton 28, Ortonville-Brandon 22 – The Tigers (1-2) were looking for a jumpstart as they pursue another Flint Metro League title, but Brandon (2-1) has shown it may be the team to take advantage if Fenton does fall again along the way.
Grand Blanc 42, Plymouth 27 – The Bobcats’ play to get back into the playoffs after two seasons away definitely will get a bump from starting 3-0 for a second straight season; Plymouth must bounce back from 1-2 to keep its three-year playoff streak intact.
Richmond 29, Croswell-Lexington 26 – Reigning Blue Water Area Conference champion Richmond (2-1) needed a late score to get past the Pioneers (2-1) for the fourth straight season.
Greater Detroit
Clarkston 38, Oxford 7
The Oakland Activities Association Red is sorting itself out quite a bit already this season, with preseason contender Clarkston losing to Southfield Arts and Technology in Week 2. But the Wolves (2-1) stormed back by downing an Oxford team that while 1-2 did open with a win over reigning Division 1 champion Romeo. Clarkston’s top three ground gainers – led by Michael Fluegel and his 114 yards – all averaged at least 7.8 yards per carry. Click for more from the Oakland Press.
Also noted:
Detroit Mumford 26, Detroit Collegiate Prep 14 – A nine-point loss to still-undefeated Detroit U-D Jesuit in Week 1 is looking even better for Mumford, which moved to 2-1 by beating a Collegiate Prep team (0-3) that went 9-1 last fall.
Walled Lake Western 48, Northville 34 – The Warriors’ 3-0 start has now included three wins over 2015 playoff teams, and Northville (2-1) didn’t lose during the regular season last year.
Rochester 38, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep 32 (OT) – The Falcons' move to 1-2 gave them as many wins as last season and 2014 as well, and with an impressive one against a Notre Dame Prep team that is 2-1 and went 8-3 last fall.
Dearborn Fordson 34, Belleville 25 – The Tractors (3-0) avenged a six-point loss last season to the Tigers (1-2), who went on to win the Western Wayne Athletic Conference Blue title while Fordson was among those tied for second.
Mid-Michigan
Bath 17, Fowler 14
Before Friday, Bath coach Matt Stephens was among the few on his sideline who had had football success against Fowler, having quarterbacked Fulton teams that beat the Eagles during the mid-2000s. But his Bees – which won a combined two games over the last two seasons – downed Fowler (2-1) for the first time since 1989 to move to 2-1 this fall. Click for more from the Lansing State Journal.
Also noted:
Laingsburg 27, Dansville 20 – The Wolfpack (3-0) broke a four-game skid against the Aggies (1-2), and with the Fowler loss as well suddenly look like the team to challenge favorite Pewamo-Westphalia in the Central Michigan Athletic Conference.
Breckenridge 40, Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart 34 – After posting a best record in more than a decade in 2014, the Huskies stepped back to winless a year ago; fast forward and they’re 3-0 with a win over a perennial winner in the Irish, who are 0-3 but also started that way on the way to 6-4 last fall.
Eaton Rapids 42, Ionia 41 (OT) – The Capital Area Activities Conference White looks even stronger than usual, which made handing Ionia (2-1) a first loss especially key as Eaton Rapids (2-1) looks to bounce back from 4-5 a year ago.
Mason 31, St. Johns 15 – The Redwings (0-3) may be struggling out of the gate, but that doesn’t take away from a Mason 3-0 start that’s seen its defense give up 22 points total so far.
Northern Lower Peninsula
Traverse City Central 10, Traverse City West 8
As usual, the "Patriot Game" between these neighbors turned into a classic – Central downed West for the third straight season, but four of the last five meetings between these two have been decided by seven points or fewer. Although both entered the game averaging at least 40 points per, defense and turnovers were the narrative at Thirlby Field. Click for more from the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Also noted:
East Jordan 34, Central Lake 6 – The Red Devils are 3-0 after winning two games last season and none in 2014, and this one was especially impressive with Central Lake (1-2) a playoff team the last two seasons.
Oscoda 22, Whittemore-Prescott 14 (OT) – The Owls (2-1) bounced back from a five-point loss last week against AuGres-Sims to avenge last season’s 27-point defeat to the Cardinals (2-1).
AuGres-Sims 50, Hillman 32 – While this is starting to look like a down season after two straight league titles for the Tigers (0-3), it’s also starting to look like one of offensive outbursts for the Wolverines (3-0), who have scored 128 points.
Roscommon 26, Sanford Meridian 14 – The Bucks have to be enjoying their first 3-0 start since 2000, and especially after downing reigning Jack Pine Conference champion Meridian (1-2).
Southeast & Border
Parma Western 32, Marshall 30
It was only a few seasons ago that Parma Western couldn’t be counted on to do much in a game like this Interstate 8 Athletic Conference opener. But the Panthers (1-2) surely learned something from their early struggles this season as they avenged losses of one and then 28 points over the last two to Marshall (1-2). Parma Western made the playoffs in 2015 for the first time ever, and this nearly was a must-win for the Panthers to do the same this fall. Click for more from the Jackson Citizen-Patriot.
Also noted:
Clinton 28, Adrian Madison 20 – Make that Clinton regular-season win streak 39 straight with another 3-0 start, but Madison (2-1) again gave the Redskins one of the rare tests of this run.
Hudson 26, Brooklyn Columbia Central 14 – The Tigers’ turnaround has thrown them into the conversation again in the Lenawee County Athletic Association, as Hudson (3-0) is now one win shy of last year’s total after beating reigning league runner-up Columbia Central (2-1).
Temperance Bedford 22, Ann Arbor Pioneer 21 – The Mules (3-0) reversed a six-point loss to Pioneer (0-3) last season and have now nearly also reversed last year’s 0-4 start.
Springport 48, Union City 26 – The Spartans are 3-0 for the first time since 2011 and have avenged two of last year’s five losses, handing Union City (2-1) its first defeat after falling to the Chargers by 16 a year ago.
Southwest Corridor
Battle Creek Harper Creek 24, Jackson Lumen Christi 14
The Beavers’ bounce-back season continued as their 3-0 start gives them as many wins as all of 2015, and the victory over Lumen Christi (1-2) was their first since the formation of the Interstate 8 Athletic Conference. One game into the I8 schedule, Harper Creek is the only undefeated team in a league with at least four that would scare most area opponents. Click for more from the Battle Creek Enquirer.
Also noted:
Coldwater 17, Battle Creek Pennfield 6 – Reigning I8 champion Coldwater (2-1) kept pace a win behind Harper Creek after falling to Marshall in Week 2; Pennfield also is 1-1 in the league and 2-1 overall.
St. Joseph 27, Portage Northern 23 – This was the sixth straight time the Bears (3-0) and the Huskies (1-2) played to within 10 points of each other, with St. Joseph winning five of the recent nail-biters.
South Haven 28, Plainwell 19 – The Rams have won only three games each of the last two seasons and no more than that since 2008, but are 2-1 having downed a Plainwell team (1-2) that has made the playoffs the last five years.
St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic 20, Niles Brandywine 6 – One of the toughest losses of two seasons of ups and downs for Lake Michigan Catholic was a 57-18 defeat to Brandywine last fall; this one put Brandywine at 1-2 and the Lakers at 3-0 after they won two games total in 2015.
Upper Peninsula
Newberry 48, Bark River-Harris 34
As expected, these Mid-Eastern Conference contenders combined to put up plenty of points. But Newberry (3-0) continued to put up more, running its total to 154 over three games and putting itself in fine position in the league standings by downing the reigning co-champion. Bark River-Harris (2-1) had beaten the Indians in two straight, including 56-34 a year ago. Click for more from the Escanaba Daily Press.
Also noted:
Iron Mountain 48, Iron River West Iron County 21 – The Mountaineers’ great start keeps picking up steam as they’re now 3-0 for the first time since 2011 and with a second straight win over the rival Wykons (1-2).
Ishpeming Westwood 18, L’Anse 16 – The Patriots (1-2) got a much-needed win as they go for a third-straight playoff berth but now head into Mid-Peninsula Conference play; the Purple Hornets (0-3) have a similarly hard road coming up.
Escanaba 27, Gaylord 13 – The Eskymos are 3-0 for the first time since 2010, with Gaylord (1-2) the second straight 2015 playoff team to fall to the Great Northern Conference contenders.
Felch North Dickinson 24, Munising 6 – The Nordics are hoping to climb back to their elite status from the start of this decade, and at 2-1 they’re only a win shy of equaling their total of both of the last two seasons; they’ll meet Munising (0-3) again in Week 6.
West Michigan
Zeeland West 38, Grand Rapids West Catholic 22
The battle of reigning MHSAA champions went to the Division 4 winner, as West (3-0) continued its 28-game regular-season winning streak with one of its most impressive over a run that’s been especially stellar this fall. Adding in the reigning Division 5 champion Falcons (2-1), West has beaten teams that went a combined 28-7 in 2015. Click for more from the Grand Rapids Press.
Also noted:
Leroy Pine River 34, Beal City 7 – The Bucks (2-1) had last beaten Beal City (1-2) in 2000 and have helped the always-powerful Aggies to their toughest start since that year.
Lowell 34, East Grand Rapids 7 – Even when it’s not much of a game, Lowell (3-0) taking on East Grand Rapids (1-2) is still going to be a game of statewide interest.
Rockford 37, Muskegon Mona Shores 23 – The Rams’ 21-season playoff streak got a needed jolt; beating Mona Shores (1-2) is a much better way for Rockford (1-2) to enter the Ottawa-Kent Conference Red schedule.
Hamilton 34, Zeeland East 21 – The Hawkeyes (3-0) are soaring after winning a combined four games over the last three seasons; handing annually-strong East (2-1) a loss makes the start even more impressive.
8-Player
Rapid River 36, Webberville 34 (OT)
Rapid River made a long drive south for one of the most intriguing nonleague matchups of the 8-player season and headed back across the bridge at 2-1 after edging the home Spartans in overtime. Webberville had given up only 26 points over its first two games. Click for more from the Escanaba Daily Press.
Also noted:
Engadine 42, Pickford 32 – The Eagles also are 3-0 for the first time since 2011 after finding openings in a Pickford defense that had given up only six points over its first two games of a 2-1 start.
Owendale-Gagetown 70, Flint International Academy 50 – No team statewide is scoring like the Bulldogs (3-0), who went over 70 points for the second straight week – although first-year Flint International (1-2) scored the most O-G has given up since 2013.
PHOTO: A Breckenridge ball carrier works to beat a Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart defensive player to the goal line during the Huskies' Week 3 win. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Muskegon Grad Casts 'Magic' in HBO Series
June 15, 2020
By Tom Kendra
Special for Second Half
The last time many people saw Quincy Crosby was during his final high school football game at Ford Field back in 2012, when the 6-foot-3, 280-pounder was a senior captain for Muskegon High School.
Chances are most didn’t notice him, since he was doing the unheralded dirty work as the starting center for the Big Reds, who lost a 35-28 heartbreaker to Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice that day in the MHSAA Division 2 Final.
The next time many see Crosby, he will be front and center, and impossible to miss, showing off an entirely different skill set.
Crosby, 24, has transformed from bruising lineman to up-and-coming Hollywood star, who last year landed a dream role as Michigan’s own Earvin “Magic” Johnson in the upcoming HBO series focusing on the Los Angeles Lakers’ “Showtime” era of the 1980s.
“I’m just a kid from Muskegon; now I’m playing Magic on a TV show. How cool is that?” said Crosby, who played football and was a theater major at Kalamazoo College after his prep days. “I guess this is the big break I’ve been waiting for my whole life. Every part I didn’t get was worth it to get this one.”
The show, which is being produced by former Lakers standout Rick Fox, was originally titled “Showtime.” But that name was scrubbed when it was picked up by HBO, a competing network with Showtime. Right now, the series is referred to by the generic, “Untitled Lakers Project.”
The one-hour limited series drama is based on Jeff Pearlman’s book “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s.” The Untitled Lakers Project is described by HBO as a fast-break series chronicling the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties—a team that defined its era, both on and off the court.
The series features some big names, including John C. Reilly as Jerry Buss, Solomon Hughes as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jason Clarke as Jerry West. In the cast list, Crosby goes by his stage name of Quincy Isaiah – which are his first and middle names, respectively.
The series was expected to debut this month to coincide with the NBA Finals, but production delays due to Covid-19 and the suspension and uncertainty of the NBA season have pushed that tentative starting date back to June, 2021.
The delay hasn’t kept Crosby off Cloud 9.
Crosby landed the part in early June of last year, and in the days following that announcement, he went to Game 5 of the NBA Finals, where Fox introduced him to celebrities like Jalen Rose, Jerry West and Common. Then he hung out in Las Vegas for some NBA summer-league games, where the stargazing continued. He has yet to meet Magic, but expects that to happen soon.
“Everyone is telling me this is a game-changer, that this is going to be huge,” Crosby said. “I’m just so thankful for the opportunity.”
Catching the bug
Muskegon High School football coach Shane Fairfield wasn’t surprised to learn that his former team captain and three-year varsity player had earned a leading role in a television show – but as a basketball star?
“I said: ‘Basketball? You ain’t got no game!” Fairfield said with a laugh. “But the reality is, that role was kind of made for him. Quincy has that charisma and that big, amazing smile, just like Magic.”
Crosby’s transition from one of the “Brothers of Destruction” on the Big Reds’ offensive line to thespian actually began a few months after that crushing loss to Brother Rice.
That game started Muskegon’s incredible run of seven football Finals appearances in eight years, and the Big Reds have the winningest program in state football history and rank No. 7 in the nation with 859 wins (dating back to 1895). But the school had not been able to put on a spring musical in more than 20 years due to budget cuts.
But that spring, in a stroke of fortune, the school was selected in NBC’s 2013 “Smash” Make A Musical contest and awarded funding to put on the classic musical, “Thoroughly Modern Millie.”
Crosby said theater director Karli Baldus talked him into trying out for the show, and he landed the comical part of Ching Ho.
“I caught the bug, big time,” Crosby recalled with a laugh. “I thought it was the best thing.”
He also noticed parallels right away with football, with both requiring hours and hours of practice and repetition in preparation for game time – or show time.
“When I was playing football, I wouldn’t be able to think about anything else and I would just get zoned out on what I had to do on the line,” said Crosby. “It’s the same thing in acting. You practice until you know it by heart, and then you get out there and just let it go. Acting is all instincts.”
Crosby took acting classes at Kalamazoo, but due to football, never had enough time to be part of the big productions.
That all changed after performing a sketch in his television production class his junior year. He got pulled aside by his professor, who told Crosby he saw major acting potential in him and encouraged him to get more involved his senior year.
That heartfelt plea led Crosby to not only quit the football team after three years as a starter on the offensive line, but also to change his major from business to theater. He then blossomed on the stage his senior year, working behind the scenes in the fall production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” before earning major roles of Walter Lee Younger in “Raisin In The Sun” and Benny in “In The Heights.”
Finding the Magic
Shortly after graduating from K-College in 2017 with a theater degree, Crosby made his way to Hollywood to pursue his acting dream, only to find it was a bumpy road – to say the least.
Crosby was able to land small roles in short productions like “Corporate Coffee” and “Anomaly,” but his bid for major roles was met by rejection after rejection.
In those moments, he said, his background as an offensive lineman at Muskegon got him through.
“I learned to embrace the grind playing football at Muskegon,” said Crosby, the son of Delores Crosby and the late Gregory Crosby, who died when Quincy was just 3 years old. “You know, being an offensive lineman helped too. You get blamed when things go wrong and none of the praise when things go right, so you learn to just stay in your bubble and grind.”
His Hollywood experience nearly ground to a halt in early 2019, and he was about to enlist in the Navy when his agent and fellow Muskegon native Terrance Williams helped him land the audition that would change his life.
Ironically, he didn’t even get a script until the day of the audition and while others had memorized their lines, Crosby read directly from the script. He still landed a callback for the lead role of Magic and, six days later, he was ready and brought his “A game.”
“Walking out of the callback, the casting director told me to keep my phone close because that was a really good audition,” said Crosby.
The only thing left was a basketball audition with Fox in a high school gym, which clinched the role, Crosby said.
Fox and Crosby then started making the Hollywood rounds before shooting the pilot in October, after which the series was picked up by HBO in November. After a lengthy delay due to Covid-19, the plan is to shoot the first year of the series this fall, starting when Magic was drafted by the Lakers out of Michigan State in 1979.
One benefit of the delay is that it has given Crosby time to watch reams of old Magic footage and try to capture his nuances – on and off the court.
“The good thing about playing Magic is that there is so much video and footage of him out there,” said Crosby. “There’s so many things I’ve picked up – the way he walks and the way he always says ‘right’ after sentences. I’m getting better and better at it.”
Meanwhile, back in Muskegon, the Big Reds’ coaching staff is continuing its year-round quest to get more players into college and prepared for life after high school. Fairfield said he can’t wait to have his team watch the Lakers series and see one of their own in a starring role.
“Quincy is an example to our kids that there are so many avenues to success,” Fairfield said. “Making the NFL is one-in-a-million. What we emphasize is that you take what you learn here – hard work, discipline, perseverance, humility – and you apply it to anything you want to do in life.”
This is the first installment in a weekly summer “Made in Michigan” series catching up with this state's past high school athletes as they continue their stories.
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Quincy Crosby plays Magic Johnson in an upcoming HBO series. (Middle) Crosby, now seven years after graduating from Muskegon High. (Below) Crosby, far right, heads to midfield with his teammates for the coin flip before the 2012 Division 2 Final at Ford Field. (Top and middle photos courtesy of Quincy Crosby. Below photo by Tim Reilly.)