Tuscola County Sports

NORTH BRANCH – “It is a great hire,” explained North Branch Athletic Director Jim Fish on September 05, 2008 at halftime of the North Branch and Frankenmuth football game, on Mix 92.1. “The community loves him. The kids love playing for him. He (Steve Verburg) wants to win more than any other coach, but he wants championship people first.” Back in March of 2008, Verburg was hired away from Howell, where he served as the defensive coordinator, to become the head coach of North Branch’s varsity football program. Earlier this month (12/2008), just nine months into a rebuilding project, Verburg as replaced as coach of the Broncos with Pat Forster. The Broncos had a 27-65 record in the ten years previous to Verburg taking the reins. North Branch finished this season with a 2-7 record. “I was pretty shocked this happened after my first year,” stated Verburg after being informed of the termination. Verburg’s offensive and defensive philosophies were questioned by many through out the year inc

AUBURN HILLS - North Branch Coach Jim Marshall and his Bronco boy’s basketball team earned an early Christmas present Tuesday evening. The Broncos unwrapped from their cold winter gear to defeat the Yale Bulldogs 55-46 at The Palace of Auburn Hills, before the Pistons victory over the Chicago Bulls. “You come down here and want it to be a good experience for the kids,” stated Marshall of playing at The Palace. “You want to get them all in and probably sub more than you normally would. In general, you want to have fun, get everyone in the game and hopefully win the game.” “It was fun. The kids got to play on a bigger court and see a couple of NBA players,” said Yale Coach Brad Dykstra. North Branch started quick. The first quarter was there best offensive quarter of the night, and their man-to-man press was key to holding the Bulldogs to only one field goal in the first 4:21 of the game. The Broncos quick start was keyed by senior Mike Keith and junior Chris White. Keith scored four of

MILLINGTON – Defense and free-throws usually seem to win basketball games, especially close games. This was the case on Tuesday night in Millington. The Cardinals boy’s basketball team shot 75% from the free throw line and created 25 turnovers en route to a 53-43 victory over the Imlay City Spartans. “I was pleased that we played the style of game that we wanted to play, and force them to play at our tempo,” stated Millington Coach Walt Kujat. “We wanted to push the ball and get after it on defense. We have guys who just love to work on defense.” Millington’s up-tempo style of play set the tone for them in the first quarter. A balanced scoring attack gave them an 11-7 lead after one quarter. Senior Tyler Reinert and senior point guard Kyle Hemingway each scored four points in the quarter. Reinert finished the game with a team-high and season-high 19 points to go along with eight rebounds and three steals. Hemingway finished with eight points. “Tyler is our floor leader,” said Kujat of

I will again be co-hosting "The Male Room" with Doug Fisher on 1330 WTRX on Friday, December 19. The program airs from 10 am until 12 pm. For those of you who can not listen, I will try to post audio of the program in the player above.

MAYVILLE – The Mayville girl’s basketball team entered Friday night’s game averaging just 12.5 points in the first half of their games. The Wildcats needed a fast start to propel their team to victory. The fast start came from junior Chelsea Roehl who scored 12 first quarter points on her way to a game-high 21. She also contributed with 7 rebounds. Mayville defeated Cass City 58-31, while leading 29-15 at halftime. “That was a breakout game for Chelsea,” stated first-year Coach Tom Elenbaum. “We’ve been waiting for that for a long time. When she was a freshman, she averaged about 20 points per game, and she hasn’t done that since. This was her breakout game, so watch out now.” The game was actually very close early in the first quarter. Roehl hit two long range three-point field goals. Each three was followed by long three-pointers by Cass City’s Jennica Richards. Richards finished the game with a team-high 13 points. At the 3:14 mark of the first quarter, Red Hawk sophomore McKensie P

LAKEVILLE – After watching their female counterparts use defense to stop the Lakeville Falcons earlier in the night, the Millington Cardinal boys basketball team wanted to try to win the same way. The Cards did just that and more, holding the Falcons without a point for over two minutes on three separate occasions in their 65-52 victory on Tuesday night. Two of those stretches lasted over four minutes. “We just had too many turnovers and too much foul trouble,” said first-year Lakeville Coach Rob Robbins. Millington used a strong slashing offense in the first quarter. As a result of the offense, Lakeville got into early foul trouble. Millington shot 13 free throws in the first quarter on their way to a 14-6 lead. Tyler Reinert and Michael Tisdale led the early charge for the Cardinals as they each scored six points. Reinert finished the game with a game-high 16 points and a game-high seven steals. Tisdale finished with 14 points all coming in the first half. “We really had a few guys s

VASSAR – The Marlette Red Raiders girl’s basketball team ran into a taller team on Wednesday night that came to play defense. The Vassar Vulcans held the Lady Red Raiders to just one first half field goal on their way to a 59-33 victory. Vassar used their decisive height advantage to disrupt shots and not give very many second chance opportunities. Vassar starts four girls that are 5-9 or taller. “We are tall,” stated Vassar Coach Bob Nowotny. “It is difficult for other teams to see over us.” “We were outsized at the post,” said Marlette Coach Cathy Storm. “We knew we would struggle with that. We probably will all season.” The Lady Red Raiders did not get on the board until the 2:10 mark of the first quarter when senior Kasey Sauder connected on the back end of her two free throws. Sauder finished the evening with five points. Sauder’s free throw would be Marlette’s only point in the first quarter as they trailed 12-1. Things would not get much better for the Lady Red Raiders in the se

LAKEVILLE – Millington’s Kayla Doshier had another big game on Tuesday night. She scored 18 of her game-high 20 points in the final three quarters to help her team defeat the Lakeville Lady Falcons 45-26. Through three games this season Doshier is now averaging 20.7 points per game. “I thought Kayla did a good job tonight,” said Millington Coach Mike Gohsman. “Lakeville played her box-on-one a little bit. She did not get frustrated. She played within herself, and took her shots when they were there. She dished the ball well tonight and rebounded well also. Kayla had a good game all around tonight.” Lakeville’s box-on-one defense worked on Doshier in the first quarter limiting her to just two points. What Lakeville (0-3) did not count on is the hot first quarter shooting of senior forward Jamie Frahm and senior guard Rachel Lawe of Millington (2-1). Frahm scored seven of her 11 points in the quarter, and Lawe scored four of her eight points to help pace the Cardinals to a 16-6 lead afte

Millington's Ken Hoffman and North Branch's Jerome Sullivan were named to the Flint Journal 2008 All-Area team. Read the article here .

I just got back from North Branch where Willie Deshetsky's Lady Broncos defeated the Imlay City Lady Spartans 47-31. I was pleasantly surprised with North Branch. They play pretty good defense and are quite deep. They may surprise a few teams this year. I am looking forward to seeing them again on Friday night in Frankenmuth. Other area scores: Genesee Christian 60 - Kingston 52-OT Flint Hamady 81 - Millington 28 Midland Bullock Creek 52 - Frankenmuth 48 Ubly 53 - Cass City 32 Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port 54 - Brown City 45 USA 65 - Marlette 46 Arenac-Eastern 45 - Akron-Fairgrove 18 Vassar 34 - Caro 29 Peck 43 - Capac 36 Deckerville 48 - CPS 23 Sandusky 69 - Dryden 34 (12/01/2008)

North Branch punter Jerome Sullivan earned All-State honors. He was named to the Associated Press Division 3-4 Team . Frankenmuth's Heather Schultz was named to the Saginaw News 2008 Vollyball Dream Team. Congrats to both athletes

Class B 1st Team B - Kyle Hemingway, Millington, Senior L - Ken Hoffman, Millington, Senior K - Nathan Kraft, Frankenmuth, Senior 2nd Team B - Tyler Reinert, Millington, Senior B - Matt McMeans, Frankenmuth, Senior L - Brent Phillips, Frankenmuth, Senior E - R.J. Fritz, Caro, Senior Coach - Tim Furno, Millington Honorable Mention Millington Matt Berlin Matt Bennett Ethan Wright Corbin Barbersek Josh Williams Frankenmuth Rody Loesel Matt Cramer Vassar Dontay Crist Ryan Worden Troy Hecht Josh Dubois Zach Germain Marcus Taylor Caro Max Schlereth Seth Kratz Kyle Diaz Jordan Decker Mike Green Tim Curtis Class C-D 1st Team L - Derek Saylor, Reese, Senior 2nd Team B - Raydar Williams, Kingston, Senior Honorable Mention Cass City Blake Messing Josh Inbody Tony Middaugh Austin Babich Lucas Varney Adam Osentoski Tyler Tomlinson Clark Walsh Reese Kevin Kinasz Morgan Walter Jacob Bierlein Luke Sommerfield Tommy Wheeler Mayville Frank Labadie Nate Richardson Corey Travis Unionville-Sebewaing Ryan W

The Thumb Sportswriters Association (TSA) recently got together to select their All-Thumb Volleyball Team. Many Tuscola County athletes comprise this team. Please check out the TSA's blog for more information. The football team will be announced in the coming days.

Here are Tuscola County football players that have been chosen to their respective conference teams for 2008. For the full list from each conference click here . A couple noted exceptions from the all-conference teams that I feel should be noted. Vassar's Zach Germain and Mayville's Nate Richardson have to be first teamers on any team that is put together. It is a shame that they are not listed below. Tri-Valley East 1st Team Offense FB - Seth Kratz, Caro, Junior B - Kyle Hemingway, Millington, Senior B - Matt McMeans, Frankenmuth, Senior OL - Matt Berlin, Millington, Junior OL - Brent Phillips, Frankenmuth, Senior OL - Max Schlereth, Caro, Junior TE - RJ Fritz, Caro, Senior K - Nathan Kraft, Frankenmuth, Senior 1st Team Defense DL - Matt Bennett, Millington, Senior DL - Ethan Deshetsky, North Branch, Sophomore DE - Jimmy Ferkowicz, North Branch, Senior LB - Ken Hoffman, Millington, Senior DB - Tyler Reinert, Millington, Senior DB - Nathan Kraft, Frankenmuth, Senior P - Jerome

Millington's senior linebacker Ken Hoffman has followed up his 1st Defense Tri-Valley East selection by being named to the Associated Press Division 5-6 All-State Linebacker. Hoffman is 6'1" and weighs 197 pounds. His stats and a few high light videos can be found here . Congrats Ken.

The Ubly Bearcats football team is the Thumb's last hope for a state championship in this fall sports season in the Michigan High School Athletic Association. After losses by the Croswell-Lexington football team and USA's and North Branch's volleyball teams this week, the Bearcats seem to be poised to bring home their first state championship. For a quick recap and some great photos of Ubly's 47-8 destruction of previously unbeaten Reading check out Chris Ogryski's blog here . For some extra great photos, check out Paul Adams camera skills at the Huron Daily Tribune sports blog . Channel 12 also has some good video of the game. Good luck to Ubly as they take on the Traverse City St. Francis Gladiators (12-1). The game will take place on Saturday, November 29th at 10:00 a.m. The game can be seen on Fox Sports Detroit, and heard in the Thumb on WLEW 102.1. Tom Markowski of the Detroit News has a quick preview of all the state championships in today's paper . Go U

Class B Volleyball Semi-Finals #1-North Branch Broncos (70-4) vs. #5-Fruitport Trojans (45-10) The winner of this match will play #7 Holland Christian Maroons (49-12). The Maroons defeated #8 Ida Bluestreak in three straight games in the first Class B semi-final match. Holland Christian won the matches 25-18, 26-24, and 25-14. Ida finishes the season with a record of 47-10-2. Game #1 North Branch scored first. Game tied at 1. North Branch 4 - Fruitport 3 Game tied at 5. North Branch 9 - Fruitport 7 Timeout Fruitport. North Branch in middle of one of their runs. North Branch 12 - Fruitport 7. North Branch 13 - Fruitport 9 Fruitport 4-1 run to close gap to 14-12 North Branch 16 - Fruitport 13 North Branch on 5-3 run to lead 19-15 North Branch 21 - Fruitport 16 Miss Volleyball has been nothing short of great in the back line. Fruitport timeout. North Branch 22 - Fruitport 18. North Branch keeps their game won streak alive. It now rests at 40 and counting. They win Game #1 25-20. Game #2 N

Class C Volleyball Semi-Finals Schoolcraft Eagles vs. USA Patriots Game #1 of USA and Schoolcraft. Christian, Andrew, and Chad reporting. Currently USA 12 - Schoolcraft 9 Schoolcraft on 11-4 run to take lead 20-16. Too many unforced errors for USA. Schoolcraft uses a 9-3 run to close out Game #1. Schoolcraft wins 25-19 . Game #2 Tied at 3 Schoocraft 7 - USA 5 Schoolcraft 12- USA 8 Schoolcraft 15 - USA 12 Three point run for USA. Schoolcraft 15- USA 14 All tied at 16 USA takes 18-17 lead USA in midst of 9-3 run to take 20-18 lead Game tied at 22. USA wins Game #2 25-22, after being down 15-11. Match tied at one game apiece. Game #3 Schoocraft jumps to 4-0 lead before USA takes next 3 points. Schoolcraft 9 - USA 4 Schoolcraft 12 - USA 6 USA in midst 4-1 run. Schoolcraft 15-USA 10. Schoolcraft 17 - USA 11 USA timeout - Schoolcraft 19 - USA 12 Schoolcraft 21 - USA 15 Schoolcraft wins Game #3 25-17. Schoolcraft holds match advantage 2-1. USA has now lost both games in front of their fans.

As chosen by you, the 1st Annual Freak Nasty Player of the Year is Millington's Ken Hoffman. Hoffman won the award with his Week #1 performance against Alma. In the win, Hoffman had 12 tackles, including six tackles for a loss and three sacks. He also had a rushing touchdown and a two point conversion. Hoffman was a main cog in the Millington machine this year, leading the Cardinals to their first league championship since 2000. In the regular season, Hoffman led the Cardinals with 104 tackles, including 19 tackles for a loss and 10 sacks. Hoffman also scored five touchdowns on the year with four of them coming on the ground. Congratulations Ken. Browse by and download your trophy. Democracy can be fun some times.

Both USA and North Branch advance to the state semi-finals after victories last night. What a gift to host a State quarterfinal game as the gym was loud and packed to the brim. North Branch faced maybe their biggest test of the post season in Lakewood. Facing a six point deficit in the second set, the Broncos battled their way back to grab a 25-20 win, and also kept their undefeated postseason streak in tact. Thats right, North Branch has yet to lose a single game, sweeping all four of their opponents, including Lakewood (25-15, 25-20, 25-19). USA struggled out of the gate, dropping the first two matches. But the Patriots went on a late tear, rattling off three straight wins and beating Allen Park Cabrini in a five game thriller (20-25, 15-25, 25-21, 25-12 ,15-11). Both teams will now play in Battle Creek on Thusday, with USA (33-7-7) taking on Schoolcraft (40-9-2) at 2 p.m. and North Branch (70-4) will take the floor against Fruitport (45-10) at 7:15 pm. Look for updates on Thursday

For the second time this year, the best player in their perspective sport has come from the Tri-Valley Conference. Earlier this year, Frankenmuth's Brad Redford won the Mr. Basketball Award. Now, North Branch's Olivia Kohler wins the Miss Volleyball Award. Read the article here from the Detroit Free Press. Congratulations Olivia, and good luck tonight.

The North Branch Broncos dispatched of the Frankenmuth Eagles in three games to win the Class B Region 15 title. North Branch won the games by scores of 25-9, 25-7, and 25-10. North Branch will play Lake Odessa Lakewood on Tuesday, November 18, at North Branch High School. Gametime is 7 p.m. Post game comments from Head Coach Jim Fish will be posted in the player above shortly. Look for a full write-up in this Sunday's County Press .

It is now time for the post season football awards. There were some big weeks through out the year, and you get to choose the biggest week. The Freak Nasty Players of the Week will be listed below and you can vote on side. Week #1 - In North Branch's 52-22 win over Imlay City, Cody Stawecki led the Bronco offense with 192 yards rushing and four touchdowns. Millington's Ken Hoffman was dominant in their 28-12 victory over Alma. Defensively, Hoffman had 12 tackles, including six tackles for a loss and three sacks. He also had a rushing touchdown and a two point conversion. Week #2 - North Branch's Dion Cimini kept the Broncos close in their 28-22 loss to Frankenmuth. He rushed the ball 15 times for 232 yards and two touchdowns. Reese's Chris Bauer was the main factor in the Rockets 62-0 win over Bad Axe. Bauer rushed for 152 yards and three touchdown. He also kicked six extra points and ran for a two pointer. On top of all that, he also had a defensive interception. Wee

Thanks to Rick Glaza's blog, I found a new tool to use. I will be at Carrollton tonight covering the game for The County Press. I will be with Chris Wilcox and Chad Wingert. I am going to be calling in periodically to the following website to give updates on the game. Follow the link, you can listen to updates in the player to the left. Hope you enjoy. Tuscola County Sports Phone Updates

The pregame show for Saturday is now online. There is three segments. Segment 1 recaps last weeks games. Segment 2 gives our insight to Millington and Garber. Segment 3 is our opinion regarding the new sports policy in Frankenmuth. You can listen in the player above or download in iTunes or Zune Marketplace. Thanks to the 179 people that listened to our Playoff Segments.

This one's for Coach Furno I was asked for a favor Sunday at Cardinal's Pizza in Millington before we recorded our podcast during Selection Sunday. Millington coach Furno asked me to look up an article that appeared in the Bay City Times after the Cardinals defeated Garber, 20-19, back on September 26. Furno had heard that apparently the Garber coach said some things that might provide some 'bulletin-board material' for his team. Well coach, I couldn't get a hard-copy of the article, but I did find it on-line. Here you go: Millington 20, Essexville Garber 19 John Schneider | Bay City Times, September 26, 2008 10:37 p.m. MILLINGTON – Essexville Garber grabbed a two-touchdown halftime lead here Friday night in a key matchup of Tri-Valley East unbeatens. But the Dukes coughed up the ball on five of their six second-half possessions and fell to Millington 20-19. Garber scored on a first quarter Andrew Aho five-yard yard run, and the Mike Schroeder PAT made it 7-0 in

For the second time this year, the Essexville-Garber Dukes (7-2)travel to Millington (8-1) to take on the Cardinals. Millington won the first game 20-19 back on September 26. After spotting the Dukes to a 13-0 halftime lead, the Cardinal defense showed up big by creating five second half turnovers. The offense scored three touchdowns, and held on for the win. Garber was led by running back Andrew Aho who carried the ball 34 times for 196 yards and a touchdown. "I feel bad for my boys because we were the better football team," said Duke Head Coach Dave Schwartz after the loss. "We were the more physical team tonight." Millington's offense was led by running back Kyle Hemingway with 95 yards on 21 carries and one touchdown. Defensively backup quarterback Josh Williams had two interceptions, including the game clincher with 1:46 left in the game at the Cardinal 10 yard line. "Our kids had a lot of heart," Millington Head Coach Tim Furno said after the win

Nine weeks are complete, only one Freak Nasty Player of the Week Award to give out. Here are your best players from the last week of 2008. Vassar - Zach Germain 12-29 passing 270 yards 4 TD 11 tackles and an interception - Marcus Taylor 5-191 receiving 2 TD - Troy Hecht 5-74 receiving TD - Tyler Best and Josh DuBois 11 tackles apiece. Mayville - Nate Richardson 29-207 rushing 6 TD 6-12 passing 102 yards 12 tackles with a fumble recovery - Dylan Schenk 20-163 rushing TD 4 tackles and an interception Kingston - Raydar Williams 23-160 rushing 4 TD - Jordan Pennington 15 tackles - Jake Shinabarger 11 tackles Akron-Fairgrove - Matt Chorba 18-134 rushing TD - Cory Jobson 18-101 rushing Reese - Travis VanAlst 17-190 rushing TD - Andrew Mendyk 11 tackles Marlette - John Bishop 9-181 rushing 2 TD - Jordan Hayward 16-87 rushing 3 TD - Brandon King 13 tackles - Andrew Huffman 8 tackles and a sack Cass City - Blake Messing 19-113 rushing TD - Luke Newton 20-106 rushing TD Millington - Kyle

The official tallys are in. The teams are set. You can listen to the Tuscola County Football Roundtable discuss the 2008 High School Football playoffs. The player above will play both segments. Also, I interviewed Kingston Girls Basketball Coach Dave Lester at halftime of Mayville's win over Kingston last week. You can listen to that interview in the player above as well. The podcasts can be downloaded in iTunes and Zune Marketplace as well, keyword Tuscola. The playoff brackets, courtesy of http://www.snooze2you.com/ , are linked below; Division 1 Division 2 Division 3 Division 4 Division 5 Division 6 Division 7 Division 8

The Tuscola County Football Roundtable will be watching this years Selection Sunday show at Cardinal's Pizza in Millington. The show starts at 6:30 pm on Fox Sports Detroit. We will be there around 6pm. After the show we will be doing a podcast about our playoff predictions. Hope to see everyone there.

The pre-game show for 10/24 is now on-line. You can listen in the player above or download through iTunes or Zune Marketplace. We ran out of time and did not get a chance to talk about the Frankenmuth situation. We will do in the near future.

Photos by Maggie Gregory

I interviewed Millington Boy's Basketball Coach Walt Kujat at halftime of Millington's win over North Branch. The interview is in the player above or can be downloaded with iTunes or Zune Marketplace.

Thumb Power Rankings Team Wins Opponet Wins Power Points Millington 7 34 57.778 Essexville-Garber 7 30 55.556 Ubly 8 30 52.222 Deckerville 7 30 46.667 Marlette 6 38 46.667 Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port 5 40 43.333 Vassar 5 36 43.333 Frankenmuth 4 40 43.333 Dryden 8 25 42.778 Bay City All Saints 5 35 42.778 Bridgeport 4 39 42.778 Memphis 7 29 41.667 Cass City 5 33 40.556 Sandusky 4 42 40.000 Reese 4 36 40.000 Peck 6 33 39.444 Caro 3 40 38.889 Kinde-North Huron 4 36 33.333 North Branch 2 40 33.333 Brown City 2 43 32.778 Birch Run 2 39 32.778 Mayville 2 41 31.667 Kingston 3 36 30.000 Harbor Beach 2 36 28.889 Owendale-Gagetown 2 34 25.556 Bad Axe 1 37 25.000 Akron-Fairgrove 1 37 23.889 Unionville-Sebeawing Area 1 37 23.889 Carsonville-Port Sanilac 0 42 23.333

Heading into Week #9, three of the four area conferences are set as far as who is in the playoffs and who is out. Only the Greater Thumb West has teams still trying to get that elusive sixth win. Tri-Valley East - In: Millington and Essexville-Garber. Out: Frankenmuth, Bridgeport, Caro, Birch Run, and North Branch. Greater Thumb East - In: Ubly, Deckerville, and Marlette. Out: Sandusky, Mayville, Brown City, and Harbor Beach. North Central Thumb - In: Dryden, Memphis, and Peck. Out: Kinde-North Huron, Kingston, Owendale-Gagetown, Akron-Fairgrove, and Carsonville-Port Sanilac. Even if North Huron gets their fifth win this week against Au Gres-Sims, it seems unlikely they will sneak into the playoffs as their playoff point average is the lowest out of all Class D teams with four wins. Greater Thumb West - Out: Reese, USA, and Bad Axe. After starting the season 2-3, Vassar has won three straight games due in no small part to the play of senior quarterback Zach Germain. In the Vulcans

The best games of Week #8 are as follows: USA - Cole Anker 8-14 passing 113 yards TD Mayville - Nate Richardson 16-185 rushing TD 13-25 passing 181 yards 3TD 18 tackles - Corey Travis 8-123 receiving 2TD - Dylan Schenk 2 INT Vassar - Dontay Crist 7-66 rushing 2TD - Zach Germain 12-15 passing 175 yards 2TD 4-89 rushing 7 tackles - Ryan Huber 30 yard fumble return for TD - Tyler Best 10 tackles Cass City - Luke Newton 6-114 rushing 2TD - Blake Messing 16-128 rushing - Austin Babich 2 TD passes Kingston - Raydar Williams 9-286 rushing 4TD Frankenmuth - Ben List 13-75 rushing 2TD - Matt Cramer 7-60 rushing TD pass - Tyler Schiefer 15 tackles 3 tackles for loss Caro - Kyle Diaz 26-201 rushing TD - Caleb Sundblad 7-10 passing 175 yards 4TD - Tim Curtis 3-68 receiving 3TD - RJ Fritz 2-92 receiving TD Millington - Tyler Reinert 9-116 rushing 2TD 5-12 passing 97 yards TD defensive INT - Ken Hoffman 10 tackles sack fumble recovery TD rushing The Freak Nasty Player of the Week for Week #8

The pregame show is now online. You can listen in the player above, or download through iTunes or Zune Marketplace.

Here is my Thumb Top Five Rankings (after Week 7) 1. Ubly (7-0): The only undefeated team in the Thumb. The Bearcats are loaded. This is not just the Jordan Kaufman-show (although...from what I hear, he is very good). Ubly will go 9-0 and I hope to see them in playoffs (a matchup with Dryden is almont imminent). 2. Millington (6-1): The Cardinals bounced back with an impressive 40-29 win over Caro last Friday night. If not for Kaufman, Tyler Reinert might have a chance for Thumb Player of the Year honors. 3. Deckerville (6-1): The Eagles should make quite a run in the Division 8 playoffs. A lone loss to unbeaten Ubly does noting to diminish what Deckerville has done so far this season. 4. Marlette (5-2): The surprise of the 2008 season can clinch a playoff spot with a win Friday over Mayville. The Red Raiders have never lost to Mayville. Coach Dennis Lester deserves some sort of Coach of the Year notice after what he has accomplished with his team this season. 5. Cass City (5

From our friends at the website www.snooze2you.com , here are the predictions for Thumb area teams, with record and playoff points in parentheses. Division 5 #2 - Standish (7-0, 83.429) Millington (6-1, 79.000) Essexville-Garber (6-1, 70.143) Cass City (5-2, 48.857) Division 6 Flint Beecher (5-2, 54.762) Marlette (5-2, 48.429) Madison Heights Bishop Foley (4-3, 45.000) Burton Bentley (4-3, 41.429) #1 Saginaw Nouvel Catholic Central (7-0, 83.429) #7 Carrollton (7-0, 69.714) #4 St. Charles (7-0, 68.571) Reese (4-3, 43.857) Division 7 #2 Ubly (7-0, 72.000) #6 Dryden (7-0, 61.714) Memphis (6-1, 50.000) Genesee (5-2, 47.048) Division 8 #9 Deckerville (6-1, 64.857) New Lothrop (5-2, 49.286) Peck (5-2, 33.572) Kinde-North Huron (4-3, 25.905) Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart (7-0, 64.000) Beal City (6-1, 60.742) Michigan Lutheran Seminary (5-2, 50.857) Bay City All Saints (4-3, 46.571) If Reese gets in with 2 more wins, I feel sorry for them if the district stays the same.

Thumb Power Rankings Team Wins Opponet Wins Power Points Millington 6 31 50.556 Essexville-Garber 6 27 48.333 Ubly 7 26 45.556 Deckerville 6 25 39.444 Marlette 5 33 39.444 Bridgeport 4 33 39.444 Cass City 5 29 38.333 Dryden 7 22 37.778 Reese 4 32 37.778 Bay City All Saints 4 32 36.667 Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port 4 36 36.667 Sandusky 4 36 36.667 Vassar 4 32 36.667 Memphis 6 24 35.556 Frankenmuth 3 35 35.000 Peck 5 28 33.333 Caro 2 35 30.556 Birch Run 2 34 30.000 North Branch 2 34 30.000 Kinde-North Huron 4 29 29.444 Mayville 2 35 28.333 Harbor Beach 2 32 26.667 Brown City 1 38 25.556 Kingston 2 32 24.444 Bad Axe 1 33 22.778 Akron-Fairgrove 1 32 21.111 Unionville-Sebeawing Area 1 32 21.111 Owendale-Gagetown 1 30 20.000 Carsonville-Port Sanilac 0 36 20.000

Week #7 saw some outstanding performances. Here are the best of the best, this week's Friday's Freaks. Reese - Derek Saylor 30-244 rushing 3 TD USA - Tim Canfield 11-134 rushing TD - Scott Fletcher 12 tackles INT Kingston - Raydar Williams 20-343 rushing 4 TD - Dakota Fee 7-69 rushing 2 TD Akron-Fairgrove - Matt Chorba 19-140 rushing - Corey Jobson 15-101 rushing TD Vassar 8-87 rushing 3 TD - Tyler Best and Josh - Zach Germain 8-11 passing 110 yards TD 16-105 rushing TD 11 tackles - Keif VickersDuBois 13 tackles apiece Owendale-Gagetown - Nick Zaleski 21-181 rushing 4 TD - Brent Reil 15-185 rushing TD 96 yards passing 2 TD Millington - TylerReinert 17-223 rushing 4 TD - Kyle Hemingway 20-162 rushing TD Caro - Kyle Diaz 27-128 rushing TD - Seth Kratz 14-106 rushing TD & TD receiving Mayville - Nate Richardson 16-120 rushing 14-22 passing 159 yards TD 18 tackles fumble recovery North Branch - Cody Stawecki 23-165 rushing TD - Dion Cimini 17-100 rushing TD Marlette

Tomorrow's pre-game show is now on-line. You can listen above, or download through iTunes or Zune Marketplace.

Thumb Top Five after Week 6 1. Ubly (6-0): Bearcats' just keep churning out yards, points and wins this season. Jordan Kaufman had a huge game against Brown City on Friday, rushing for 189 yards and two touchdowns. This week's matchup with Deckerville should be the highest attended game in the Thumb for the 2008 season. 2. Deckerville (6-0): The Eagles' Marcus Kemp is having a monster year. On Friday, he scored four touchdowns while rushing for 137 yards in just three quarters in a 42-6 win over Marlette. Kemp will need all of that and more if his team is defeat Ubly in Week 7. 3. Millington (5-1): A let down was to be expected after the Cardinals emotional win in Week 5. A loss to Birch Run was not exactly what coach Tim Furno wanted from his team last week. Still, Millington is the Thumb's premier program, as Furno had led his team to a winning season for each of the last 20 years now. 4. Cros-Lex (5-1): The Pioneers avoided the upset bug by rebounding in Wee

Following are some area playoff bubble teams with my predictions of whether they will make the playoffs or not. I define a bubble team as being 3-3 after six weeks of play. In order for any of these teams to make the playoff, they will have to win three straight games. Bridgeport - A very much improved team this year. Head Coach Mel Skillman seems to being try to turn this program in the right direction. With wins over Caro, Riverview Gabriel Richard, and Birch Run, the Bearcats are attempting to make the playoffs for the first time since 1999. North Branch (2-4), Essexville-Garber (5-1), and Freeland (5-1) remain on the schedule. I do not think Bridgeport wins the last three. Probably both Garber and Freeland beat the Bearcats. They will not make the playoffs this year, but watch out for Coach Skillman and the Bearcats in the future. Frankenmuth - A down year for Coach John Blankenship and the Eagles this year coming off their Tri-Valley East championship year last year. The team on

The website www.snooze2you.com has playoff district predictions. Check out the website for Week 6 predictions. Here are some area teams with disctricts: Division 5 - Millington, Cass City, Essexville-Garber, and Standish Sterling Division 6 - Marlette, Flint Beecher, Burton-Bentley, and Byron Division 7 - Ubly, Memphis, Dryden, and Genesee Division 8 - Kinde-North Huron, Deckerville, Peck, and Sterling Heights Parkway Christian The D5 and D7 districts if they stand will be very competitive districts.

Thumb Power Rankings Team Wins Opponet Wins Power Points Millington 5 26 42.222 Essexville-Garber 5 25 41.667 Ubly 6 22 40.000 Deckerville 6 25 39.444 Cass City 5 23 35.000 Bay City All Saints 4 27 33.889 Dryden 6 19 32.778 Marlette 4 28 32.222 Bridgeport 3 30 32.222 Frankenmuth 3 30 32.222 Reese 3 28 31.111 Sandusky 3 32 31.111 Memphis 5 21 30.556 Peck 5 22 30.000 Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port 3 32 30.000 Vassar 3 28 30.000 Caro 2 30 27.778 Kinde-North Huron 4 25 27.222 Birch Run 2 29 27.222 North Branch 2 28 26.667 Mayville 2 29 25.000 Brown City 1 33 22.778 Harbor Beach 1 29 20.556 Bad Axe 1 28 20.000 Akron-Fairgrove 1 28 18.889 Kingston 1 28 18.889 Unionville-Sebeawing Area 1 27 18.333 Owendale-Gagetown 1 26 17.778 Carsonville-Port Sanilac 0 32 17.778 Okay here are the new look rankings. This rankings is a strict power poll. There is not any human intervention. A team recieves 60 points for a win over a Class A school, 50 for a win over Class B, 40 for a win over Class C, and 30 for a wi

Week #6 had some huge games by Tuscola County Area athletes. Choosing the Freak Nasty player of the week was a tough choice. Here are your Friday's Freaks for Week #6. Akron-Fairgrove - Corey Jobson 8-268 rushing with 5 TD - Eric Cunningham 14 tackles - Trevor Winnine 14 tackles Owendale-Gagetown - Nick Zaleski 24-242 rushing with 3 TD Millington - Tyler Reinert 97 rushing with a TD 106 passing with a TD - Ken Hoffman 16 tackles and 53 yards receiving Vassar - Dontay Crist 16-179 rushing and 2 TD - Zach Germain 7-13 passing for 202 yards and 3 TD 12 tackles - Troy Hecht 4-81 receiving 2 TD - Marcus Taylor 3-121 receiving TD - Josh DuBois 11 tackles - Ryan Huber 7 tackles and a fumble recovery for a TD USA - Tyler Masse 2 TD rushing Reese - Chris Bauer 24-106 rushing with a TD Mayville - Nate Richardson 60 rushing with 2 TD 13-20 passing for 274 yards with 3 TD 20 tackles - Corey Travis 7-187 receiving 3 TD - Frank Labadie 15 tackles Kingston - Raydar Williams 20-155 rushing

So last night before we went on air at the Overlook Lounge, a few topics came up that i thought would be fun to debate. As of Week 5, who ya got? Thumb Player of the year? Thumb Coach of the year? Thumb Team of the year? let the debates begin.

The pregame show is no on-line for October 03. There are four segments. You can listen above, or download in iTunes or Zune Marketplace.

Thumb Top Five for Week 5 1. Millington (5-0): Another impressive win for the Cards, this one over No. 6-ranked Garber, 20-19. The Cards were down 13-0 at half before they came back to win. 2. Ubly (5-0): Bearcats are destroying everything in their path this season, and unfortunately for Brown City, they are in that path this week. 3. Cass City (5-0): The surprise story of the 2008 season, coach Cuthrell's Red Hawks are playing great football and winning games. 4. Deckerville (5-0): Too bad the Eagles have to play Ubly yet, or they might be looking at a 9-0 season. More evidence why the NCTL won't let them in. 5. Cros-Lex (4-1): Fell from No. 2 after losing to Almont last week. Only reason they didn't fall off is because Almont is REALLY GOOD!!

Mick McCabe's Week #5 rankings are now out. In the Monday edition of the Detroit Free Press , Millington has moved up two spots to #8 in Division 5. Ubly stays at #3 in Division 7, while Memphis enters the list at #10 in Division 7. Deckerville stays at #8 in Division 8. A few notable teams left off McCabe's list - Cass City and Dryden. We shall see if the AP shows anymore love to the Red Hawks and Cardinals come Tuesday. The AP rankings are out. Millington moves into the rankings to #9 in Division 5. Cass City gets some love from the Associated Press (but not from the Free Press) as they get into the Top Ten. The Red Hawks are ranked #9 in Division 6. Ubly not only stayed undefeated, but also stayed at #3 in Division 7. Deckerville moved up to #7 in Division 8. Millington is ranked #7 in The Flint Journal's Top Ten.

Week 5 is come and gone already. Here are Friday night's best players from Tuscola County. Akron-Fairgrove - Cory Jobsen 8-62 rushing with a TD Mayville - Nate Richardson 8-145 rushing and 13 tackles - Dylan Schenk 11 tackles and a rush TD Caro - Kyle Diaz 28-165 rushing with a TD - Tim Curtis 6-53 recieving Kingston - 20-429 rushing with 6 TDs along with 7 tackels and a fumble recovery Cass City - Austin Babich 5-101 rushing with a TD - Luke Newton 15-95 rushing with a TD - Blake Messing 18-90 rushing with a TD Reese - Mike Herbolsheimer 14-127 rushing - Luke Summerfield 4-141 receiving with 2 TDs - Josh Pickell 6-13 passing with 173 yards and 3 TDs along with 35 yards rushing Frankenmuth - Jacob Frank 16-115 rushing with 2 TDs - Matt McMeans 20-95 rushing with a TD Millington - Kyle Hemingway 21-95 rushing with a TD - Ken Hoffman 12 tackles with a sack - Tyler Reinert 101 all-purpose yards with a blocked punt - Josh Williams 4 tackles and 2 interceptions Vassar - Zach Ge