The Pressbox

I saw two playoff games this weekend and both saw the winning teams wind up with 50-plus points and invoke the mercy-rule running clock for virtually the entire second half.

But they were very different games.

First of all, the local teams I was covering were on opposite ends of the routs. St. Mary Catholic Central blew out Allen Park Cabrinin 59-7 Friday night and Gibraltar Carlson was blasted by Inkster Saturday afternoon.

The second difference was the way that the winning coaches handled the rout.

SMCC’s Jack Giarmo went out of his way to keep the score from being worse. The Falcon starters became spectators in the second half. After running four four touchdowns in the first half, T.J. Lovell never touched the ball after the intermission. SMCC started kneeling down with the ball with eight minutes left in the game.

Inkster, on the other hand, didn’t show that kind of class. Two Viking touchdowns in the second half came on long passes. There was no need to rub it in against a clearly out-manned Carlson squad.

Remember the name Devin Gardiner. The Inkster quarterback, who stands 6-4 and is nearly 200 pounds, is an incredible athlete. The junior is drawing interest from Michigan, Michigan State and many of the elite college football programs in the country.

SMCC is the only Monroe County Region team still alive in the playoffs. That isn’t a huge surprise with the exception of Airport’s loss to Trenton. Ida and Summerfield got tough draws, getting sent on the road to play undefeated opponents.

Milan also had a tough assignment, making a trip to Chelsea. I felt bad for the Big Reds not getting a home game with an 8-1 record, then they lost all the momentum they gained from taking an early 14-0 lead when a power failure caused a delay of nearly two hours.

Airport was favored against Trenton, but fell into an early hole and could never recover. An interesting side note about Trenton – the Trojans wound up playing four Region schools this season (Jefferson, Monroe, Carlson and Airport).

So, it’s on to the second week of the playoffs for SMCC. Let’s hope that the weather is as perfect as it was Friday night.

My high school football travels took me to Navarre Field Friday night to see St. Mary Catholic Central host Milan.

It’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed a game so much. It was a perfect night for football and two good teams put on a great show.

It can’t be much fun for coaches to watch game tapes after a loss, but it sounds like Milan coach Steve Robb enjoyed this one more the second time. “It was a good game, fun to watch and be a part of,” he said in an e-mail to me Monday morning.

SMCC put together an inspired effort to hand the Big Reds their first loss of the season. The Falcons had no business winning this game, Physically, they could not match Milan and were playing without their starting tailback and quarterback.

But they found a way to get it done.

I just realized that I never posted any notes on Week 6 in this blog. So here are a few general impressions on the state of Monroe County Region football:

1. Erik Johnson of Summerfield and Jeff Wood of Bedford are doing great jobs in their first season as head coaches. Summerfield has never made the state playoffs and Bedford has been there just one, but both are challenging for berths this year.

Summerfield’s hopes probably boil down to beating arch-rival Whiteford this week. The Bulldogs finish against 1-6 Britton-Deerfield.

Bedford plays a week Dexter team this week before finishing against state-ranked Chelsea.

2. Another first-year coach doing a great job is Gibraltar Carlson’s Kent Sikora. Carlson has enjoyed more success in recent years than Summerfield or Bedford, but Sikora took over a team that was 3-6 last season and had to start the year with four straight road games. Despite that, he has the Marauders in playoff contention.

3. Flat Rock has to be the scrappiest team in the Region. Despite having just 18 players on the roster, they give almost everyone a good game. I love the way coach Joe Pruchnicki deals with the small roster. “The last time I counted, you could only play 11,”  he said.

4. Monroe has made a nice recovery after a rocky start, but squeezing into the playoffs is going to be tough. The Trojans take on undefeated Dearborn this week.

5. Dundee quarterback Daniel Bolster has a bright future. The sophomore has poise and talent. He throws the ball as well as any quarterback I’ve seen this season.

6. I was happy to see New Boston Huron finally get a victory Friday night. Dan Kalbfleish and his staff are working hard to get the program on track. The Chiefs have a chance to finish the season with a three-game winning streak.

My assignment for Week 2 of the high school football season was to cover Monroe’s home opener against Southgate.

It was a hard game to watch. Monroe had many chances to take command of the game, but couldn’t quite pull it off. It was very frustrating for the Monroe coaches. The Trojans seemed to make their mistakes at the worst possible moments.

Afterwards, coach Steve Pollzzie said it was a matter of focus. The best teams are able to maintain their composure during crucial moments of the game.

The downside is that Monroe is 0-2. The bright side is that the losses are by a combined six points. Just a little tweak here and there and the Trojans can get their season turned around. They are not far from being a good football team.

Elsewhere, the most impressive win of the week might have been Bedford’s 15-14 triumph over Saline. New coach Jeff Wood showed a lot of guts, passing up a chance to tie the game after scoring a touchdown in the final minute and going for the win with a 2-point conversion. He showed a lot of confidence in his team. That will be good for the Mules.

Erie Mason also had a thrilling 1-point win.

Summerfield, Dundee, Ida, Airport and Milan and St. Mary Catholic Central all pushed their records to 2-0 and Jefferson bounced back impressively from last week’s loss. I guess you don’t want to mess with angry Bears. Jefferson held Grosse Ile to negative 34 yards rushing. Ouch.

Two huge games are on the schedule for Friday night: Airport travels to Milan and Mason hosts Ida. The season is heating up quickly.

Some quick thoughts on the opening week of the Monroe County Region high school football season:

1. It was great to see Summerfield and New Boston Huron, two teams that have struggled in recent years, get off to impressive starts. They didn’t face great opponents, but winning by a combined score of 83-8 has to be a great confidence booster for those two programs.

2. I felt awful for Coach Steve Pollzzie and his Monroe High team. The Trojans had a 21-9 lead and were inches away from another touchdown when momentum suddenly turned against them. They lost 22-21 to Walled Lake Western.

3. I was surprised when SMCC coach Jack Giarmo told me he was starting eight sophomores. I knew the Falcons were young, but not that young.

4. New Gibraltar Carlson coach Kent Sikora is getting his career off to a strange start. His Marauders opened by whipping a Grosse Ile team coached by his former college roomate, John Bodner. In Week 2, he goes up against his alma mater — Allen Park. Carlson’s first four games are on the road.

5. Milan’s defense must be pretty good. Ypsilanti featured a player who is supposed to be faster than former Big Red star Ron Spears.

What an odd feeling.

I’ve just returned from a two-week vacation and high school football is ready to start tonight.

Normally, I send the two weeks leading up to the season preparing the annual Evening News football section.

I feel a little out of the loop this year, but it’s kind of fun, too. I will be finding out about the local teams as the season unfolds.

I’ll leave the expert’s role to my friend and boss, Ron Montri. Here is a link to his Week 1 predictions:

http://www.monroenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080828/SPORTS/108289954