MAPLES STAGE COMEBACK, SEAHOLM VICTORY TRAIN KEEPS MOVING IN HONOR OF FALLEN COACH

In one of the truly inspiring feel-good stories from the area's fall prep sports season, the Birmingham Seaholm football team continues to march towards its first playoff appearance in six years.

Following Thursday night's come-from-behind 38-17 home win over Berkley, the Maples are 5-2 and only one game away from postseason qualification.

Senior Chris Barr spearheaded the Seaholm offense with 24 carries for 180 yards and two touchdowns and ignited a furious Maples rally to open the second half.

With his team behind 10-7 emerging from the locker room to start the third quarter, Barr jetted into the end zone from 18 yards out on the first possession of the half to give Seaholm a lead it would not look back from the rest of the night.

As versatile as he is deadly, Barr can play a number of positions on the field and lines up for the Maples both in the backfield and at wide receiver on offense and in multiple spots in the secondary on defense. He's been on varsity the past three seasons and has gotten increasingly better each year.

Seaholm's second-half onslaught was also highlighted by an interception return for a touchdown by defensive back Kramer Schultz. Second-year starting quarterback and senior captain John Glazier added a pair of scores on the evening, one through the air and one on the ground. An 11-yard connection between Glazier and wide receiver Scott Anderson was Seaholm's only score of the first half. During the spring, Glazier and Anderson are ace pitchers for the school's baseball team.

One of the Metro Detroit area's winningist high school gridiron programs for the 1980s, 90s and early 2000s, entering the 2011 campaign the Maples had fallen on hard times, both on the field and off. Enduring a series of disappointing seasons since its last playoff berth in 2005, Seaholm lost its head coach Nick Deane to a heart attack last spring.   

Doing an excellent job of succeeding Deane, who was only on the job for less than six months after his promotion from offensive coordinator back in December, has been Jim Poburksy, a close friend of Deane's lured out of retirement last winter to help out with the program.

Although he didn't expect to be roaming the sidelines this year, Pobursky's has answered the call in a major way. His leadership has been outstanding under trying and emotional circumstances.

Prior to coming to Seaholm, Coach Po had been a head coach at Hazel Park and a longtime assistant at other local programs such as Troy and Madison Heights Bishop Foley.

Berkley jolted out in front 10-7 on a 5-yard touchdown run by star running back Omar Sitto and a 29-yard field goal by placekicker Nick Borden-Stanford. The Bears lone score in the second half came on a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Josh Hall.

After the loss, Berkley and first-year head coach Jeff Burnside drop to 3-4 overall and most likely out of the playoff race. Under previous head coach Jim MacDougal the Bears made back-to-back playoff appearances in 2009 and 2010, vanquishing a decade-long postseason draught.