Is it just me or could Pontiac's Dominique Shaw be the best receiver in Oakland County? Emerging out of nowhere, Shaw, a lanky 6-4 senior, has been the OC's own version of Randy Moss all season long. Much like Moss, this kid has hands made of glue and catches basically everything that comes his way. And, oh by the way, he's a genuine playmaker. In Saturday's win over AH Avondale, Shaw caught the tying touchdown pass in the fourth quarter and then followed it up with another TD in OT – both on Shaw's patented fade routes – to win it for the blazing hot Phoenix, winners of seven in a row. He might have been off the radar before the season got on its way, but he's squarely in the middle of it right now. Shaw might have just played his way into a college scholarship.
Props to Pontiac Notre Dame Prep – The Fighting Irish (5-2) deserve congratulations for defeating Waterford Our Lady of The Lakes 49-6 in the Prep Bowl "semi-final" and advancing to Ford Field this Saturday to square off with Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard.
Here's my only issue: Why should WOLL, a stacked D8 team that was 7-0 prior to the loss, be forced to match up against a much larger school like NDP in this game in the first place. I attended this game and the size differential between these two schools' players was tremendous. The NDP players were all twice the size of the WOLL players, especially across the lines -the Fighting Irish literally man-handled a darn good Lakers team. If I were the CHSL commissioner, I would prefer seeing the mid-sized school's like NDP and AA Gabriel Richard, play up against the likes of CC, Rice, and De La Salle, in the race for the Prep Bowl then play down against the likes of smaller programs like WOLL and RO Shrine. Plain and simple, it just seems the fair thing to do.
WL Western broke out of a major funk in a major way on Friday, winning a shoot-out over Hartland 40-33. The Warriors, a team with lofty expectations in the pre-season, are now 3-5. They literally ran wild on Friday night. Sam Welch and Derek Russell combined for over 350 yards on the ground in the win. Welch had 200 yards rushing and two scores, while Russell gained 160 yards and one score.
If Dominique Shaw is the OC's very own Randy Moss, then Berkley's Terrell Porter and Southfield Christian's Devon Bailey could easily be county clones of Adrian Peterson and Ronnie Brown. Porter – playing the role of Peterson – continued his stat-mongering and went for a breathtaking 197 yards and five touchdowns in the Bears 35-21 win over North Farmington. Bailey, doing his best Ronnie Brown, danced all over Dryden for 317 yards and four touchdowns in the Eagles 35-14 victory. Berkley and SC are both 5-3. The Bears are trying for their first playoff appearance in a decade when they travel to Avondale this week – the Yellow Jackets also need a win to get in – and SC travels to Cranbrook this Saturday for a shot to clinch their second straight trip to the post-season.
I agree there is a problem in the CHSL since HW Notre Dame and Detroit DePorres were closed in 2006. However, it isn't any more fair to have the midsize schools such as NDP (with an enrollment of about 320 boys) compete against DCC (with an enrollment of 1044 boys), than it is to have them compete against OLL (with an enrollment of about 100 boys plus the handful boys from Everest Academy who are on the team this year). The real solution would be to find new teams to add tot he league, such as Flint Powers.
ReplyDeleteIf you WERE actually at the game, you must have been sitting on Dixie Highway, watching through binoculars. Our Lady of the Lakes' lines were CONSIDERABLY bigger than NDP's. The NDP defensive line averages 5-8 145lbs! The starting nose guard is a 5'6" FRESHMAN!!!! The Irish starting offensive line has ONE man who weighs over 200lbs. Your assessment is horribly off-base. How about giving a little credit to the kid's effort and the preparation put in during the week rather than fabricate an UNTRUE excuse about size discrepancy?
ReplyDeleteWOLL consistently has a cup cake schedule and then they usually gets rocked in the playoffs by much better teams because they play in a crap league and schedule to play the worst teams possible.
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