Tuscola County Sports

'Muth fires past NB : I went to the Frankenmuth-North Branch game last Friday night (I had to present the All-Thumb trophies to Bone and the North Branch football team.) A few impressions: first, Brad Redford is all he's cracked up to be! Redford got off to a fast start, hitting for 11 points in the first quarter, and he finished the game with 24 as his Eagles beat the Broncos, 66-58. NB's coach Jim Marshall had a great game plan: use his best athletes, namely Bone and Brandin Friske, to cover Redford one-on-one, and for the most part, the plan worked. Frankenmuth coach Tim Crawford told me after the game that he thought that NB had the best athletes he's seen all year, and that includes Bridgeport. By the 7:42 mark of the first quarter, Bone had already been whistled for two fouls, which freed up Redford a little, and the junior guard responded by hitting three from behind the arc in the first, and the Eagles opened a 17-5 lead after the first. Marshall told me after t...

Vikings stink it up: What happened? A-F played really good in their first two games. They defeated Areanac-Eastern last Tuesday, behind Mike Allen's 21 points, and they played close to Peck last Friday night. Allen scored 25 points on Friday, including 16 in the fourth. Allen was so good that we named him TCA Athlete of the Week for the first week of the boys basketball season. So, last night, with Port Hope making the long trip to the Fairgrove, I decided to make the trip there as well, almost positive that I was going there to cover an easy Viking victory. So what happened? A-F scored three lousy points in the second quarter, Port Hope scored 15, and the Blue Stars poured it on in the second half, putting a serious 60-41 whooping on the Vikes. I thought I was going there to see an up and coming talented team; what I saw was a team that would have a difficult time defeating most other schools JV teams. Port Hope ran a box-on-one on Allen, and A-F had no other option to score. Por...

It's been awhile since I wrote anything in here...I have been super busy at work, with the All-Thumb football teams coming out this past week and the girls basketball arriving in area papers this Wednesday. The girls team is pretty solid. We also put out the boys basketball preview this past week--I will try to post a picture of the cover sometime this week. I came up with the concept design, took the picture that we feature on the cover, and then got everyone at the paper working on the layout. I like it--I think it turned out great, and I am really proud of the work we did on the preview. That being said, here are a few impressions from the first week of the young season. Brad Redford is the man. The junior guard from Frankenmuth had quite a first week. Even though his team lost twice (albeit to a really good Flint SWA team on Tuesday followed up by a close loss to a really good Bridgeport team), Redford shot the lights out! Against SWA, Redford poured in 37 points! The ...

MSU hires another lamb - Michigan State announced the hiring of Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Mark Dantonio as the next sacrifice in the rotating carousel that is the top spot in Spartan world. This sounds too familiar...a conference USA coach who talks a good game, says he's got all the right tools to turn this program around, blah, blah, blah. He's only been a head coach for I believe three years at the University of Cincinnati, a school not exactly known as a football powerhouse, where in three years his record is just a few games above .500. Dantonio's resume looks impressive, but why does the university want to reach out to a member of the Spartan family (Dantonio was an assistant under Saban back in the early 90's)? Schools who reach to their past are those who are steeped in tradition, ala UM, Notre Dame, Ohio St., etc. MSU glory days are back in the around the time of the beginnings of the Cold War. Not since the rise and fall of the hippie culture have ...

Girl's Basketball - Cass City proved me wrong in a big way! The other day I said that Frankenmuth would win the District Title, and for the first half of the game, it looked as though I would be right. Frankenmuth's tenacious defense propelled them to an early 17-7 lead, and the Eagles cruised to an easy 19-11 halftime advantage. It looked as though the Eagle 'D' was going to dominate the game and end up being the difference in Frankenmuth's Title chase. That was before Emily Schinnerer started to play the way that she is capable if playing. Cass City's leading scorer dropped in 11 in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to one (27-26) at the end of the third. The Hawks' Sarah Meeker had a big fourth quarter. The senior center was a monster on the boards the whole game (16 rebs. for the game) and she poured in nine in the final quarter, and the Hawks stole the trophy from the Eagles grasp. Cass City's offense proved to be the difference in the g...

Girls Hoops Preview: After the first two rounds, the Tuscola County area still has four teams left competing for three District Titles. Vassar, USA, Millington, North Branch, and Kingston were all eliminated in the first round, while Reese, Mayville, and Akron-Fairgrove received first round byes before being sent home in the second. Caro won Monday night before losing tonight to finish their season. So the guru is back to take a closer look at Friday night's games, since I'm still home and unable to get to deer camp. Too many teams left to skip out. CLASS B, D-58: I said on Monday that the Final would feature a Frankenmuth-Cass City matchup, and I ended up hitting this one out of the park. Cass City (13-8) had a first round bye before getting a little revenge by eliminating Caro tonight, 38-25. Caro upset Cass City, 37-36, last Thursday night after the Red Hawks were leading by 10 at halftime. Frankenmuth (15-6) had a big lead Monday night over North Branch before s...

Weekend Recap - Once again, congratulations to New Lothrop in winning their first ever football regional championship, a 36-28 classic over Deckerville. New Lothrop played with a lot of determination, Deckerville played with a lot of heart, but in the end, the Hornets had a little more than the Eagles. New Lothrop jumped to an early 14-0 lead, were ahead at one point in the second quarter 20-6, before the Ealges awoke from the slumber and poured on sixteen straight points to take a 22-20 lead in the second. A field goal right before the half gave New Lothrop a 23-22, a lead which would remain theirs for the remainder of the game. A fourth quarter 78-yard touchdown run by Deckerville's Justin Lindke cut the lead to 30-28, before New Lothrop a dded one more to provide for the final margin. New Lothrop's Mike Vincke found the endzone from 11-yards away, giving the Hornets the win and the Regional Trophy. I have heard some complaints about Deckerville losing their center in the ga...

Hornets Sting Eagles- I was at the New Lothrop-Deckerville Regional championship game today covering the game for fridaynighttitans.com. I had nothing else to do today, and since I'm such a nice guy, I decided to do a favor for a friend, and I went to New Lothrop to take pictures for Matt Anderson (the guy who runs FNT). I'll tell you what...Deckerville has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of!! The Eagles played with a lot of class, but the Hornets of NL won 36-28, claiming the school's first-ever Regional trophy. It was a great game, and I even got to meet Dean Howe from the Flint Journal, who has been a fixture in Genesee County area sports for more than 40 years now. We both interviewed NL's coach Emmendorfer at the same time---so it was a good day for me! It was a little cold, and the field was a muddy mess, but it was a great game. New Lothop led 14-0, and 20-6, before Deckerville ran off 16 straight points to take their only lead of the game, 22-20, in the se...

Here's my final rankings for the Tuscola County area football teams: 1. North Branch (9-2, 6-1 TVE): The Broncos were the best team in the area, have perhaps two of the most dominating players this area has ever seen, and were the only playoff qualifier to make it past the opening weekend. A season of first's for the Broncos ended Friday night: first time ever in the playoffs, first TVE title, first home playoff game, first playoff win. It would be difficult to feel disappointed after last Friday's 33-18 against Powers. It was a good year for the Broncos, though, and you can expect plenty of post season honors to follow. Here's hoping though that this season was a product of Coach Hyde building a solid program and not just the product of a few great players. 2. Reese (8-2, 6-0 GTW): The Rockets won the GTW title outright, and also captured the Sugar Bowl for the first time since 2001, but the Rockets fell in the first round of the playoffs to Harbor Beach. Why?...

Football - Boy was I way off about the North Branch-Powers game last night. Powers had too much speed for the Branchers...Laval Lucas-Perry was too fast of a runner for anyone on the field to contain...and Ronnie Lark is one helluva athlete, as all three factors came together and contributed to a 33-18 Powers victory last night. I predicted yesterday that I thought Powers was capable of putting up some points on North Branch; I said that the Chargers would score 28, which wasn't too far off from the 33 that they tacked on last night. Unfortunately, the Bronco offense decided not to show up. I predicted 41 for NB---Wow was I wrong! North Branch moved the ball real well between the 20's, and I don't know what the final stats say, but I'd be willing to bet that NB dominated in time of possession; that didn't matter, as Powers first half scores were all the result of big plays. Lucas-Perry busted one from 85-yards on the Chargers first play from scrimmage...Lark br...

This is my first post... Football - Tonight I am covering the North Branch-Powers football game for the Tuscola County Advertiser , and forecasts for the game are calling for snow, with temperatures in the high 20's. I don't think I have a warm enough jacket, and I'm sure there will not be room in the press box. Oh well.... I've looked at both teams, Powers only briefly, but I have seen NB play twice. First time I saw NB, they played Millington and they were terrible. Millington won that game, 34-14, but that was all the back in week three, and Broncos are a completely different team now. I saw them again in week eight, when they played Frankenmuth, and they blew the Eagles out, 53-28. 'Muth was coming off of a four game win streak, so it's not as if the Eagles were an easy target for the Broncos; NB is just that good! Their quarterback, Duncan Bone, has thrown for more than 1,000 yards and rushed for more than 1,000, while accounting for 31 td's (16 pass...