Fall football was a blast!

As the fall sport season winds down for high school and college it is interesting to see what happened with the area schools.
In football the closest of the four local schools to make the playoffs turned out to be Willow Run who unfortunately finished with a 5-4 record and just barely missed the first round of the post season. After losing the first four games of the season.
Flyer Coach Rufus Pipkins rallied the troops as they rattled off four straight before the season ending lose to Riverview. They did quite well for themselves but in the end the Pirates wanted the win a little bit more than Willow Run and thus the season was over.
Lincoln did win two games in a row, which was a first for them in quite some time. The unfortunate part was that those were the only wins the team had all season.
Splitters’ Ryan Bottorff was named to the Southeast Conference defensive first team as a defensive back and Samii Ismail as a linebacker.
On the offensive first team was Andrew Dillon as a back, Kendall Thompson led the area in receiving as a sophomore and Terrance North was an at-large player.
Honorable mention on the defensive team for Lincoln was Marcus Williams and Omar Robinson. Honorable mention for the offense was junior offensive lineman Dontrell Lemon.
In the first ever battle against Ypsilanti the Rails fell. The interesting part of that was that the Phoenix only managed one win all season and it happened in the rivalry battle between the two Ypsilanti schools.
It was a game that didn’t have the best stats. Neither team was able to do much in the rain and the wind. But in the end Terrance Moore and his team was victorious on the road against Dillon and his team.
Moore was named to the Southeast Conference’s defensive first team for defensive back and Marquis Gollman was an at large player for the first team.
Belleville had themselves a pretty good season and picked up three wins to boot. The Tigers broke a very long losing streak and did pretty well in the Western Wayne Athletic Conference.
Western Wayne Athletic Conference Blue Division all-conference players were junior Brian Bishop who played defensive end and tight end, senior Antonio LaBoda who was a full back and defensive end and senior Eugene Anderson who played split end and defensive back.
These players deserve recognition. I saw each and every one of them plays more than one time this season. I really enjoyed the football season.
The two things that really stick out for me on the season was Lincoln beating Dexter for their second win of the season and watching Belleville drop Redford Union for their first win in over 20 games and the first win since I have been covering them full-time.
Now we get ready for girls’ and guys’ hoop. It should be fun it should be exciting. I hope that I can see some very good games this season.
Win or lose the most important thing is that the kids have fun and use the world of sports as a classroom and continue to learn on and off the court. See you on the hardboards.

Football on I-94

The game that I billed last week as a great battle on the gridiron between Ypsilanti and Lincoln was not quite what I expected.
First I didn’t think that it was going to rain all day and the conditions on the field were horrible. I wanted a passing battle with some good runs by some very talented quarterbacks (Terrance Moore of Ypsi and Andrew Dillon of Lincoln) but instead I got a battle of the sludge slowed down by mud and rain with a little of what I thought was snow.
Congrats to Ypsi and Coach Malloy for the first win of the Phoenix season. I want to say a special shout out to the Ypsilanti kicker who wisely stepped out of bounds to take a safety that could have been the difference in the game. Ypsi only won it 6-2.
Good luck this week to the local teams. Belleville will and should beat Crestwood. Willow Run should roll Romulus Summit Academy, Ypsi will have trouble with Saline even though the Hornets are struggling and Lincoln will host Huron and who knows what will happen on that one.
All I know is now that the “Battle of I-94” is on between Ypsi and Lincoln there will be some good football games in the future.
Chow for now!

Poole out at Ypsi

On Wednesday the officials at Ypsilanti High School and the Head Coach of five years, Dave Poole, decided to go separate ways.
Ypsilanti Athletic Director Chuck Fuller said the replacement for the remainder of the season is former assistant Coach Jason Malloy.
“We decided to go in a different direction,” Fuller said. “Absolutely I think he was getting burnt out.”
The Phoenix this season are 0-5 and have yet to win a game in their new league the Southeast Conference (SEC). Tomorrow they will host Dexter for homecoming.
Poole has been coaching with the football teams at Ypsilanti for almost 13 years and at the varsity level for five years. He will remain as a physical education teacher at the high school.
Malloy will take over as the interim coach and he is currently a fifth grade teacher in the district. He has head coaching experience at Lincoln High School.
“We will evaluate the situation at the end of the season and make a determination on it (head coaching position) at that time,” he said.

Life is one giant Blog

Time to Blog. While I guess it is my time to add something to our sports blog. I have to say things are interesting out in Saline. It isn’t quite the same as the office we had on Main Street in Belleville and the drive is a lot more.
I guess it will be better once things get situated and back to normal. What with school and everything I know have one child in sixth grade at one school and one in third grade at another school. I want to say happy birthday to my son, Spencer who will be eight tomorrow. I can’t believe he is already eight it seems like not that long ago I was writing at the News-Herald and had to get a week off during football season to see the birth and be with my wife.
My how times flies and what a different direction life takes us in. The same company and now I am 45 miles from home and writing for Belleville and Ypsilanti schools.
This week in football should be good. I have Lincoln against Dexter which after last week’s performance by the Splitters should be another win. I also have Belleville against Jackson Northwest which should by all account be a win for the Tigers who really got beaten and beaten bad Fordson last week (one of the worst loses I have ever seen).
Willow Run is not playing up to par so I am not sure about them and Detroit Allen Academy. It is a 50-50 chance for either. I would like to see Ypsilanti win against Tecumseh but they are struggling with number and have yet to crack a win yet.
Good luck teams and I hope no one gets hurt and the weather stays nice. Man I love the fall!

Tigers are hot

The Detroit Tigers are having a good season. There is no doubt of that and I certainly hope to see them in the World Series. This time of the season is almost as much fun as the playoffs. I keep watching and checking all the stations and web sites to see what they are doing.

I also am looking forward to the Detroit Lions (not sure why). I was hoping that Eastern Michigan University's Spenser Smith would make the team. He was very nice to talk with and interview at practice when I visited the Lions. Chris Roberson made the team on the injured list and he was interesting to interview (another former EMU guy).

Now that high school football is underway I might get a double dose and see Ecorse and Willow Run and the night game is Belleville at Fordson. This will be a bit tougher that last week when the Tigers played Redford Union.

See ya on the football field!

Football is exciting

Here we are again just a few weeks away from the start of high school football camp. I am excited about the upcoming season. I look forward to watching Ypsi High and Lincoln play each other as well as seeing if Belleville will crack into the win column this season. Willow Run should be good this season as well.
Let me know what is going on in your community and if you have anything (pictures, stories) to put in to the View or Courier.

I really can't wait until the season starts. I love football under the Friday night lights. See ya soon.

Red Wings are exciting

The Red Wings were a lot of fun yesterday to watch. I love the excitement of a Game 7 in the playoffs. Nothing has more adrenaline to me than play well or shut up and go home.
That is even more fun when you consider it builds up with each game and then explodes at the end for the winner.
I guess the Wings were not ready to go and play golf just yet. The Ducks will have to tell them what the weather is like on the golf courses.
I agree with what Mickey Redmond said on the radio this morning “the Ducks are Dirty.” I have no doubt in my mind the better and cleaner hockey team won the series.
Bring on the Chicago Black Hawks, baby! Two of the original six teams of the National Hockey League should make for an interesting battle. I can’t remember the last time these two teams played this late in the season.