Weekday Warriors 2011: 10-25 Comment Count

Ace

My sincerest apologies for the lack of a Creeper Van Original post this week—my immune system decided to have its bye week coincide with Michigan's. This week on Weekday Warriors, commits square off for the Catholic League title, Shane Morris saves the day, and a bunch of guys sit out with injuries.

2012 Commits

TN OL Blake Bars

Montgomery Bell (4-5) defeated McCallie, 24-21, in their penultimate regular season game.

This week: The Big Red will wrap up their season on Friday at Pope John Paul II.

OH LB Joe Bolden

Colerain faced off against a Hamilton squad that decided its best strategy would be to use up every possible second of the play clock in order to limit possessions and keep the Cardinals's potent offense off the field. While sound in theory, this didn't work so well in practice, as Bolden helped lead a defensive effort that held Hamilton to just 93 total yards in a 28-0 win.

This week: The Cardinals (8-1) travel to Oak Hills—Caleb Stacey's school—on Friday at 7:30 for their regular-season finale.

MI OL Ben Braden

Rockford amassed 271 rushing yards en route to a 35-0 victory, wrapping up the O-K Red title for the 8-1 Rams.

This week: Rockford hosts Holland West Ottawa on Friday at 7 in a first-round playoff game.

OH DE Pharaoh Brown

Brown continued to impress on offense with a three-catch, 150-yard, two-touchdown performance to help Brush defeat Parma, 45-10, to improve to 4-0 in conference play.

This week: The Arcs (4-5) finish the regular season at Garfield Heights on Friday at 7.

KY S Jeremy Clark

Oh, hey, Clark is up here now. The newly-ungrayshirted commit didn't amass any offensive stats in a 13-10 loss to Lone Oak.

This week: The Maroons (7-2) play at Crittenden County on Friday.

MI TE Devin Funchess

No stats were available for Funchess, but he was not one of the eight(!) different Harrison players to score touchdowns as the Hawks finished the regular season undefeated with a 56-13 beatdown of Farmington.

This week: Harrison begins their march to the Division 2 state title at home against Birmingham Seaholm on Friday at 7. [Ed-M: the Maples are going to get crushed. /Groves]

OH S Allen Gant

Gant scored on a 23-yard reception to help lead Southview to a 50-29 victory over Springfield and claim their conference title outright.

This week: The Cougars (8-1) host cross-town rival Northview on Friday at 7.

MI DT Matt Godin

Godin texted that he finished with ten tackles and three TFL to lead Catholic Central to a 21-7 victory over Orchard Lake St. Mary's in the Prep Bowl, winning the Catholic League title and avenging last week's defeat at the hands of OLSM.

This week: The Shamrocks host Northville on Saturday at 1 in the first round of the state playoffs.

UT FB Sione Houma

Highland had a bye last week.

This week: The Rams take on Maple Mountain on Friday at 5 in the first round of the playoffs.

MI LB Royce Jenkins-Stone

Jenkins-Stone sat out Cass Tech's 6-0 playoff-clinching victory over Renaissance with a deep thigh bruise ($, info in header).

This week: The Technicians will play at Livonia Churchill on Friday at 7 in the first round of the playoffs.

OH OL Kyle Kalis

St. Edward bounced back from two straight losses with a 42-27 win over Cincinnati Moeller.

This week: The Eagles host St. Ignatius on Saturday at 7.

Detailed accounts of Eric Magnuson and Chris Wormley plus Shane Morris heroics after the jump.

CA OL Erik Magnuson

La Costa Canyon knocked off Rancho Buena Vista, 45-8, to improve to 5-2 on the season. MGoReader Suspicious Brown was there to catch the action:

Erik was dominating from the start. He has a quick motor and takes off from the line with a burst. He is their starter at Left Tackle but displays the tools necessary to be a Big Ten Guard as well. His quickness off the ball could not be matched, and he was sent MANY times across his formation to block on the 2nd level when they ran away from him.



I know everyone loves a nasty streak in their linemen, and he seems to be holding a pretty tough edge as well. He manhandled lineman over and over again, but his best hits were on the linebackers for sure. Perhaps it's due to the lack of experience on the part of his opponents, but for a 6'5" 290 kid, he managed to sneak up on some LB's and get clobbering hits on them. Even when they saw him coming, he would still drive them back 10 yards and completely out of the play. Talk about playing to the whistle, this guy would pancake people and then stand over them - just staring them down until the play was over, almost daring them to get back up. This kid has great size and potential to be our next Taylor Lewan!

This week: The Mavericks play at Oceanside on Friday at 7.

MI DE Mario Ojemudia

No stats are available for Ojemudia from Harrison's 56-13 win over Farmington.

This week: Harrison plays at home against Birmingham Seaholm on Friday at 7 in the first round of the playoffs.

MO DT Ondre Pipkins

No stats for Pipkins as Park Hill moved to 5-4 after defeating Oak Park, 48-20.

This week: The Trojans host Central on Friday at 7.

MI CB Terry Richardson

Richardson also sat out Cass Tech's 6-0 win over Renaissance, citing a sprained ankle that kept him on crutches for the game.

This week: The Technicians will play at Livonia Churchill on Friday at 7 in the first round of the playoffs.

OH LB Kaleb Ringer

Ringer is sitting out the rest of the season due to a strained MCL, as he told me this week.

MI LB James Ross

No stats are availble for Ross after OLSM fell to Catholic Central, 21-7, in the Prep Bowl.

This week: OLSM hosts Detroit Pershing in the first round of the Division 3 state playoffs on Saturday at 1.

OH OL Caleb Stacey

Oak Hills eked out a 16-14 victory over Fairfield to move to 4-5 on the season.

This week: The Highlanders host Joe Bolden's Colerain squad on Friday at 7:30.

IL CB Anthony Standifer

Standifer left the game with an injury on the opening kickoff, but Crete-Monee was able to escape with its unbeated record intact after a 20-13 victory over Rich East. 2013 Michigan offer Laquon Treadwell had seven catches for 140 yards and a touchdown to pace the Warriors.

This week: The Warriors await their playoff draw after finishing the regular season 9-0.

OH DE Tom Strobel

No stats are avilable for Strobel from Mentor's 38-7 win over Strongsville.

This week: The Cardinals (9-0) play at Twinsburg on Friday at 7.

OH TE A.J. Williams

Williams once again did not record a catch—he's still playing offensive tackle—as Sycamore defeated Lakota West, 30-0.

This week: The Aviators (8-1) play at Mason on Friday at 7.

OH S Jarrod Wilson

Buchtel lost a 17-14 heartbreaker to St. Vincent-St. Mary after forcing a fumble that was recovered by the Irish in the end zone for the winning score. No stats for Wilson, but here's a nice jab at Notre Dame from his coach, former M running back Ricky Powers:

After a 15-yard completion on a screen and two subsequent incompletions, Besser handed the ball off to running back Matt Matuska, who took it inside the numbers. Just before Matuska reached the end zone, Buchtel’s Ernie Calhoun punched the ball out. Matuska recovered the loose ball in the end zone and the Irish led 10-0.

“When I played at Michigan and we played Notre Dame, they would always get the lucky bounce,” Griffins coach Ricky Powers said. “It’s just the luck of the Irish. It’s really living up to the name.”

Times have changed, or at least this "luck of the Irish" has shifted from South Bend to Akron.

This week: The Griffins (5-4) host Fireston in their regular-season finale on Friday at 7.

OH DE Chris Wormley:

Whitmer crushed Lima Senior, 69-14, to improve to 9-0 on the year. Panther play-by-play man Mason Lowry checks in to recap the last couple weeks:

Here's what we know at this point in the season:

-Whitmer is really good. REALLY good. As in, historically good.

-Chris is the best player on one of the best defenses Toledo has ever seen.

-We haven't seen much of Chris in the second halves of too many games, although I expect that to change in the playoffs.

-Profit.



Chris continues to see some time as the second tight end, but this is strictly for blocking purposes. He seems to be doing pretty well. There was one comical play against Fremont Ross in which the quarterback threw downfield over Chris' head on a play in which he clearly was blocking for someone else and not expecting the ball. He turned around, stared at the quarterback for about 5 seconds, then shrugged and walked back to the huddle.



Against Lima, the first team offense only saw the field for 21 plays before the dogs were called off. Not much was required from him on either side of the ball. It was a pretty uninteresting game (as 69-14 games tend to be), but at least we got to stop at one of the last remaining Kewpee Burger franchises on the way back. I was not disappointed.



This week's game against Central Catholic has the potential to be very, very good. Whitmer-CC is a very intense, budding rivalry that could produce some real sparks. And since this game is playing played at Whitmer, we won't be relegated to broadcasting from field level behind one of the endzones as we were last year at Central's place. We'll have it love on WRSCsports.com with pregame coverage starting at 6:30.

Since the first time I saw Wormley he was playing against some tiny Canadians (seriously), I'll be heading down to see the CC game on Friday.

This week: The Panthers host Central Catholic on Friday at 7.

2013 Commits

MI QB Shane Morris

Morris completed 23-of-47 passes for 364 yards and three touchdowns while adding 10 rushes for an additional 50 yards and a touchdown to propel Warren De La Salle to a 28-25 road win over previously-undefeated Plymouth after being down 19-7 entering the fourth quarter. Sugar Shane is clutch, people. [Ed-M: oh God is that we we're calling him now? Please no.]

This week: The Pilots (7-2) host Roseville on Friday at 7 in the first round of the playoffs.

OH RB/S Dymonte Thomas

Thomas rushed for 187 yards and two touchdowns on just 18 carries to lead Marlington to a 29-28 thriller over West Branch to keep their playoff hopes alive.

This week: The Dukes can clinch a playoff spot with a win on Friday night at home against Alliance.

Comments

PburgGoBlue

October 25th, 2011 at 10:35 AM ^

I watched Toledo Central Catholic play my alma matter this weekend. This is probably going to be the best team they have played all year. CC has some good athletes on their team. However, they are pretty small and very young, they like to spread you out and throw. They also have a good slot ninja who runs a good jet sweep.

Humen

October 25th, 2011 at 6:39 PM ^

Southview has a football field, but the stands are small compared to those at Northview. They do play JV and Pop Warner games at Southview. Since the football team has been contending for state titles (only won one, though, and that was when they were division II) since about 2003, it definitely seems odd that they lack a stadium.

When Northview plays Southview, they actually trade sides. The "Home" stands are much larger than the "Visitor" stands. Imagine being a visitor at your own stadium, looking across the field to see your high school in the background.

WolvinLA2

October 25th, 2011 at 11:14 AM ^

I completely agree with this.  First - AJ Williams is looking more and more like an OL, or at least a blocking-only TE, and with the loss of Barnett we need TEs who can do both.  Second - Frank Clark is getting good pub as a true frosh and Ojemudia is owning fools right now. 

Any WDE we bring in in 2012 will be third on the depth chart at best in their second year, so it's not like we need bodies there, and it's still possible Beyer ends up there once it all shakes out.  However, having the Funchess-Brown combo at TE would make TE a position of strength for at least a few years.

RobSk

October 26th, 2011 at 8:29 AM ^

This is the van that followed the "Mystery Machine" around, trying to pick up "those meddling kids".

On a less joyful note- I don't know a lot about Morris- Is he playing with mediocre receivers, or is the relatively low completion % just a function of his youth (I keep reminding myself he's a junior).

        Rob