Tag Archives: Southfield

North Farmington Hangs On In Battle Against Southfield 62-60

4 Mar

IMG_0192North Farmington led comfortably 43-26 against OAA Red foe Southfield with 3:50 remaining in the third quarter. The Blue Jays were ready to call it a day, however, junior forward Miguel Priest wasn’t. Priest scored seven of Southfield’s next 15 points in a 15-6 Blue Jay run to close the third quarter, and place his team down single-digits entering the fourth.

“Teams like Southfield feed of their energy and build confidence making it tough to stop,” said junior guard Billy Thomas.

Southfield’s confidence continued to build. A 10-2 spurt within the first three minutes of the fourth sparked by two threes from sophomore guard Reme Torbert knotted the game at 51-51. Three minutes later, sophomore point guard Michael Flowers connected on a three to put Southfield up one, the team’s first lead since the opening quarter. However, the lead was short lived, on the ensuing Raider possession, junior Billy Thomas connected on two free-throws to place North Farmington up 59-58. Following a series of missed Raider free-throws and Southfield blunders, the Blue Jays held the ball with less than thirty seconds remaining down one with the possibility win the game. Southfield turned the ball over just twice the entire fourth quarter, and one happened with 12.5 seconds left, Raider junior Alex Darden swiped a Blue Jay pass, and was fouled. Darden split his free-throws, Southfield ball down two with eight seconds left. Flowers brought the ball up the court, got into the lane, but his contested runner fell short. A scrum for the rebound killed the clock, North Farmington victory.

For Southfield, Priest led the way with 17 points and 13 rebounds, and senior Khary Fanning scored 14 points, hauled in seven rebounds, and assisted on four Blue Jay buckets.

The Raiders were led by senior forward Jeron Rogers with a game-high 20 points, and junior front-court mate Alex Darden with 11 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists.

“Jeron (Rogers) and Alex (Darden) were really helpful,” Thomas added. “They both do a great job rebounding and altering a lot of shots. Both can handle the ball very well for their size.”

For Thomas, he contributed 14 points and five rebounds as the sixth man from the bench. Billy was recently granted eligibility from the state to participate a few weeks ago, and has embraced his role thus far.

“I am perfectly fine with that,” Thomas said of him coming off the bench. “I just come in and do what I do, I want to win and if I have to come off the bench I will.”

Although he is able to play in the Raiders’ last remaining games, Thomas was ruled ineligible for the playoffs. Thomas said the school and team is continuing to seek opportunities for Thomas to participate in the post-season. With Thomas, the Raiders add another shooter and ball-handler to compliment the back-court of Anthony Qasawa and Jacob Joubert.

Depth is invaluable in the second season, for instance tonight, Qasawa, normally a reliable shooter, only scored 10 points, six off free-throws. However, it was Thomas that filled in Qasawa’s role and assisted Rogers as the team’s scorer.

The playoffs begin in a week, any plenty of questions remain regarding North Farmington. But when asked North Farmington’s goal for the rest of the season, Thomas said, “I think we are a state championship caliber team no doubt.”

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Brown and Washington Power Southfield Christian Past Southfield 71-68

25 Feb

IMG_0160Coaches love athletes that play their heart out, just ask Southfield Christian’s Brock Washington.  The 6’2″ sophomore combo guard scored ten of his team’s 15 points in the opening quarter.  Then a uniform blunder.  Brock, as a result of his play, dripped blood on his jersey in the second quarter.  Which might or might have not explained his point total, scoring only one basket in the second quarter alone.

Southfield was able to gradually distance themselves in the second quarter from the Eagles.  Behind 6’7″ senior forward Isaiah Green’s 11 points, the Blue Jays outscored Christian 26-12, and led comfortably 42-27 at half.

“We couldn’t give up,” Washington said following the game.  “We had to make sure we knew what we had to do mentally.”

Washington flipped his jersey, and ignition switch for the Southfield Christian offense.  Junior backcourt mate Marlo Brown scored 12 of his team-high 28 points in the third, and Christian held the Blue Jays to six total third quarter points.  Ending the quarter on a 17-2 run the last six minutes to close the deficit to three.

The Southfield dynamic front-court of Khary Fanning and Isaiah Green were neutralized the entire second half.  Fanning and Green combined for two points, despite an undersized Southfield Christian lineup.  Often times the largest player on the court for Southfield Christian was 6’3,” while Green and Fanning are 6’7″ and 6’6″ respectively.

“We got Green in foul trouble, which was huge because we had a hard time stopping him,” Southfield Christian head coach Josh Baker said.

“With Isaiah, once he put it on the floor we wanted to double him.  Try to force him make a jumper…he’s a tough cover.”

“Khary we wanted to keep him in front, he’s so athletic, and then we knew he scored on the second shot a lot.”

Christian held their first lead since the first quarter with four minutes left.  Southfield, however, mounted a stand. Sophomore point guard Michael Flowers scored 16 of his Blue Jay high 25 points in the fourth quarter, including three threes, and a layup with 1:12 remaining, the last Southfield lead of the game.  His 10th grade counterpart, Brock Washington, calmly knocked in a three on the ensuing Eagle possession, 67-65 with under a minuted to play.  Christian would miss crucial free-throws with under 50 seconds remaining, combined with a Mike Flowers steal-and-score with 8.3 left, Southfield trailed 70-68.  Brown split his next two free-throws, leaving the opportunity open for Southfield to potentially tie the game.  Pushing the ball up the court, Flowers was unable to get a clean look for a shot to send the game into overtime.  His three fell harmlessly to the ground.  Game over.

Aside from Flowers, Isaiah Green scored 20 points and hauled in 12 rebounds.  Khary Fanning added seven points and eight rebounds, while junior Miguel Priest contributed 11 points.

Brown and Washington accounted for 53 of the team’s 71 points, Marlo with 28 and Brock 25.

“It’s great having him (Marlo),” Washington stated.  “It’s great having all these people, it’s just great positive energy, we’re always working hard, always pushing each other, it’s great.”

Southfield Christian has now won 13 of their last 14 contests.  The three-time defending Class D state champions will compete in the Class C state playoffs for 2015.  And despite a good deal of new faces to the program compared from years past, Christian might be finding their groove at the right time.  A narrow win over a larger Class A school should boost the young Eagles’ confidence as March grows closer.

“You got to win close ones down the stretch,” Baker said.  “To be able to win that one and have the pressure.  I think that’s really big for us.”

About that number change for Washington 15 to 11.  Number 11 was reserved for sharpshooter Lindsay Hunter a season ago.  The impact of that change is debatable, but Washington did finish 5-8 beyond the arch.

“I guess you could say it gave me some power,” Washington said with a smile.

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Oak Park 19 Southfield 12

5 Nov

The Division 2 Region 4 District 1 championship in the MHSAA Football State Playoffs featured a rematch of OAA White Division rivals.  Oak Park, the division champion, defeated Southfield 24-18 in week 4 of the season.  Both teams came into todays game beating two Detroit PSL teams.  The Knights of Oak Park defeated Cody 35-20, while Southfield took down King 22-19.  The game started with both teams struggling to move the ball on a cold night, resulting in a 0-0 tie at the end of the first quarter.  But on the very first play of the second, Jeff Madison of Southfield took a pass from fellow senior QB Tre Walton for a td to give the Blue Jays a 6-0 lead.  On Oak Park’s ensuing drive, the Knights drove all the way down to the Blue Jay one, but failed to put points up on the board.  The final scoring of the half for either team came on a Malik Washington td run to tie the game at 6 heading into the lockers.  The third quarter was very similar to the third.  Both offenses struggled to find weakness’ in their opponents defenses, resulting in a tie to head to the final quarter of regulation.  Southfield running back Gerald Gates powered in for the Jays to give them a twelve point advantage with 6 minutes remaining.  But on Oak Park’s first play from scrimmage, Malik Washington scampered in from about 60 yards to tie the game at 12.  Southfield had one last drive to try to win the game, but a Tre Walton pass intended for Brandon Bean was picked off in the end-zone to send the game into overtime.  Oak Park got the ball to start overtime and scored on a controversal touchdown call that gave the Knights a 19-12 advantage.  On Southfield’s turn, Oak Park stopped the Blue Jays inside the one yard line giving them the victory.  Southfield ends their season with a record of 7-4 while the win gives Oak Park a 9-2 record.  The Knights will travel to Wyandotte to take on the Bears Friday night for a chance to win a regional championship.

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Interview with LB Jeff Madison

28 Oct

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Interview with Gerald Gates

28 Oct

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Southfield 22 King 19

28 Oct

In a game where two teams meet in the opening week of the season, no one expects one team to beat another team twice in one season.  But that was not the case for this pre-district contest between Southfield and King.  This game was nail biter and no team in this game deserved to lose.  The first quarter breezed by with both teams unable to put points on the board, but in the opening minutes of the 2nd quarter, Southfield qb Tre Walton scored on a td qb sneak to put the Blue Jays up 7-0.  Later in the 2nd, Gerald Gates of Southfield scampered up the middle for a 30 yard td to put the Jays up 14-0.  But the Crusaders would score on a Mycial Allen td to go into the lockers with a deficit of only seven.  King would come out hot in the 2nd half.  Avonte Maddox cut the Blue Jay lead to only one on a td run.  Later in the 3rd, Northern Illinois recruit Mycial Allen hauled in a 77 yard td pass from Devaun Williams to give King the lead.  That would be all the scoring for King the rest of the way.  The Crusader defense did not allow a touchdown for the most of the 2nd half.  But Southfield scored when they had to, on their last possession, Gerald Gates scored and Jeff Madison got the two to put Southfield on top by 3.  King would drive all the way inside the Blue Jay 10, but a 4th down desperation pass from Devaun Williams would fall incomplete giving Southfield the win.  King’s remarkable season finishes at 6-4, but not without a Detroit Public School League City Championship.  The Blue Jays now move onto the district Championship to face Oak Park, winners of the OAA White Division.  Who defeated Southfield 24-18 in week four of the season.

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Game of the Week 10/26/12

26 Oct

My game of the week selection usually takes place on Thursday, but for this week it will happen on a Friday.  The game of the week for the first round of the MHSAA State Playoffs will feature a rematch of the Prep Kickoff Classic, with Martin Luther King leaving the City of Detroit to battle the Blue Jays of Southfield High School.  If you remember the game back in August, the Crusaders had control for most of the game, but stalled in the fourth quarter due to their seven turnovers.  The defense looked very good for MLK, only allowing a total of 21 points to a team that ended up beating perennial power Farmington Hill Harrison.  Southfield’s offense is quite interesting from what we have seen from them in the years past.  Their quarterback Tre Walton, a converted wide-receiver, lines up in the pistol with a running back in a three-point stance directly behind him.  They will send a receiver in motion trying to create a triple option and try to take advantage of Walton’s running ability.  If the Crusaders find a way to figure the offense out, they will most likely have no problems winning the game.  But I am not convinced that after last weeks city championship performance, where they gave up 48 points to East English, they will be able to contain this potent Blue Jays Offense.  Who needs to stop the ball when you score 51 points?  That is what the Crusaders did last week.  Devaun Williams was flawless connecting with Mycial Allen for two touchdowns.  King also got production on special teams with Avonte returning a kickoff for 81 yards.  This game will be a shootout.  The Blue Jays will give the Crusaders a battle, but King will march on to the district final.

Southfield: 35 King: 42

Enjoy the first round everyone!

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