The Week Ahead: Fall Season Kicks Into High Gear

Brother Rice, Country Day tennis

It will be a battle of two of the top teams in the state at 4 p.m. Wednesday when the Brother Rice tennis team hosts Detroit Country Day in a face-off on the tennis courts.

Brother Rice finished in third place in Division 1 last season while Country Day finished in second place in Division 3. Both teams are loaded with talent again this year.

The Yellowjackets have nine returning players including their top two singles players, Sven Kranz and Rishi Patel, as well as their top doubles pairing, Alex Gruskin and Abay Hukku. The Warriors bring back a similar amount of talent; Gunnar Peery and Johnny Cameron reached the state semifinals last year in singles and they're both back along with fellow Warriors Jack Hamaty, Chris Corbell and Colin Rapso.

In general, the week isn't an easy one for the Brother Rice tennis team. On Friday, the Warriors will visit defending state Division 3 champions Cranbrook Kingswood at 4 p.m. Today, they face off against De La Salle at 4 p.m.

Country Day just has one other match this week, hosting Petoskey at 3 p.m Tuesday.

Groves soccer

Two OAA Blue games are on tap for the varsity boys soccer team. The Falcons host Oxford at 7 p.m. Tuesday and then West Bloomfield at 7 p.m. Thursday. 

It will be a tough road for Groves this season as they try to replace a around a dozen seniors from last year’s team.

So far, the Falcons have played five games this season but only have one win to show for it. They’ve faced some tough competition on the pitch, including Country Day and Avondale, with their lone 2-0 win coming in over Macomb Lutheran Northern.

Football

• SEAHOLM: The varsity football team showed it can do a little bit of everything last week in its season opener, . At 7 p.m. Thursday, they'll try to make it two in a row against Andover, which lost to Hazel Park 28-26 in its season opener last week. 
• BROTHER RICE: The 2011 Big Prep Showdown Saturday went well for Brother Rice’s varsity football team; . In one of the game's most exciting moments, Warriors quarterback Cheyne Lacaanaria sent a 78-yard pass to Travis Ferguson with only 2:20 left in the game. Brother Rice will look to carry that momentum over to its Saturday game against Ann Arbor Pioneer at Hurley Field in Berkley. The game starts at 7:30 p.m.
• GROVES: The Groves varsity football team will try to end an Oakland Activities Association Blue four-game losing streak when it hosts North Farmington at 7 p.m. Friday. The Falcons haven’t won a conference game since mid-season last year. The Falcons are coming off a in their season opener last Friday — a close game until the Knights pulled away in the second half.