Each week Frank Vajcner and Chris Schultz give their thoughts on the MHSAA games. Frank is usually serious, Chris not so much.
Frank
Airport: “Demons begone and the drought is over!” That was probably what some Jets fans were thinking after winning a district for the first time since 2005. Real test comes next.
Carlson: Marauders made Gary and I eat crow. And they probably also uttered, “Demons begone and the drought is over!”
Flat Rock: Rams Rick-rolled Summit. Might they be able to get to Ford Field after Notre Dame Prep got knocked out?
Riverview: I guess Rouge has figured out how to stop the T.
SMCC: A gritty, gutty, resilient effort comes up short. But it’s not anything to hang heads over.
Whiteford: Bobcats get tested in a rematch. The reward is another rematch with White Pigeon in The Woods.
Much like I said with Ida, SMCC isn’t going away anytime soon.
Round 2 was pretty wild around the state
Where will I end up for regionals? Should I do another fan vote?
Thanks again to all who participated in my fan vote.
I will keep banging the drum for a certain former head coach turned analyst to take a job in East Lansing.
I would’ve liked for Brad Holmes to get Aidan Hutchison some help, but 6-2 at the bye week isn’t anything I can be mad about
Chris:
For the record, this guy went a cool 6-0 this week. While I can’t break down the film like some guys I do have a lil’ knowledge (slot left, jet, wham right, bootleg left, safety burn) so I’ll keep my overall lead against the “other guys” at least for a week.
Airport: Keep playing defensive like that Jets and you will be tough to beat.
Carlson: I hope Jason Gendron is getting some Coach of the Year” talk amongst coaching and media circles.
Flat Rock: I’m sure Ram Athletic Supervisor John Clair is savoring this win over Summit Academy more than most people. (maybe only him and I know why)
Riverview: I suggested that the Bucs needed to play the perfect game, I’m not sure if that would have mattered against Rouge.
SMCC: This game was closer than I expected.
Whiteford: Don’t expect me to pick against the Bobcats any time soon.
I was down in Venice Florida to catch a big game last night and was not disappointed. The Venice Indians defeated Clearwater International 51-42. After counting, there were over 25 players between both teams with Division 1 offers or commitments. I’m not sure if I have ever seen players with commitments to USC, Florida State, Colorado, Washington State, Notre Dame and others on the same field simultaneously. With that said, the players we cover every week play just as hard and the coaches are just as good as the players and coaches down here. Yes, Aidan Hutchinson was sitting in the seat in front of me on the plane to Fort Myers. No I didn’t pull a Frank and get a pic.
Sorry for any technical difficulties we had last night. I think too many visitors messed up the site. That’s a good problem to have. We will get it fixed.
Heard a rumor Airport plays Saturday at 1:00. Can anyone verify?
Yes it is.
Chris,
I seen on the MHSAA games wanted page that Advanced Tech needs games in weeks 5, 6, and 7 next season, I am not sure what weeks Summerfield still has open, but with them needing to find seven non-conference games next season I think you should reach out
Currently looking for a week 5. Currently talking with another Monroe County school.
Gotcha seems pretty identical.give or take thanks brother.
2024 HURON LEAGUE PREDICTIONS
1) Riverview
2) SMCC
3) Grosse Ile (just check JV records and who they bring up)
4) Flat Rock
5) Airport
6) New Boston Huron (could be 5, I don’t know much about them except they had an exceptional JV QB that everyone raved about)
7) Jefferson
8) Milan (love Coach Hoskins but the shrinking roster is hurting them. He might be the best X and O coach in the league too)
SMCC returns the most numbers but Riverview returns the most talent. Junge returns (or does he? would he move for basketball????). I expect a new coach in Carleton while I hope they finish the season strong. I have family who has sons/nephews on GI who have said that Bodner refused to bring up any JV players all year including his son. Is this a good or bad thing?
Best of luck to Airport and Flat Rock next week! People can dog the Huron League all they want but last year the Huron League had 6 teams qualify, this post-season they had 5 teams qualify.
Thank you Gary, Chris, and Frank for all of your coverage.
@Scott L
Are you ranking Flat Rock with or without Junge? Or do you not believe he has anything to do with their success?
Is Junge going somewhere else or considering not playing next year?
Not sure I understood that post.
Chris what was the difference between football programs you’ve seen plenty of Michigan how was it down there?? Just curious of where they would stand against like our Belleville Davidson cass-tech in your opinion
That’s a great question. Last night I decided to run Toledo Central Catholic. They obviously won the Catholic league this year and match them up against Venice high school on calpreps.com projections. Venice was a nine point favorite.
I was absolutely amazed at the talent level and speed of every player. Venice was runner up last year in Florida and won the year before. They should make a run again. They are big up front, but not huge. You can definitely tell they have a power lifting program at the school. That is a competitive sport in Florida. If I was a betting man, I would say Venice would most likely beat anyone in Michigan.
Just to give you an example of the talent level. In 2017, Venice high school won the state championship. In the semis they beat Saint Thomas Aquinas from Fort Lauderdale Aquinas’ entire starting defense was committed to Division I universities.
My older brother was at the game with me. He goes to a lot of games down here and lived in Converse, TX for years. Converse won 4 state championships in Texas 6A football in the 20 years my brother lived in Texas.He has said that the teams in Texas are probably better, but that Florida seems to have more high level talent.
Football is huge down here. I noticed the local Venice newspaper has articles with color photos of the youth football teams starting at 8U. It’s just a different world.
As a point of reference, I believe in Venice High School has about 2000 students.
The team Venice beat is an Academy that plays all over the southeast and is a football factory. Not good as IMG, but close.
Chris
You have referred to this before but please give us the version of high school football playoffs in Texas and how it works
Discussion is Michigan going to 48 teams ? Playoffs start 9 th week with top teams getting bye first week
I will give you the readers digest version of the Texas playoff system. First off, public schools play in separate tournaments from private and parochial schools.
Basically, all of Texas is broken down into districts. Let’s say you have an 8 team district. All games played in your district count towards going to the playoffs. The top three or four teams from each district make the playoffs. So in an eight team district that would be seven games. this now gives you the opportunity to play three non-district games that have no bearing on making the playoffs or not. This is usually the first couple games of the season and big time matchups happen where you can see the top teams in the state play each other.
Once the regular season is done. All the teams that qualified for the playoffs are split into six divisions and then those divisions are split in half so you literally have 12 division. This is where I am a little hazy on what they do next but I’m pretty sure the districts are broken down into regions. The regions are then seeded by the Texas version of the high school athletic association (the university, interscholastic league) I believe their tournaments or playoff system goes into mid December.
Check here for more information: https://www.uiltexas.org/football/playoff-brackets
As for Michigan going to 48 teams. I really see this happening within the next year or so with week nine being dedicated to the start of the playoffs. The top seeds will get byes and the schools that don’t make the playoffs will be matched up against each other based on size, record and geography. It hasn’t been officially approved yet, but I see that coming. I don’t believe that’s a bad thing.
Good luck to anybody trying to come in the woods and get a win..
Always good to beat the local private school in our school district. There’s something about growing up together, and playing backyard sports with your buddies on evergreen, aspen, olmstead, and Red Cedar. Then going to high school together and playing multiple sports with your parents in the stands. FLAT ROCK KIDS SHOULD PLAY FLAT ROCK SPORTS!
Thank you guys for the coverage of our student athletes. You do a fantastic job. Congratulations to Carlson on making school history and the Duffy’s at Airport breaking some more droughts!
Hi John
Just curious about your comment, I honestly don’t care one way or another where kids play or go. But you could argue that the best two athletes you have on your football team live out of district so be carful with statements that FR kids should play with FR kids. Or is only when it benefits your team, it is ok ???
Again I don’t care but be careful when we live in glass houses. Before you say that’s not the case …..trust me it is
I’ve been to every single flat rock game this year, they’ve got talented players all over the field. But a name I hear at every game is Teegan Donovan (sorry if I botched the spelling) that young man has 10-11 sacks on the season and I feel like I haven’t seen or heard anyone talk about him. Definitely one of the more underrated kids in the area.