West Oakland County/Livingston County
BY DAN STICKRADT
CORRESPONDENT
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
WALLED LAKE — When talking about powerhouse programs from Oakland County over the years, Walled Lake Western is often left out of the discussion of elite programs.
Looking at the Warriors’ resume over the years, there’s no reason to omit them. This year, they are a perfect 9-0 entering the postseason and have reached the playoffs in 18 of the past 25 years.
Few other schools in the area can touch that.
Walled Lake Western rose to the top of the AP Division 2 poll before Week 9 of the regular season and has realistic hopes of making a run to Ford Field.
The Warriors won state championships in 1996 and 1999. They also advanced to the state semifinal round in 2001 and 2011 and have reached the postseason in 12 of the past 13 seasons.
WOLL ON A ROLL
Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes has rolled all season in Division 8. It has locked down a 9-0 regular season record and carries the flag as one of the favorites.
The Lakers open postseason play against Everest Collegiate for the third straight campaign. Ironically, Everest co-oped with Our Lady from 2009-2012 before splitting off its own program.
Our Lady of the Lakes has reached the Final Four 12 times, dating back to 1990. It boasts a pair of state runner-up trophies and one state championship, which it won in 2000. The Lakers are making their fifth straight appearance in the postseason, 24th appearance in 26 years, and 26th overall dating back to their first playoffs appearance in 1982.
NORTHVILLE AIMING TO MAKE RUN
Northville finished a perfect 9-0 in the regular season for the first time since 1961, long before the playoffs even existed in Michigan.
The Mustangs are in the field for the sixth time in seven years. However, they have not had much success in recent years beyond the opening game of the Division 1 playoffs, going 1-5 in that span, with three straight first-round exits.
With 110.222 playoff points, only four other schools in Divisions 1 and 2 have more points.
KLAA DOMINANCE
The Kensington Lakes Activities Association proved to be one of the state’s deepest leagues this year. Of the 24 schools in the four-division conference, 13 of them made the postseason.
That’s a .542 percentage, with over half of the league’s member schools advancing to the postseason field.
In comparison, rival league Oakland Activities Association, which currently has 23 member schools, only sent nine teams into the field this season (.391 percentage).
WALLED LAKE NORTHERN GAINING RESPECT
For a school that is only in its 13th year, Walled Lake Northern has done reasonably well in recent times.
The Knights failed to make the playoffs from 2002 to 2011, but since then, they made the cut in 2012, 2013, and now 2015. Their record in the postseason is 2-2.
Most recently, the Knights lost to Rochester Adams in the 2013 district final, 28-25.
BRIGHTON BACK ON BOARD
After a down year in 2014, Brighton is back in the dance for the 21st time in 34 years.
The Bulldogs are 8-1 and shared the KLAA-West Division title with Hartland. The Eagles defeated Brighton 14-7 last month.
The two schools will meet in a Division 1 pre-district.
BITTER TASTE DISSOLVED
Even though it has been one of Michigan’s premier football programs over the past three-plus decades, the 2014 season was not kind to Detroit Catholic Central, to say the least.
The Shamrocks finished 4-5 and out of the playoffs picture for the first time since 2006. In fact, in the previous 20 seasons, they made the cut 18 times.
Dating back to its first postseason team in 1979, Catholic Central has reached the postseason 25 times in 37 years, including nine straight times from 1995 through 2003, which explains why last season’s finish left a bitter taste in the collective mouths of those involved with the Shamrocks program.
In that collection of success, the Shamrocks reached the Final Four 17 times, finished as the state runner-up seven times, and won nine state titles.
Titles came in 1979, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2009. A mythical state title was also won back in 1939, long before there was a postseason format of any kind, only coaches and newspaper polls.
NOVI, HOWELL, HOLLY, EVEREST SQUEAK IN AT 5-4
Novi, Howell, Holly, and Everest Collegiate are included in the record number of 5-4 teams that reached the state tournament in 2015.
Novi last reached the playoffs in 2008 and is in the postseason field for the 13th time. For Howell, this the 12th time reaching the playoffs. The last time was 2012.
Holly was a downtrodden program for decades, but the Bronchos are making their fourth appearance since 2006. What makes Holly’s postseason berth special this year is that the Bronchos were 0-9 last year.
Everest Collegiate opened its high school in 2009 and split off its own football program in 2013. The Mountaineers are 18-10 overall in their three seasons, going 7-3 in 2013, 6-3 in 2014, and 5-4 this season. The program played in the CHSL-Intersectional Division this year after competing as an independent the first two years.
REPEAT FOR MOTT
Waterford Mott is in the postseason for only the fifth time in school history. All its appearances have come since 1999, and this is the second straight season it has qualified. The Corsairs’ reward is facing one of the state’s most successful programs, Detroit Catholic Central.
Mott has never won a playoff game. Last season, the Corsairs were bounced by Walled Lake Central, 35-14, in the first round.
YOU CAN DANCE
Livingston County will have three schools in the playoffs this season out of the five that sponsor football. Howell, Brighton, and Hartland qualified, while Fowlerville and Pinckney did not.
In Oakland County, nearly half of the football-sponsoring schools qualified for the postseason this year, which is incredible, considering that schools hail from only six different leagues.
A total of 25 out of 52 football programs made the cut, a .481 percentage.
The Oakland County schools that reached the postseason this year are Berkley, Detroit Country Day, Birmingham Groves, Cranbrook-Kingswood, Clarkston, Everest Collegiate, Clawson, Holly, Farmington, Farmington Harrison, Madison, Novi, Detroit Catholic Central, Oak Park, St. Mary’s Preparatory, Brandon, Notre Dame Preparatory, Lutheran High School Northwest, Southfield, Southfield Lathrup, Walled Lake Northern, Walled Lake Western, Waterford Mott, Our Lady of the Lakes, and West Bloomfield.
One school not going this fall is Brother Rice, which finished just 2-7. Not only does that halt the Warriors’ postseason string at 16, but it also marks the school’s lowest win total since going 1-7 back in 1964.
The school has reached the playoffs 27 times since 1975, including 17 of the past 20 years. It has only had five losing seasons since opening its doors in 1962, and three of those campaigns were the first three years the school was open (1962-1964).