2. Walled Lake Western, 9-1, 2. Hopefully, the alarm clock went off against South Lyon.
Walled Lake Western, the No. 1 team in Division 2, was 3 yards from watching the rest of the state playoffs from the stands.
It wasn’t until outside linebacker Matt Alati batted away a South Lyon pass on a two-point conversion with 1:07 left that the Cowboys secured a 31-30 victory.
This would have been an upset of epic proportion when you consider Jeff Henson’s South Lyon team was an additional qualifier at 5-4.
“I thought they really looked good on tape the last there weeks,’’ Western coach Mike Zdebski said. “I think Jeff really adapted his offense and his defense to the kids as they developed throughout the season, because he was a much different team from Week 1 and 2 to Weeks 7, 8 and 9 when they got things rolling.”
South Lyon controlled the game, leading, 17-10, at halftime and 24-10 in the third quarter before Western finally got going.
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It helped that Western had faced adversity early this season in a win over Canton.
“I think the Canton game was a good deal, being down 14 there,” Zdebski said. “It’s not the end of the world. You don’t want it to be the end of the world, so you can’t start talking about the end of the world. We kept talking about what we needed to get back in the game.”
The Cowboys just needed to get the ball to receiver Cody White. Quarterback Johnny Tracy completed 15 of 24 passes for 186 yards, including two touchdown passes to White.
“We threw the ball out in the flat, and he made three kids miss,” Zdebski said. “You watch that little bit on tape, and it’s: ‘How did he do that?’ Then it was like: ‘Yeah, just keep getting him the ball. We’re good when he gets the ball.’ If he doesn’t get the ball, we have something wrong.”
Besides the incredible talent of White, Western also had a veteran coaching staff. It is a staff that didn’t push the panic button, although Zdebski might have been reaching for it several times.
“It’s not fun being in that situation, but we’ve been in that situation many times,” Zdebski said. “And I think you get used to it and how to handle it. You have to remind the new guys that yelling and screaming doesn’t work real well. You have to build them up and tell them what they can do and what they will do.”
Trinity saves Oak Park
After blowing a 14-0 lead and permitting Southfield A&T to score 28 straight points in Week 9, it appeared Oak Park would be a one-and-done casualty in the Division 2 playoffs, especially with a first-round matchup against U-D Jesuit looming.
“We played horrible last week in the third and fourth quarters,” Oak Park coach Greg Carter said. “That was kind of uncharacteristic. We’ve been really good, and we got back on track.”
Leading the way in Oak Park’s 26-17 upset of U-D was little-known Najee Trinity, 5 feet 7, 185 pounds, who carried 30 times for 183 yards and two touchdowns
“He isn’t highly recruited — I think it’s a size thing,” Carter said. “He’s got an incredible heart, and one thing college coaches can’t measure because they haven’t coached him is what’s inside him. He’s a gamer. He’s just got to get somebody to believe and give him a chance.”
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Despite yielding an 85-yard touchdown to Elijah Collins, Oak Park’s defense was solid most of the day.
“After that we went back to what we usually do, and we tried to stay in front of him,” Carter said. “Our defensive line was really, really good. Our secondary, other than a couple of occasions, played really good defense.
“We played bad against Cass on a couple of plays. We lost, 13-12, to a really good Groves team, so last week (Southfield) was really uncharacteristic of us.”
U-D never expected a first-round exit, but it must be noted that a week ago it completed its regular season with a 63-0 pounding of Detroit Leadership Academy, a first-year program with about 85 boys in the school.
Opting out of playing two Catholic League Central Division opponents this season might have hurt the Cubs in the state playoffs. And any coach worth his salt will tell you the goal of a program isn’t simply to make the state playoffs, it is to make the playoffs and win.
Instead, it will be Oak Park playing defending Division 2 state champ Detroit King this weekend in the district final.
Contact Mick McCabe: 313-223-4744 or mmccabe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1.
Super 8
Mick McCabe lists the team most likely to win the state championship in each division:
Division 1: Detroit Cass Tech (10-0)
The buzz: Can anyone match Cass’ speed? No.
Division 2: Walled Lake Western (9-1)
The buzz: Hopefully the alarm clock went off against South Lyon.
Division 3: Muskegon (9-1)
The buzz: Can East Grand Rapids give the Big Reds a game?
Division 4: River Rouge (9-1)
The buzz: The Panthers will make it two in a row vs. the PSL.
Division 5: Grand Rapids West Catholic (8-2)
The buss: We may be looking at a four-peat.
Division 6: Negaunee (10-0)
The buzz: The Miners are seeking their first state title since 2002.
Division 7: Detroit Loyola (8-2)
The buzz: The Bull Dogs are trying for their second title in three seasons.
Division 8: Muskegon Catholic (10-0)
The buzz: The Crusaders are going for four in a row.
Dakota-Athens to reshoot
Wednesday’s boys soccer semifinalists are set — except one. An error by the officials during the shoot-out of Saturday’s Division 1 regional final between Macomb Dakota and Troy Athens means the teams will resume play at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Troy Athens.
Dakota and Athens completed regulation and overtime tied at 2. During penalty kicks, on-site officials voided a successful goal by an eligible Dakota player for shooting out of order for his team. However, MHSAA soccer tournament overtime policies do not require that players shoot in a particular order for their team.
“In soccer, the overtime tournament procedure does not call for players to be listed in order when the game goes to penalty kicks,” the MHSAA’s John Johnson said Sunday morning. “The error occurred when the on-site officials created such a list and then penalized Dakota for shooting out of order.’’
The game will be resumed at the point in the shoot-out where the policy administrative error was made, beginning with each team’s fourth kick and the shoot-out tied at 3.
The winner will play Rochester in Wednesday’s
7 p.m. semifinal at Troy.