Preps!
Gaylord St. Mary is 2-0 and has one of the most unusual statistics you can imagine.
Through two games, the Snowbirds have intercepted more passes (nine) than they have caught (seven).
“That’s like benching more than you can squat,” said fourth-year St. Mary coach Kevin O’Connell. “That shouldn’t work out that way.”
It works that way because St. Mary intercepted a state record seven passes last week in its 30-6 win over Bay City All Saints.
►Related: Five top performances from Week 2.
“About four of them were legit jumping good routes,” O’Connell said. “The other three were chucks and we just landed underneath them – they were deep fades and we defended.”
Three of the interceptions were picked off by freshman cornerback Brady Hunter. Sophomore linebacker Alex Cherry had two, including one for a pick-six.
Hunter may only be a freshman, but he is not your typical freshman.
“As an eighth-grader he played point guard on the varsity basketball team, so he’s very athletic,” said O’Connell. “He has incredible ball skills; he has very good instincts. The beauty of it is kids buy in and trust what they’re doing. We have a confident group of DBs, we’re jumping routes and living with the consequences.”
A year ago the Snowbirds lived with the consequences of starting seven sophomores and a freshman and went 3-6 against a difficult schedule.
A lineup featuring starting seven sophomores and a freshman is what you get when you have only 83 students in your school. St. Mary’s official enrollment number for football is listed at 170, because it has a co-op with Alba and North Central Academy. But only three students from Alba are on the St. Mary varsity and it has none from North Central.
With the experience gained a year ago, St. Mary is hoping to make the state playoffs this season.
“We’re finally coming to the stages,” O’Connell said, “where our expectations are a little bit different.”
Contact Mick McCabe: 313-223-4744 or mmccabe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1