All-OC Soccer

1^st Team

Kayla Mannino            AH Avondale

Madeline Wideman    Troy

Merlin Beckwith         RH Adams

Nicki Caruso                Novi

Ava Doetsch                WOLL

Stephanie Pilarski       Birmingham Marian (Captain)

Olivia Brannon            Troy Athens

Danielle Mazur           Birmingham Marian

Julianne Boyle             Lake Orion

Gabby Gauruder (G)   Novi

Anna Sieloff (G)           DCD

Honorary: Anna Zambricki (BH Lahser - injured for most of year)

Coach: Barry Brodsky Birmingham Marian

2^nd Team

Bree Dobbins              AH Avondale

Amanda Anton            Rochester

Jordan Penz                 Troy Athens

Liz Tresnak                   Birmingham Marian

Erin Ring                      Birmingham Marian

Liz Doman                   Birmingham Marian

Riley Wood                  WL Northern (Captain)

Kyla Cross                    MH Bishop Foley

Hannah Lee                 RH Adams

Megan Topolewski      WOLL

Jessica Wineke (G)      RH Adams

Victoria Troccoli (G)   Troy

Coach: Rich Ludwig     WOLL

AWARDS

MVP – Stephanie Pilarski     Marian

Most Underappreciated – Andrea Strauss (Goalie: Avondale)

All-OC Softball Squad

1B        Megan Lawrence        FH Mercy

2B        Sara Dykowski             Troy

SS         Taylor Hasselbach       Clarkston        

3B        Krista Hakola               WL Central

OF        Colleen Burns              Troy

OF        Kelsey Cleary              Lakeland

OF        Tessa Tomlin               Lake Orion

C          Kelsey Johnson            Lakeland

P          Jordan Wheatley         Troy

P          Kristin Weltzin            WL Northern

P          Corrine Luxton            Oxford

P          Michelle Stiltner         Lakeland

P          Lisa Shumaker             Clawson          

P          Kacie Nieto                  FH Mercy

UTL      Carlee Meek               Lakeland

UTL      Bailee Braunreauther Clarkson

UTL      Emma Fernandez        Berkley

UTL      Sierra Burke                Lakeland

UTL      Katie Dunn                  Troy

Skip      Tom Calnen                 Troy

Awards

MVP    Jordan Wheatley         Troy

MIP      Michelle Stiltner         Lakeland

HUMPHREY SETTLES ON SCHOOL FOR SENIOR YEAR WHILE UPPING VALUE IN RECRUITING GAME

Following months of rumors, rumblings and speculation, Dequante Humphrey, one of the county's top prep football prospects at the wide receiver position, has officially transferred from Waterford Kettering to Pontiac High School for his senior season. Humphrey is fast, shifty and physical whether lining up on the outside, in the slot or returning kicks, but for all intents and purposes has been buried for public consumption the last two seasons as a result of playing for the downtrodden Captains.  Thats all about to change!

Now, although the general high school sports fan around here might not be aware of Humphrey's immense talent, the college scouts ARE and have started circling the perimeter. They know far too well by the way he tears up cornerbacks in 7-on-7's and grades out in various elite combine camps, that he's the REAL DEAL 4-SHO. In Burney's humble opinion, DQ's stock has nowhere to go but up and will continue to flourish once the 2010 regular season starts up in August. Coming over to Pontiac (where his dad is an assistant coach by the way) means he will be slotted into the exact same spot in the Phoenix's offense that made a star of Dominique Shaw last year during the team's surprising run into the playoffs.

Here's a look at some of the schools showing interest in Humphreys at this moment:

Penn State, Minnesota, Pittsburgh,  Bowling Green, Akron, Toledo, Ball State, Oregon, CMU, WMU, Cincinnati, Dayton and Louisville.

DQ will certainly make the adjustment period significantly easier for Pontiac's new starting QB Jonathon Steed, a backup to standout signal caller, Jonathon McKnight in 2009.  As of the past few months, reports are glowing regarding Steed's development and readiness to assume the starter's job

I've decided to nickname Humphrey's, "The Blizzard", because the way he comes at opposing defenses is like a sudden rush of snow that engulfs whole towns and villages. And also because once The Blizzard steps onto the field, it's time to put away all the women and children and duck for cover! Whenever DQ has a big game this fall – which I expect to be often alas Shaw in '09 – I'm going to call it a WHITEOUT

Get supercrazy busy my main man, BLIZZ! and the first time u get into the end zone this season please give Burney his props by doing the appropriate celebration dance!

BAKER ON THE MOVE ONE MORE TIME, LANDS AT FERNDALE FOR FINAL YEAR ON THE HARDWOOD

Tom Staton, Ferndale's head boys basketball coach, recently got some very good news to kick-off his summer vacation with. It appears that Staton's Eagles will be welcoming Joe "The Show" Baker, into the program for the 2010-2011 hoops season as Baker, one of the Oakland County's most prolific and well-traveled players has apparently transferred to Ferndale for his senior year.

Coming off almost a decade of futility in the once storied Eagles program, Staton, a 1975 graduate of the school and former prep all-stater himself, came to Ferndale last season and ushered in a landmark-resurgence. In just a year's time, the Eagles went from also-rans in 2009 to OAA conference champions with an undefeated league record in 2010. It was an exceptional accomplishment that can all be traced back to the fatherly love, discipline and stability coach Staton immediately instilled in the team from the minute he took the job last summer.

Up until this recent announcement, however, it looked like some rocky roads laid ahead for the second year head coach who is losing a bulk of his playing rotation to graduation, including all-conference studs Shawn Amiker and Jody Hill. Now, with Joe the Show in the fold at Ferndale, NOT SO MUCH!

A little simple math: Joe the Show playing for the Eagles in '11 = CONTENDERS ONCE AGAIN.

Baker's skills on the hardwood are unquestionable. In parts of two seasons at the varsity level with Clawson (not including his freshman year spent getting minutes off the bench at Southfield-Lathrup), he has averaged over 25 ppg and shot a very high field goal percentage for a perimeter player. This kid has bonafide D1 talent at the 2-spot and is a tough-as-nails competitor on the court at all times. Throw him into the mix with an already solid returning backcourt in Anthony Rice (definition of a human sparkplug in spelling Amiker and Hill last season) and Donovan Reynolds (ineligible 2010, but trust Burney when he tells you that he will be a star this upcoming season) and the Eagles' Nest is going to be rocking and rolling as loud as ever next winter.

The Show comes with some baggage though – moving on to Ferndale will be his third school switch in four years – and this can't be ignored when analyzing his situation. That said, I think Joe is a good kid, with good intentions and I wish nothing but the best for him. Burney sincerely hopes that being under the guidance of a top notch hoops guru and tough love disciplinarian like Staton serves him and the Eagles program as a whole exceptionally well.

As touched on yesterday, Burney is going through major league withdrawal symptoms as a result of being deprived of prep sports for the next two months. In order to cope, Burney said goodbye to some of the great high school athletes that are leaving us this year in his last blog entry. Today, Burney dusts off his old crystal ball and foresees the future of the 2010-2011 prep sports season. 

 

Here goes:

OLSM's football team going back to Ford Field on the shoulders of the Eaglets' "Nasty Boys" defense led "The Big 3" aka James "Doomsday" Ross, Marcus "The Sack Man" Gleaves and Cortez "The Terminator" Riley

Southfield's Carlton "Captain Amazing" Brundidge remains, well, AMAZING on the bball court..HE WILL DROP 50 in 2011!

Brother Rice's soccer team makes a serious run at its second straight state title spearheaded by senior captain, Adam Gorski

MH Madison running the table in the regular season in football, but having to survive an epic triple overtime thriller with crosstown foe, MH Lamphere

Lamphere and MH Bishop Foley each win state titles in baseball (Greg Fettes of Lamphere takes a run at the state home run record)

Country Day's boys hoops squad doing the REPEAT SHUFFLE at the Breslin Center next March (Mahesh Umansankar hits a LOT OF 3's, Kenny Knight and Amir Williams thrown down a LOT OF DUNKS, Lee Bailey, Adam Zavdail and Carter Elliott simply go all LEE BAILEY, CARTER ELLIOTT & ADAM ZAVADIL!)

WOLL girls hoops squad doing the REPEAT SHUFFLR at the Breslin Center next March a week before the 'Jackets do theirs (Lauren Robak and Ava Doetsch go all LAUREN ROBAK and AVA DOETSCH!)

Holly's Josh Fugate has a breakout year on the basketball court

RH Adams Andrew "The Hammertime" Hammett has an OFF THE CHARTS senior year on both the gridiron and the hardwood

Lakeland's girls softball team FINALLY getting over that hump and winning the D1 state title in Cereal City next June

AH Avondale's Mitch Robinson and Ray Tillman hooking-up for AT LEAST a dozen scores through the air on the football field (not to mention double figures in receiving TD's for Tony Harris TOO)  and Taylor Drabek and Brian Portelli, both exceeding the .400 mark for the season and leading the 'Jackets to Battle Creek on the baseball diamond.

Lake Orion's offense in football is the BEST offense in the entire county

Southfield's boys basketball team goes to the FINAL FOUR and so does Tim Conley and the 'Jays football squad

Across the city at Southfield-Lathrup, the girls basketball team goes to the FINAL FOUR too

West Bloomfield boys basketball has a surprise season and takes a D1 regional crown

Royal Oak's baseball team comes of age and takes its first of three straight district titles

Seaholm and Athens both make the playoffs in football

We're just under a week past the end of the 2009-2010 prep sports season and Burney is going through some serious withdrawl.  Burney without prep sports to cover is like Homer Simpson not being able to drink beer and eat donuts! Anyway, in trying to cope with my beloved beat being taken away from me for the next two months, I was thinking back on the last year and it dawned on me how much I'm going to miss some of the outstanding prepsters who recently graduated. These guys and gals had MAD STYLE on the field of battle and Burney wants to give one final shout out to all of them. 

Brother Rice's Pat MacKenzie – Burney's going to miss that sweet swing and expert eye at the plate!

DCD's Madison Williams – Burney's going to miss the TOTAL CLASS ACT THAT YOU ARE!

Clarkston's Tyler Scarlett – Burney's going to miss your 3-SPORT FLAVOR and your bulldog work ethic

Rochester Hills Adams ' Nick Druzinski – Burney's going to miss those towering home run shots!

West Bloomfield's Cameron Fields – Burney's going to miss your blazing speed on kickoff returns!

Troy-s Jordan Wheatley – Burney will miss your excellence from the pitching circle!

Clarkston's Taylor Hasselbach – Burney will miss your excellence in the batter's box!

CC's Josh Gatt – Burney's going to miss your lead foot, super ball control and master showmanship on the soccer field!

DCD's Ray McCallum – Burney's going to miss everything U DO on the hardwood!: however he is pleased to know he just has to drive three miles from my house to see U play for Titans Nation in 2011!

Brother Rice's Justin Cherocchi – Burney is going to miss your TACKLING MACHINE self!

Marian's Stephanie Pilarski – Burney's going to miss your CRAZYSUPERDEF SOCCER SKILLZ playing center midfield for the ferocious Mustangs!

RH Adams' Joey Dillon – Burney's going to miss your SUPREME LEADERSHIP and quiet-assassin demeanor on the basketball court and the soccer field!

CC's Niko Palazetti – Burney's going to miss "BIG POPPA's" thunderous rampages into the end zone……OUCH…..I hurt just thinking about the force of impact those defensive lineman must have been experiencing the last three years!

North Farmington's Jenna Bachrouche and Lyndsey Booker – Burney's going to miss 2010's best "inside-outside" tandem on the girls hoops court….no pair of young ladies in the area could run a fastbreak better!

Troy's Bobby Wunderlich – Burney's going to miss your GRIT!

WOLL's Alexis Doetsch - Burney's going to miss you for the being the picture of personal sacrafice this past year and showing everyone the meaning of what it takes to be a great teammate and an even better person!

Seaholm's Jack Quigley – Burney's going miss your "do whatever it takes at whatever I do and do it well without worrying about accolades" attitude!

Clawson's Rob Feeman – Burney's going to miss that prodigious golden arm of yours!

Lakeland's Carlee Meek – There's not much I won't miss about this underappreciated gem of a softball studstress so this exercise seems kind of futile!

I saw the first promotional photo of UofD-Mercy's Ray McCallum, Jr and his dad and coach Ray MCallum, Sr the other day and I immediately got goose bumps!!!

"Big Play Ray's" former DCD Yellow Jacket teammate, Amir "The Big Dandy" Williams, the premiere frontcourt hoops prospect in the state, possibly the entire Midwest recruiting region, has been invited by USA Basketball to try out for the U-18 U.S. National Team this week down in San Antonio. Williams is one of 17 players invited to Texas to vie for 12 open spots on the squad. Burney has a feeling The Big Dandy will be doing enough damage in the try outs that he earns a nod for the final roster.

Word is that my main SOSODEF homeboy, Marques Stevenson (Lake Orion) was making some crazy noise at the Sound Mind and Sound Body camp last week at Wayne State! The Dragons' running back showed off his skills to the many college scouts in the stands during both sessions on Thursday and Friday and is said to have raised his stock quite a bit by the workouts he displayed. Right now Marques is being looked at by CMU, WMU, Ball State, Toledo, Buffalo, Air Force (offer), Akron, Harvard and Brown. After sharing carries with Kym Bruce last season, Stevenson is expected to get the bulk of the touches toting the pigskin for coach Chris Bell's squad this fall.

Major Kudos to Clarkston's Taylor Hasselbach who became the first player in the county since 2007 to take home the state of Michigan's coveted Ms. Softball Award. Hasselbach hit over 530 this season, with a slugging percentage over .1000 for the third consecutive year and will play her college ball at the University of Michigan.

Mad Props go out to former Brother Rice slugger Matt Conway, who was recently named to the Freshman All-American Team by Collegiate Baseball Magazine, after completing one pretty unbelievable rookie campaign in the ACC with Wake Forest. Conway, who won the coveted Mr. Baseball Award in 2009 and a state championship with the Warriors back in 2008, hit a solid .382 this past season, with six homers and 32 RBI. His .382 batting average was tops among all freshman in the ACC.

Speaking of Mad Props and All-American's, what about giving it up to local prep soccer stars Olivia Brannon of Troy Athens and Anna Sieloff of Birmingham Detroit Country Day for being named Gatorade All-Americans last week!!! Brannon, who plays on defense for the Red Hawks, is only a junior and already a valued member of the U-17 U.S. National team. Sieloff, on the other hand, graduated from Country Day 10 days ago after being a standout goalkeeper for the Yellow Jackets this past season leading them to district and regional titles net.

Holly head basketball coach Lance Bayliss coaches an AAU team made up of some of the best 7^th Graders Northern Oakland County has to offer and the squad did so well these past few months they have qualified for Nationals and a chance at a big time 'Ship next month.....CONGRATS FELLAS!!

Former Lake Orion Dragons hoopster Anthony Fields, now at a prep school, is taking official visits to CMU, Penn State and Dayton. If u remember, this kid was a super stud point guard for the Dragons back when Drew Maynard was a senior. Burney thinks it's a shame that Fields didn't finish out his prep career at LO, but he understands that Fields did what he thought he had to do at the time when he left the OC back in '08. Can you imagine if the coach Shafkalis would have had Fields last season to add to the already mad flavor of Mayo, Schrauben, Monk ….etc? That would have been INSANE!

OC Dream Team

1B        Nick Druzinski              RH Adams

1B        Brian Portelli               AH Avondale

2B        Tyler Drabek               AH Avondale

2B        Timmy Wilson             Lakeland

SS         Pat MacKenzie            Brother Rice

SS         Mitch Stefanski          Oxford

3B        Jake Balbes                 Groves

3B        Erikk Scott                   Farmington

C          Greg Fettes                 MH Lamphere

C          Jimmy Pickens             Brother Rice

OF        Mitch Kozlowski         MH Lamphere

OF        Zach Zott                     Lake Orion

OF        Shane Daykin              WL Central

OF        Dan Owenby               Notre Dame Prep

OF        Mike Mestdagh           Groves

OF        Korey Hall                   St. Mary's

DH       Sean Lau                      Royal Oak

DH       Austin Karbowski         WOLL

P          Jake Paulson                WL Central

P          Danny Zuchowski        MH Bishop Foley

P          Nick Regnier               Novi

P          Paul Lobur                   MH Lamphere

P          Jack Quigley                Seaholm

P          Ryan Strum                 RH Adams

P          Jason Gamble              WL Western

P          James Edwards           OL St. Mary's

UTL      Tyler Scarlett              Clarkston

UTL      Joel Fisher                   Farmington

UTL      Adam McDowell         Berkley

UTL      Brett Sunde                 MH Bishop Foley

UTL      Ryan Horvath              MH Lamphere

Pinch Hitter – Luke Ortell       MH Bishop Foley

Ike the Vike Sweep Alert!!!!!!!

Skip – Mike Roffi (WL Central)

MVP Jake Paulson (WL Central)                    

MIP Joe Harris                   (WL Central)

Coaching Staff

Rick Green (Novi)

Phil Price (Clarkston)

Don Watchowski (Seaholm)

Buster Sunde (MH Bishop Foley)

Bob Riker (Brother Rice)

Chuck VanRobays (RH Adams)          

Most Underappreciated Duos

1 The Schalk Bros.                   MH Bishop Foley

2 Alex Harrison/Alex Riopelle            Troy Athens

Most Valuable Moment of the Year

Oxford's Billy Kammerer's walk-off hum dinger against Lake Orion in districts…..in a walk!

 

OC Top 5 – Best Performances From Championship Weekend

1 Morgan Haffey (Novi girls soccer) – Haffey scored her first goal of the entire season at the most opportune time….aka OT of the Wildcats D1 state championship game to send Novi to the crown

2 Danielle Mazur (Marian girls soccer) – Mazur notched the game-winner with just under 17 minutes left to play in Marian's 2-0 victory over GR Forest Hills Northern in the D2 state title game, helping the Mustangs earn back-to-back banners 

3 Megan Topolewski (WOLL girls soccer) – Topolewski put in a game-winning tally midway through the second half of the Lakers 2-1 comeback win over Kalamazoo Hackett in the D4 state championship game, provding the program a state title in only its third year of existence

4 Sierra Burke (Lakeland girls softball) – Burke drilled a 2-run homer in the Eagles 5-2 defeat of Troy in the D1 semis on Friday that sparked a rally from an early 2-0 deficit........and by the way, SHE'S ONLY A SOPHOMORE!

5 Luke Ortell/Brett Sunde (MH Bishop Foley boys baseball) – Like Burke, this pair of signature sophomore swatters came up big when it counted, both collecting two hits apiece in the Ventures loss to AA Gabriel Richard in the D3 semis on Friday

EAGLES KEEP MIXING IT UP, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF PYSCH-TACTICS IN SEMIFINAL WIN

Lakeland softball skipper Joe Alsup showed off his master mind bending skills this past day or so by not only navigating his squad to the Division 1 state final for the third time in the last five years with a 5-2 Eagles victory over Troy in the semis on Friday but doing it by winning the game within the game with a healthy helping of psychological warfare. Coach Joe fooled the whole county, even Burney himself when on Friday morning he backed out of a previous decision on Thursday to start last season's ace, Carlee Meek in the circle instead of this season's No. 1 pitcher Michelle Stiltner in the semifinals versus Troy.  When it was all said and done, it was Stiltner who got the ball in her hands, not Meek, to pitch the Eagles to the win.  

Coach Joe, all I can say to you is: BRILLIANT!!!!! …………as always

The switch up followed by the double back, who would have thought?

Okay, here's how Alsup pulled the wool over all of our eyes with some last second mental gymnastics: 

I called Coach Joe on Thursday afternoon for the run down on the impending semis and he personally told me that I could write about the high-profile switch in the paper, that he didn't mind if the Troy coaching staff knew about the decision on the morning of the game.  I'll admit I thought at the time this scoop was too good to be true, yet how could I not go with it for my pre-game advance for Friday's paper?  I mean if you were going to pull such a strategic maneuver would you want to tip your hand? In my opinion, that would take away 50 percent of the move's potential impact due to removing the element of surprise. That's just not good coaching and Coach Joe is one of the best coaches around – thus, the whole thing just didn't add up for me. So, Alsup might not admit it, but Burney thinks he was bluffing and trying to mount a mini-disinformation campaign to confuse and distract his opponents. Either way, whatever his intentions, it worked BIG TIME and the Eagles moved on to THA SHOW aka the state finals this very afternoon.

Way to go ladies!  Mad props go out to Carlee Meek who took the scratch in stride and delivered a crucial RBI, as well as soph sensations, Sierra Burke (monster 2-run jack to tie things up after a bad first inning) Morgan Craft and junior Devan Olah for coming up with critical RBI in the contest too.

Baseball

MH Bishop Foley v. AA Gabriel Richard (D1 semifinal) – The Ventures get the proverbial monkey of their back by downing the Fighting Irish – a squad Foley has already dropped three ballgames against this season – in another nail-biter.  Danny "Zoom Zoom" Zuchowski throws a gem on the mound, sophomore swat-phenom Luke "The Stick" Ortell comes through in the clutch again with a big time hit late and Brett Sunde wins it for the Ventures with an RBI double in the seventh.

Foley 6, Gabriel Richard 5

Saturday's pick – Foley flies programs' first state title banner by the conclusion of the weekend, sending VENTURE NATION into a state delirium!

Softball

Lakeland v. Troy (D1 semifinal) – This is Lakeland's year. I wrote it at the start of the season and I'm writing it again now. Carlee Meek dusts off the old arm and bulldogs the Eagles past all-state hurler, Jordan Wheatley, in a close one sure to go down to the final out. Meek, who has not pitched much this year after rounding up over 65 career victories in the last three seasons, is 2-0 against the Colts in previous matchups and will by 3-0 by Friday night.

Lakeland 3, Troy 2

Saturday's pick – Eagles skipper Joe Alsup takes home his third career state title and brings Lakeland its first on Saturday afternoon behind a standout pitching performance from Michelle Stiltner and a pair of RBI apiece by Kelsey Johnson and Anna Armstrong.

Soccer

Novi v. Plymouth (D1 final) – Junior keeper Gabby Gauruder is ITZ (IN THA ZONE) for the Wildcats right now and simply can't be stopped. GABBY THE GREAT = STEAL CURTAIN on Saturday, collecting her 18^th shutout of the season and leading Novi to its fourth state title since 2005.

Novi 2, Plymouth 0

Birmingham Marian v. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern (D2 final) – You can't Marian's vicious FEARSOME FOURSOME aka Stephanie Pilarski, Erin Ring, Liz Tresnak and Danielle Mazur you can only hope to contain them. Forest Hills can do neither!

Marian 4, FH 2

WOLL/Clarkston Everest v. Kalamazoo Hackett (D4 final) – freshman Ava Doetch has exceeded SWAGGER LEVEL ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND TRILLLION and she is ONLY in the 9^TH GRADE!! Can you say a second state title ring for Lakers two-sport studstresses, Doetch, Megan Topewleski, Jessica Parry, Farrah Nordman and Chantelle Ludwig in the last THREE MONTHS?

As Tina Turner once said, Lakers……YOU'RE SIMPLY THE BEST!

WOLL/CE 3, Hackett 1

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT - please keep clicking in to Burney's Bytes this whole summer for continued daily coverage of the local prep scene!!!!!

GAURUDER AND WINEKE GO TOE-TO-TOE IN BATTLE OF LOCAL GOALIE GREATS

Two of the best girls soccer goalies the area has to offer locked horns on Wednesday night in a game where it was an honest shame that someone had to lose. Novi's ace keeper Gabby Gauruder and Rochester Hills Adams' master netminder Jessica Wineke played to a virtual draw for the first 55 minutes of their teams' Division 1 state semi-final game, with both young ladies displaying the GOODS, as they say,between the pipes. Unfortunately for Wineke and the Highlanders, Novi's Nicki Greenhalgh slipped one into the net with roughly 25 minutes remaining to play in the second half to propel the Wildcats into the state finals on Saturday with a narrow 1-0 win.

Oh, and by the way, these girls are ONLY JUNIORS, which means we have one more whole season of watching them get SUPERBAD in the box and continuing to frustrate opposing players with their Brianna Scurry-like heroics. NICE!

Wineke has nothing to be ashamed of as her season comes to a close: she played like the warrior she is the entire contest (the entire year for that matter) and showed everybody that she deserves to be mentioned in any discussions regarding the state's top goaltenders from here on out.  

This season she recorded 10 shutouts (tied for most by any goalie in the OAA with Troy's Victoria Troccoli), three coming in the state tournament and had the best goals against average in the entire conference. In the Highlanders epic quarterfinal clash with Midland Dow, she made an extraordinary save during the penalty kick phase of OT to set up her team's subsequent game-winner.

Now let's move over and talk a little bit about my main homegirl, GABBY the GREAT!!!!! Gauruder has been a human shield of iron in goal all season long. To put it mildly, this girl is THE REAL DEAL HOLYFIELD and then some. On Wednesday night, she picked up her….are u ready for this?......17th shutout of the year. All I can say is….WOW!

Gauruder and Wineke, besides both being excellent goalies, each have considerably upped their college recruiting value with their performances this spring. When you throw them into the mix with likes of Avondale's Andrea Strauss, WOLL's Chantelle Ludwig and Marian's Makenzie Larson, among others, the OC has an ultra-strong crop of goaltenders returning in 2011. As Chris Farley once said in the movie Tommy Boy, "ME LIKEY!, ME LIKEY A LOT!!"

 LOCAL PREP STANDOUTS ON THEIR GRIND AT ALL-STAR GAMES, CAMPS THE NEXT FEW DAYS

Besides this upcoming weekend being prep sports state championship weekend on the spring schedule, there are a few other major events involving primetime-worthy high school athletes from Oakland County taken place in the near future.

On Saturday, as the state's baseball and softball powers slug it out for the right to call themselves state champions out in Battle Creek, the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association All-Star Game is taking place in East Lansing at Spartan Stadium. Over a dozen local college-bound players are slated to participate for the East team, including Mike Kinville (CC), Justin Cherocchi (Brother Rice), D.J. Cook (FH Harrison), Rob Feeman (Clawson), Dana Harris (MH Madison), Bryan Haslinger (Clarkston), Gary Hunter (OLSM), Matt Judon (West Bloomfield), D.J. Lynch (AH Avondale), Jason Ray (DCD), Jordan Sanders (RH Adams), Ben Walker (Lake Orion), Mike Schiano (WOLL), John Westfall (Milford) and Bobby Wunderlich (Troy).

There's some serious D1 talent on that squad (Kinville's going to CMU, Lynch to Bowling Green, Hunter to Dayton, Ray to Princeton, etc..), not to mention a county sideline stud in Clawson's Jim Sparks calling shots as the head coach of the Eastsiders.  Burney is sure everyone from the area that suits up will do the county and Burney himself mega-proud!!!!!

In last season's game, the OC made quite a splash by the MVP-caliber performance by West Bloomfield's Chris Hurst, who scored two touchdowns (one on a return, the other on a fly route to clinch the game in the fourth quarter), in an East Squad victory.

Also this week on Thursday and Friday, Wayne State University will be hosting the fifth annual Sound Mind, Sound Body prep football camp, an event ran by Curtis Blackwell and that features many of the county and the state's top college gridiron prospects. All in all the camp will showcase over 70 players – mostly in-coming juniors and seniors – that currently hold D1 offers. Expected to attend the event from the OC are Shawn Conway (Seaholm/Michigan), Valdez Showers (MH Madison), Jake Duzey (Troy Athens), Bryan Bell (WL Central), Kenny Knight (DCD), De Quante Humphrey (undecided) and Tim Hamilton (Brother Rice), among others

Then finally on Monday, the annual Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association All-Star Game will be played at Comerica Park, with several more OC studs dotting the East team's roster.

Guys like: Nick Druzinski (RH Adams/Toledo), Korey Hall (OLSM), Paul Lobur (MH Lamphere), Pat MacKenzie (Brother Rice/CMU) and Jake Paulson (WL Cental/Oakland U). Just like in the football all-star game, the county shined brightly in last year's affair, seeing all-state Brother Rice slugger, Matt Conway, belt a home run to deep left-center field in Comerica Park and take away team MVP honors.