BY DAN STICKRADT
CORRESPONDENT
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFansave been
DAVISON — All those around Davison’s football program have been pointing to 2016.
And for good reason.
Behind a veteran lineup of 23 seniors, plus some rising juniors and sophomores in the mix, and the Cardinals were 5-0 through the first five weeks of the season with some eye-catching team statistics.
Davison outscored its first five opponents by a commanding 274-53 margin to put the Cardinals into the position as one of the favorites in the Saginaw Valley League Blue Division.
“When we took over in the (spring of 2014), we kind of pointed to this year,” noted Davison head coach Kyle Zimmerman, who previously coached for five seasons at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep before heading north. “We kind of saw the talent and knew that we could be a very good team in a couple of years.”
Davison was 5-5 last season, including a 34-26 setback to then-unbeaten Lapeer in a Division 1 pre-district. A majority of the starters are back, along with some talented newcomers that have everyone in and around the Davison program thinking big.
This season, a seasoned, veteran team has recorded lopsided wins over Saginaw Arthur Hill (62-12), Mount Pleasant (49-14), Flint Carman-Ainsworth (56-21), Flint Southwestern Academy (56-6) and Saginaw (51-0) with no signs of slowing down.
Midland, Lapeer, Bay City Western and Flint Powers Catholic still remain on the schedule d should provide a challenge for this group.
Junior running back Tariq Reid, a transfer from Burton Atherton, racked up 16 touchdowns with over 820 rushing yards through Week 4 and leads the talented Cardinals. The bruising, 6-foot, 205-pound back has thrived behind the mobile wide bodies in the trenches — seniors Zach Slezak (270 pounds), Justin Bishop (260), Austin Henderson (260) and Calvin Adams (250).
Reid is gaining attention from the likes of Michigan State and Ohio State, while several other Davison players on the radar of college scouts at NCAA Division I, Division II and Division III schools.
Senior Brenden McRill is a third-year starter at quarterback and a heady leader of an explosive bunch that averaged 54.8 points through five weeks.
On defense, where Davison has yielded only 10.6 points an outing, seniors Cam Tomczak (defensive back), Colin McMillan (linebacker) and Corran Thorton (defensive line) are all third-year starters. Junior defensive back Chase Chittick, senior linebackers Kyle Dymowski and Dave Ellis, sophomore Cal Steffano (defensive back/wide receiver) and Arron Gilmore (defensive lineman) have all emerged as key contributors.
“We have of very good athletes on this team. We have wrestlers, and they are tough; we have basketball players, baseball players, track athletes,” noted Zimmerman. “We have very athletic kids that are good football players and that is making a difference.
“Our numbers are also very good,” continued Zimmerman. “We have around 40 freshmen in the program. The varsity and junior varsity have strong numbers and even the middle school teams have solid numbers. I know some schools have seen their numbers go down and that specialization has hurt them. But that does not seem to be the case at Davison.”
The junior-varsity and freshman teams are also unbeaten through five games, while the middle school teams have winning records. Success is breading success at all levels.
“We have got better each year at the varsity level since our staff got here and we are seeing success at all levels. I think the future looks good for us if we continue (the course),” added Zimmerman. “This year, though, is the year we were looking forward to. All of the pieces to the puzzle seem to be here. It has been fun so far.”