Tank runs hard. “I lower my shoulder, and that’s what I’m good at,” he said.

The ball is snapped and handed to the South Lyon senior running back, and the show begins.

The back barrels his way through the defense like a bowling ball through a rack of pins.

He isn’t running away from defenders; he is running into them. And then over them as he chugs down the field.

“I usually try to let them know in the first quarter,” he said. “It’s just lowering my shoulder and kind of attacking people head-on and trying to size them up.”

The youngster’s mother takes it all in, and eventually she hears someone in the stands exclaim: “He’s a tank!”

Yes, he is. He is Trevor Tank, to be exact.

No player in the state has a more appropriate name.

“People can’t believe that’s really his last name,” said his mother, Karen. “I guess it’s a good thing he wasn’t a girl.”

Not only is it his last name, it is his preferred style of running and the manner in which he plays inside linebacker, which might be his best position.

At 6-feet-3, 240 pounds, he is even built like a tank.

“I’m not small and fast and have like fast-twitch, quick-juke moves,” he said. “I run hard, and I lower my shoulder, and that’s what I’m good at.”

Son of Swami: Week 5 high school football picks

As everyone in South Lyon learned last week, Tank is surprisingly good at playing quarterback, too. With several players and coach Mark Thomas suspended before he resigned this week — administrators have declined to comment — interim coach Jeff Henson and offensive coordinator Ryan Van Dyke instituted the single-wing offense.

“He was phenomenal,” Henson said. “He’s our best player by far. We have some kids out right now, our starting quarterback being one of those kids out, and we had to find a way to get our offense back on track and change things up a little bit. Trevor is our guy, so we were going to put the ball in our best guy’s hands and see what happens.”

South Lyon lost a 21-16 heartbreaker to unbeaten Northville last week, but Tank was superb. He ran the offense better than anyone could have expected and even completed one of the two passes he threw for an 80-yard gain.

“He throws a better spiral than anybody else we have in the program, including the regular quarterback,” Henson said. “It was an 80-yard reception, and he probably threw a 50-yard tight spiral in the air and just perfect.”

Tank had no idea the team would be switching offenses on the fly until he arrived at practice that Monday.

“We walked in there, and there was a whole new offense on the whiteboard, and I was at QB, so I just ran with it,” he said. “Oh, I loved it. It was awesome. We totally switched up the offense.”

The surprise is that despite how big he is, Tank runs 4.7 in the 40, which isn’t bad for someone who runs as hard as he does.

“I’ve been able to move pretty good if they give me the ball,” he said. “I usually try to lay the wood. I think I run better when I think that people are almost scared of me. When people start to ease up, that’s when I think I’m best.”

After a heavy dose of trying to tackle Tank for a couple of quarters, defenders become demoralized.

“I can see people diving at ankles and putting their heads down,” he said. “That’s when I can put in a spin move or a jump cut or something.”

A spin move? From Tank?

While he might not spin like Ohio State’s Braxton Miller — who does? — Tank does have a spin move, and Waterford Mott star Dez Fitzpartick, who has committed to Louisville, was one of his victims.

In a come-from-behind victory over Waterford Mott, Tank caught a pass out of the backfield, and Fitzpatrick came up to make the tackle. As Fitzpatrick closed in, Tank used a spin move that left Fitzpatrick tackling nothing but air as Tank rambled for a crucial first down in the touchdown drive.

“I’m sure that beat him down a little bit, made him feel like an idiot,” Tank said. “But he was a good player. He was really cool to play against. Getting past him was definitely satisfying. It was cool.”

Standing on the sideline watching the play develop was offensive guard Brennen McMann, who couldn’t believe what he saw when Tank spun away from Fitzpatrick.

“Someone his size should not be able to do that,” McMann said. “When I saw that, I started freaking out, because that kid he did it against is an amazing athlete. It was insane; it was awesome.”

Insane and awesome are adjectives that could be used to describe Tank.

The “insane” part comes from his style of running into players instead of running away from them.

“I usually just try to do the hitting more than get hit,” he said. “Whenever I find contact, I always want to be falling forward into them rather than making contact and going backward.”

The “awesome” part is how his teammates feel about him, especially the offensive linemen.

“He loves to pound the rock and hit as many people as he can,” McMann said. “It picks up our line. We love seeing how he hits people and makes us want to go out there and just pound people.”

Van Dyke loved to throw the ball at Marshall High School, where he was an all-stater, and at Michigan State.

But he realizes that with Tank in the backfield, he can’t have the Lions passing 40 times a game.

“I give him the ball, because if I didn’t, I’d get lynched,” Van Dyke said, laughing. “He’s our best option, and I want to get the ball in his hands as much as possible just because he’s kind of the conduit that makes our offense go. It starts and ends with him.”

The entire South Lyon team begins and ends with Tank, and not just because of his last name or the yards he gains or the tackles he makes.

“Sometimes you see a kid and say: ‘Hey, that’s a football player,’ ” Van Dyke said. “There’s not really a science to it. It’s just that he looks like a football player. He’s an All-American kid. He takes care of himself. He prepared. He’s a great person, and he cares about his teammates. What else more could you want in somebody? And he’s got a cool name!”

Overshadowed by his exploits on offense is his play at inside linebacker.

Tank, receiving interest from Division I and II programs, shows a special instinct on defense, and his speed allows him to get to the ballcarrier quickly.

And if you think he hits people when he carries the ball, you should see what he does on defense.

“I think defense is where I’m going to pursue at the next level,” he said. “It’s a lot of reacting. You have a lot of freedom to react and make plays. I like to figure out what’s going on in front of you and just trying to stop it.”

The interesting thing about Tank’s style of play is that he isn’t reckless. He does not lead with his helmet and does everything he can to avoid head-to-head collisions.

“I know how serious head injuries are. They can take you out of a game in a millisecond,” he said. “I’d rather play safe than not play at all. All our coaches do a really good job of teaching head to the side and using your body more than your head.”

But he does use his head when he analyzes the best way to use his size and strength to gain yards.

“On some plays, it feels like five to 10 guys hit me and they just keep coming and coming,” he said. “I just try to keep my legs moving and keep fighting forward.”

Kind of like a tank.

“I think that’s a good name,” he said. “Almost everyone who hears the name comments on it. It’s great. I think that’s an accurate representation of the person I am.”

Contact Mick McCabe: 313-223-4744 or mmccabe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1.

Week 5 metro Detroit high school football schedule

Michigan’s Jabrill Peppers was a high school teammate of Rashan Gray, the nation’s No. 1 recruit.

The Wolverines are spending the weekend hosting Paramus (N.J.) Catholic defensive tackle Rashan Gary, the nation’s No.

1 player, according to ESPN.

“He’s been to Michigan a couple of times and he’s really well-acquainted with all of the people there,” Rivals.com Mid-Atlantic recruiting analyst Adam Friedman said of the 6-foot-5, 290-pound five-star prospect.

“This is more about his previous visits and what’s going on there now. That’s what he’s going to be looking for. Just kind of how the program really runs when it’s the season.”

Michigan planned a full-court press on Gary, treating him as a unique recruit and giving him the attention elite players generate. His college decision could lead to a snowball effect bringing in other recruits.

Friedman said Gary recently began putting emphasis on scheduling his five official visits and knew this weekend was one where he wanted to see one of his schools. Michigan was the most accommodating.

Michigan’s roster includes two former Paramus players in Jabrill Peppers and Juwann Bushell-Beatty (though Gary arrived last year, after they left) and his former Paramus coach, Chris Partridge, as a recruiting coordinator.

“The fact that he’s familiar with everybody is certainly a plus,” Friedman said. “That’s the issue with some of the other schools, that he’s not as familiar with these coaches, the players, the environment, as he is at Michigan. Obviously that’s a huge deal.”

Friedman said Gary might not make his expected college announcement in January if he’s still visiting schools then.

U-M will maintain contact over the following months and, regardless of how the other visits shake out, Friedman anticipates the Wolverines will remain a contender.

“The Michigan thing is always in his ear,” Friedman said. “That’s not going to be an issue. They’re always going to be a big part of his recruitment. It’s just a matter of how much of his attention are they going to take up with these other schools really pushing.

“If he does the hat thing, they’re going to be one of the hats on the table. There’s no doubt.”

Contact Mark Snyder at msnyder@freepress.com . Follow him on Twitter at @mark__snyder. Come back Saturday for a live blog of the Michigan-BYU game And download our new Wolverines Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!

The turning point of the expected shoot-out between Macomb Area Conference Red Division rivals Warren Mott and host Clinton Township Chippewa Valley came with just 4.6 seconds left in the half and the Marauders looking initially to run out the clock.

Quarterback Michael Pond (12-for-16 for 180 yards, one TD) hooked up for a 58-yard pass-run with Maurice Allen as time expired for an 11-point halftime lead.

The play was the moment of truth for the Big Reds, who didn’t play well on either side of the ball in the first half.

“It’s all about how you respond,” said Chippewa Valley’s Stefan Claiborne, who had a fumble on the opening drive that led the Mott’s first points.

“I told my teammates I’d get it back.”

The Big Reds scored 15 unanswered points in the second half and used a 67-yard punt by senior lineman Nicco Moroso on fourth down to tighten the race in the MAC Red with a 34-30 victory Friday night.

“Coach told me to get a good punt and I told him I got it,” Moroso said. “I said give me the protection.”

It was Mott’s first loss of the season, dropping the Marauders to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play. Chippewa Valley improved to 4-1, 2-1.

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Moroso boomed the punt out of his end zone and Jayvon Wilson made the mistake of not fielding the punt, which added another 20 yards to Mott’s attempted comeback.

“Nicco has been punting for a long time and a lot of people don’t think a lineman can punt that well,” said Claiborne, who made up for a first-quarter fumble with a game-clinching interception with 22 seconds left.

Running back Darian Greeley, injured in the first half, returned in the third quarter to catch an 8-yard TD pass from Patrick Briningstool (23 of 31 for 302 yards) with 9:44 left in the third. Jimmy Czarnik caught the two-point conversion pass to cut the deficit to 23-20.

The Big Reds took a 27-23 lead on a 49-yard bomb from Briningstool to Stanley Williams.

Mott retook command on a 4-yard TD run by Pond to make it 30-27.

Briningstool responded with a 12-yard TD pass to Greeley for the game-winner.

Another pass interference call against the Big Reds’ secondary kept a Mott drive alive. On fourth-and-7 at the Big Reds’ 12, Mott came up a half-yard short on a pass from Pond to Allen with 3:01 left.

The game started poorly for the Big Reds.

Marching toward a score, Claiborne fumbled around his own 11 and Mott’s Wilson scooped up the ball and raced 89 yards for a TD to give the visitors a 7-0 lead with 8:56 left in the first quarter.

Mott’s defense held on the Big Reds’ second possession, and Pond drove the Marauders 58 yards and scored from the 2 to give the visitors a 14-0 lead.

Dane Haggerty kicked a 28-yard to get the Big Reds on the board at 14-3.

Aided by a pass interference call, Andreas Demetriou kicked a 37-yard field goal with 6:46 left in the half to give Mott a 17-3 lead.

Chippewa Valley tallied a safety when the snap from center went over the punter’s head and out of the end zone with 2:25 left in the half.

Briningstool posted a for the Big Reds when he hit Czarnik with an 8-yard score with 41.8 seconds left in the half to trim the deficit to 17-12, before Mott’s seemingly back-breaking score ended the half.

“Penalties, special teams and stupid mistakes,” Mott coach Tom Milanov said. “You can’t overcome all that against a good team.”

Contact Perry A. Farrell: 313-222-2555 or pafarrell@freepress.com.

Detroit Cass Tech’s Demetric Vance and Michael Onwenu, right, try on their new hats and jerseys Monday, Sept. 28, 2015.

Michael Onwenu is a big young man.

The Detroit Cass Tech senior offensive lineman had trouble fitting into his U.S. Army All-American Game jersey today. He had even more trouble fitting his large Afro into his hat.

But he should fit in just fine along the Michigan offensive line.

The 6-foot-3, 367-pound mountain and teammate Demetric Vance Jr. will play in the All-America game Jan. 9 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. They will be joined by Detroit King’s Donnie Corley and Lavert Hill and Ann Arbor Skyline’s Daelin Hayes.

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Vance and Onwenu will be teammates at the game one last time before Onwenu heads to U-M and Vance to Michigan State.

One way or another, their paths will cross again.

“We’ve already talked about that,” said Onwenu, smiling. “I told him already. We are great friends, so … it’s a great opportunity to play in this game. Not many get the chance. I’m happy about it.”

Only 90 get picked per year. Last season, running back Mike Weber represented the Technicians.

“I thank my coaches and people at Cass Tech,” Onwenu said. “They put me in this situation. I just look forward to playing with the best in the country, to show I can play with the best in the country. We are producing talent every year and we have good talent coming out every year.”

Said Vance: “It’s a blessing and a great opportunity to play in this game. It feels good to know that the four years have paid off. All the hard work. When I graduate and come back, I’ll be able to tell the Cass Tech guys what I went through and the things Coach taught us were right.”

One big fan of both players is Cass Tech coach Thomas Wilcher. He said they embody what he wants his players to be.

“To me, they’ve made a great impact on our program because they’re the type of athletes that excel in the classroom, excel on the football field and, most importantly, they excel socially,” Wilcher said. “They meet with the players. They are peer mentors, they talk well to the groups and they’re always showing a positive side. They’re always trying to be there for their teammates, any underclassmen. They try to represent the school.”

Onwenu’s Wolverines are ranked for the first time since 2013. Vance’s Spartans are the No. 2 team in the country.

“It’s a great feeling and, hopefully when I get there, they’ll improve even more,” Onwenu said. “I’m excited to be able to put on those pads and do what I do. The blocking scheme is something I’m used to. I want to play my first year.”

The one player Vance keeps an eye on at MSU is Montae Nicholson, a hard-hitting safety who plays his future position.

“It’s a blessing to know I can do what I love and do it for my family and know I can go to college for free doing what I love,” said Vance. “This is my second year playing safety. I told myself I was going to be something. When I was playing receiver, I didn’t have that much attention. Coach (Jermain) Crowell kept pushing me to play safety. I figured out that is where I was supposed to be. Ever since then, I took off.”

Contact Perry A. Farrell: 313-222-2555 or pafarrell@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @farrellperry.

Seaholm golfer Catherine Michalak

Seaholm golfer Allegra Cunningham

Despite the possibility of rain, Tuesday afternoon was a Battle of the Sexes at the Red Run Golf Course in Royal Oak.

The Birmingham Seaholm girls took on the boys squad, and the smart money probably would have been on the Lady Maples.

Coach Leon Braisted’s team is the two-time defending Division 2 state champion, poised to make a run at a third behind seniors Catherine Markley, Jordan Michalak and Allegra Cunningham.

If they can stay in the lineup.

Braisted and Cathie Fritz — “She’s the co-coach, she’s a Godsend” he said — have a unique way of fielding lineups for Seaholm.

A total of 52 golfers are in the program. There are two junior varsity teams. The coaches don’t cut any golfers. Spots are determined on a tournament-by-tournament basis, and the team plays in a lot of tournaments, sometimes 5-to-10 per week.

“I run a lot of tournaments,” said Braisted. “We get different girls in different tournaments and see what they can do on different courses and we have an idea of a top five.

“I’ve already hosted seven or eight tournaments this year. People will come and say ‘Leon, is that your team?’ I mix up my lineup to see who can play where and when, how they can maneuver on different golf courses. Someone is always pushing the other person.”

It’s similar to Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh saying spots on the starting lineup are always up for grabs.

The coaches keep the atmosphere fun.

“My sophomore year at states I was in a funk,” said Cunningham. “I had got a really bad number on a hole. Coach Cathie knows that I like Broadway music. She knows I do theater. To cheer my up she started dancing and started singing one of my favorite songs from a musical.”

Markley enjoys the pressure. She has two team titles in tennis and another two in golf.

“It’s a really an awesome experience to get to know everyone,” said Markley. “It’s great to have a leadership position and be a role model on the team for girls who are just starting golf and want to improve. We have so many players on our team. The coaches are really nice and motivate everyone no matter what kind of experience you have. Having no cuts takes the pressure off some people.”

Markley, Michalak and Cunningham have been a part of both championship runs, the more thrilling being in 2013 when the team came from 17 strokes down after Day 1 of the 2-day finals to capture the title by one stroke.

“There’s pressure because you are competing with so many people and it’s good for the younger girls to come out and see what the team is all about,” said Cunningham. “The target is three-time state champ. It’s a great goal to have, but it’s also a competitive goal. A lot of teams are trying to take that away from us, so it’s our job to defend it. My job as a co-captain with Jordan and Catherine is to help the girls defend it and stay motivated.”

Giving everyone a chance is quite a chore with 52 golfers, but the coaches make it work.

“He’s not always playing the same six people, so he does want to see what everybody can do,” said Michalak of Braisted. “It’s a great thing and we have a wide range of talent. We give everybody a chance. I put so much pressure on myself and my teammates have done the same.”

There’s strength in numbers.

Contact Perry A. Farrell: 313-222-2555 or pafarrell@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @farrellperry.

River Rouge senior wide receiver Aaron Vinson heads to practice on Sept. 22. He has caught 15 passes for 250 yards and five touchdowns for the No. 4-ranked team in Division 5.

Aaron Vinson Jr. is someone football coaches would describe as a late-bloomer .

Although the River Rouge senior grew up playing youth football, he didn’t play his sophomore year after transferring from Detroit King.

He had a good but not spectacular junior season and is just now catching the attention of college coaches as a receiver and outside linebacker.

Over the first five games, he has 15 receptions for 250 yards and five touchdowns for the unbeaten and No. 4-ranked team in Division 5.

Vinson, 6-feet-2, 180 pounds, is an affable, good-hearted youngster who gets along with his teammates and everyone else in school.

“He’s not a troubled kid, he’s really focused,” said his father, Aaron Vinson Sr. “If I didn’t tell you what he’s been through, you probably wouldn’t know.”

After you read about all Vinson has been through below, you might wonder why isn’t he a troubled kid. But that is where football comes in.

The sport has been a safe haven for a youngster who has seen things no kid should ever see.

It began as an 11-year-old when Vinson went in the basement to find his 12-year-old sister, Alex. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, Vinson found her limp body hanging from the ceiling.

“She hanged herself,” Vinson said.

Vinson raced up the stairs and outside to get his mother, who was waiting in the car.

“I got her out of the car, but at first she didn’t believe me,” he said. “Then we went down and she saw her, too. I didn’t know what to do. I was scared.”

He was scared and then crushed. Alex was more than his sister; she was his best friend. They were constant companions and would talk for hours, sharing secrets.

The suicide was something Vinson didn’t see coming.

“It was an all-of-a-sudden thing,” he said. “She didn’t show any signs — no depression. It was all of the sudden out of the blue.”

Her suicide hit Vinson hard. Depression set in, and he got help from a child psychiatrist. A dream helped the youngster come to grips with the event.

“For a minute I was scared, but I had one dream about her,” he said. “At the end of the dream I asked her: ‘Where are you about to go?’ She said: ‘I can’t tell you.’ “

She didn’t have to. Vinson knew she was in a better place. But that help didn’t prepare him for what happened a few months later.

After Alex’s death, the light of his life was 6-month-old brother Omari. Vinson was going to make certain Omari became a stud athlete.

“He was on a big person’s bed,” Vinson said. “He rolled off the bed between the bed and the wall and died.”

It took some time before Vinson learned of his brother’s death.

“They didn’t really wanted to tell me,” he said, “because it had only been a couple of months since my sister had passed away.”

In a way, Vinson felt even worse after Omari’s death. Dealing with Alex’s death was one thing, but to lose Omari was overwhelming.

“I was really hurt because I always wanted a little brother,” he said. “He was my only brother. I always wanted somebody that I could say I brought up and help mentor.”

It was difficult for Vinson to open up to his psychiatrist about Omari. The grief was overwhelming. He did speak with was his younger sister, Ajanae, now 14, and she is the reason Vinson was able to hold himself together mentally.

“I knew I had to be stronger for my little sister,” he said. “She was already weak, so I couldn’t let her down. She was coming to me sometimes about it and I had to be strong. It used to be that I didn’t want to talk about it, but now I’m really open because I healed over time.”

Through the years, Vinson was able to cope with losing two siblings, but he also turned to football for help. He played for the West Seven Mile Rams in the Detroit Police Athletic League before enrolling at King.

He now admits he had an overinflated opinion of his skill level as he began his sophomore year and didn’t play in the opening game.

“I got dressed the first game, and I thought I was better than I was,” he said. “Obviously, the coach knew what was really going on. After the first game my dad asked me one question: ‘Do you like it here?’ I said, no.”

That led his father to look for a smaller environment, leading Vinson to River Rouge.

While he couldn’t play as a sophomore, it didn’t stop him from going to work in the weight room to prepare himself for his junior season.

“His body was very awkward — long, knock-kneed kind of guy,” Rouge coach Corey Parker said. “So we really had to help him develop in the weight room and help him change his body. He went through the whole gamut of things as far as speed training, powerlifting, the whole nine yards.”

But before he could get on the field again, Vinson had to survive another traumatic experience.

In late May of his sophomore year, he was in the car with his father, who stopped at a friend’s house in northwest Detroit, a few blocks from Vinson’s grandmother’s home.

Vinson’s father went to break up an altercation and the youngster stayed in the car.

“Someone shot into the air to stop the commotion,” the younger Vinson said. “One guy said they were going to come and shoot up the house. I was thinking, ‘I can’t just sit in this car because they might be here in no time.’ “

Sure enough, someone did pull up and get out of a car with a gun. Vinson ducked so he couldn’t be seen, and when the guy with the gun went into a backyard, Vinson got out of the car and walked to his grandmother’s home.

A bit later, he heard a car horn repeatedly honking in front of the house. On his way home, Vinson’s father had driven down a street where some of the people who were arguing at a friend’s house mistook him for someone else — and opened fire.

When he heard the horn, Vinson walked out and saw his father’s car riddled with bullets, five of which had hit his father.

“That was crazy,” the youngster said. “There were almost 20 holes in the car. You could see bullets ripped through the dashboard. There were bullets in the passenger’s side of the car.”

As he inspected the bullet holes, Vinson understood what could have happened had he not walked home.

“Luckily, I got out of the car or it could have been me,” he said. “I was crying, but I knew my dad was strong. It was just the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The road to recovery for Vinson’s father was a lengthy but successful one, and Parker and his staff worried what would happen to the youngster in the meantime.

“When it happened, we just knew this is not going to turn out well,” Parker said. “But he’s freaking amazing … just a resilient kid. He has a great spirit. He keeps it good. He has a great relationship with his teammates, and he does it on the field.”

The right place and the right time has proven to be River Rouge, where Vinson is blossoming into a player and healing from the traumatic events of his past.

“Football is another outlet,” he said. “From where I’m from, there’s a lot of kids who like to smoke, drink and all of that — everything but the right thing they’re supposed to be into at this age.

“I’m not like them. I’ve got football.”

Contact Mick McCabe: 313-223-4744 or mmccabe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1.

Romeo’s Brad Tanner had seen it on film this week.

It looked like Brett Droski telegraphed his passes, and with the game on the line and Macomb Dakota driving, down 19-14, Tanner made his move.

“This quarterback telegraphs his passes and I just kind of sat back and saw him go to that receiver,” said the senior defensive back. “I just jumped it. I pretty much baited him.”

Tanner picked off the pass and returned it 65 yards for a TD to seal a 26-14 win for visiting Romeo Friday night, ruining Dakota’s Homecoming and clinching a playoff spot with a record of 6-0 in a Macomb Area crossover.

Romeo QB Paul Hurley had fumbled two plays after the Cougars scored to make it 19-14, so the home team was poised to steal a game in which it had been mostly outplayed.

“Brad Tanner is the man,” said Hurley. “He saved me. He had my back. I tried to blow that game, it seemed like. My team came back every time and had my back. I love those guys.”

Dakota, in a tight race in the Macomb Area Conference Red division, fell to 4-2 overall.

Romeo is 3-0 in the MAC White. “We have many goals, this is the sixth one,” said co-coach Jason Couch. “Curt (Reinas) and the defense had a great game plan.”

The Bulldogs passing game exposed the middle of the Cougars defense and Romeo mostly stuffed Dakota’s offense, minus a long pass play in the fourth quarter.

“I think we had the ball just four times in the second half,” said Dakota coach Mike Giannone. “They controlled the game. They are a good football team.”

On Dakota’s first drive, Kaiser Carleton (11 carries, 93 yards) ripped off a 50-yard run to the Romeo 30. But on the next play, quarterback Antonio Patrico fumbled and Joey Meyers recovered for the Bulldogs.

Romeo turned the turnover into a 1-yard run by Dominic Bongiorno with 5:11 left in the first quarter to give the visitors a 7-0 lead. The Bulldogs then struck through the air with 9:15 left in the half when Hurley hit a wide open Lucas Schimon on a 41-yard pass to make it 14-0.

Dakota finally got on the board when Droski hit Dimitrij Donakov with a 6-yard TD pass with 4:12 left, making it 14-7 at halftime.

After swapping possessions to start the second half, Romeo went on a time-consuming drive, taking the game into the fourth quarter.

Zach Nies kicked a 33-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth to give the visitors a 17-7 lead.

Mitch Heimbuch got off a beautiful punt with 8:16 left in the game, pinning the Cougars back to their own 2. It led to a grounding in the end zone penalty on Droski when he was flushed out of the pocket. The safety gave the Bulldgos a 19-7 lead with 8:07 left.

Dakota broke through with a 64-yard pass from Droski to Evan Sivec, who made a fingertip catch with 2:47 left to make it 19-14. Hurley then fumbled on a quarterback keeper with Benji Marshall recovering with 2:33 to play.

“Before the game our coach said we stop 21 (Carleton) and we make them pass,” said Tanner.

Sep 12, 2015; Michigan Wolverines wide receiver Maurice Ways.

Just last week, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh was praising his wide receivers when he placed a young player into a surprising conversation.

“I want to see more receivers doing it, but you can see our run game going when our receivers are blocking, especially when it’s (Amara) Darboh, (Jehu) Chesson and Moe Ways,” he said. “When those guys aren’t in there, we don’t run the ball as well.”

As seniors, hearing that mantra for years, Darboh and Chesson made sense. But Ways, a redshirt freshman?

“I just kept doing my job,” Ways, the Birmingham Detroit Country Day product, said this week. “That’s Michigan. Michigan’s always been a run-first team and receivers, you’ve got to block to play. That hasn’t changed no matter who the coach was or what year it was. Coming to Michigan, they run the ball first, you’ve got to be a physical receiver. The running game opens up the passing game.”

At 6-foot-3, 205 pounds, Ways has the body to lay those blocks, but it’s the mentality and willingness to do it that has endeared him.

Ways grew up loving Michigan, and this week recalled being seven years old, enthralled by Braylon Edwards’ three-touchdown explosion in the 2004 three-overtime win against rival Michigan State.

Even when Ways was an impressive pass-catcher in high school — 106 passes for 2,218 yards and 25 touchdowns as a senior — he knew the blocking would set him apart.

“I blocked in high school, but not like I’m blocking now though,” he said. “I never really thought about it. It came natural. They put me in for a couple plays, a couple assignments, I blocked on the field every week, so things are going well.”

Though he’d like more catches — he has one — Ways understands there aren’t many players his age on the field.

“Moe has really asserted himself,” Harbaugh said. “He’s climbing the depth chart now. He’s has shown up in the play. On the down he is finding somebody to block. … The way he’s blocking we’re really impressed with.”

Contact Mark Snyder: msnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark__snyder.

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It hasn’t been easy for football coach Brent Widdows at Sterling Heights.

In the past five seasons, the Stallions have gone 0-9 once and 1-8 three times, including in 2013 and 2014.

But the seventh-year coach has continued to get support and words of encouragement from athletic director Robert Maus, and second-year principal Craig Miller has been a staunch backer.

“Mr. Maus told me we were going to do it the right way,” said Widdows on Monday.

So perhaps it’s no surprise that when Sterling Heights travels to Marysville tonight, it has a chance to automatically qualify for the playoffs.

With the motto of “Faith, Family and Heart,” the Stallions have won five of their first six games and allowed just 102 points.

“Yes, people are starting to jump on the bandwagon now,” said senior captain Christian Yatooma, who leads the team with 76 tackles. “There is a buzz around school about the football team.”

Widdows has put together a solid coaching staff, one of whom is defensive coordinator Tony Wright.

“He came over from (Warren) Mott and our defense has been fantastic,” said Widdows.

The coaches refuse to let the players rest on their laurels.

“It’s Marysville’s homecoming,” shouted strength and conditioning coach Frank Genco Monday in a voice that probably could have been heard in Marysville. “You know why they scheduled you for Homecoming? Because they think you’ll be an easy victory. You only schedule teams for your Homecoming that you think you can beat.”

The Stallions are 33 strong, with 18 seniors. The five victories are one fewer than the previous three years combined.

“Our whole outlook has changed,” said Widdows. “In the last four years I’ve been able to change and develop a good coaching staff. I think that has helped tremendously and freed me up to coach and not constantly manage. My first year, I was hired in March and I had to throw something together. I’m not saying I didn’t have good coaches, but I didn’t have what I have now.

“Secondly, I believe the mentally of our athletes has changed. … It’s a brotherhood in the locker room. They have faith, whether it’s spirituality or faith in each other. It’s discussed and talked about in our locker room. It’s really a nice place to be a part of.”

Sterling Heights, which hasn’t made the playoffs since 2003, sits atop the Macomb Area Conference Gold Division at 3-0 after going to Marine City and winning, 25-19, against the perennial division power.

“This is very special,” said Yatooma, a linebacker/fullback. “I’ve got a lot of brothers out here working hard. It’s a family atmosphere out here. We haven’t done this in a long, long time. We’re really changing things around here. … We’re all working for the same goal. We’re all doing it for the same purpose. We’re all doing it as the same unit.”

Quarterback Jacob Cyccone said the players spent the summer “busting our butts.”

“We put in a lot of work,” he said. “Our team; we can trust each other. We know if the offense messes up the defense will pick us up. If defense messes up they know the offense will come through.”

Both units played well at Marine City, one of the toughest places in the area to play.

“It was pretty cool,” said Cyccone. “We all know Marine City has a good program. We knew beating them kind of would prove to everybody that we’re not just some kick-around team on the block.”

Contact Perry A. Farrell: 313-222-2555 or pafarrell@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @farrellperry.

Uzelac has provided donated food for his players, and is fundraising to improve the school’s weight room and locker room.

BENTON HARBOR – Elliot Uzelac and his wife, Wendy, were driving to visit grandkids in Alabama a few months ago when Wendy offered an observation.

“I think you’re bored,” she said.

Uzelac nodded his head. “Yeah, a little bit,” he said.

How could he not be bored?

Uzelac began coaching football in 1964 and had been the head coach at Western Michigan and Navy. He was also an assistant at Michigan (twice) and Ohio State, among several stops along the way, before retiring four years ago.

After reviving the nearby St. Joseph high school program, Uzelac, 74, found himself with nothing to do.

“Why don’t you coach?” Wendy asked.

Uzelac had a surprising response.

“I want to do something better than that,” he said.

Wendy’s comeback was even more of a shock.

“Then go to Benton Harbor,” she said. “You go there. You help them. We’ve loved these eight years here, and you know and I know that those kids need help on the field, off the field and in the classroom. Maybe you can do that.”

Uzelac was so stunned by the suggestion that he darn near drove the car off the highway and into a ditch.

Benton Harbor?

Benton Harbor is a once-dynamic community that had tremendous success in athletics — and now is one of the most desolate communities in the state.

Over the last 30 years enrollment has dropped from more than 1,700 students to around 600, and the drop in football has been even more dramatic.

The Tigers entered this season riding a 19-game losing streak and hadn’t had a winning season since 1989.

And Wendy wanted her 74-year-old husband to take over this program and teach them how to win?

Actually, she wanted him to do more than that.

Uzelac couldn’t wait to apply, and on July 21, five days after Fred Smith was hired as the school’s athletic director, Smith hired Uzelac to be the head coach.

The results have been nothing short of astonishing. With a roster of only 34 players, Benton Harbor heads into tonight’s home game against Stevensville Lakeshore with a 3-3 record, equaling the Tigers’ victory total for the last six seasons combined.

But the least impressive thing Uzelac has done is help the Tigers win three games.

“It’s about more than football,” said senior offensive guard/defensive tackle George Kirkland. “It’s about life. It’s about going to college. It’s what’s going to come after football.”

If anything, Uzelac was surprised by the receptive response he received from the players, who were tired of losing. He had no idea these players would know who he was — and 30 years ago they wouldn’t have known him, because 30 years ago there wasn’t the Internet.

“I didn’t really know him,” said junior running back/defensive back Percy Brown. “I was like, ‘Coach Uzelac? Who is he?’ They told me he was the old St. Joe coach. I didn’t know him, so I Googled him. I found his history. I said, ‘OK, we’re going to go somewhere.’ “

The tone for the program was set the first time Uzelac met with his players.

“We had a meeting, and the way he talked to us, he told all of the adults to get out, he just wanted to talk to us,” Brown said. “He said what he expected and what he wanted.”

These players had heard a lot of talk from previous coaches who ran the program, but they instantly noticed something different about Uzelac.

“It was not only his word, but the tone,” Kirkland said. “It was like he was dead serious. He seemed promising.”

Food and water

It didn’t take long to learn how promising Uzelac would be. Instantly, little things surrounding the program began to change.

Uzelac has painted and carpeted a room he uses for the coaches’ office. Carpeting and paint have been added to a team meeting room. The joke of a weight room is being transformed, and so is the locker room.

“We never had the air on in here, and the next day we came in here and felt a little breeze,” Brown said. “We were like, ‘What’s that?’ They were working on the air.”

Air conditioning was nice, but for years the players couldn’t drink the water on the practice field.

“The water was contaminated outside,” Brown said. “He made a demand, and it was fixed the next day.”

Uzelac was just beginning. Much to the surprise of the players, food began showing up for them — and not just on game day. All of it was donated by people and businesses in the community.

“We ate good,” Brown said. “During two-a-days, before our sixth hour, at camp, before games, after a game, on Saturdays.”

When he took over, Uzelac found players with high blood pressure, asthma and stomach disorders. He was certain that many of his players came to school hungry, and he wasn’t sure what they ate when they got home after practice.

With his wife calling the shots, the meals are nutritious, heavy on chicken and pasta, nothing fried.

“We feed them as much as we can — morning, noon and night,” he said. “My wife says it gives us a chance. And my wife is pitching in. She’s there for every meal. We’re together on this. These are really good kids, but they’ve got nothing. I mean, worse than I thought. Just so many bad things have happened to them.”

Although he wasn’t hired until late July, Uzelac was able to hire Jerry Diorio, whom he coached at Michigan, and others whom he coached or coached with at St. Joseph.

Besides being the football coach, Uzelac has been a fundraiser. He is asking seemingly everyone he knows for donations to pay for everything he needs for the program, and people have responded positively.

“I’ve been raising a lot of money,” Uzelac said. “It’s amazing. A lot of people have given a lot of money already. I’ve got checks coming in from players who played for me at Western, at Michigan. I guess the word got out.”

Perfect practice

When practice began, the players quickly learned that Uzelac knows a thing or two about football.

“We believed in him when we started practicing. I know I did,” said junior running back/defensive back Jeremy Burrell. “It was everything he did. He made sure our stomachs were full. He made sure we practiced hard.”

And most of all, he preached perfect practice. The players learned that even the smallest detail matters.

“Everything has to be perfect, perfect, perfect,” said senior center/defensive tackle Shareif Alexander. “Your footwork, blocking, physical all has to be perfect to him. It’s the little things, because little things always count. The footwork you don’t think matters actually does make a big difference in how you play.”

It took a while for the message of perfection to reach home. The first few practices resembled a Keystone Cops routine. Players had no idea how to line up in a proper stance. When Uzelac talked about reading their keys, the players thought he was talking about their house keys.

The Tigers run the veer offense, the same offense they ran a year ago. But now junior quarterback Tim Bell has a better understanding of when he should hand off and when he should keep the ball.

“He got me to read better,” Bell said. “If my D-end — my read man — turns his shoulder, that means I have to pull it. If he just stands there, I have to give it.”

After losing the opening game, 20-13 to Gull Lake, Benton Harbor won for the first time since the opening game of the 2011 season by defeating Battle Creek Central, 14-9. The next week the Tigers thumped Niles, 35-13.

The players knew they were improving, but to actually win a game proved to be an overwhelming experience.

“It was joy,” said Bell. “I almost cried. Words couldn’t explain how I felt.”

By the opening game, Brown knew things were different, and he knew winning games was just a matter of time.

“You know how your head goes down when you lose a game?” Brown asked. “My head was still high when we lost the first game. It was close, it was our first game and we didn’t play like we knew each other. We kept our head up, and the next game we won, and the next one, back-to-back.”

High expectations

The turnaround in the football program can be seen in the hallways of the school. There is a buzz about the football team, and school life just seems a little better than before.

“Football can set the tone for the whole school year,” said Smith. “Football can set the tone for the city.”

Smith said he knew Uzelac would be welcomed by the players because he knew Uzelac can coach and he loves kids.

“The kids here are wonderful,” Smith said. “They were just looking for someone that cares about them and someone that has high expectations for them. My experience in education is the teachers and coaches the kids like most are the ones who have high expectations and demand the most out of them.”

The players laughed when asked how Uzelac is at practice.

Alexander said he and Bell seem to get the brunt of Uzelac’s daily criticism, but he also said that they both realize Uzelac is not attacking them personally.

“Every day at practice we’re the most yelled at people,” Alexander said, rolling his eyes. “It just makes you better. He just wants you to be better. Look where it brought us.”

It has brought Benton Harbor to the point where the players are talking about the state playoffs. The Tigers have never qualified for the state playoffs.

But this is just the beginning for Uzelac. He has plans that go way beyond the football field or the weight room.

“We’ve got to do a better job academically,” he said. “We’ve got some kids who are talented and can go to school and play, but we have to get their grades to where they should be and we have to get their test scores up. That’s a big job, so we have the room and we have six tutors that are going to come in four nights a week year-round and that will help them. We need to help them bad.”

Uzelac isn’t turning Benton Harbor’s facilities into the Taj Mahal. He just wants a nice locker room, meeting room and weight room so the players can feel at home, because he knows for many of them, school is the best part of their day.

“If I can control the environment once they get here, it will help these kids,” he said. “I want them to look forward to coming to school and going to class and being a part of a football program.”

That is why he is spending so much time playing fundraiser.

“I’ve got to raise $50,000 for the weight room,” he said. “I’ll get it done. The kids are worth it. I want them to feel that they’re relevant, that they have some importance in their lives.”

Contact Mick McCabe: 313-223-4744 or mmccabe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1.

Donations

To donate to the Benton Harbor football program, contact coach Elliot Uzelac or athletic director Fred Smith at 269-605-1240. Contributions can also be mailed to Uzelac at the school: 636 Pipestone Rd., Benton Harbor, MI 49022.

It was good old-fashioned smash-mouth football for host Sterling Heights Stevenson Friday night.

Led by the likes of 6-foot-4, 330-pounder Emari Brazzell and a host of his buddies: Damon Sutton (280), Jacob Lage (230), Jack Ross (280), Michael Mydlo (250), Lance Dezmond (270), Luke Gorniak (230) and Myles Hall (245), the Titans avenged a loss a 21-17 loss to Warren Mott a year ago with a resounding 38-7 victory.

The Titans stayed atop the Macomb Area Conference Red Division at 3-1 and 6-1 overall while Mott fell to 2-2, 5-2. The victory sets up a showdown at Macomb Dakota next week for the Red Division title.

Stevenson pushed the Marauders all over the field and used three turnovers to build a 24-0 lead at halftime.

“That’s our bread and butter,” said Stevenson coach Kevin Frederick. “We’re not going to fool anybody. We’re going to come right at you. We want to be a more physical team, and for the most part we’ve been that.”

Three runners reached the century mark for Stevenson.

Quarterback Frankie D’Ascenzo accounted for three TDs, a punt return and two rushing TDs, and rushed for 129 yards on 20 carries.

“This game has been on our calendar all year,” said D’Ascenzo. “The offensive line this year and the defensive line have been monsters all year. It’s great. We want to play for the MAC Red.”

Andrew Detmers had a TD run and 110 yards on 14 carries. Jared Cutlip had a TD and accounted for 131 yards on the ground on 14 carries.

With D’Ascenzo doing much of the heavy lifting on the ground, the Titans drove through the Mott defense in 11 plays with Cutlip scoring from a yard out with 6:54 left in the first quarter to make it 7-0.

Mott went three-and-out, but Tylen Redding intercepted a D’Ascenzo pass at the 38 and returned it 24 yards to the Titans 14.

Mott was unable to take advantage of the miscue when kicker Andreas Demetriou missed a 30-yard field goal.

The Titans drove 80 yards, entirely on the ground, with D’Ascenzo scoring from 1-yard out to make it 14-0 with 11:13 left in the half.

On the first play of its next possession Mott quarterback Michael Pond completed a screen pass to Maurice Allen. He fumbled with Levi Jackson recovering at the Mott 46.

Mott coach Tom Milanov replaced Pond with senior Jason Lilaj. After a 14-yard run he was smashed by Cutlip and fumbled with Nate Eck recovering.

D’Ascenzo fielded a punt and raced 73 yards down the left sideline for another score with 2:11 left to make it 24-0.

“I love the feeling,” he said. “I’ve been doing it all my life and it felt great. It was showing everybody that Stevenson is the real deal.”

Said Frederick: “He’s not afraid. There aren’t many Division 1 quarterbacks returning punts.”

Mott avoided the shutout on a 19-yard run by Jayvon Wilson with 9.9 seconds left in the third quarter.

Farmington Hills Harrison defensive end Khalid Kareem.

First, Ann Arbor Skyline linebacker Daelin Hayes, ranked the No. 1 football recruit in the state, decommitted from USC.

Now Farmington Hills Harrison defensive end Khalid Kareem, considered a four-star recruit and ranked No. 9 in the state by rivals.com, has gone back on his pledge to Alabama.

The all-stater tweeted the news this morning, writing: “After careful consideration and a lot of heart felt talks with my mother. In my families best interest we’ve informed the Coaches that I am decommitted from the University of Alabama at this time. Thank you to Coach Saban and Coach Williams and Coach Tosh for everything you’ve taught me a long the way. Thank you to the entire Crimson Tide family and community.”

Recruiting: Full coverage

• Signing Day 2016: Feb. 3
• U-M football, hoops recruits
• MSU football, hoops recruits
• Photos: Michigan’s 2016 football recruits
• Photos: MSU’s 2016 football recruits
• Photos: 2015 Sound Mind Sound Body
• More recruiting news

Kareem had scholarship offers to Michigan and Michigan State before choosing Alabama in June. In fact, he once reportedly was close to verbally committing to MSU. Verbal commitments are nonbinding until national letters of intent are signed in February.

There’s a thought that Notre Dame is now in play for both Kareem and Hayes.

Kareem changed his mind so that his mother, Phillicia, will be able to see him play, said his dad, Ken Kareem.

“I loved Alabama and the atmosphere down there — it was like no other — but I understood that he felt a certain kind of way about his mom being able to see him play,’’ Ken Kareem said. “The University of Alabama is a great place. Coach (Nick) Saban talked to us and said he didn’t want him to come down there if he felt like he was going to be missing his mom or was unfocused.

“He talked to us about that during his official visit. The distance came up in conversation over the last two months. He felt that he wanted his mom to see him play his college ball. Schools that are within four to five hours or less are now the ones we’ve been looking at.’’

Before the start of his junior year, Kareem didn’t have any scholarship offers. By this past spring, he had 39 and was named to the Free Press Dream Team.

His decommitment came as news to Harrison coach John Herrington this morning.

“His dad handles everything, but I had a feeling something was going on,’’ Herrington told the Free Press.

Kareem has 15 sacks this season, plus four forced fumbles and four pass deflections in seven games. He has 42 tackles (29 for loss).

“Being his father, I want him to go to Alabama, but I understood what he felt about his mom,’’ Ken Kareem said.

Here is Kareem committing to Alabama at his high school in June:

Novi Detroit Catholic Central coach Tom Mach let his freshman quarterback do the unthinkable Friday night at Wayne State — throw a touchdown pass in overtime to win a game.

Austin Brown hit Jack Morris with a 6-yard toss to take a 21-14 lead in overtime over Warren De La Salle, and then senior defensive back Tyler Laurentius intercepted Josh Wilk’s fourth-down pass to seal the victory.

“Going into that drive, I just trusted my coaching staff,” Brown said. “I thought (we’d) maybe do something different, but the coaching staff called a great play, and I’m proud of them for that. It’s just another game.”

Hardly. The Shamrocks and Pilots are both 6-2 overall, 3-1 in the Catholic League.

CC’s victory forced a three-way tie in the Central Division with Orchard Lake St. Mary’s and De La Salle. However, because CC didn’t win by a certain number of points, it will be OLSM and the Pilots in the Prep Bowl next week.

“If we made any more mistakes we’d be illegal in six states,” Pilots coach Paul Verska said. “We beat ourselves. We’ve done that twice this year. It was evident today. We lined up wrong on offense. We got penalties, we self-destructed offensively and gave up a couple of special-teams plays. Give them credit.”

CC’s Alex Bock had a 99-yard kickoff return and set up another score with a 74-yarder, but it was Laurentius’ play that sealed the deal.

“We saw that on film all week,” he said. “They had tried to run the play on the other side on the play before, so we knew they’d come back to it.”

The Pilots didn’t waste time scoring, getting a 1-yard TD from Allen Stritzinger with 8:11 left in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead.

The lead didn’t last long as Bock took the kickoff 99 yards on a beautifully blocked return to tie the game at 7:54.

The game then settled into the defensive struggled that was expected.

At one point, Mach called for passing plays three consecutive times, maybe a record for the season. All were incomplete.

“We talked all week long about playing like a champion, and that’s what they did tonight, and I was real proud of them and the coaching staff,” Mach said.

A face-mask penalty on the De La Salle defense loomed large when Brown completed a 45-yard TD pass to Victor DiRita with 18.3 seconds left in the first half to give the Shamrocks a 14-7 lead.

That was the eighth pass attempt of the half for CC, resulting in two completions and one TD.

CC had a chance to lead by 10, but Cole Gingell missed a 41-yard field goal with 3:02 left in the third quarter.

Following the miss, Tru Wilson led the Pilots’ drive to tie the game. With the senior carrying the ball six times, he scored from 3 yards with 11:25 left to force the tie in regulation.

MIDLAND Following two straight disappointing losses to Novi’s Tim Wang in the Division 1 No. 1 singles tennis finals, Northville’s Connor Johnston became a bookend champion.

In chilly, snowy weather Saturday at the Midland Tennis Center, the top-seeded Mustang finished his high school career with titles as a freshman (at No. 2 singles) and senior, galloping away with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Bloomfield Hills’ No. 2 seed Josh Mukherjee to claim the No. 1 singles title.

Johnston fell behind, 3-4, then won the next three games to take the first set. Riding the momentum, Johnston broke Mukherjee to start the second set, firing a fist-pump at his teammates. He closed out the match by winning the final nine games.

By the time the snow came and forced the action indoors, Johnston had won seven straight games.

“I thought it was funny playing tennis in the snow,” Johnston said. “Worst possible timing. Never done that before. It was a good match to remember.

Snow forced the division I boys tennis finals indoors in Midland, MI on Saturday, October 17, 2015.

“At the beginning of the match, I was a little nervous and wasn’t playing my best. Then I just rode the wave and I started playing my game.

“This means the most to me. I won my last high school match. I won states at No. 2 singles as a freshman, and I never thought that would happen. This year I had a lot of expectations and a lot of pressure, but I just fought hard and played my game.”

Novi sophomore Alex Wen fought through an illness that caused him to put down his racket for five months. A champion as a freshman at No. 3 singles, he moved up and won No. 2 singles, 6-4, 7-5, against Bloomfield Hills freshman Andrew Zhang.

“I just played my heart out, I gave everything I could,” Wen said. “When I first stepped onto the court after taking five months off, I was devastated. I could barely hit any balls. The first tournament I went to, I lost in the finals to a kid I probably should have beat. It was bad. Now, to see I could win a state championship again is great.”

Zhang’s teammate, Constantine Hemmich, won No. 3 singles, 6-2, 6-3, over Novi freshman Sid Amarnath.

Novi, the defending team champion, ended up in a battle with a young Bloomfield Hills team for the team title, while co-Day 1 leaders Ann Arbor Huron and Ann Arbor Pioneer finished in the top four.

The team title came down to the No. 4 singles match between previously unbeaten Brad Silverman of Bloomfield Hills and Chris Chio of Huron.

Silverman won the first set, but lost the final two, 3-6, 3-6. The result meant that Novi and Bloomfield Hills tied at 26 for the state title.

“It’s amazing,” said Bloomfield Hills coach Greg Burks of his team’s play. “We came to play the last couple of days. We played well through the season, but our best play was definitely in the tournament.

“I can’t be any more pleased. We’ve got some freshmen that have held up and showed poise. In one doubles, I had a freshman (Sebastian Burman) and a junior (Alex Ross), and they beat the fourth seed in Pioneer, and that was a big upset for us.”

Birmingham Brother Rice’s No. 1 doubles team of freshman Jarreau Campbell and senior Sean Abelarde won the flight over Troy’s Sai Kagithala and Kevin Fietsam, 6-3, 6-2.

“We played them before, and that helped as far as strategy,” Abelarde said. “Today we just put balls on play. Our serves were on. We were aggressive. That was our plan going into it, so we stuck to our gut and got the job done.”

Huron’s No. 2 doubles team of Austin Choi and Robert Dong beat rival Pioneer in the final, 6-3, 6-4, against Sayhann Goraya and Nico Figueroa.

Other finals

Division 2 at Holly

Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central and Portage Central tied for the team title, each compiling 30 points. Midland Dow was third with 27. Portage Central’s Bill Duo defeated Forest Hills Central’s Connor Genschaw in the No. 1 singles final, 6-4, 6-3.

Division 3 at Holland

Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook ended Birmingham Detroit Country Day’s four-year reign in Division 3, winning the team title with 38 points. Country Day was second with 30, but that included a one-point deduction for unsportsmanlike conduct at No. 1 singles. JP Avila of Holland Christian won that flight, defeating Cranbrook’s Marc Sable, 6-1, 6-4, in the final.

Division 4 at Kalamazoo College

Ann Arbor Greenhills won its eighth straight team title with 36 points. Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett was second with 28, and Traverse City St. Francis was third with 19. Otsego’s Luke Ford won the No. 1 singles flight, defeating Williamston’s Oliver Weaver, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-3. The No. 4 doubles flight was not completed and will be finished today, but it will not affect the top two in the standings.

Snow forced the division I boys tennis finals indoors in Midland, MI on Saturday, October 17, 2015.

Detroit King Crusaders Armani Posey evades being tackled by Cass Tech Technicians’ Otis Doss, during the first half of the Division I Detroit Public School League 2015 Football Championships at Ford Field in Detroit, on Friday, Oct. 23, 2015.

Detroit King QB Armani Posey is tackled by Detroit Cass Tech’s Taron Young, who loses his helmet in the process, in the Division I title game.

Two titanic forces of football nature collided Friday night at Ford Field.

The Detroit Public School League championship game had a different drama in this much-anticipated rematch between top-ranked, Division 2 power and undefeated Detroit Martin Luther King, and defending league champion Detroit Cass Tech.

Other than Cass Tech’s special teams producing two scores, King was the better team. They passed better and ran the ball better, but still found themselves down 25-21 going into the final 12 minutes.

King used the legs of Martell Pettaway and the leadership of Armani Posey to drive 84 yards, and used a 10-yard TD run by Kevin Willis to take a 27-25 lead with 5:10 left. However, King missed the all-important extra point.

It didn’t matter because the defense held, and the Crusaders (9-0) held on for the 27-25 win in the battle of the Goliaths as Cass Tech (7-2) relinquished the crown.

“I saw a nice little gap, got a block and hit it up in there,’’ said Willis. “Armani Posey was out there doing his thing.’’

A rematch of a 31-28 regular season victory by King, Division 1 talent dominated both rosters, but there were some subtractions.

Five King players were suspended because of the ugly brawl against Detroit Cody the previous week, and were forced to watch the game from the sideline. That also became a point of contention because suspended students aren’t supposed to attend school events.

King Coach Dale Harvel confirmed before the game that those out were backup quarterback El-Julian Jordan, defensive back Jerimiah Fuller, defensive backs Ambry Thomas and Martinez Adams Calloway, and lineman Traveon Orr. Fuller, Thomas and Adams Calloway were all starters.

“We found out Tuesday that we were playing, then we found out Thursday that we were losing five players,’’ said Harvel. “We lost two starters out of the secondary, so for our defense to hold up the way it did with two kids playing roles they hadn’t played before was big. We put pressure on him (Rodney Hall) all night.

“With guys having to move around, it hurt our special teams.’’

Cass Tech’s passing game was dismal with just 36 yards, but Coach Thomas Wilcher was gracious in defeat.

“First off all, I want to compliment Coach Harvel in what he did and Coach (Terel) Patrick in what he did,’’ said Wilcher. “Their offense and defense did a great job. The most important thing to me was that how I noticed Harvel had some kids that needed to be disciplined and he did that. I complimented him on that and I told him I was glad he did that because I’m glad we’re stepping up and trying to do something about our young men.’’

After a scoreless first quarter, the Technicians faced at fourth-down and five at the King 9-yard line, and used a 26-yard field goal by Albert Pace to take a 3-0 lead with 11:58 left in the first half.

Posey had a 17-yard TD pass to an outstretched Dontre Boyd to give the Crusaders a 7-3 lead with 7:42 left in the first half.

Donovan People-Jones gave Cass Tech a lift on a 44-yard punt return score with 3:57 left in the half as the Technicians regained the lead, 11-7.

Donnie Corley didn’t catch many passes, but he was a disruptive force in the Cass Tech secondary, drawing two pass interference penalties.

“They played over the top on me, but our receivers are great players,’’ said Corley. “One-on-one we were going to make a play. I just ran my routes and trusted my coaches. ‘’

Posey used a 24-yard pass to Boyd and an 18-yarder to Pettaway to march to the Cass Tech 5 with 34 seconds left in the half.

Posey found Boyd again, this time from two yards out with two seconds left to take a 13-11 halftime lead.

Cass Tech started the third quarter with a bang, getting a 92-yard kickoff return from Peoples-Jones to regain the lead, 18-13.

Big plays started piling up as Hill took a swing pass 85-yards, out-racing Michigan State recruit Demetric Vance Jr. with 10:22 left in the third as the see-saw battle was now in King’s favor, 21-18, after Corley caught the ensuing two-point conversion pass.

Junior running back Tim Cheatham broke loose for a 56-yard run for the Technicians. With a fourth down and three at the King 4, Wilcher went for it and Donovan Johnson scored from four yards out with six seconds left in the third quarter. It came at a cost as Johnson lay on the turf for five minutes. The extra point gave the Technicians at 25-21 lead, before King recorded the final score.

Detroit Collegiate Prep-Northwestern 26, Detroit Central 12: Northwestern (9-0) stayed undefeated behind two five-yard TD runs from Christopher Dennis to win the Division 2 championship Friday at Ford Field.

Northwestern took a 7-0 lead on a 34 yard punt return by Germaine Williams and made it 14-6 on a 58-yard bomb from quarterback Danny Whitt to Michael Marion. Dennis had both of his TD runs in the second half and finished with 18 carries for 114 yards.

Central fell to 6-3.

Contact Perry A. Farrell: 313-222-2555 or pafarrell@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @farrellperry.

Gia Milana a senior on the Romer high school volleyball team practices Monday, October 26, 2015 at Romeo high school in Romeo Michigan.

Gia Milana is the No. 1-ranked volleyball player in the state and one of the top players in the country, but she should be all of that and more.

After all, this is her seventh year of playing high school varsity volleyball.

Really, it is. And there is more.

“When I was in the fifth grade, I played varsity volleyball, softball and basketball,” she said. “In South Carolina, it’s legal. Technically, I’m a 13-letter athlete. I’m not kidding.”

Milana, 6-feet-2, isn’t kidding about playing varsity sports while still in elementary school, and she won’t be kidding next week when she leads No. 5 Romeo in its pursuit of a second consecutive Class A volleyball state championship.

When Milana was in fifth grade, her family moved from Romeo to Greenville, S.C., and that is when she became a varsity athlete.

“But it was a joke,” she insisted. “There were about 200 kids in the school, and it was K through 12. It was like elementary volleyball. I don’t even count that as when I started volleyball.”

She began playing volleyball in earnest as a seventh-grader when she joined a regional team and decided that was her life’s passion.

“I just loved it so much that I had a coach of the club I was at and we worked all summer,” she said. “We worked on ball-handling and technique and everything. Before being on that team I hit the ball with my fist. I didn’t know what top spin was. I didn’t know what anything was.”

The journey continued the next year when her family moved back to Romeo and she joined the Oakland Elite Volleyball club and played on its national team.

That is when she began the progression to becoming the best player in her class.

“When I got on my first national team in Michigan is when I started to improve drastically every year,” she said. “Over four years they just transformed me.”

Milana first made a splash as a sophomore when the outside sitter sparked Romeo to an upset of defending state champ Macomb Dakota, which featured Miss Volleyball Carli Snyder.

But it was two years before that, when Milana was an eighth-grader, that Romeo varsity coach Stacy Williams realized she was going to be coaching a potential all-stater.

“Right away I knew — kids don’t play like that in eighth grade,” Williams said. “She was a tall eighth-grader, and you knew there was potential there. Just the natural skills that she had and the natural touch she had with the volleyball, you knew that she was going to be something special.”

Milana is special all right and was pursued by the top volleyball programs in the country.

But Milana did not elevate to the elite level by accident. While she is a happy-go-lucky youngster, she is a supremely dedicated athlete who has devoted an immeasurable amount of time to becoming a dominant player.

“She jumps really well, but she works to jump well,” Williams said. “She hits the ball well, but she works to hit the ball well. She’s a naturally gifted athlete when it comes to understanding and seeing the game, but she works at it really hard, too. God gave her the opportunity, and she is working hard and making sure she takes advantage of what she was given. She’s got the body for it, but she’s got the work ethic as well.”

She committed to Maryland and second-year coach Steve Aird, who had been recruiting Milana when he was an assistant at six-time national champ Penn State.

It turned out that Milana liked Aird more than she liked Penn State, and she was still searching for a school when Aird took over at Maryland in February 2014.

“I visited, and I literally just fell in love with everything Maryland stood for,” she said. “There’s just so much pride involved with the big picture. It just inspired me. I wanted to be a part of building something. I wanted to go and work for something that I knew meant more than myself as an athlete.”

That is why winning last year’s state championship was so meaningful for Milana.

Every girl on last year’s team lived in Romeo, and in this day and age of school of choice, that is rare.

Winning the state title wasn’t easy, although the Bulldogs appeared to be on their way to a rout after they won the first two sets, 25-23 and 25-22. But then Novi won the next two sets, 14-25 and 25-7, which set up the final set.

“The last set we kind of pulled together as a team,” Milana said. “We said we have worked all season for this set — this set right now. All we have to do is win three sets of five and that’s it — and then we have it.”

Milana also had another message for her teammates.

“She said, ‘Give me the ball,’” recalled junior outside hitter Jodie Kelly. “We were like, ‘OK, if you want the ball, you can have it.’”

That is when Milana went all Alisha Glass on Novi.

Glass is the Leland legend who led her 2006 team to victory after dropping the first two sets to powerhouse Battle Creek St. Philip.

Now a starter on the U.S. national team, Glass set a state record with 48 kills in that championship match.

In the final set last November, Milana had six of her 29 kills to carry Romeo to a 15-7 victory for the state title.

“We had talked about winning three games to five,” Kelly said. “Well, her six kills were already a game to five and plus-one. Done — just because that’s Gia.”

Kelly and her teammates were almost in awe as they watched Milana take control of the last set.

“It was amazing; she was so good,” Kelly said. “She’s good in the front and back row. No matter what, we have someone on the court to go to. We call her our go-to, because any time anything’s confusing, you can always just give it to Gia.”

It was the set that set Milana apart from the other players in the state, but it had nothing to do with Milana’s desire to establish herself as the best player in the state.

She just wanted to be part of a state championship team.

“I just wanted to do anything I could for my team to finish,” she said. “The whole season I had such a great team behind me. They picked me up and backed me up on anything. I told myself, ‘I’m doing this for my team. I’m doing this for the win.’”

Milana’s teammates certainly admire her phenomenal athletic ability, but there is something else that makes her so endearing to her teammates.

“The best thing about Gia off court is her dry humor and personality,” Williams said. “She’s a funny kid. As good of a player as she is, she’s just Gia with her teammates. She’s as real as can be. She’s a fantastic athlete, but she’s just another goofball on the team.”

Above everything else, Milana wanted the state championship for the town of Romeo and the team picture that hangs in the ridiculously old gym with the bleachers that appear to be from the 1940s.

And Milana wouldn’t want it any other way.

“When I think about what I wear on my chest, the name Romeo means so much to me,” she explained. “It’s where I was born. It’s where I grew up. This gym signifies the small community. Everyone pulls in together. We don’t have a lot, but it’s the people that matter. It really helped us to win the state championship knowing we had such an amazing community backing us up.

“Just the feeling of bringing some recognition to this town really helped to motivate us.”

Contact Mick McCabe: 313-223-4744 or mmccabe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1.

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Madison Heights Madison high school’s Ryan Crews scores a touchdown against South Lake high school second during first half action Friday, October 16, 2015 in Madison Heights, Michigan.

Madison Heights Madison’s linemen were too young to know that coach Drake Wilkins was paying them a compliment Monday afternoon.

He called his offensive linemen “hogs.”

When the guys heard that word they were confused, not knowing he was favorably comparing them to the Washington Redskins offensive linemen of the 1980s and ’90s.

“He called us the what?” Brandon Downing asked.

Wilkins was asked about the strength of his team, and he quickly pointed out his studs along the offensive and defensive lines. The units are the main reason the team is 8-1 and has a chance to host three straight playoff games starting tonight against Warren Michigan Collegiate. The way the Division 6 bracket is set up, the Eagles could reach Ford Field and possibly avenge last year’s 41-27 playoff loss at Ithaca.

The assistant coaches said the officiating at Ithaca reminded them of the movie “Remember The Titans,” when the integrated T.C. Williams High School football team out of Alexandria, Va., had to not only fight the 11 players on the field but the prejudiced referees.

“It was tough, but the experience made us better,” junior running back Lance Mitchell said.

Mitchell is the main beneficiary of the offensive line.

The starters are the 305-pound Downing, who plays offensive tackle and defensive tackle. Trevor Barndollar is 6 feet, 270 pounds and plays offense and defense. Chase Mitchell is the lightweight of the bunch at just over 200 pounds. Justin Robland is an offensive/defensive tackle, and all-state candidate Mike Kibzey rounds out the starters at 6-4, 240.

In reserve are offensive guard George Fonkeng and offensive guard/defensive tackle Herbert Geeter.

Lance Mitchell, Chase’s younger brother, is just 5-5 and 160 pounds but packs a punch. He has run the ball 151 times for 1,415 yards and caught six passes for 126 yards. He has 25 rushing touchdowns, one kick return for a touchdown and one receiving TD. In all, he has accounted for 1,835 all-purpose yards.

They were all at Ithaca and felt the pain of that setback.

“Everything that happened at Ithaca happened for a reason,” Geeter said. “It made us a better team.”

Added Robland: “It was the toughest loss I’ve ever took in the four years I have been here. I just remember we fought and we fought and came up short in the final seconds of the fourth quarter.”

Wilkins said he hasn’t had a group work harder over the winter and spring to get to this point, especially the linemen. That’s saying a lot since the Eagles have won at least five games since 2005 and are a playoff regular.

“They are the powerhouse of our team,” Lance Mitchell said of the offensive line. “They are the reason I’m doing so well right now. They work hard every day, and it shows on game day.”

Wilkins doesn’t toss around a lot of praise, but he knows any playoff run hinges on the play of his hogs.

The only blemish was a 26-25 loss in the opener at powerful Pewamo-Westphalia. Madison captured the Macomb Area Conference Silver Division with an impressive 56-42 victory over previously unbeaten and talented St. Clair Shores South Lake.

“We had a rough first game, but since then every week we’ve grown and matured,” Fonkeng said. “I’ve seen something in this group — that we’re not going to lose. We learned a lot from the first game and that helped us against South Lake.”

Join us for a live chat and score updates during all of the high school football playoff action Friday night. And tweet your score updates with an #mipreps hashtag to get them into the blog.

Football

Paul Hurley and his pinpoint passing made sure visiting Clarkston’s chance for a three-peat in Division 1 ended in the district opener Friday at Romeo.

The Bulldogs’ senior quarterback was nearly flawless in running the offense, and the Romeo defense came up with two interceptions while stuffing star running back Nolan Eriksen (16 yards, 11 carries) in a 28-14 victory.

“They were just a better team than us, and they outcoached us,” Wolves coach Kurt Richardson said. “We made some mistakes. I’ll tell you what, those three little guys that Romeo has down, they play football the way the game is meant to be played.”

They were seniors Jacob Hernden, Joey Meyers and Hunberto Flores.

“We call them the heel-clickers because they are the only linemen I know who can do handstands and click their heels,” Romeo co-coach Jason Couch said. “They do a great job.”

Romeo (9-1) travels to Lapeer for a showdown with the undefeated Lightning. Clarkston ends 7-3.

Hurley’s passes to Brad Tanner dominated the first quarter as the combo moved the ball against the Wolves.

“They (Clarkston) knocked me out two years ago, so I’ve been waiting for this,” said Hurley, who finished 16-for-21 for 237 yards and one TD. “We were able to pick up the blitz. Me and my wide receivers spent a lot of time filling in those blitzes, and we did a great job executing.”

Romeo scored first, with Lucas Schimon scoring from 3 yards with 2:58 left in the first quarter.

The Wolves didn’t get a first down until the second quarter, on a pass from Alex Kessman to Hayden Schoenherr.

Clarkston put together its first good drive, only to have Kessman picked off by Kade Messner at the goal line with 5:28 left in the half. His return to the 29 gave the Bulldogs good field position.

Kessman, an accomplished field-goal kicker, had a chance to put the Wolves on the scoreboard, but his attempt was wide right with 24.7 seconds left in the half.

Clarkston’s first possession of the second half was a disaster. Kessman wasn’t ready for the first snap and lost 22 yards. On the second play, the ball rolled back to him and he recovered it for a 10-yard loss.

“That really hurt,” Richardson said. “What was it, second-and-42?”

Tanner returned the ensuing punt 44 yards to Clarkston’s 18. Tanner finished the drive with a 3-yard TD run to give Romeo a 14-0 lead.

Clarkston’s special teams came through when Michael Fluegel went 95 yards for the score on the ensuing kickoff to make it 14-7.

Contact Perry A. Farrell: 313-222-2555 or pafarrell@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @farrellperry.

Michigan running backs coach Fred Jackson talks to reporters Feb. 6 in Ann Arbor.

Fred Jackson had just been named football coach at Ypsilanti Community High School and was taking questions from the media.

“Are we going to have an exciting offense?” someone shouted.

Jackson recognized the voice, of course.

“You see, there he goes,” Jackson said, shaking his head. “That’s Lloyd Carr asking if we’re going to have an exciting offense. What he wants to see is defensive shutouts, so we’re going to have a lot of shutouts and all we’ve got to score is two points.”

Jackson, who coached at Michigan for 23 seasons and was Carr’s running backs coach, rejoined the high school ranks Wednesday with a news conference that included cheerleaders, football players and a drum line.

He began his career as a high school coach in the 1970s. He served as an assistant at Flint Southwestern for five years before becoming head coach for two seasons.

In 1979, Jackson began his journey in college coaching, first as an assistant at Toledo. He also served as an assistant at Wisconsin, Navy, South Carolina, Purdue and Vanderbilt before landing at U-M in 1992.

He remained at U-M after Carr retired and was retained by both Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke, but not by Jim Harbaugh.

Jackson, 65, has been at Ypsilanti since the fall, serving as the school’s dean of students, making the transition back into coaching even easier.

“Having Fred as dean of students is like having a father around for all the kids,” said principal Tanya Bowman. “It’s just really been a blessing to have someone come into the school to act as a mentor, to act as a father figure, something that a lot of our kids don’t have.”

This is the first season in more than 40 years that Jackson hasn’t coached, and he spent it watching his youngest son, Josh, quarterback Saline to an undefeated season and the No.1 ranking in the state.

“Watching my son play did something to me,” Jackson said. “It’s something that you don’t get a chance to relive. It gave me an opportunity to get closer to him. I already knew I wanted to keep coaching, but watching him play fueled a fire in me.”

His son committed to play at Virginia Tech and that is another reason Jackson wanted to coach at the high school level.

“I want to coach a program so I can watch my son play,” he said. “I can’t coach in college and do that. That’s more important to me than anything. If I can coach a little ball on the side and watch him, that’s great.”

Jackson mentioned Carr and Ron English, who was Carr’s defensive coordinator in 2006-07 and Eastern Michigan’s head coach in 2009-13, will serve as consultants to him.

“I have two of the greatest consultants to ever coach defense,” he said. “Those guys are very, very special coaches. They know I don’t know much about defense, so that’s why they’re here. Lloyd always told me you win championships with defense. That’s the same thing Ron said. Every championship we won has been with defense.”

Carr was an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan when he first met Jackson, an assistant at Flint Southwestern at the time, and a genuine friendship blossomed.

“Where I can hopefully help is that he’ll have some young coaches that I can mentor,” Carr said. “That’s what I see happening. I’ll tell you what, I’ve never been to a high school event like this to name a coach. So they’ve got some enthusiasm, and Fred has to bring them together as a team. He knows what it takes to build a team.”

Jackson said he’d answer the question most people have asked him: Why?

“There’s only two reasons,” he said. “One, the love of the game. Two, the love of the young men that I’ll get an opportunity to coach and mentor and mold their lives. That’s why I coach. That’s why I’m not done yet.”

U-M assistant Fred Jackson: I didn’t expect Brady Hoke firing

Contact Mick McCabe: 313-223-4744 or mmccabe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1.

Birmingham Groves (10-0) has set a school record for wins this season heading into tonight’s district final at Walled Lake Western.

Nathan Lazor decided his junior year he wanted to give up football and concentrate on swimming, where he’s a 200 and 500-meter freestyler.

But after one game in the student section for Birmingham Groves last year, he couldn’t take it.

“I just couldn’t sit there,” said the 6-foot-5, 220-pound senior offensive/defensive lineman who is an All-State swimmer. “I hadn’t worked out with the team that summer or anything, but Coach (Brendan) Flaherty was kind enough to let me back on the team. I realize I love football.

“Where’s my future? I swam the other day so I’m getting ready. I don’t know.”

In what has become a bittersweet season for Lazor, he’s glad to be part of history.

With a 10-0 shutout of perennial power Farmington Hills Harrison last Friday, Groves improved to 10-0, the most wins in school history.

However, Lazor had to watch from the sidelines, as he will when the Falcons travel to Walled Lake Western (10-0) tonight for a Division 2 district final.

“I originally dislocated my shoulder in Week 3,” said Lazor. “I missed two games after; came back for the Berkley game and the Avondale game and played half a quarter in the Royal Oak game, and I’ve been out ever since. I’m still involved in the game helping the coaches know which packages are in and the defensive line. It’s bittersweet. I love the feeling of possibly coaching one day. I feel my career was cut short.”

Flaherty said Lazor is now an assistant coach and motivational speaker to a defense that held the Hawks in check last week.

“His shoulder keeps popping in and out like Mel Gibson’s in Lethal Weapon,” said Flaherty. “We’d love for him to be out there.”

There were signs during an August scrimmage against Division 1 state runner-up Saline that the Falcons might be onto something. When the teams scrimmaged, the Hornets weren’t a lot better.

“I didn’t play in that scrimmage because I had dislocated my shoulder a couple of days prior to that,” said senior captain wide receiver/defensive back Nick Moore. “I was filming and the guys actually didn’t back down. We competed with them. We got after those guys and made a lot of good plays. From that point I knew we were something special.”

Said Flaherty: “ We held our own in some respects. Some of the guys started saying we had a chance. That helped.”

Through 10 games, the Falcons have allowed just 5.8 points per game. In winning the Oakland Activities Association Blue Division, they allowed just 36 points.

Physically, Beverly Park got the players ready for the season.

“It’s about a mile from here,” said senior captain Ian Rice, who plays fullback and linebacker. “During the summer, during our conditioning we have to jog up there. That’s a character-building thing we do.”

The Falcons have a lot of returning starters, and 10 juniors who have played together since they were in the fourth grade.

“This is my best season as a head coach,” said Flaherty. “We had some opponents that we were better than and we got some confidence and got some younger kids playing for us. The momentum kind of built.”

Added Rice: “It is special knowing that you are the first close that has done that (win 10 games). It means a lot to my class. I’m one of three captains and one of two defensive captains. We just have to keep everyone working towards a common goal; winning every week.”

Contact Perry A. Farrell: 313-222-2555 or pafarrell@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @farrellperry.