Friday Night Kickoff

Dave Wolf - WSJM Sports 

It's a good thing that the Whirlpool/Maytag World headquarters are in Benton Harbor.   They might be replacing some washing machines from whomever had to clean the uniforms after the slop everybody played in last Friday.

One jersey that really needed special attention was St. Joe's Drake smith.  The Bears running back had 214 yards rushing during the St. Joe Bears 20-7 win at Portage Northern.  Portage Northern and St. Joe were both 2-0 going into the game and the Huskies were determined to payback the Bears for the 41-3 beat down St. Joe handed the Huskies a year ago.  St. Joe thanks you for providing the bulletin board material for last week's game.  St. Joe faces the 2-1 Battle Creek Central Bearcats.  The Bears have beaten the Bearcats by a combined 4 points in these last two years, 24-21 in 2006, and 19-18 in 2007.  However both of those games were in St. Joseph.  This Friday, the Bears will be the visitors at the newly renovated C.W. Post Field in Battle Creek.  The newly redone field includes a new artificial turf field.

It's kind of funny that the new turf at Al Stockman Stadium was probably the only field in Southwest Michigan that wasn't a factor in the games last week, but unfortunately for Lakeshore, they were at Battle Creek Lakeview, on the natural grass.  But it didn't seem to matter to Lakeshore, the Lancers and Spartans played in a downpour for most of the night.  What was even more amazing that Lakeshore's Kai Peng, kicked two field goals, including one from 40 yards in the rain.  Lakeshore's Coco Johnson scored two more touchdowns for the 3-0 Lancers.  This week Lakeshore can avenge one of their 3 losses from a season ago when they host Portage Northern.  Last season the Huskies pulled off a stunner as the Lancers dropped a 14-12 decision at Portage.  This season, both the Lancers and Huskies are meeting in exactly the same circumstances as last year, Lakeshore 3-0, coming off of a tight win against Battle Creek Lakeview.  Portage Northern is 2-1 coming off of a upsetting loss to St. Joseph.   Expect a rebound game from Northern and expect the Lancers to not let the Huskies surprise them like last year.   This should be a real game to watch this week.

Just like last year, Benton Harbor is 0-3, but it's not for a lack of effort.  The Tigers put in a lot of work in the off-season last year and during the season's first three weeks.   The Tigers may not have the wins and success they would have hoped for so far this season, the important thing is to keep improving.  A 35-0 loss to Battle Creek Harper Creek after a 7-6 loss at Kalamazoo Central the week before may sound to some like the Tigers haven't improved.  Let me tell you as somebody who has seen Harper Creek this season, the Beavers may have been 0-2 on the year but if you're Benton Harbor and you have speed as one of your offensive weapons wiped out because of the poor weather at Harper Creek and muddy field.  Plus Benton Harbor had to deal with a deceptive Wing-T offense that Harper Creek runs, needless to say that Benton Harbor hasn't seen that offense before and it's difficult to stop, even if you have seen it before.  It won't be an easy week this week for the Tigers, up next for Benton Harbor is the defending Division 5 runner-up, Jackson Lumen Christi.  The Titans are looking to rebound after two straight losses to Lakeshore and Portage Central.  Things might not be pretty this week at Filstrup Field for the Tigers this week.

The only team in southwest Michigan that really didn't have to deal with poor field conditions was Lake Michigan Catholic.  The Lakers got the luxury of playing at the new Kohn-Lehmann Field at Al Stockman Stadium at Lakeshore last Friday for their game with Bronson.   The Lakers got 230 yards rushing and two touchdown runs from Michael Cottier in LMC's 23-6 win over Bronson.  Cottier's TDs came on runs on 68 and then 86 yards.  LMC's record now sits at 2-1 on the season and will play Covert this week at Watervliet High School.

Elsewhere Around the area

Big 16
Niles pulled of what could be called somewhat of a minor upset when the Vikings beat then unbeaten Kalamazoo Central 40-29.  The Vikings limited the Maroon Giants to 7 points in the third quarter.  While that may not seem to be an important stat... Here's what makes it special.  Kalamazoo Central didn't have an offensive snap in the quarter.   The only score was a 92 yard kickoff return from Juwan Hemphill.  Niles had a total of 70 plays while KC only had 27.

Mattawan is a surprising 0-3 after an 18-13 loss at Coldwater.  What's happened to the Wildcats??  In less than two seasons, the Wildcats have gone from a playoff team to a doormat.  Stories have surfaced about some dissension in the ranks at Mattawan after some players were kicked off the team for disciplinary reason and some parents not taking the news very well.  Former Lakeshore assistant coach Doug Paran has some problems to deal with.

Lakeland
The Lakeland Conference title could already be on the line this week as 3-0 Cassopolis visits 3-0 Buchanan.  Both teams appear as the early front runners for the Lakeland crown.   The Rangers' DaShaun Curtis and Bucks' Clinton Orr would be worth the price of admission just to watch one of them play.  You've got both of them in this game. 

At the other end of the Lakeland, 0-3 Bridgman will visit 0-3 River Valley.  The Mustangs host a team they almost merged with to form a co-op team.

SAC
Watervliet is 1-2 on year, but 6 points is all that separates them from a 3-0 record.  The Panthers will meet a team that actuall IS 3-0 when they travel to Hartford on Friday.

Wolverine
If you looked at this game on the schedule before the season started, Three Rivers at Gull Lake may have looked like a game that could have determined the winner of the Wolverine Conference.  It doesn't appear that will happen as Three Rivers is 3-0, but Gull Lake is 0-3 and coming off of a 33-0 loss at South Haven.

As for South Haven, the Rams are looking to get back to .500 this week when they travel to Otsego to face the surprise team of the Wolverine Conference so far... Otsego