Spread the word

If you've watched any football the past two weekends, either in the prep or college ranks, chances are you've seen the spread offense. You can recognize the offense by the quarterback in the shotgun, a single back, four receivers split wide — and the lack of any true grit.

My last point was a little sarcastic.

Granted, the offense doesn't produce a power game. But proponents ask why a power game is needed when you can throw the ball around or churn out yards on the ground with a single back. They'll have you believe that the days of 3 yards and a cloud of dust are over and that fullbacks are going the way of the dinosaurs.

Call me old fashion, but I can't stand it.

The spread has become the "go-to" offense in the high school and college ranks. No doubt you've had your fill hearing how the offense is going to take University of Michigan football into the 21st century. Since when did an I-formation and a 4-yard gain become unacceptable?

I understand the offense has its place and don't even mind that. But let it stay with the University of Purdue and Northwestern University, which brought the offense to the Big Ten because they believe it works as an equalizer against teams with more talent. Let it stay with Southfield High, which runs it to perfection at times. Even let it stay with Troy High, which utilized it all the way to the Division 1 semifinals.

But for the vast majority of the other programs using it, especially at the prep level where quarterbacks routinely don't make throws needed and receivers drop just as many balls, line up and play football.

Just because it's the new thing, doesn't mean it's the best thing.

Here's to 3 yards and a dose of dust.

The Pointe of rivalries

I covered my first Grosse Pointe North/Grosse Pointe South football game Sept. 5 at North.

I've been to Brother Rice/Catholic Central games, once in Pontiac and once in Hamtramck. Both of those trips were amazing exploits in preps athletics and seemed more like a Big 10 rivalry than a prep showdown.

I've also covered Macomb Dakota and Clinton Township Chippewa Valley, once in the regular season and once in the playoffs, and I could not get over how large of an event these games were. There were more people at those games than many of the Central Michigan University games I went to in college.

This weekend, though, I experienced something a little different from all the other rivalries I've seen, all the North and South fans were literally sitting next to each other.

I sat in the crowd between North and South fans, and I didn't even get a whiff of animosity.

I know there are probably stories of crowds getting out of hand in the past, all schools have a troublemaker or dark day in their history, but this experience was as much fun as I can ever remember seeing such a large group of rival fans have together.

With both sides sharing the same set of bleachers at North, there wasn't even a whisper of foul tempers in a game that was closely contested for over three quarters before the veteran Norsemen wore down a young Blue Devils squad.

Just as was the case with the vast majority of people at the Rice/CC and Chippewa/Dakota games, the GPN and GPS teams acted with as much class on the field as the fans did off it.

In today's age, where we are led to believe community camaraderie and goodwill toward our neighbors have eroded, it's nice to see parents and youths in a community prove all that wrong for a night and actually enjoy something as simple as a high school football game.

Kicking off with preps

When the dog days came to a end last week with the first official day of school, another budding season of preps began.

For me, another season means the smell of freshly cut soccer fields and the screeching of sneakers on the hardwood of a volleyball court.

That's where you can catch me — on the sidelines covering boys soccer in the Oakland Activities Association Red and Blue divisions , the Michigan Independent Athletic Conference and the Catholic High School League, and in the stands watching volleyball teams in the Macomb Area Conference White, Blue and Bronze divisions.

Here's a few teams to watch out for in both sports:

Beverly Hills Detroit Country Day's soccer team might be young, but the elite program returns to the pitch as the Division 3 defending state champions and ranked No. 1 in Division 3 by the Michigan High School Soccer Coaches Association's Sept. 8 poll.

Auburn Hills Oakland Christian (9-0-0 overall) returned 12 players from last year's Division 4 state runner-up squad and aims to make another title run. Leading the squad is seniors Jacob Stanko on offense, Josh McKenna in midfield and Kramer Everett in goal. The Lancers are ranked No. 1 in Division 4.

Troy High (1- 1- 1 in the OAA Red and 2- 1-1 overall) was ranked No. 4 in the MHSSCA's rankings and comes in with a strong senior class, which hopes to capture the district title that Birmingham Brother Rice snatched from it last year.

Some volleyball teams were shifted around into new divisions this fall, while an entirely new division, the Bronze, was created to accommodate Clawson High, which joined the MAC this year.

Warren Cousino's volleyball squad (1-0 in the MAC White, 7-5 overall) packs a powerful punch in outside hitters seniors Kate Sak and Danielle Meyer. Coach Patti Hunter said this is the year for Cousino to break out and make a run in the state tournament.

The Blue Division welcomed two new teams in Sterling Heights High and Grosse Pointe South. While Utica High dominated the league last year (12-0), with Utica Stevenson (10-2) close behind, this year there's much more parity.

Warren Fitgerald returns as the favorite after winning the MAC Silver division last year. The Spartans, who are now in the Bronze Division, are guided by a senior-heavy squad that is aiming for league and district titles.

But the Spartans should look for a hard-hitting Clinton Township Clintondale squad and an energized Madison Heights Lamphere's team.

I remember you!

As I strolled up to the coaches at the Grosse Pointe North-Warren Cousino boys soccer game back at the beginning of the fall season, I was struck with two very different but strong cases of déjà vu.

First I approached North coach Chip Stencel. Suddenly the early season Macomb Area Conference crossover game I was about to watch felt like a regional or state level playoff game.

That’s because Stencel was one of the last soccer coaches I interviewed — back in the spring — as he led the Norsemen's girls team to the Division 1 state championship game.

While that game took place back in mid-June, it felt like barely a week had passed since I had talked to Stencel, not two months.

“The girls ended, and then it was a month and a half and we were right back in it,” Stencel said, referring to tryouts and training beginning back a couple weeks earlier in August.

While his summer vacation might have gone by a little too quickly, Stencel admitted it wasn’t a bad problem to have.

“No, it is what it is,” he said.

Stencel seems to have picked up where he left off, as the GPN boys began the season 4-1-0 overall, including a 1-0 win over defending division champion Utica Eisenhower to kick off the MAC Red campaign.

Wrapping things up with Stencel, I ask him about the new Warren Cousino coach, Anthony Sorrentino. The name was familiar to both of us, but we couldn't seem to place it.

So I headed over to introduce myself and began to recognize the young coach as I got closer.
I realized that Sorrentino played for Warren Woods Tower back when I was manning the left midfield spot for Warren Mott.

Putting the old rivalry behind me, I spoke with Sorrentino and can freely say he seems to have the same successful touch he had as a player as a coach. The former Division 2 All-State honorable- mention selection has the Patriots off to a hot start at 2-0-0 in the MAC Blue, 3-1-0 overall — with their lone loss coming that day to the Norsemen.

Sorrentino’s success was not a surprise to his former coach at Tower, Brian Bonkowski, who I caught up with a short while ago.

“It’s great to see one of the players that you’ve coached move into the coaching ranks,” said Bonkowski, who is still the coach of the Titans. “It’s good. He’s intense and he knows what he’s doing. He’ll do good over at Cousino.”

Teacher and student will meet up at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 30 at Tower for a late season MAC crossover game.

A day with Mario

As the fall prep sports season hits high gear, as college football begins another quest toward championship question marks, also known as the BCS, and as the NFL starts rocking and rolling (undefeated preseason anyone?), I felt it my duty to grab onto the that summer feeling and squeeze every last drop out.

With that in mind, I spent some time a few weeks ago with Detroit Tigers television play-by-play commentator Mario Impemba for the latest installment of my series of jobs in sports.

OK, I also did it in a selfish way as an educational tool for my career as a broadcaster. But anyway...

A Sterling Heights Stevenson and Michigan State University grad, Impemba, now a Macomb resident, showed me the ins and outs of a day on the job.

The story itself will begin running in our papers Sept. 10, but some of the highlights of my time spent with Impemba included the preparation he puts into each broadcast. By 3 p.m. any day of an evening game, he is already the booth preparing stats, opening comments and information to use that night.

We walked to and through the Tigers’ clubhouse, the opposing clubhouse, the back halls and hidden alleys of Comerica Park, all in a day's work.

This is the seventh year Impemba has brought Tigers games from Comerica to our television sets and still, even as a grown man with a wife and two kids, he said he is living out his wildest dreams.

The best way to describe my time with Impemba is, "refreshing."

He has a job he loves, a job he is very good at, a job he spent years in the minor leagues to get to, and still he gets a genuine kick out of coming to the ball park on a summer night and calling America’s past time.

Not a bad gig if you're lucky enough to get it.