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.”
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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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