Lahser's last stand has the chance to be a very special and successful one.

The 2012 campaign will be the final season for the Bloomfield Hills Lahser Knights football team playing in the BLACK& YELLOW before the merger with crosstown school Andover and they become the Bloomfield Hills Blackhawks.

With an arsenal fully loaded for battle, the Knights will be ultra-formidable this fall and one of the favorites to bring home the OAA Blue crown.

Returning starting quarterback Spencer McCourt, only a junior, will arguably be his league's top field general. In his first year under center as a sophomore last year, McCourt was MCCLUTCH, guiding the Knights into the playoffs for the first time in two seasons, while gaining valuable experience that is sure to pay big dividends these next few months.

McCourt's stable of receivers will feature a reliable group, headlined by Zach Tornow, Khalil Gracey, Martez Jones, and Collin Feilla. Tornow is a precise route-runner and as sure-handed as they come. He had over 550 yards in receptions last season. Gracey, a 6-foot-5 playmaker who had a huge summer increasing his football recruiting stock and is already a D1 basketball prospect, will be out until Week 5 with a hernia - when he comes back though he might develop into a SUPERSTAR.

Sophomore Nate Emery, who started last year as a FAB FROSH on defense at cornerback, will be Lahser's No .1 running back and could have high D1 potential at the college level.

According to those around the program, Emery is poised for a meteoric rise this season.

Three-year starter and workhorse team captain Andrew Gikas will hold things down for the Knights in the trenches on both sides of the ball and Riley Manz is set for a productive year calling signals for the squad's defense from his spot at middle linebacker.

Junior standout athlete Charlie Dauch, also a star on the baseball diamond in the spring, will lead the Knights in the secondary at safety and see time in the backfield, blocking for Emery and getting touches near the goal line.

Gikas, Gracey and Jones were all key components on Lahser's basketball team last fall, helping take the school to both league and district titles.

Longtime Lahser head coach Dan Loria, already hired as the new Bloomfield Hills High School head coach, has led three separate Knights' teams into the state final four in the past decade.