Tuscola County Sports

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.