2009 Prep Football Final Four - OC REPRESENT (4 teams left)

Picks:

Holt v. Novi Detroit Catholic Central (at Lansing Everett) – There's just way too much Niko Palazeti, Anthony Capatina, and the Shamrocks' big play defense for the "Holt-sters" to handle. Senior QB Sam Landry comes up big too, passing for a pair of TD's in the CC win.

CC 34 Holt 21

Clarkston v. Sterling Heights Stevenson (Troy Athens) – It will be a battle for the ages at the QB spot when Tyler Scarlett and C-Town and Jason Fracassa and Stevenson lock horns on Saturday night under the lights at Athens. This game will be a Metro-Detroit version of last Sunday's Brady-Manning showdown that produced over 60 points of vertically-charged action. Expect the same when Scarlett and Fracassa face-off. Scarlett scrambled for the winning score in OT and the Wolves punch their ticket to Ford Field and the DI state finals.

Clarkston 37-34 (OT)

Birmingham Brother Rice v. Lowell (Howell) – The Warriors offense is peaking at the exact right time – the receiving duo of Kevonte Martin-Manley and Nate Saldivar Garcia could be the best pair of pass catchers playing together in the state. The Rice defense, led by senior all-state tackling machine Justin Cherocchi, and hard-hitting juniors Jumbo Hamilton and Jimmy Pickens (also the team's top rusher), has been bringing relentless pressure to opposing offenses all post-season long. I'm going to nickname the Rice defensive unit, "The Juice Crew," because these guys play with an electric spirit and light up the competition. Nothing changes Saturday afternoon and the Warriors roll.

Rice 35 Lowell 27

Orchard Lake St. Mary's v. DeWitt (Fenton) – Plain and simple, you can't stop St. Mary's Ernest Thomas, you can only hope to contain him! Watch my main man, Ernie, get busy for another trifecta of TD's (he's got 9 already this post-season) and lead an Eaglet team that was a mere 4-4 in the regular season and had to sweat out a last-second at large playoff bid back into Ford Field for the second time in the last three years.

OLSM 28 De Witt 24