Davison RB Tariq Reid

When the season began, Tariq Reid was a rumor, a guy who gained mored than 1,000 yards in each of his first two years of high school at Burton Atherton, a school not known for producing Division I football players.

Two weeks into the season, Reid has become a curiosity.

After his family moved to Davison in April, Reid has had a magnificent start to his junior year. Reid, 6 feet, 200 pounds, has run for 492 yards and 10 touchdowns in two lopsided victories.

So far, college coaches haven’t noticed.

“I’ve had a few letters,” he said, “but I haven’t had any serious recruiting looks.”

That will change as long as he continues playing like he has the first two weeks, especially his 309 yards and five touchdowns on 19 carries last week against Mt. Pleasant, which has a tradition of playing good defense.

But there might not be many defenses that can corral Reid, especially when he is running behind a dominating offensive line.

“Honestly, our linemen opened up the holes so big, it was hard to miss,” Reid said. “It was very nice.”

An offensive line can open holes, but you need to get through them in a hurry, which is what Reid does. And then the magic happens.

While he has good speed, it is much more than just outrunning people. He makes excellent cuts that seem instinctive, but have more to do with his vision than anything else.

“When I’m running, I pay attention to detail with my eyes,” Reid said. “How do I describe it? Before a play even starts, I read the positions of the linebackers, their defensive line, just to see where I might need to run. As soon as the play starts, it’s kind of like it’s already happened. I already know where I need to go.”

And the good news is he showed improvement from Week 1 to Week 2.

“The major difference I needed to make was, when I watched film, I needed to occupy defenders more on fakes, fake runs,” Reid said. “And also I needed to keep my shoulders square to go vertical instead of east and west.”

Reid, who has a 3.78 grade-point average, describes himself as a quiet kid, which is a grand understatement. He doesn’t say a lot, even around friends.

“I don’t talk much,” he said. “I sit around. I’ll laugh. I’ll just be there. I’ll be present. I’m not talkative.”

But once the ball is kicked off, everything changes.

“On the field, it’s like I’m a different person,” he said. “I’m aggressive.”

When you are a quiet kid, it might be difficult fitting in at a different school. But that hasn’t happened for Reid.

“I love them,” he said. “We’re like a huge family. We bonded and spent so much time together. They were all so welcoming. The whole community is.”

Reid is hoping college coaches will be welcoming as well, but unlike some high school players, he is not fixated on his recruitment.

“That’s not a big worry to me right now,” he said. “I hope to get my name out there, and I hope we have a lot of team success. That could also help with the recruiting process.”

Contact Mick McCabe: 313-223-4744 or mmccabe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1.

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Dearborn senior lineman Mustafa Khaleefah first went out for football as a sophomore. The 6-foot-6, 285-pounder quickly developed into a force on the field and was offered by Michigan State in June. “I was happy enough to commit the next day,” he said.

Mustafa Khaleefah sat in the Dearborn High bleachers on a recent evening, reflecting on how he had gotten to this point in his life.

“It’s been a weird journey,” he said. “Back in Iraq, I would not have seen myself doing this now.”

As a youngster growing up in war-torn Iraq, Khaleefah never would have envisioned himself growing into an intimidating, 6-foot-6, 285-pound football player who has accepted a scholarship to Michigan State.

Back then, the only football Khaleefah knew was soccer. But, back then, everything took a backseat to the Iraqi war.

“There was some good moments,” he said. “You remember the good stuff, of course, but there was a lot of bad stuff, too. The good stuff, for example, was my grandpa, every morning, would take me out to eat someplace. But there was a lot of bad stuff, like people getting killed.”

One murder in particular is difficult for Khaleefah to forget.

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“Some guy was just walking, and some guys pulled up on a motorcycle and shot him up right in front of our driveway,” he said. “My dad had to clean the blood off the driveway. At that point we were like, we can’t have a family here.”

Never mind that the person murdered was a police officer — and the police station was across from the Khaleefah home. It was typical of the times in Iraq then, when even leaving your home could be dangerous.

“When he went to elementary school, me or his mom would take him to school,” said his father, Muhammad Khaleefah. “We were afraid of the kidnappers. It was very bad. So, we’d take him to the school, wait at the school until he’s done from the school and take him back to home.”

The family first moved to Syria and then Egypt, but the goal was to reach the United States. Khaleefah’s mother, Lina, a civil engineer, received a work permit and took her three children to Virginia while her husband remained in Egypt for four months until his documents were approved.

“I remember Mustafa’s face when he was at the airport,” his father said. “He was crying, but he could not show me the tears in his eyes. It was very hard for him.”

After being reunited in Virginia, the family moved to Dearborn a couple of years later when Khaleefah was in the sixth grade.

He played soccer in Virginia, but gave up organized sports when the family relocated in Dearborn. He was average size until a growth spurt began in the eighth grade.

The next year, he was a freshman at Dearborn and caught the eye of varsity football coach John Powell, who got him to come out for football as a sophomore.

“We don’t always get 6-3, 220; we get them only every so often,” Powell said. “I saw him running agilities and I was: ‘Holy, what is this? What is going on with this kid?’ He was a soccer kid; he came from a soccer background.

“I saw him move, and my line coach goes: ‘He’s going to play on the varsity.’ I said: ‘No kid has never played football in their lives and then played on the varsity at Dearborn High as a 10th-grader with no experience.’ ”

Week 3 high school football schedule

So Khaleefah didn’t play varsity as a sophomore … until Week 3. Two games on the junior varsity were enough to convince Powell where the youngster belonged.

“He played in a JV game, just dominated the whole game without having any clue what he was doing,” Powell said. “Then we brought him up, and as a 10th-grader he was getting in the way and he was athletic.”

Powell was not exaggerating about Khaleefah’s cluelessness. The youngster really didn’t understand the game.

“I didn’t know what I was doing,” he said, laughing. “They told me to block somebody, and I did. That was about it.”

Khaleefah’s first obstacle was convincing his parents to allow him to play football. Their main concern was his safety. Their second concern was how playing football might hinder his academics.

“At first they weren’t sold on it, they just wanted academics,” said Khaleefah, who has a 3.6 grade-point average. “But then they showed up to one of our games and they saw how much I loved it, and they fell in love with it, too. They know I like it, so they like it, too.”

It was not love at first sight for his parents, who were unfamiliar with American football.

“When he started to play the football in Dearborn, then I need to learn,” said his father. “So I asked a friend, he had a son playing football, and he gave me the rules. I asked Mustafa, and he gave me the rules on how to play the football and everything on the football.”

It also helped when Powell told Khaleefah’s parents that if he worked hard and continued to improve, he had a chance to make sure his parents didn’t have to pay for his college education.

“He told me that he would get the scholarship,” his father said. “He said he knew he would do it. That was the thing I encouraged him to do because it would take something from my shoulders — all the expenses from the college.”

Khaleefah said the first football game he watched was the 2011 Super Bowl between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, when he was in the sixth grade.

McCabe: Davison’s Tariq Reid has great vision, speed

Even after joining the varsity, Khaleefah had little working knowledge of the game and how it was played. But he found a way to learn the intricacies of the sport.

“I started playing Madden,” he said of the video game. “I learned a lot from Madden, to be honest with you. I learned so much. I learned all the positions where everybody played. That’s how I learned football.”

But learning the game was entirely different from learning how to play.

From the get-go, Khaleefah had superior footwork, but little else. He was big, but he wasn’t strong. That changed before his junior year.

“From my sophomore year to my junior year, it was about me and the coaches were just dedicated to it,” he said. “We’d be at the school until 9 o’clock at night. We’d be in the weight room. We got my strength up insane in like three months because of how much work we put in.”

As his basic understanding of the game grew, the more impressive he became on the field. But while he had his dominating moments as a junior, Khaleefah was far from a finished product, and certainly was not yet a Big Ten recruit.

“In my junior year, I had some technique, but it wasn’t there yet,” he said. “I was just nasty, that’s why I was so good — I blocked really nasty.”

Powell was positive Khaleefah could play in the Mid-American Conference and thought he had a shot to become a Big Ten player.

“His film as a junior was not a Big Ten film, it just wasn’t,” Powell said. “Part of it was we had to coach him better.”

But the key for Powell was to get a Big Ten team to notice the youngster.

“I sent Michigan State’s recruiting guy this video of him squatting 410 pounds 10 times,” Powell said. “It was like him getting the flexibility of a basketball player. They called me right away and asked: ‘Are you serious, Coach?’ ”

Son of Swami’s week 3 high school football picks

Suddenly, Khaleefah was on MSU’s radar and encouraged to attend camp there. His performance then led to an invitation to MSU’s elite camp. And by the end of the elite camp, Khaleefah had an offer, which he didn’t see coming.

“I was happy enough to commit the next day,” he said. “I didn’t know football, but I knew who Michigan State was. Out of all the schools in the Power 5 conferences, they were the only ones who kept telling me to come visit.”

It seems like a lifetime ago that Khaleefah was watching that policeman being murdered in front of his house.

Since then, Khaleefah has gone from not knowing how to speak English and having no idea what American football was to earning a scholarship to Michigan State after only two years of organized football.

“It has been some journey,” he said, shaking his head. “Basically, it was hard work and dedication. I think that if you work hard, nothing can stop you.”

Suttons Bay plays in the Division 6 state championship game on Nov. 26, 2004.

The varsity football season at Suttons Bay ended last week after a 37-0 loss to Elk Rapids, which followed a 38-14 loss to East Jordan.

Suttons Bay has 158 students. Athletic director Christine Mikesell said the team began with 16 players on varsity but lost two to injury in the opener.

Four more players were injured in Week 2, but one said he had recovered enough to play if the season continued.

School officials decided not to try to call up players from the junior varsity. Of the 16 players on the JV team, 11 are freshmen.

“What we had on our varsity roster was the bigger sophomores that wanted to play varsity,” Mikesell said. “What were left on JV were the smaller ones.”

Mikesell said the sophomores on varsity will finish the season on the JV team.

Son of Swami’s week 3 high school football picks
Week 3 high school football schedule

Coach of the week

Ron Bindi, who has Charlevoix 2-0 and ranked No. 2 in Division 6, is this week’s Detroit Lions/Farm Bureau Insurance Michigan High School Coach of the Week. This is Bindi’s 37th year in coaching. A former head coach at U-D Jesuit, Bindi coached at Bellaire for five seasons, helping the Eagles reach the 2012 8-man championship game, before moving to Charlevoix four years ago.

Footballs on the field before a game.

Allen Park 24, Woodhaven 0: Antonio Mangiapane was 13-of-18 for 202 yards and one touchdown for Allen Park (3-0). Ryan Fish caught four receptions for 133 yards and one touchdown. The defensive shutout was led by Tyler Marsee with 11 tackles.

Battle Creek Lakeview 42, Battle Creek Central 8: Jayvion Settles finished with 125 yards rushing and four touchdowns for Lakeview (2-0). Michael Miller secured 13 tackles.

Birmingham Brother Rice 41, Elkhart Central (IN) 17: Benjamin Zardus rushed 16 times for 122 yards and three touchdowns for Brother Rice (2-1). Jack Moran rushed 14 times for 111 yards and one touchdown. Mariano Valenti completed 13 passes for 301 yards and two touchdowns. Matthew Jordan had three catches for 165 yards, including a 70-yard reception for touchdown. Jack Sailor secured nine tackles, including one sack.

Carson City-Crystal 50, Blanchard Montabella 18: Drew Stout threw for 352 yards and four scores on 20 completions, and he also had 107 yards rushing on eight attempts for three touchdowns for Carson City-Crystal (2-1). Noah Heckman had four grabs for 150 yards and four touchdowns. Daniel Smith secured 15 tackles and one sack.

• Week 3 high school football scoreboard

Clarkston 38, Oxford 7: Michael Fluegel had 14 rushes for 122 yards and one rushing and receiving touchdown for Clarkston. Additionally, J.T. King, Josh Cantu and Jake Billette had a rushing TD each. Garrett Tyrell threw a 10-yard TD pass to Ryan Miller for Oxford’s lone score of the game.

Dearborn 40, Dearborn Edsel Ford 18: Mikey Phillips completed 12-of-14 passes for 178 yards and three touchdowns in the first half for Dearborn (2-1, 1-0). Adam Elder had three catches for 80 yards and a touchdown. Youseph Saad rushed five times for 100 yards and a touchdown, which came off an 85-yard rush.

Detroit Cody 56, Detroit Douglass 0: Zyaire Gardner rushed eight times for 122 yards and one touchdown for Cody (2-1). Marquise Burnett passed 5-for-7 for 163 yards and four touchdowns. Jaysaar Ball secured nine tackles, three sacks and a 30-yard fumble return for a touchdown. Quinten Allen took an interception 45 yards for a touchdown. Douglass falls to 0-3.

Detroit Delta Prep 32, Detroit Consortium 14: Quarterback Robert Beety III went 8-for-12 with 207 yards passing, two touchdowns and one rushing touchdown for Delta Prep (1-2). James O’Neil had 104 yards receiving with one touchdown. Consortium is now 1-2.

Detroit Denby 40, Detroit Henry Ford 14: Adonte Calhoun rushed for 187 yards and four touchdowns for Denby (3-0). Additionally, Keanan Harris recorded three tackles for loss and two sacks plus returned a fumble recovery for touchdown in the win.

Detroit East English Village 42, Detroit Central 6: Zahmagne March rushed for 175 yards and four touchdowns for English Village (2-1). Lemuel Watley had a TD reception. Delvin Washington threw for 175 yards and two touchdowns, including a 65-yard pass to Watley and another for 50 yards to Cortez Berry. Central slips to 1-2.

Detroit Loyola 38, Marine City 22: DeAnthony Robinson had 16 carries for 175 yards and two touchdowns for Loyola (2-1). Hunter Harris had six receptions for 110 yards. Jimmy Chappell led on defense with 10 tackles and one interception.

Detroit Mumford 26, Detroit Collegiate 14: For Mumford (2-1), Omar Pagan passed 16-for-23 for 252 yards and a touchdown, as well as rushing for 56 yards on four carries. Cerell Lewis rushed eight times for 79 yards and one touchdown, and he also scored on an 84-yard kickoff return. Brandon Green secured seven tackles, one sack and one forced fumble. Collegiate slips to 0-3.

Detroit Osborn 12, Detroit Renaissance 6: Bryant Graham had one catch for a 52-yard touchdown along with a 98-yard touchdown run with 11 seconds left to win the game for Osborn (2-1).

Detroit Western International 42, Detroit CMA 0: Derrick Corbin threw two touchdown passes for Western (3-0). Devin George scored three touchdowns, two of which were receiving and the other a 55-yard punt return. Rodrick Harris, Daryl Ervin and DeMonte Smith all rushed for touchdowns. CMA slips to 1-2.

Farmington Hills Harrison 45, Birmingham Seaholm 7: Brendann Brown had 11 carries, 63 yards and two touchdowns while Devon Pressley had five carries, 62 yards and one score for Harrison.  Harrison was led through the air by Jimmy O’Connor, who finished 9-for-12 with 150 yards and one score.  Seaholm’s Max Schumaker had seven carries and 127 yards and a “reservation for six.”

Ferndale 33, Auburn Hills Avondale 15: SO

Grand Rapids South Christian 33, Forest Hills Eastern 17: SO

Grosse Pointe South 29, Fraser 7: Quarterback Logan Mico went 10-for-22 with 205 passing yards and two touchdowns for South (3-0, 2-0 MAC White). Kicker Cam Shook set a school record in field goals, going 5-for-5 in the contest with the longest coming from 37 yards out. Aidan Komez led the defense with nine tackles, including two for loss. Matthew Bradford scored the lone touchdown for Fraser (1-2, 0-2 MAC White) on an 80-yard touchdown reception.

Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett 42, Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest 19: Connor McCarron passed 17-for-24 for 285 yards and four touchdowns for Liggett (3-0, 1-0 MIAC). Charles Caine rushed 17 times for 101 yards and two touchdowns, and he also had five catches for 139 yards and three more touchdowns. Jackson Walkowiak secured eight catches for 169 yards and a touchdown. Brady McCarron secured 16 tackles.

Holly 21, Flint Kearsley 0: Holly (2-1) rushed for 304 yards in this Flint Metro League matchup. Peyton Bilbia rushed 14 times for 143 yards and one touchdown. Kyle Staple secured 10 tackles, three sacks and forced a fumble.

Livonia Clarenceville 19, Dearborn Heights Annapolis 16: SO

Marine City Cardinal Mooney 51, Dearborn Heights Star International 6: Wyatt Greenia racked up 303 yards and five touchdowns on 13 carries for Mooney (1-2).

Milan 38, Riverview 22: For Milan (3-0, 2-0 Huron), Trace Lindeman rushed 16 times for 115 yards and two touchdowns, and he also snagged two catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns. For Riverview (0-3, 0-2 Huron), Zach Guthrie rushed 18 times for 147 yards and two touchdowns.

Muskegon 63, Fruitport 7: Kalil Pimpleton went 9-for-12 passing for 172 yards and four touchdowns.

Parkway Christian 68, Southfield Christian 22: For Parkway (1-2, 1-0 MIAC), Jacob Bambrick rushed 11 times for 133 yards and three touchdowns, and recorded two more scores off catches. Jackson Allen added 111 yards and one touchdown on seven carries to go along with two touchdown catches and an 82-yard kick return for touchdown. Julian Davis had an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and a 46-yard run for a touchdown. Maurice Hutchinson secured 10 tackles and a fumble recovery, and he also scored four two-point conversions. Brandon Challangoe secured seven tackles and forced a fumble. Bryce Perko added seven tackles and a forced fumble. For Southfield (1-2, 0-1 MIAC), David Robinson rushed 28 times for 251 yards and a touchdown, which came on a 59-yard run. Ricky Brown caught six passes for 45 yards and two touchdowns.

Quincy 38, Athens 0: Ryan Gibson rushed 11 times for 136 yards and three touchdowns.

Redford Thurston 29, Garden City 23: Zachary Crawford threw for 161 yards and two touchdowns for Thurston (1-2). Kyle Becker ran for 55 yards in the loss for Garden City.

Redford Union 35, Dearborn Heights Robichaud 12: Thorton Cain had 12 rushes for 122 yards and three touchdowns for Union (3-0, 2-0). Isaac Grant added 18 carries for 155 yards and one touchdown. Elantre Alston caught a 30-yard touchdown in the fourth for Robichaud (1-2, 0-1 WWAC Red).

Rochester 38, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep 32 F/OT: For Pontiac (2-1), Luke Adams rushed 23 times for 187 yards and one touchdown. Eli McLean passed 17-for-27 for 215 yards and two touchdowns. Josh Johnson secured nine catches for 143 yards and two touchdowns. Rochester moves to 1-2.

Rochester Adams 50, North Farmington 3: SO

Romulus 20, Dearborn Heights Crestwood 0: Leading the shutout for Romulus (3-0) was De’Von Mines who had 13 tackles and three sacks. Quarterback Jaylin Tatum threw for 119 yards and one touchdown, and rushed for one more.

St. Clair Shores South Lake 58, Lakeview 14: Jerrod Vines had three receptions for 102 yards, two rushes for 63 yards and three total touchdowns in the contest for South Lake (3-0). Lance Mitchell had 12 carries for 255 yards and two touchdowns. Thran Lewis had 13 tackles and two sacks to lead the defense.

• South Lake’s Vines, Mitchell too much for Lakeview

St. Joseph Michigan Lutheran 37, Covert 12: Jeremy Tolsina rushed for two touchdowns for Michigan Lutheran.

Trenton 33, Lincoln Park 0: In this Downriver League matchup, Connor Charping threw for 305 yards and five touchdowns for Trenton (3-0). Ken Styles had four receptions for 113 yards and a touchdown. Lincoln Park falls to 1-2.

U-D Jesuit 56, Holy Trinity 8: Elijah Collins scored six total touchdowns for Jesuit (3-0). Collins had 111 rushing yards, one 44-yard touchdown reception, a 75-yard kickoff return for touchdown and an interception return for touchdown. Quarterback Noah Stamps-Freeman went 9-of-12 with 129 yards and two touchdowns through the air.

Walled Lake Western 48, Northville 34: For Walled Lake Western (3-0), Cody White completed nine passes for 201 yards and two touchdowns, and he also rushed 11 times for 53 yards and another touchdown. Kam Ford totaled four catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns. Jamon Benson had 11 rushes for 70 yards and two touchdowns, while Jalen Marshall rushed eight times for 40 yards and also scored two touchdowns. Jack Dodge secured three interceptions. Northville falls to 2-1.

• Cody White, Walled Lake Western roll past Northville

Warren Fitzgerald 50, East Detroit 0: Najib Moore led the way with 20 carries for 157 yards and two touchdowns for Fitzgerald (3-0). Quarterback Christopher Eddy threw for 110 yards to go along with a touchdown and an interception. Bruce Hogan collected eight tackles on defense.

Warren Mott 33, Port Huron 7: Mike Pond was 8-of-14 for 167 yards and a score for Mott, who improved to 3-0 and 1-0 in the MAC Red. Additionally, Liam Fogerty recorded 11 tackles and three sacks while James Warner finished with 10 tackles and three sacks in the victory.

Waterford Mott 34, Novi 31: Mott was led by David McCullum, who went 18-of-27 for 368 yards and three touchdowns. For Novi, Alec Bageris threw the pigskin for 199 yards and two scores. Additionally, Nathan Hankerson carried the ball 20 times for 128 yards and two TDs in the loss.

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Footballs on the field before a game.

Birmingham Groves and Southfield Arts & Technology could have played this game on December 26 — it all came down to who returned the most gifts.

Groves (3-0) cashed in late in the third quarter. Griffen Best pounced on a fumble on the Southfield 6-yard line, and Ernest Allen took it into the end zone on the next play for the difference-maker in the Falcons’ 13-7 Oakland Activities Association win.

“It was just a crazy game, you know,” Allen said. “Everybody fought hard, and it went down to the wire. Our defense stepped it up. They were unbelievable tonight, and our offense came through, too. I’m just happy about that.”

• Week 3 high school football scoreboard
• McCabe: Led by Cody White, Walled Lake Western rolls past Northville
• South Lake’s Vines, Mitchell too much for Lakeview

It wasn’t the first gift that Groves received, but it was the first one they were able to do something with. After the Falcons opened the third quarter with a 68-yard scoring drive to tie the game at 7, Collin Heard intercepted Sam Johnson’s pass at the Southfield 12 two plays later.

However, Groves went for it on fourth-and-22 from the 24 and couldn’t convert.

After holding the Warriors on the ensuing drive and getting a short punt at the 33, the Falcons missed a 33-yard field goal attempt.

The gift-giving continued on both sides. One play after Allen put the Falcons ahead, Heard had his second interception of the half at the Groves 26, but the ensuing drive went 3-and-out.

Southfield fumbled the ball back to the Falcons three plays later, but Groves gave it up as Marquise Thorn intercepted a pass with 6:52 to play.

Southfield moved the ball, aided by two late-hit personal fouls and an encroachment on fourth-and-four. But three consecutive dropped passes left the Warriors (1-2) shy of a game-winning score down the stretch.

“We’re going to have to improve,” Southfield A&T coach Tim Conley said. “We have a lot of starters (seven) out, so we’re trying to develop depth. These first three games of the season we’ve played three ranked teams in a row, and we knew it was going to be tough. We’re going to improve. You can see our offense had a tough time.”

Johnson, a sophomore, was 8-for-22 passing, fumbled twice and threw three interceptions.

A turnover in the red zone led to Southfield A&T’s touchdown — the only score of the first half. Keith Powe intercepted a tipped pass at the Groves 9-yard line, and Lorenzo McCaskill took it across the goal line on the next play, breaking two tackles along the way.

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St. Clair Shores South Lake’s Jerodd Vines in a game in 2015.

St. Clair Shores Lakeview knew it was in for a challenge traveling to St. Clair Shores South Lake Friday night.

While both teams were 2-0, when Lakeview beat Royal Oak, 21-0, in Week 1, it was the first victory for the team’s juniors. First, as in ever.

“They didn’t win a game in the seventh-, eighth-, ninth- or 10th-grade,” said Lakeview coach Pat Threet.

“They said ‘Coach, we’ve never won a game.’ They didn’t know what to do. We had some talented kids who quit because they couldn’t deal with the losing. I told them we’re building something here. South Lake has a great program. If we can compete with them up front … “

• Week 3 high school football scoreboard
• McCabe: Led by Cody White, Walled Lake Western rolls past Northville

Unfortunately for Lakeview, their top two quarterbacks were out with injury, leaving freshman Evan Rochon under center.

And the Cavaliers could counter with receiver Jerodd Vines and running back Lance Mitchell. Vines caught two TD passes and raced 56 yards on a jet sweep, while Mitchell rushed for 198 yards on 13 carries in a 58-14 win for South Lake (3-0, 2-0 MAC Silver).

“I thought our defense made great strides tonight,” said South Lake coach Vernard Snowden. “The game plan was to get the ball in the hands of our athletes. We can throw and we can run.”

After a slow start, the Cavaliers put the ball in Mitchell’s hands and he produced. He accounted for all 48 yards on a drive, using 28 and 16-yard bursts to eventually score on a two-yard run with 4:55 left in the first quarter for a 6-0 lead.

“They opened up holes and they did their job, simple as that,” Mitchell said of the Cavaliers’ offensive line. “It’s going to be hard trying to cover our passing game and our running game.”

Behind Chris Wise and Jacen Norman, the Huskies started moving the ball against the Cavaliers, driving to the 11 by the end of the first quarter. Two plays into the second quarter, Wise scored from two yards out to make it 7-6 with 11:47 left in the half.

South Lake head coach Vernard Snowden addresses his team after Friday’s win over Lakeview.

But it took South Lake 14 seconds to get the lead back when Datrell Milling hit Vines with a 51-yard pass-run play.

“This offense can be great,” said Vines. “We can run. We can pass. We can pull it down with the quarterback. We can put a lot of pressure on the defense.”

Lakeview (2-1, 1-1) botched a fourth-down play at its 40, giving South Lake the ball on the Lakeview 13. After a holding penalty, Milling spotted Vines down the middle of the field and the junior did the rest on a 28-yard score with 7:10 left in the half to make it 20-7.

Vines continued his great evening with a 56-yard run with 10:54 left in the third to make it 28-7 after Milling’s two-point conversion run.

Mitchell raced in later from 36 yards to make it 34-7.

Contact Perry A. Farrell: 313-222-2555 or pafarrell@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @farrellperry.

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Defense, turnovers help Birmingham Groves defeat Southfield A&T, 13-7

Walled Lake Western’s players enter the field ahead of their game against Northville on Monday, September 9, 2016, at Warriors Stadium in Walled Lake, MI.

Friday’s results

CATHOLIC LEAGUE

Ann Arbor Richard 34, Macomb Lutheran North 13

DETROIT PSL

Cass Tech 57, Pershing 0

Cody 56, Douglass 0

Denby 40, Henry Ford 14

East English 42, Central 6

Friday, Sept. 9 Michigan high school football results, stats

King 60, Southeastern 0

Mumford 26, Collegiate Prep 14

Osborn 12, Renaissance 6

Western 42, CMA 0

DOWNRIVER

Allen Park 24, Woodhaven 0

Melvindale at Gibraltar Carlson, inc.

Taylor Truman 42, Taylor Kennedy 13

Trenton 33, Lincoln Park 0

Southgate at Wyandotte, inc.

HURON

Grosse Ile 39, New Boston Huron 24

Monroe Jefferson at Carleton Airport, inc.

Monroe St. Mary CC 44, Flat Rock 15

Riverview at Milan, inc.

KENSINGTON LAKES

Brighton 45, Westland Glenn 19

Canton 35, Hartland 21

Grand Blanc 42, Plymouth 27

Livonia Churchill 25, Howell 21

Livonia Franklin 31, Pinckney 7

Milford 49, Wayne Memorial 14

Salem 55, Walled Lake Central 39

South Lyon at Waterford Kettering, inc.

Walled Lake Northern 49, Livonia Stevenson 20

Walled Lake Western 48, Northville 34

• Cody White, Walled Lake Western roll past Northville

Waterford Mott 34, Novi 31

White Lake Lakeland 24, South Lyon East 20

MACOMB AREA

Clawson at Madison Heights Madison, inc.

Clinton Twp. Chippewa Valley 26, Warren Cousino 18

Grosse Pointe North at Romeo, inc.

Grosse Pointe South 29, Fraser 7

L’Anse Creuse North 20, Anchor Bay 19

Macomb Dakota 49, L’Anse Creuse 0

Madison Heights Lamphere at SCS Lake Shore, inc.

Marysville 38, New Haven 22

St. Clair 31, Clinton Twp. Clintondale 22

SCS South Lake 58, SCS Lakeview 14

• South Lake’s Vines, Mitchell too much for Lakeview

Sterling Heights at Sterling Heights Stevenson, inc.

Utica Eisenhower 49, Roseville 0

Utica Ford at Utica, inc.

Warren Fitzgerald 50, East Detroit 0

Warren Lincoln at Warren Woods Tower, inc.

Warren Mott 33, Port Huron 7

MICHIGAN INDEPENDENT

GPW University Liggett 42, RH Lutheran Northwest 19

Sterling Heights Parkway 68, Southfield Christian 22

MICHIGAN METRO

Melvindale ABT 30, Detroit Community 20

River Rouge at Ecorse, inc.

OAKLAND ACTIVITIES

Birmingham Groves 13, Southfield A&T 7

• Defense, turnovers help Birmingham Groves defeat Southfield A&T

Bloomfield Hills at Troy, inc.

Clarkston 38, Oxford 7

Farmington at Oak Park, inc.

Farmington Hills Harrison 45, Birmingham Seaholm 7

Ferndale 33, Auburn Hills Avondale 15

Hazel Park at Berkley, inc.

Rochester Adams 50, North Farmington 3

Royal Oak 35, Pontiac 0

Troy Athens at Rochester Hills Stoney Creek, inc.

West Bloomfield 37, Lake Orion 7

SOUTHEASTERN

Adrian 29, Ypsilanti Lincoln 22

Chelsea 33, Dexter 6

Monroe 35, Ann Arbor Huron 7

Saline 24, Ann Arbor Skyline 21

Temperance Bedford 22, Ann Arbor Pioneer 21

Ypsilanti 14, Tecumseh 7

WESTERN WAYNE

Dearborn 40, Dearborn Edsel Ford 18

Dearborn Fordson 34, Belleville 25

Livonia Clarenceville 19, Dearborn Heights Annapolis 16

Redford Thurston 29, Garden City 23

Redford Union 35, Dearborn Heights Robichaud 12

Romulus 20, Dearborn Heights Crestwood 0

OTHER GAMES

Birmingham Brother Rice 41, Elkhart (Ind.) Central 17

Clarkston Everest 42, Pittsford 22

Detroit Delta Prep 32, Detroit Voyageur 14

Detroit Edison at Hamtramck, inc.

Detroit Leadership at Detroit Country Day, inc.

Detroit Loyola 38, Marine City 22

Detroit Public Safety at North Adams-Jerome, inc.

Detroit Science & Math def. Detroit Westside, forfeit

Harper Woods def. Windsor Lajeunesse, forfeit

Madison Heights Bishop Foley 38, Southfield Bradford 10

Marine City Cardinal Mooney 51, Dearborn Hts. Star 6

Mishawaka (Ind.) Penn 10, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 7

Rochester 38, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep 32

Riverview Richard 56, Romulus Summit 6

U-D Jesuit 56, Simcoe (Ont.) Holy Trinity 8

Novi Detroit Catholic Central 49, Toronto St. Michael’s 7

Warren De La Salle 35, Windsor Holy Names 6

Thursday’s result

Bay City All Saints 48, Detroit Cesar Chavez 8

Saturday’s games

MACOMB AREA

Port Huron Northern at Center Line, 7

MICHIGAN INDEPENDENT

Oakland Christian at Lutheran Westland, 2

OTHER GAMES

Allen Park Cabrini at Warren Mich. Collegiate, 7

Detroit Old Redford at Royal Oak Shrine, 2

Detroit University Prep at Waterford Our Lady, 1

HW Chandler Park at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook, 3

Windsor Kennedy at Dearborn Divine Child, 1

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Northville’s Nathan Holloway tackles Walled Lake Western quarterback Cody White during the first quarter Friday, Sept. 9, 2016. White completed 11 of 16 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns in the victory.

Hey, this quarterback thing is working out pretty well for Cody White.

White, who will be a wide receiver at Michigan State next year, started his third game at quarterback for Walled Lake Western Friday night and led the Warriors to their third straight victory, 48-34, over a Northville team that refused to quit despite a 27-point deficit.

But with White at quarterback, it was difficult for the Mustangs to stop Western’s offense.

“I’m starting to get comfortable back there,” said White. “My receivers are getting timing routes in and I’m hitting them and making big plays.”

• Week 3 high school football scoreboard
• South Lake’s Vines, Mitchell too much for Lakeview

A preseason injury to Johnny Tracy pressed White into the starting quarterback spot for the first time since his freshman year, and against Northville, the No. 7 team in Division 1, he completed 11 of 16 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns.

Maybe White should forget about the receiver thing until he gets to MSU.

“Oh, I miss it a lot,” he said. “We would like Johnny back here, but his injury is preventing him. We’re just going to do what’s best for the team and try to keep winning.”

The best thing for Western (3-0, No. 1 in Division 2) is to keep the ball in White’s hands as much as possible.

“He’s just an all-around athlete,” said Western receiver Kam Ford. “We’ve grown up together and we’ve been playing together since the second grade. He can do it all. I’ve never seen somebody play so many sports.”

White and Ford teamed up on some terrific plays. Ford caught four passes, including ones that went for 43 and 40 yards.

“We’ve got a good connection,” Ford said. “He throws everything well. He’s an athlete you can put at quarterback and he’ll make something happen.”

One of the things White makes happen is Western’s running attack. White had 11 completions in the first half, and then the Warriors turned to their ground game after intermission.

“We pass a lot more than other teams,” he said. “We’re putting it in the air. They start to back up, and we hit them with the running game. I guess our pass does set up the run.”

White began Western’s second possession of the game with two quick complete passes totaling 38 yards and finished the possession with a 7-yard TD pass to Ford.

The next time the Warriors got the ball, White lofted a 40-yard bomb that Ford hauled in for a 14-0 Western lead with 11 seconds left in the first quarter.

Jalen Marshall followed Ford’s 53-yard punt return with an 11-yard run for a 21-0 lead. It quickly became 27-0 when White completed a 43-yard pass to Ford and a 31-yarder to Jamon Benson before finding Jack Dodge with an 11-yard TD pass midway through the second quarter.

It appeared the rout was on, but Northville quarterback Jack Burke completed three passes to set up his three-yard TD run and then found A.J. Abbott for a 48-yard score with two second left in the first half to make it a 27-14 game.

Northville (2-1) made it a competitive second half but couldn’t make a serious run at Western thanks to Dodge, who tied a record with three interceptions, two of which led to Benson touchdown runs.

“The first one was a broken coverage,” said Dodge. “My guy was wide open, so I was trying to get over there, but the play started and I saw a receiver come straight up wide open so I read it and came up and got it. It’s awesome. I’ve never had three in a game before.”

Contact Mick McCabe: 313-223-4744 or mmccabe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1.

Defense, turnovers help Birmingham Groves defeat Southfield A&T, 13-7

Hudsonville linebacker Dalton Agers

Hudsonville has a formidable defensive front seven.

Yet perhaps its best defense in Friday night’s 25-18 win at East Kentwood was its offense.

Hudsonville controlled the ball so one-sidedly with its slow and steady running game — gobbling up almost 37 of the 48 minutes of game time — that Division 1’s No. 3-ranked team barely gave the Falcons a chance to show their scoring capabilities. Amazingly, East Kentwood didn’t earn a yard of offense from the line of scrimmage until the midway point of the second quarter.

That fact, and five takeaways (three interceptions and two fumble recoveries) by Hudsonville’s defense kept East Kentwood’s offense off the field.

“We had the ball a lot,” said Hudsonville senior linebacker Dalton Agers. “It’s pretty important for the offense to keep the ball. It keeps us rested and it keeps us able to go 100% all the time. Otherwise, if we’re out there almost the whole game, we’re dead.”

The defensive front seven’s reputation was so strong that East Kentwood coaches didn’t call a single play for a running back the entire game. Its only rushes came on four quarterback runs and an end-around sweep by wide receiver Andre Welch that gained 15 of the team’s 17 total rushing yards.

“They do a good job on defense, taking it away,” East Kentwood coach Tony Kimbrough said about the choice to throw 31 times. “We knew the strength of their team is what they do up front. They do a lot of stunts and blitzes. We just couldn’t get into a rhythm running the ball.”

Of those 31 aerial attempts, at least half were 20-plus yards off the strong arm of quarterback Evan Maday. He completed 13 for 234 yards, including five receptions that went for 26 yards or more. The longest was a 40-yard bomb for a touchdown to Brandon Browley. He leaped high for it at the pylon, scoring just before halftime. That play and a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Welch in the first quarter kept East Kentwood close.

“We expect them to throw deep, but not that much and not that often,” said Hudsonville coach Dave Lidgard. “They’re very dangerous. They are very talented and can make plays, and we saw that tonight. Kudos to East Kentwood. They’re a good team and they’re not going away.

“But ball control, try to keep it away from them. We were able to do that. We did what they gave us, and the run game was getting positive yards (225 yards on 55 carries), so we didn’t feel like we had to chuck it around. It was one of those things where we were able to stay with what was working.”

Hudsonville quarterback Jack Mandryk led the team with 23 carries, most of them up the middle, for 108 yards, including the winning four-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter. He had only four pass attempts, for 18 yards. Sam Baine ran for a three-yard touchdown in the first, and Michael Ouding had an 8-yard score in the second quarter. Cam McDonald added a 33-yard field goal.

“We got shoved around a little bit last year, and these guys vowed they were going to work in the off-season and get better,” Lidgard said. “And we’ve been trying to sell them on, let’s not get shoved around but try to do the shoving this year. And so far the first three games, they’ve risen to the challenge.”

Week 3 high school football scoreboard

Cass Tech’s Donovan Parker(13) intercepts a Oak Park pass during second half action of the Detroit Prep KickOff Classic Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016 at Wayne State University’s Tom Adams football field. Regina H. Boone/Detroit Free Press

One of the state’s top rushers is healthy again.

Detroit Loyola sophomore D’Anthony Robinson suffered an ankle injury midway through last season that cost him playing time. He injured the same ankle during the Bulldogs’ preseason scrimmage in August. It has limited his play and effectiveness.

But after Robinson had a good week of practice, Loyola coach John Callahan knew that the sophomore would be a rushing threat Friday. He sure was. Robinson carried 15 times for 178 yards to push the Bulldogs past Marine City, 38-22, for a needed rebound win.

“We watched him and had him take it easy in practice,” Callahan said. “He’s only a sophomore, and we didn’t want to take any chances.

“We waited until he was good to go. He looked good during the week. His speed, acceleration and cutting looked good. He stepped in for us, and he looked like he had never missed a beat.”

On Loyola’s first offensive play, Robinson rushed 50 yards for a TD.

Callahan, whose team is 2-1, said Loyola could have used Robinson’s rushing during its 35-14 loss to Orchard Lake St. Mary’s last week.

“D’Anthony’s return is coming at a good time,” he said. “He tried a little bit, but he was hobbling too much and was ineffective in that game, and we didn’t play him much. He’s good and ready to go now. I expect big things out of him.”

Those expectations are based on Robinson’s performance last season. He rushed for just over 1,000 yards, even though his injury limited his playing minutes. He saw action in only eight of Loyola’s 13 games.

Helping beat Marine City was Loyola quarterback Price Watkins, who was 6-of-10 passing for 75 yards. He had 70 yards and two TDs rushing.

Hunter Harris added four catches for 64 yards, including a big reception on fourth down that kept a Bulldogs drive alive.

Loyola inside linebackers Kailen Abrams (12 tackles) and Keith Johnson (10) led the defense while Jimmie Chappell chipped in seven tackles, one fumble recovery and an interception.

Week 3 high school football scoreboard

Parker helps Cass Tech in each phase

Detroit Cass Tech senior Donavon Parker has a lot of responsibilities to juggle as a starter on offense, defense and special teams.

But he didn’t let any balls drop Friday, as he impacted each phase of the game in Cass Tech’s 57-0 win over Detroit Pershing.

Parker returned a punt 53 yards for a TD, reeled in a 13-yard reception for a score and had a pair of pass breakups on defense.

“He plays an impact role,” Cass Tech coach Thomas Wilcher said. “A lot rides on him because he plays offense, defense and special teams. We try to keep him involved.”

The 6-foot-1, 180-pound defensive back leads Cass Tech with five pass breakups through three games.

“He’s done a great job,” added Wilcher, whose Technicians are 3-0. “He got a lot of pass breakups the last couple of games.”

Meanwhile, the state’s No. 1 recruit, receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones, had only one reception for 13 yards. It marked the second straight week the five-star prospect has finished a game with only one catch.

That streak should end when the Technicians visit Detroit Southeastern for a game Friday.

“There are always 200 people on him,” Wilcher said. “That makes it hard for him to catch the ball, but that’s OK. We’re going to change our offense where we can get him the ball.”

Temperance Bedford uses ‘magical’ play to edge Ann Arbor Pioneer

Temperance Bedford coach Jeff Wood dislikes playing in overtime. He dislikes it so much, in fact, that that’s why he elected to go for two points during Friday’s 22-21 win in overtime over visiting Ann Arbor Pioneer.

“I do not go to overtime with anybody,” said Wood, whose team is 3-0. “If we happen to go, it’s going to be a one-play, we-play-to-win game.

“Michigan’s overtime rules, I don’t like it. If we have the opportunity to win the game, we’re going to do it.”

Pioneer struck first to take a 21-14 lead in sudden death.

Bedford countered with a 1-yard TD run from Joey Oehlers. Then things got exciting.

Wood drew up a two-point play for Gabe Caris to catch a pass in the flats and, hopefully, do enough to get into the end zone.

When quarterback Joey Wiemer dropped back, Caris was well guarded.

“Pioneer did a great job covering both guys on the left side,” Wood said. “So Joey started to scramble. When he scrambled around, they came off of Gabe. Joey saw that at the last second, threw it to the back of the end zone, and Gabe went up and got it.”

It was a heads-up play by Wiemer, who rushed 24 times for 98 yards.

“Joey was going to get it to Gabe in the flats, but Pioneer switched the coverage on us, so it was a great play by Joey,” Wood said. “He created a play to get everyone to follow him, and he threw it back there to Gabe, who was wide-open. They left him open back there.”

Bedford needed two other plays from Wiemer to knot the score at 14-14 and send the game into overtime.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Wiemer lofted an 80-yard pass to David Jeffers, who made a tough grab and then ran in for the score.

Wiemer than found Brady Nowak with a pass for the tying two-point conversion.

“David is one of our best receivers, and he made a great catch and outran everybody to the end zone,” Wood noted.

Oehlers finished with 102 yards and two touchdowns rushing.

Bedford limited Pioneer to 140 yards of offense and five first downs. But none of those stats can overshadow Bedford’s finish — regardless of how much Wood hates playing in overtime.

“I’ve seen the play from five different angles from five different people who have put it on Facebook or from the news stations,” Wood said. “It was great watching the kids persevere. Pioneer is athletic and good on defense, and it was a great battle. For us to win it on the last play of the game and to see us celebrate it, it was magical.”

Dearborn Fordson’s Slay Shajrah catches the game-winning pass against Canton during the second half of Fordson’s 40-35 win at Wayne State.

You might say Dearborn Fordson coach Walker Zaban is a gambler.

Four times Friday night he had his Fordson team go for it on fourth down. But is it really a gamble when you know what is going to happen?

Fordson converted all four fourth-down plays in its convincing, 34-25 victory over Belleville.

A nine-point spread certainly doesn’t seem like a one-sided game, but the Tractors didn’t allow Belleville to possess the ball for long periods of time.

Week 3 high school football scoreboard

“We dominated the game, but the score didn’t translate,” Zaban said Saturday morning. “They make big plays. They strike quickly. They had four big plays they scored on. It wasn’t like they drove the ball. They actually couldn’t move the ball except on those big plays.”

Fordson (3-0, No. 5 in Division 1), on the other hand, had no difficulty moving the ball. Quarterback Hamze Elzayat was his spectacular self, running and passing, and running back Aziz Alhanek gained 115 yards.

“Our quarterback played well, our running back played well, but I think you have to give credit to the offensive line,” Zaban said. “They controlled the line of scrimmage, and that’s why we were able to do the things we did.”

That is a direct reflection on line coach Jamal Hamid, who was able to overcome the loss of Zac Darwiche, Fordson’s top lineman, and do well with Mohammed Chami filling in off the bench.

“The next guy came in and did a great job,” Zaban said. “That’s a tribute to the coach for making sure he’s preparing everybody. He does such a good job and they keep working. Belleville is like Cass Tech. They bring people from everywhere, but they picked everything up and we were able to move the ball.”

Elzayat was terrific in leading Fordson back from a 21-point halftime deficit in the opener against Canton, and he was even better against Belleville as a game manager.

He may not have done anything as spectacular as rolling to his right, getting a cramp in his calf, and then throwing a 59-yard touchdown pass across the field for the game-winner against Canton, but his decision-making against Belleville was impeccable.

“I tell you what, he killed a few plays and changed them up, and we ended up getting touchdowns out of them,” Zaban said. “Two of the fourth downs he changed the call, and we got the first downs. Nobody would know that.”

Elzayat is capable of making those decisions on Friday nights because of what offensive coordinator Osama Abulhassan and quarterbacks coach Ali Baidoun work on with him earlier in the week.

“They teach him these situations,” Zaban said. “Honestly, if it was another kid, we would trust him as well. This kid is a little more athletic and has that experience, more than the 10th grader who’s his backup, but at least these guys teach him these situation that allows us to trust the kids.”

Because of what Elzayat has done this season, he has earned Zaban’s trust. The coaches will listen to Elzayat’s opinion when he comes to the sideline. Problem was he never came to the sideline against Belleville.

“He played both ways and he didn’t come out of the game,” Zaban said. “He’s probably our best defensive back, so we had to play him against all their skill kids.”

The last five Fordson playoff appearances have ended with losses to Cass Tech in the district, which is why no matter how well the Tractors are playing, Cass Tech is always in Zaban’s thoughts.

“You have to think about them,” Zaban said. “How can’t you think of a team that’s pretty damn good and full of Division I talent and more than likely you’ll have to see? So yeah, you have to think about them.

“They’re loaded again.”

So is Fordson.

Contact Mick McCabe: 313-223-4744 or mmccabe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1.

Walled Lake Western’s players enter the field ahead of their game against Northville on Friday, Sept. 9, 2016, at Warriors Stadium in Walled Lake.

There is not much movement in the rankings this week, which means either the rankings are accurate, or a shakeup is on the horizon.

That shakeup could come this week when Novi Detroit Catholic Central hosts Ohio powerhouse Cleveland St. Ignatius and Saline hosts Temperance Bedford.

There should be some changes in Division 2 after the high-profile matchup with No. 5 Portage Central playing at No. 7 Traverse City Central.

Warren Mott, which faces Macomb Dakota this week, broke into the Division 1 top 10 after Northville lost to Walled Lake Western.

Week 3 scoreboard

Dearborn Fordson uses 4th-down conversions to top Belleville

Big-time players lift Detroit Loyola, Cass Tech to football wins

Traverse City West, which lost to Traverse City Central, was the only ranked team to lose in Division 2 and has been replaced by Grosse Pointe South.

The big news in Division 3 is that two-time defending champ Orchard Lake St. Mary’s lost at Mishawaka Penn, 10-7, and is the only 1-2 team ranked in any division. Sound crazy? Do you want to face St. Mary’s in the state playoffs?

Three-time defending Division 5 champ Grand Rapids West Catholic lost to defending Division 4 champ Zeeland West, but is still No. 1. It wasn’t like West Catholic laid an egg in the loss.

Maple City Glen Lake is back in the Division 6 rankings, two weeks after a 21-13 loss to Traverse City St. Francis, No. 2 in Division 7. Glen Lake could be a force in the state playoffs.

Detroit Loyola’s 38-22 victory over Marine City only cemented the Bull Dogs’ hold on the top spot in Division 7, although St. Francis continues to impress.

The biggest changes occurred in Division 8 where Ottawa Lake Whiteford, Lake Linden-Hubbell and Norway all made their debut in the rankings.

Mick McCabe’s rankings

FOOTBALL

Super 10

Rank, School, Record, Division

1. Detroit Cass Tech, 3-0, 1

The Technicians continue to roll through the PSL

2. Walled Lake Western, 3-0, 2

Impressive offensively, but defense looked shaky vs. Northville

3. Novi Detroit Catholic Central, 3-0, 1

The Shamrocks face a huge test Friday hosting Cleveland St. Ignatius

4. Muskegon, 2-1, 3

Rebounded from loss by scoring 63 points

5. Detroit King, 3-0, 2

Another romp through the PSL

6. Lowell, 3-0, 2

An impressive victory over East Grand Rapids

7. Hudsonville, 3-0, 1

The defense was terrific in beating East Kentwood

8. Utica Eisenhower, 3-0, 1

Should be tested Friday by Chippewa Valley

9. Dearborn Fordson, 3-0, 1

A dominant win over Belleville

10. River Rouge, 2-1, 4

A second straight shutout for the rouge defense

Division 1

Rank, School, Record, Last week

 1. Detroit Cass Tech, 3-0, 1

 2. Novi Detroit Catholic Central, 3-0, 2

 3. Hudsonville, 3-0, 3

 4. Utica Eisenhower, 3-0, 4

 5. Dearborn Fordson, 3-0, 5

 6. Davison, 3-0, 8

 7. Grandville, 3-0, 9

 8. Grand Blanc, 3-0, 10

 9. Saline, 3-0, 6

10. Warren Mott, 3-0, —

Division 2

 1. Walled Lake Western, 3-0, 1

 2. Detroit King, 3-0, 2

 3. Lowell, 3-0, 3

 4. Midland Dow, 3-0, 5

 5. Portage Central, 3-0, 6

6. Temperance Bedford, 3-0, 7

 7. Traverse City Central, 3-0, 8

 8. Birmingham Groves, 3-0, 9

 9. Grosse Pointe South, 3-0, —

10. U-D Jesuit, 3-0, 10

Division 3

 1. Muskegon, 2-1, 1

 2. Grand Rapids Christian, 3-0, 2

 3. St. Joseph, 3-0, 4

 4. Allen Park, 3-0, 5

 5. Zeeland West, 3-0, 8

 6. Mason, 3-0, 9

 7. Chelsea, 3-0, 10

 8. Edwardsburg, 3-0,–

 9. Battle Creek Harper Creek, 3-0,–

10. Orchard Lake St. Mary, 1-2, 3

Division 4

 1. River Rouge, 2-1, 1

 2. Birmingham Det. Country Day, 3-0, 2

 3. Grand Rapids Catholic Central, 3-0, 3

 4. Alma, 3-0, 4

 5. Corunna, 3-0, 5

 6. Marysville, 3-0, 6

 7. Ludington, 3-0, 7

 8. Escanaba, 3-0, 9

 9. Benton Harbor, 3-0, 10

10. Hamilton, 3-0, —

Division 5

 1. Grand Rapids West Catholic, 2-1, 1

 2. Menominee, 3-0, 2

 3. Lansing Catholic, 3-0, 3

 4. Ithaca, 3-0, 4

 5. Frankenmuth, 3-0, 5

 6. Montague, 3-0, 6

 7. Portland, 3-0, 7

 8. Ida, 3-0, 8

 9. Freeland, 3-0, 10

10. Algonac, 3-0, —

Division 6

 1. Millington, 3-0, 1

 2. Charlevoix, 3-0, 2

 3. Negaunee, 3-0, 3

 4. Laingsburg, 3-0, 4

 5. Madison Hts. Madison, 2-1, 5

 6. Grass Lake, 3-0, 6

 7. Schoolcraft, 3-0, 7

 8. Roscommon, 3-0, 9

 9. Quincy, 3-0, 10

10. Maple City Glen Lake, 2-1, —

Division 7

 1. Detroit Loyola, 2-1, 1

 2. Traverse City St. Francis, 3-0, 2

 3. Pewamo-Westphalia, 3-0, 3

 4. New Lothrop, 3-0, 4

 5. Saugatuck, 3-0, 5

 6. Iron Mountain, 3-0, 7

 7. Clinton, 3-0, 8

 8. McBain, 3-0, 9

 9. Hudson, 3-0, 10

10. Sand Creek, 3-0, —

Division 8

 1. Muskegon Catholic Central, 3-0, 1

 2. Climax-Scotts, 3-0, 2

 3. Frankfort, 3-0, 4

 4. Ishpeming, 1-1, 5

 5. Mendon, 2-1, 7

 6. St. Ignace, 2-1, 8

 7. Gaylord St Mary, 3-0, 9

 8. Ottawa Lake Whiteford, 3-0, —

 9. Lake Linden-Hubbell, 3-0, —

10. Norway, 3-0, —

Sep 2, 2016; East Lansing, MI, USA; General view of footballs on the field before a game between the Michigan State Spartans and the Furman Paladins at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit:

Zeeland West is undefeated, but that is no surprise to anyone in the world of Michigan high school football.

The unusual thing about the start for the defending Division 4 state champs is that all games have been relatively close: 14-9 over Cedar Springs, 32-28 over Muskegon Mona Shores and 38-22 against Grand Rapids West Catholic.

All of the Dux’s opponents have been good teams, especially West Catholic, which won the last three Division 5 state titles.

West is a difficult team to prepare for, given its full-house T-formation offense that relies on all three running backs and the quarterback carrying out fakes long past the line of scrimmage as the defense is left wondering who has the ball.

• Mick McCabe’s Week 3 high school football rankings
• Dearborn Fordson uses 4th-down conversions to top Belleville
• Big-time players lift Detroit Loyola, Cass Tech to football wins
• McCabe: Led by Cody White, Walled Lake Western rolls past Northville

One of the keys to West’s success has been blocking by its two tight ends, which are basically offensive tackles lining up at each end of the line of scrimmage.

“For years in running our offense, we were a tight end block down and kick-out team, and people found a way to combat that by really squeezing that guy,” said West coach John Shillito. “So we ask our tight end to block the edge a lot. A lot of times we put two of our best linemen, if not our two best linemen, at tight end.”

This year’s tight ends — Jake Slager (6-feet-5, 235 pounds) and Connor Chupailo (6-4, 265) — even look like tackles, just as former West all-stater Jordan VanDort (6-5, 320) did a few years ago.

The thing about the Dux’s offense is that it seems to require a court order before Shillito calls for a pass play.

The Dux did attempt four passes against West Catholic, completing three of them. One of the completions was a 24-yard touchdown pass to Chupailo.

“For us, the threat of the pass is a big threat of what we do more so than how many times we pass,” said Shillito. “But if we’re going to do it we want to get a big play.”

That is what the Dux got when quarterback Hunter Blauwkamp threw the touchdown pass.

“We hope our tight ends are guys that can run and catch a little bit, and these two guys are, so that’s a plus,” Shillito said. “We feel like we need at least one of them that we can threaten the defense with.”

A crucial aspect of West’s 3-0 start has been the play of Blauwkamp, who has done an admirable job replacing Casey Brinks.

“It was definitely a position we were concerned with because we had a three-year guy who went 39-2 and was probably the coolest customer going,” Shillito said of Brinks. “Hunter has stepped in and really made a lot of big plays, especially against West Catholic. He made a lot of good decisions back there.”

• Week 3 scoreboard

■TRAVERSE CITY TURNOVERS: Traverse City Central coach Eric Schugars didn’t mince words when describing his team’s 10-8 victory over Traverse City West in the town’s annual Patriot Game.

“It was an ugly game,” he said. “It was ugly, but it was one of those game with cross-town rivals like that, in that environment — kids made plays even after we made mistakes.”

The mistake level reached epic proportions, with each team committing five turnovers.

“I think we tried to turn it over more than them,” Schugars said. “It was like a competition in turnovers, unfortunately.”

This was a game in which the defense needed to be at its best, and for Central it was. In fact, junior Terry O’Connor’s 12-yard interception return was Central’s only touchdown.

With linebacker Fitz Doud and two-way tackle Ben Sherwin leading the way on defense, the Trojans should be competitive in every game.

“We do have a great defense this year, and we kind of hang our hats on that right now,” Schugars said. “That’s what kept us in the game.”

Before the season, a Central player said the team’s goal was to be better than “Up North good.” Central is competitive every season, until the playoffs begin.

Last season in the state playoffs, the Trojans lost, 40-14, to Muskegon, and the year before they were beaten, 35-0, by Midland Dow. That is why Central hosts Portage Central this week and plays at Birmingham Brother Rice in Week 8.

“We added tougher teams on our schedule because we got beat in the first round by Muskegon pretty handily,” Schugars said. “You go 9-0 and then hit the playoffs. Our players will tell you, too, they just weren’t ready for that. They didn’t really step their game up and we learned from that.”

Contact Mick McCabe: 313-223-4744 or mmccabe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1.

Sep 2, 2016; East Lansing, MI, USA; General view of footballs on the field before a game between the Michigan State Spartans and the Furman Paladins at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit:

These five high school football players turned in exceptional performances to lead their teams to victory:

ANDREW DAVIS

Plymouth Salem: The 5-foot-9, 165-pound junior running back/cornerback rushed for 256 yards on 13 carries and scored touchdowns on runs of 57, 59 and 52 yards as well as a 47-yard pass reception, finishing with 303 yards of total offense in a 55-39 win over Walled Lake Central.

DREW STOUT

Carson City-Crystal: A running back last season as a freshman, the quarterback completed 20 of 39 passes for 352 yards and four touchdowns. He also carried the ball seven times for 108 yards and three TDs in a 50-18 win over Montabella.

ALEC MUCK

Sand Creek: The 5-11 sophomore ran for 277 yards and scored touchdowns on runs of 8, 5, 29, 37 and 67 yards to lead Sand Creek to a third consecutive victory, 54-28, over Whitmore Lake.

BLAKE BOGAN

Grand Blanc: The 6-2, 190-pound senior wide receiver/free safety caught seven passes for 168 yards and a touchdown, had five tackles and set a school record with three interceptions to lead Grand Blanc to its third straight win, 42-27, over Plymouth.

CAMERON SHOOK

Grosse Pointe South: The 6-3, 190-pound junior kicker and punter set a school record with five field goals of 31, 37, 28, 37 and 32 yards and executed a successful onside kick to help South defeat Fraser, 39-7, to improve to 3-0.

Mick McCabe’s Week 3 high school football rankings
Week 3 high school football scoreboard

Trey Creamer

Cartersville (Ga.) cornerback Trey Creamer, a three-star prospect, will be in East Lansing next weekend for his official Michigan State visit.

The 6-foot, 175-pounder is unranked as far as his position by Rivals.com but he has a solid list of close to 20 scholarship offers, including MSU, West Virginia, Louisville, Maryland, Minnesota and Kansas State. MSU defensive co-coordinator Harlon Barnett was in Georgia last weekend visiting Creamer and confirming his visit plans. The Spartans are viewed as a favorite for his services and a commitment shortly after his visit is a distinct possibility.

“Michigan State is my leader right now and I love all the coaches and how they communicate with me,” he told SpartanMag.com’s Patrick O’Brien. “Michigan State has a great education and the family type atmosphere that I’ve heard from players that visited the program.”

2018 Grand Rapids OL to visit MSU

Offensive line evaluation is always one of the critical aspects of recruiting. One player the MSU staff is taking a serious look at for the class of 2018 is Grand Rapids Catholic Central’s Jalen Mayfield. I was able to catch up with the 6-5, 250-pound prospect and get some details on his recruitment. Catholic Central is always a strong program that produces well-coached players. The Cougars are 3-0 with a game against Forest Hills Eastern Friday.

Mayfield already has multiple scholarships on the table and more will likely come as teams are able to evaluate him this fall.

“I have been offered by a Central Michigan, Western Michigan and Miami (Ohio) and Cincinnati. I am being recruited by Michigan State, Illinois, Kent State, UCF, Ball State.  On Sept. 24, I am visiting Michigan State for their game against Wisconsin. I also just visited Western Michigan this past weekend,” Mayfield said.

Michigan State is keeping a close eye on Mayfield and he talked about his contact with the Spartans.

“I visited a couple weeks ago with my parents,” he said. “I keep in touch (offensive line) coach Mark Staten and (director of college advancement and performance) Curtis Blackwell. (Staten) said he likes that I am a coachable player and my frame right now is good for just a junior. I think Michigan State is a great program. They always get the most out of all of their players.”

Mayfield said the Spartans have requested that he make sure to provide them with his game film from this year. One of the aspects that will be working in his favor is that Mayfield has lined up and played both guard and tackle for Catholic Central. Staten definitely likes his linemen to be versatile.

Matt Dorsey is a recruiting analyst for SpartanMag.com and Rivals.com.

Walled Lake Western’s Jamon Benson runs the ball against Northville on Monday, Sept. 9, 2016, at Warriors Stadium in Walled Lake, MI.

Friday 

CATHOLIC LEAGUE

Allen Park Cabrini at Riverview Gabriel Richard, 7

Birmingham Brother Rice at Warren De La Salle, 7

Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook at Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes, 7

Madison Heights Bishop Foley at Clarkston Everest, 7

U-D Jesuit at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, 7

• Mick McCabe’s Week 3 high school football rankings
• 5 great Michigan prep football performances from Week 3

CHARTER SCHOOL

Detroit University Prep at Harper Woods Chandler Park, 7

Romulus Summit at Detroit Old Redford, 4:30

Southfield Bradford at Warren Michigan Collegiate, 7

DETROIT PSL

Cass Tech at Southeastern, 4

Central at Osborn, 4

CMA at Mumford, 4

Collegiate Prep at Cody, 4

Douglass at Pershing, 4

East English at Denby, 4

Henry Ford at Renaissance, 4

Western at King, 4

DOWNRIVER

Allen Park at Southgate Anderson, 7

Brownstown Woodhaven at Gibraltar Carlson, 7

Lincoln Park at Wyandotte Roosevelt, 7

Taylor Kennedy at Melvindale, 7

Taylor Truman at Trenton, 7

HURON

Carleton Airport at Riverview, 7

Grosse Ile at Flat Rock, 7

Milan at Monroe Jefferson, 7

New Boston Huron at Monroe St. Mary CC, 7

KENSINGTON LAKES

Canton at Livonia Franklin, 7

Grand Blanc at Milford, 7

Hartland at Howell, 7

Livonia Churchill at Plymouth, 7

Pinckney at Brighton, 7

Plymouth Salem at Northville, 7

South Lyon at Livonia Stevenson, 7

South Lyon East at Novi, 7

Walled Lake Northern at Waterford Kettering, 7

Walled Lake Western at Walled Lake Central, 7

Wayne Memorial at Westland John Glenn, 7

White Lake Lakeland at Waterford Mott, 7

MACOMB AREA

Blue

Grosse Pointe North at Port Huron, 7

Roseville at Sterling Heights, 7

Warren Cousino at L’Anse Creuse, 7

Bronze  

Clinton Twp. Clintondale at Warren Lincoln, 7

New Haven at Madison Heights Lamphere, 7

Gold

Marine City at Marysville, 7

Port Huron Northern at St. Clair, 7

Warren Woods Tower at St. Clair Shores Lake Shore, 7

Red

Clinton Twp. Chippewa Valley at Utica Eisenhower, 7

Macomb Dakota at Warren Mott, 7

Romeo at Sterling Heights Stevenson, 7

Silver

Clawson at East Detroit, 7

St. Clair Shores Lakeview at Madison Heights Madison, 7

St. Clair Shores South Lake at Warren Fitzgerald, 7

White

Macomb L’Anse Creuse North at Fraser, 7

Utica at New Baltimore Anchor Bay, 7

Utica Ford at Grosse Pointe South, 7

MICHIGAN INDEPENDENT

Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett at Southfield Christian, 7

Sterling Heights Parkway Christian at Auburn Hills Oakland Christian, 7

MICHIGAN METRO

Blue

Detroit Science & Math at Detroit Community, 7

Hamtramck at River Rouge, 7

OAKLAND ACTIVITIES

Blue

Ferndale at Bloomfield Hills, 7

Pontiac at Hazel Park, 7

Rochester at Auburn Hills Avondale, 7

Troy at Royal Oak, 7

Red

Clarkston at Rochester Hills Stoney Creek, 7

Oxford at Lake Orion, 7

Southfield A&T at Troy Athens, 7

White

Birmingham Groves at North Farmington, 7

Birmingham Seaholm at Farmington, 7

Oak Park at Rochester Adams, 7

Crossover

West Bloomfield at Farmington Hills Harrison, 7

SOUTHEASTERN

Red

Ann Arbor Huron at Ann Arbor Pioneer, 7

Monroe at Ann Arbor Skyline, 7

Temperance Bedford at Saline, 7

White

Adrian at Tecumseh, 7

Chelsea at Ypsilanti Lincoln, 7

Ypsilanti Community at Dexter, 7

WESTERN WAYNE

Blue

Belleville at Redford Union, 7

Dearborn Heights Robichaud at Redford Thurston, 7

Garden City at Dearborn Fordson, 7

Red

Dearborn at Dearborn Heights Crestwood, 7

Dearborn Edsel Ford at Dearborn Heights Annapolis, 7

Romulus at Livonia Clarenceville, 7

OTHER GAMES

Center Line at Dearborn Divine Child, 7

Cleveland St. Ignatius (Ohio) at Novi Detroit Catholic Central, 7

Detroit Cesar Chavez at Dearborn Heights Star, 4

Detroit Consortium at Birmingham Detroit Country Day, 7

Detroit Leadership at Detroit Delta Prep Academy for Social Justice, 5

Detroit Public Safety at Melvindale Business & Tech, 7

Detroit Westside Christian at Detroit Delta, 4

Ecorse at Toledo MR Waite (OH), 7

Harper Woods at Macomb Lutheran North, 7

Pontiac Notre Dame Prep at Berkley, 7

Saturday 

CATHOLIC LEAGUE

Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard at Detroit Loyola, 7:30

Marine City Cardinal Mooney at Royal Oak Shrine, 2

MICHIGAN INDEPENDENT

Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest at Lutheran Westland, 1

MHSAA logo

The Michigan High School Athletic Association says its unique sideline concussion-testing program for athletes in football and other sports is having a positive impact, though long-term funding is an issue as it heads into its second and final year.

Member schools in the pilot program removed players for possible concussions at a higher rate than schools that were not, executive director Jack Roberts said.

“They’re proving that they’re good, but people are going to have to respond with support locally,” Roberts said. “We cannot sustain this forever.”

His group today released results of its first head-injury survey of more than 750 member high schools from 2015-16 sports. It received data from nearly every school.

The association started the program last fall with 62 high schools. It includes baseline testing of athletes in football and other sports to help with concussion diagnosis.

The association spent $10,000 last school year to start the program. It expects to spend $30,000 this year but will have fewer schools — 34 — involved because of the expense and commitment. They also will concentrate on sports that have the highest incidence of head injury.

“I hope that we can demonstrate their value and encourage sponsorship, grant support,” Roberts said. “But it’s going to take, I think, some investment by the people in the communities. The moms and dads are going to have to think that this is important and worth contributing to to make the programs safer for their children.”

Here is some information on what’s happening in Michigan:

WHAT IS BASELINE TESTING

Baseline testing is a combination of memory, reaction time, attention and stress assessments. It is done in major pro sports because it is considered an objective and individualized tool to help decide whether to remove an athlete from a game. While all states have laws that address preventing concussions in youth sports, many are weak, and none require baseline testing.

WHY IT MATTERS

Michigan schools reported 4,452 head injuries in boys and girls sports, or 5.9 per school. Contact sports had the most head injuries. Ranking first was 11-player football, with 49 head injuries per 1,000 participants, followed by ice hockey, with 38, and 8-player football, with 34. Girls soccer had 30 injuries per 1,000 participants, and girls basketball ranked fifth, with 29 injuries per 1,000.

But that likely is only part of the picture. Health and safety advocates fear that concussions often go undetected in high schools because of inconsistent protocols at districts unwilling or unable to spend money for detection. It’s often on players to self-report concussions, or on coaches, who have many responsibilities and sometimes little training to recognize symptoms.

WHY NOT ALL SCHOOLS

Schools typically don’t argue with the benefit of testing, but cash-strapped districts often say that the cost of offering such programs is prohibitive.

PROGRAMS AVAILABLE

Many sideline concussion-testing programs are on the market. Michigan is testing the Illinois-based King-Devick Test affiliated with the Mayo Clinic and Maryland-based XLNTbrain Sport. The association provides them for free to the participating schools. Long term, Roberts says he thinks that the association could fund it, in part, with a $3 to $5 fee per student. But the association also is working to get grants.

HOW IT WORKS

Baselines with the XLNTbrain Sport are determined during 30-minute sessions by athletes at computers. The tests measure reaction time, attention, memory and stress by completing a series of exercises that involve such things as word recognition. Athletes suspected of a head injury undergo a sideline assessment done in about five minutes with an iPhone or tablet app. It assesses memory by providing words for the athlete to remember. It asks questions that require the athlete to recall the hit. The athletes also hold the phone as they stand for 20 seconds with eyes open and then closed to check balance. That assessment is compared with the athlete’s baseline data to help determine whether they can return to play.

WHAT’S NEXT IN MICHIGAN

Roberts hopes that universities, health care systems and the National Federation of State High School Associations will help analyze the data from last year and this year. The association plans specifically to work with Michigan State University’s Institute for the Study of Youth Sports to explore possible changes and additions in coaches’ education.

Michigan schools try gold standard of concussion tests

Son of Swami

It was March 24, 2009, when former Free Press columnist Michael Rosenberg told the Son of Swami he needed to come up with a Plan B in case the newspaper business goes sideways.

It has taken SOS some time, but together with Mike Harrison, the former chief public relations and marketing officer for the University of Michigan Health Systems, SOS has a plan.

What do you think of Spousal Disposal?

It kind of sells itself, doesn’t it?

And SOS knows who would be the first customer: Lawrence John Ripple.

You might not remember his name, but he is the guy who robbed a bank in Kansas City last week and got $2,924. Instead of fleeing the scene when he got the cash, Ripple sat in the lobby and told a security guard he was the guy he was looking for. He was arrested when the police showed up.

When questioned by police, Ripple told them he had an argument with his wife and, in front of his wife, wrote the note demanding cash that he handed to the teller.

• Week 4 metro Detroit high school football schedule

The guy reportedly told his wife he would rather go to jail than live at home with her.

Ripple’s plan went south a few days later when the judge released Ripple on his own recognizance, leaving him wondering what it takes to get an extended stay in jail.

It reminds SOS of the time in the late 1980s when former Lions coach Darryl Rogers was informed that he was coming back for the next season and asked: “What’s it take to get fired around here anyhow?”

SOS wants to make it clear that after 41 years of marriage, which have been the three happiest years of SOS’s life, Mrs. SOS has nothing to worry about when it comes to Spousal Disposal.

Therefore, when SOS decides to stop predicting high school football and basketball games, he has his Plan B.

As SOS tried to figure out whatever happened to the esteemed Mr. Rosenberg and his Plan B, here are this week’s best games.

Macomb Dakota’s Jalen Hall catches a touchdown pass against Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Shermond Dabney last month in Macomb Township. The Son of Swami is picking Dakota to beat Mott this weekend.

■Negaunee(3-0) at Iron Mountain (3-0), 7, Friday. Iron Mountain’s Josh Tucker is a threat whenever he touches the ball, but Negaunee can’t forget about Gavin Wright, who can find the end zone if teams don’t pay attention to him. Negaunee has some dangerous backs of its own. Neal Violetta and Shane Ring are capable of gaining well over 100 yards and stopping Negaunee’s running game is the key to the shooting match. Izzo’s Mountain 28, Nagging 24.

■Grandville (3-0) at Hudsonville (3-0), 7, Friday. This is really the first time in 15 seasons that Grandville has started 3-0. The impressive thing is the Bulldogs have given up only 22 points in three one-sided wins. Hudsonville knows a thing or two about defense, but it also knows that when it is moving the ball on the ground, the other team’s offense is on the bench. QB Jack Mandryk does an excellent job running the offense. Hudsonville Ice Cream 21, Grand Villains 19.

■Temperance Bedford (3-0) at Saline (3-0), 7, Friday. It is no surprise that both teams are undefeated, but the surprise is both teams struggled to win close games last week. Saline’s defense could use a healthy Corey Gildersleeve Jr. this week, especially against Bedford’s effective option game. A good passing effort from Zach Schwartzenberger could go a long way in getting the Saline offense going. Sault Water 28, Bedford Falls 20.

■West Bloomfield (2-1) at Farmington Hills Harrison (2-1), 7, Friday. Bryce Veasley, a transfer from Southfield Lathrup, has done a fine job replacing Trishton Jackson at quarterback. He has a pair of solid receivers in Taj Mustapha and Garrett Winn. But to beat Harrison, the Lakers will need a good game from RB Davion Johnson. Harrison needs to balance its offense between the running of Brendann Brown and the passing of Jimmy O’Connor. Blooming Onion 31, Farmington Hills Herrington 24.

■Macomb Dakota (2-1) at Warren Mott (3-0), 7, Friday. This is where we start separating pretenders from contenders. Already with a MAC Red loss, Dakota needs QB Brett Droski to keep finding Jaylen Hall to keep the Cougars on the attack. Mott has a pretty good tandem of its own in QB Mike Pond, a dual-threat guy, and receiver Andre Chandler. Dakota Fanning 27, Mott’s Apple Sauce 19.

Walled Lake Western’s Robert Hudson defend against Northville’s Trenton Guthrie on Monday, Sept. 9, 2016, at Warriors Stadium in Walled Lake, MI.

It’s already Week 4 of the high school football season. Amazing!

We’re live-blogging tonight’s action around the state, pulling in tweets from our reporters out in the field. Chris Allen will be moderating the chat and conversing with fans. You can contribute score updates by tweeting them with the #mipreps hash tag.

Click here to join the live blog