GOING FOR TITLES SECTION Bedford, New Boston Huron and SMCC will play for Regional volleyball SPORTS championships tonight. Get updates B at www.monroenews.com. INSIDE: LOCAL SPORTS 3B ■ PISTONS 3B ■ ENTERTAINMENT 5-8B THE MONROE EVENING NEWS ■ THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2012 Division 6 state playoffs: Halfway record SMCC (9-2) at Grass Lake (10-2), 7 p.m. Friday suits inconsistent Lions perfectly The Detroit Lions are at the halfway point of the season and their medio- cre record reflects exactly how they’ve played: average. Of course that is below most expectations. But the fact is, this team is incon- sistent and put itself in this hole with a strange loss to Tennessee and an ugly one to Minnesota. Conversely Falcon the Lions played a good game against Seattle and soars like an their best game against woeful Jacksonville. Flip one weekend and flop the next. This isn’t the same old Lions fans have endured Ray for generations but they Kisonas certainly are hard to figure out week to week. Evening News staff writer Eagle You scratch your head after that dud against the Vikings, then watch them claw out a solid road win against Philadelphia, even if the Eagles are struggling. And the reason for the inconsistency is the offense. This team’s success is based on how well Matt Stafford and Calvin Johnson perform. And so far both have been average, just like the team’s record. Sure there are vital other parts, like a defense that has been surprisingly effective. But if the Lions are to turn things around this second — Evening News photo by KIM BRENT half, Stafford and Johnson must lead St. Mary Catholic Central lineman Blaise Eby scored the first touchdown of his career Friday night, then became an Eagle Scout Sunday. the way. So far Megatron caught 48 passes, which is pretty good. And he ranks SMCC’s Eby adds touchdown to Eagle Scout achievements sixth in the NFC with an average of 16 yards per reception. But he has exactly BY NILES KRUGER passer in the final seconds of the game one touchdown in eight games. One. [email protected] when his teammate and cousin Austin The NFC leader, James Jones of Green Scoring a touchdown is not part of re- Corbin, hit the quarterback and the ball Bay, has eight. quirements for becoming an Eagle Scout. popped loose. Stafford is about average also. With a But Blaise Eby added it to the list any- Eby pounced on the loose ball and ran quarterback rating of 83.2 he trails the way. 11 yards for the TD. likes of Kevin Kolb of Arizona and Josh “Coach called the blitz and Austin does Freeman of Tampa Bay. Not exactly The St. Mary Catholic Central senior it better than anyone,” Eby said. “He did the elite of the league. Although his scored the first touchdown of his career all the work. I just spotted the ball. My completion average of 63.6 percent is Friday night in a state playoff game, then first instinct was to just fall on it, but I decent he’s thrown only eight touch- became and Eagle Scout on Sunday. picked it up and ran.” downs while getting picked seven Eby has been working towards the high- Eby the son of the Maria and the late times. Not exactly sterling numbers. est award in scouting for 10 years. Thomas Eby of Monroe, lost his father The defense ranks 11th out of 16 He has been dreaming of scoring a in 2005. The game where he scored the teams in the NFC. That’s okay but touchdown for 8 years. touchdown was played on the anniver- probably better than expected. And it’s “It was surreal,” he said of the touch- sary of his parents’ wedding. not been a major issue in the first half of the season like the special teams. down against Detroit Consortium. “It was “I just heard about the Eagle Scout The flag was against Consortium and The d-backs seemed to have held their just like silence for a moment. Then I saw thing,” teammate Levi Eddings said. a flag and I thought, ‘Oh no, this is going the touchdown stood up. own but, of course, the Lions still have to be called back.’” The defensive lineman was rushing the See EBY, Page 2B to face Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay twice. So what should we expect from the X Get updates on the game at www.monroenews.com Lions for the second half? If they’re looking for creampuffs, they’ll be disappointed. The upcoming schedule is brutal. After Minnesota and Green SMCC (9-2) Bay the Lions face the Houston Texans, Coach: Jack Giarmo, 15th year (124-55) perhaps the best team in the AFC, on Giarmo: ‘We’re pretty darn Playoff history: 18th appearance, first since 2010 Thanksgiving. Then it’s surprising Indianapolis with 2012 RESULTS SMCC 44, Plymouth Educational 6 Andrew Luck putting up big numbers, happy to be in this year’ SMCC 32, New Boston Huron 22 followed by Green Bay, Arizona and Grosse Ile 21, SMCC 15 undefeated Atlanta, the best team in SMCC 37, Airport 7 Milan 35, SMCC 20 the NFL. They wrap up the season at SMCC 61, Riverview 42 home with one-loss Chicago. ■ St. Mary Catholic Central’s football SMCC 44, Flat Rock 7 SMCC 28, Jefferson 24 With the exception of the Cardinals, team is enjoying its playoff run after SMCC 49, Ypsilanti 6 all Lions’ opponents in the second half SMCC 42, Michigan Collegiate 12 missing out on the state tournament SMCC 35, Detroit Consortium 12 are above .500 and their combined last season for the first time in nine records are 48-20. Not exactly easy STATISTICAL LEADERS street to the playoffs. It’s certainly not years. Rushing: Josh Czarniowski, 103-705, 13TDs; Tannar Osborne, 67-536, 6 TDs; impossible but several things I believe BY NILES KRUGER Michael Wilson, 47-629, 8 TDs; Drew An- have to happen. tonelli, 99-592, 8 TDs; Jordan Regalado, [email protected] 58-529, 7 TDs. First, Stafford and Johnson must Passing: Bryce Windham, 5-10-55, 2 increase production and strike quickly St. Mary Catholic Central’s football team TDs; Michael Wilson, 6-14-53. at the beginning of games instead of has to travel more than an hour Friday night. Receiving: Josh Czarniowski, 4-80, 2 TDs; Levi Eddings, 4-65; Chinedu waiting for huge comebacks in the sec- And the Falcons must take on an excellent Nwosu, 2-19. ond half. Opposing defenses are taking Tackles: : Levi Eddings, 119; Chris away the long pass so Stafford must opponent in the third round of the Division 6 LaPlante, 53; Drew Antonelli, 52; Jake state playoffs. Blanchett. adjust and take what they give him. But SMCC coach Jack Giarmo doesn’t care. GRASS LAKE (10-2) Second, the offense needs to be “We’re just happy to be in,” Giarmo said. “I Coach: Randy Cole, 8th year (61-23). more creative and avoid the run up — Evening news photo by KIM BRENT am proud of these boys.” Playoff history: 16th appearance, the middle on obvious downs. Mikel Drew Antonelli (right) is one of five St. Mary Catholic eighth year in a row. Leshoure has shown he can play and The Falcons found themselves in an odd Central backs to rush for more than 500 yards this the offensive line has been doing its position last season. They missed the playoffs 2012 RESULTS season. Grass Lake 19, Dundee 7 job fairly well. after eight straight appearances. Grass Lake 59, Addison 6 Grass Lake gets to host the game, but coach Third, the defensive line must put And when they made those appearances, Michigan Center 26, Grass Lake 21 Randy Cole doesn’t know if his team would be Grass Lake 35, Napoleon 7 pressure on the opposing quarter- they generally stayed around for a while. Grass Lake 35, East Jackson 8 considered the favorite in this game. backs more so they don’t pick apart the SMCC played 30 playoff games during that Grass Lake 38, Manchester 13 “Look at their record, they are one of the Grass Lake 42, Vandercook Lake 6 secondary. eight-year stretch, including three trips to the Grass Lake 42, Hanover-Horton 6 And fourth, obviously, the special state championship game and three other heavyweights in the state,” Cole said. “It will Grass Lake 28, Leslie 14 be a big challenge for us.” Grass Lake 35, Michigan Center 14 team must stop allowing those huge, runs to the semifinals. Grass Lake has a pretty good playoff history Grass Lake 27, Manchester 7 game-killing plays. But last year at this time, rather than pre- of its own. STATISTICAL LEADERS Even if everything goes as well as ex- paring for a playoff game, the Falcons were The Warriors have qualified for the playoffs Rushing: Frank Vuocolo 96-833, 9 TDs; pected, the Lions still might not make preparing for the next season. Justin Wright 101-701, 14 TDs; Caleb the playoffs. In fact, it will be tough just 16 times, including the last eight seasons un- Sabo 81-613, 7 TDs. “We’re just darn happy to be in this year,” der Cole. They made it to the state finals in Passing: Logan Konopka 55-104-1,107, to finish the season at .500. And that Giarmo said. 10 TDs. will be disappointing. 2006. Receiving: Jared Lazarz 30-520, 4 TDs; Next up on the playoff trail is 10-1 Grass “They’re a good team,” Giarmo said.