Weekday Warriors 2011: 11-8 Comment Count

Ace

This week on Weekday Warriors, top-ranked Harrison loses a shocker to Brother Rice, Allen Gant puts up big numbers in defeat, I catch up with Matt Godin, Drake Johnson enters the commitment updates in style, and we get first-hand reports on both Sione Houma and Chris Wormley.

2012 Commits

TN OL Blake Bars

Montgomery Bell defeated Briarcrest Christian, 40-14, in a first-round playoff matchup.

This week: The Big Red (6-5) host Baylor on Friday in the second round of the Tennessee state playoffs.

OH LB Joe Bolden

Bolden tipped a pass to himself and turned it into a one-yard interception return for a touchdown as Colerain blew out Walnut Hills, 60-6, in their first-round playoff game. He also pinned Walnut Hills inside their 20 with a 30-yard punt, the only one of the game for Colerain.

This week: The Cardinals (10-1) host St. Xavier on Saturday.

MI OL Ben Braden

Rockford defeated Grand Ledge, 42-14, becoming the first team to score more than two touchdowns in a game against Grand Ledge this season. They accomplished that feat in the first quarter, and Braden helped block for a Rockford attack that racked up 220 yards and three touchdowns through the air and another 115 yards and two TDs on the ground.

This week: Rockford hosts Grand Blanc on Saturday at 1 in a regional final matchup.

OH DE Pharaoh Brown

Brown's season ended two weekends ago, as Brush finished the season with a 4-6 record.

KY S Jeremy Clark

No stats to report for Clark as North Hopkins defeated Allen County, 24-14, in their first-round playoff game.

This week: The Maroons host Franklin-Simpson on Friday in the second round of the playoffs.

MI TE Devin Funchess

Funchess hauled in one catch for 21 yards and had a handful of tackles (including one TFL) on defense for Harrison, but the Hawks fell to Brother Rice by a score of 30-7 in a district final upset featured in this week's Future Blue Originals. Funchess was limited in the second half after coming down hard going for a jump ball, appearing to injure his right leg, although he played through the pain.

This week: Harrison, last year's Division 2 state champs, finish the season with a 10-1 record.

Allen Gant scores a touchdown in Southview's playoff loss. (Photo credit: Amy E. Voigt, Toledo Blade)

OH S Allen Gant

Gant caught nine passes for 158 yards, including an 18-yard TD, but Southview yielded 27 unanswered points in the second half en route to falling to McKinley, 49-21, in the first round of the state playoffs.

This week: The Cougars host McKinley on Saturday at 7 in the first round of the state playoffs.

MI DT Matt Godin

Godin texted me that he recorded 11 tackles as Catholic Central took down Canton, 21-14, to win the district title. The Shamrock defense held Canton to just 277 yards of total offense. I was able to catch up with Matt at the Harrison-Brother Rice game—where he was pulling for his fellow Catholic League squad—and he said he was happy with his and the team's performance, as well as being impressed by the play of Funchess, Mario Ojemudia, and Brother Rice linebacker Jon Reschke ("he hits hard"). Godin is looking forward to his regional final matchup against Pioneer, who features Michigan's newest commit, Drake Johnson—Godin was aware that Pioneer ran their offense almost entirely through Johnson, and seemed excited for what will be a major battle in the trenches.

This week: The Shamrocks host Pioneer on Saturday at 1. If any enterprising MGoReaders want to scout the game (I'll be watching Michigan, since it's a 3:30 kickoff this week), I'd love to hear some reports on Godin, Wyatt Shallman, and Drake Johnson.

UT FB Sione Houma

Houma was limited to 62 yards on 18 carries as Highland fell to Logan in the second round of the playoffs, 28-13. Stopping Houma was a major point of emphasis for Logan:

Michigan-bound fullback Sione Houma was held to 62 yards on 18 carries a week after rushing for more than 200 yards.

"We weren't going to let him beat us," Favero said of Houma. "... We hung in there and did a nice job tackling him. We were fortunate he didn't have any huge plays."

We also have a reader report from MGoUser dcallen39, who sent this in via email:

First, statistically Houma got 17 carries for 64 yards (my brother and I tried to track the yardage as best as we could from our seats). I'm not sure how he has been used in other games but Houma was mostly used as a full back running a dive. I only noticed 3 of his runs going out to the edge and usually he produced well out there. Highland as a team looked sloppy with their quarterback Anthony Smithson running a wishbone type offense with little ability to make good decisions or any throws. I never saw a Logan defensive back lined up more than 6 yards off the line of scrimmage. Houma in general has a large lower body with big legs moving his listed 210 pound body. His upper body looks a little small for a fullback, but he seems to have room to grow. On defense I counted about 4 solo tackles for Houma, who lines up as the outside linebacker. He also seemed to be involved with about 3 other tackles.

...

I actually ended up talking to Houma's mom and his brothers for a moment; they were excited about Sione going to Michigan and they hope to be able to visit him out there when he is playing.

The Rams finish the season with a 7-4 record.

MI LB Royce Jenkins-Stone

Jenkins-Stone carried the ball six times for 15 yards and a four-yard touchdown and also caught two passes for 46 yards and a six-yard TD as Cass Tech knocked off Dearborn Fordson, 33-7, to win their district title.

This week: The Technicians head to Lake Shore High School to face Shane Morris and Warren De La Salle on Friday at 7. I'll be there for this week's Future Blue Originals.

MI RB Drake Johnson

Michigan's newest commit rushed for 347 yards and four touchdowns on 36 carries while also completing his lone pass attempt for 42 yards as Pioneer defeated Temperance Bedford, 35-10, to take the district title.

This week: Pioneer travels to Catholic Central for a regional final matchup on Saturday at 1.

OH OL Kyle Kalis

St. Edward dominated in the trenches and defeated Cleveland Heights, 28-14, in a first-round playoff game.

This week: The Eagles have a chance to avenge one of their three losses this season as they face St. Ignatius on Saturday.

The rest of this week's updates follow after the jump.

CA OL Erik Magnuson

La Costa Canyon wrapped up their sixth straight Avocado League West title with a 17-14 victory over El Camino. It was the sixth straight victory for the Mavericks, who now at 7-2 (4-0).

This week: The Mavericks wrap up the regular season on Friday at home against Torrey Pines.

MI DE Mario Ojemudia

Ojemudia was suspended for the first half of Harrison's 30-7 loss to Brother Rice due to a recently-unearthed violation of MHSAA rules stemming from wearing pads at a summer Nike camp. Yes, the timing was dubious. I wasn't able to track stats for Ojemudia from the sideline, but he didn't have a chance to rush the quarterback with Brother Rice running out the clock in the second half.

This week: Harrison finishes the season at 10-1.

MO DT Ondre Pipkins

Park Hill finished the season with a 5-5 record after losing their finale two weekends ago.

MI CB Terry Richardson

Richardson didn't put up any stats and appears to still be dealing with an ankle injury, but Cass Tech defeated Dearborn Fortson 33-7 to win their district title.

This week: I'll be on hand—and see if Richardson is healthy—as Cass Tech takes on Warren De La Salle on Friday night.

OH LB Kaleb Ringer

Ringer sat out the end of the season due to a strained MCL suffered early on in the year.

MI LB James Ross

No stats are available for Ross as OLSM cruised to a 62-20 district final win over Redford Thurston.

This week: The Eagles (9-2) host Linden on Saturday at 1 in a Division 3 state quarterfinal.

OH OL Caleb Stacey

Oak Hills finished the season at 4-6 after losing to Joe Bolden's Colerain squad two weekends ago.

IL CB Anthony Standifer

Standifer sat out with a separated shoulder and Crete-Monee suffered their first loss of the season as Richwoods came away with a 51-36 upset victory in the second round of the playoffs. 2013 receiver Laquon Treadwell starred in defeat, catching 14 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown.

This week: The Warriors finish the season with a 10-1 record.

OH DE Tom Strobel

Mentor cruised to a 42-0 halftime lead on their way to a 48-16 quarterfinal victory over John F. Kennedy. No stats were available for Strobel, but Mentor lifted their starters in the second half.

This week: The Cardinals host rival Solon, who they already defeated earlier this season, on Saturday.

OH TE A.J. Williams

Williams played offensive tackle as Sycamore fell to Archbishop Moeller, 31-21, in the first round of the state playoffs. Moeller's Monty Madaris, a receiver with interest and an offer from Michigan, scored two second-half touchdowns to lift the Crusaders to vistory.

This week: The Aviators finish the season with an 8-3 record.

OH S Jarrod Wilson

Buchtel finished their season with a 6-4 record, but did not qualify for the playoffs.

Chris Wormley celebrates a fourth down stop against Anthony Wayne. (Photo credit: Andy Morrison, Toledo Blade)

OH DE Chris Wormley:

Whitmer stayed undefeated with a shutout of Anthony Wayne, 20-0. Here's our weekly report from Whitmer play-by-play man Mason Lowry:

Not a great deal to say. My highly-unofficial stats indicate that Anthony Wayne ran 40 offensive plays for a total of 89 yards. They run the Wing-T, which, since Whitmer is great against the run, probably isn't an ideal way to attack. Most plays went something like this: skinny running back dives up the middle, is hit by 5 or 6 Whitmer players, repeat. Chris made one particularly nice play in which he blew up the right guard on a pull and dragged down a speedy wingback for a five-yard loss. Otherwise, a full team effort that didn't require a great deal of effort.



This week's game should be far more interesting: a regional quarterfinal with Canton McKinley, who feature one-time target Se'Von Pittman, who is now bound for MSU. They're fast, they're tough, they're talented, and they're a big test. The game is being played in Mansfield - best known as the filming location of The Shawshank Redemption - at a 14,000 seat stadium with a tiny-looking press box. Provided that there's two seats and an outlet for a tiny internet radio station, we'll be on the air for pregame at 6:15 with a 7:00 kickoff on WRSCsports.com.

This week: Mason covered it above.

2013 Commits

MI QB Shane Morris

Morris completed 6-of-9 passes for 98 yards and three touchdowns while also adding a one-yard TD run as De La Salle knocked off Warren Mott, 35-6, in the second round of the playoffs. According to Morris, De La Salle came in planning to establish the run, and it opened up opportunities for him in the passing game:

“We came in with a run game plan,” DeLaSalle quarterback Shane Morris said. “We knew we could run against them because our line did good all week. We started running early and we just kept pounding the rock.”

...

“We knew that by running the ball, it would open the play-action pass which all three of my touchdown passes came off of,” Morris said. “On that quarterback sneak, my line just got a great push.”

This week: The Pilots host Cass Tech on Friday at 7.

OH RB/S Dymonte Thomas

Marlington finished the season 8-2, but did not qualify for the state playoffs.

Comments

Drew Sharp

November 8th, 2011 at 6:25 PM ^

I just read that a bunch of recruits have decomitted from PSU.  Will Michigan persue any of those recruits to help round out the class?   Does this change anything from Michigan's perspective?  I haven't looked that much into it, but I wanted to put it out there as a possibility.  There's really no precedent for this situation, in so far as I can remember (please give me an example if anything similar has occurred).  

and I don't mean to suggest that I'm trying to ask if we're trying to take advantage of what is a horrific situation.  I am just asking what I'm sure is on more than a couple of people's minds. In fact, I didn't even think of it until i read this post about all of our recruits.   Somebody had to ask the question, and it's a legitimate one.   I apologize if I'm being redundant.  I'm sure I'm not the first to bring this up.

Drew Sharp

November 8th, 2011 at 6:57 PM ^

that the report was erroneous.  I wish people could get track of who is actually committed or not before reporting it.  I guess it was a guy or two who were leaning PSUs way, just not committed.  Even still, it's a terrible situation.  I wouldn't wish it upon anyone.  It would certainly make me think twice about going to that place to play.  The only real option, IMO, is to completely get rid of just about everybody.  Conduct interviews, find out who knew what and when, and get rid of this whole thing.  It's ridiculously inexcusable what people didn't do.  it'll be interesting, from a strictly football perspective, as the next several weeks go on, how this effects recruiting.