Looking Back: Top 10 High School Games of 2011 (1-5)

Patch covered a lot of high school games in Oakland County this year – from the basketball playoffs in East Lansing to regular season lacrosse to the state football finals at Ford Field. To celebrate the end of 2011, our sports staff put together a list of the top 10 games we've covered this season.

This lists focuses on schools from Berkley, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Clawson, Ferndale, Royal Oak, Troy and West Bloomfield.

Agree? Disagree? Make sure to sound off in the comments and tell us the top games you saw in 2011.

We ran the on Tuesday:

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Continuing ...

Nov. 2, 2011

Context: Neither team had reached the Division 2 semifinals before 2011 after years of tough regional and district losses.

Deciding Play: Midfielder Skyler Russ scored the game-winner for Avondale with 4:24 left on the clock.

“I don’t know how many goals he’s scored this season, not many,” Yellow Jackets head coach David Muczynski said smiling. “He was there and one touched it, the unsung hero.”

The junior’s goal came off an Avondale corner kick. Russ was in the right place at the right time to knock it in. The goal capped off an exciting second half comeback for the Yellow Jackets

Down 1-0 at halftime, Avondale (17-5-2) came out of the break with a sense of urgency.

Muczynski adjusted his offense by opening the second half with an extra player up top. The switch to the high pressure offense helped the Yellow Jackets keep the ball in the Barons zone for much of the half.

The change paid off when Joe Davison tied the game at the 17:17 mark. Erik Koberstein’s corner kick bounced out to the top of the goal box and Davison was there to clean it up.

Quote: “Been building towards this,” Avondale coach David Muczynski said. “I said it at the beginning of the season that this is the team that I had that could make a run. We’re not an impressive looking team physically, but what we do is get the job done.”

June 11, 2011

Context: Ferndale was an underdog against the defending Division 2 champions in the regional semifinals. The Falcons had advanced past the first round of regionals in seven straight years heading into the game against the Eagles at Madonna University.

Key Performance: Keith Waldrip was the hero with two RBI in the sixth inning that put Ferndale in control of the game.

Deciding Sequence: Divine Child maintained a 4-2 lead going into the fifth inning.

Ferndale came back by taking advantage of bases loaded situations in both the fifth and sixth inning. Justin Hammerle walked in a run to cut the Falcons lead to 4-3 in the fifth. In the sixth, Waldrip hit a two-run single to give the Eagles a 5-4 lead.

EXTRA, EXTRA: The game was nearly overshadowed by some in-game fireworks.

In the bottom of the sixth, Divine Child coach Tony DeMare was thrown out of the game.

DeMare was tossed in the bottom half of the inning. Justin Williams hit a double to lead off the inning. Nick Posh came up to bat with two outs and hit a slow roller to shortstop Scott Jones.

Jones’ throw to first pulled Gregory Rose off the bag. Rose recovered quickly and touched the bag just as Posh got there. Posh was called safe. Ferndale coach John Sibula ran out and argued the call. He said Rose actually tagged the runner with his glove hand when he was pulled off the bag. The umpires conferred and reversed the call in Ferndale’s favor.

DeMare came out of the dugout fuming. He screamed at the home plate umpire and was quickly ejected. He stayed out on the diamond yelling at the umpire for five minutes.

“You ought to be ashamed,” he screamed. “This will be your last regional.”

Quote: “I think it (the umpiring) was frustrating for both coaches,” Sibula said. “You like a nice flow to a game and it just wasn’t happening.”

March 22, 2011

Context: Two of the state’s basketball powerhouses met in the Class B quarterfinals for the fourth straight year. The game was held at Ferndale High School, and the gym was filled to capacity with 1,500 fans.

Key Performance: Adam Zavadil scored eight of his 12 points in the fourth quarter. He hit two critical free throws with 27.1 seconds left on the clock to help the Yellowjackets advance to the semifinals.

Deciding Sequence: It was the intense final four minutes when the lead changed five times and neither team was able to get more than a four-point lead.

Zavadil put Country Day ahead 65-61 with a layup, but Powers Catholic responded with a quick 3-pointer to move back within 1:53 on the clock.

That set up the biggest possession of the game. Country Day had the ball up 65-64 and just needed to avoid a turnover. Powers Catholic had to foul if it couldn’t steal the ball.

Lee Bailey started the possession at the top of the key and worked the ball around to Zavadil in the corner. Zavadil dribbled back up the court towards the halfcourt line and almost turned the ball over.

As he was falling over the line at halfcourt, Zavadil tried calling timeout. The referee’s whistle blew, but instead of awarding Country Day a timeout, the ref called a pushing foul on Powers Catholic.

Zavadil went to the line for a one-and-one with 27.1 seconds on the clock and hit both free throws.

Quote: “I wish somehow the state would set up the brackets so that game could be in the Breslin Center in front of 10,000, 12,000 or 15,000 people,” Country Day coach Kurt Keener said.

Oct. 28, 2011

Context: It was the first playoff game since 2004 for Athens. The team won more games in 2011 (7) than its previous two years combined.

The game itself was incredibly exciting, with the teams exchanging the lead five times in overtime. Both offenses thrived with a short field and each scored touchdowns on three of the first four possessions in extra time.

“Come on, you go to toe-to-toe with a football team like that and then we go into five overtimes with these guys, that was amazing,” Red Hawks coach Josh Heppner said.

Deciding Play: It was a fumble in the fifth overtime that sealed the Red Hawks fate.

Athens quarterback Ben Bartnowak went to hand the ball off and there was a miscommunication on the exchange. Lonnie Bolden and Sam Haskell both went for the football and it fell to the ground.

“Simple miscue,” Athens head coach Josh Heppner said.

Romeo ran the ball five yards on first down to set up a 21-yard field goal attempt. An illegal procedure penalty pushed the Bulldogs back five yards to make the kick a little more dramatic. Skovborg was still able to kick it through and end the Red Hawks season.

Quote: ““I’ll forever be in debt to these seniors and what they’ve done for this program,” Heppner said. “I can’t thank them enough. It’s up to our underclassman now; to take this and run with it. We should be in the playoffs every year. We’ve proven that we can do that and it’s our job to continue to strive for that.”

Sept. 30, 2011 

Context: This game had everything and then some:

• Homecoming? Check. It was for host St. Mary’s.
• Rivalry? Check. These two Catholic League foes have had many battles throughout the years.
• High stakes? Check, check and check. Eaglets coach George Porritt was seeking his 199th win while on the opposite sideline Warriors head coach Al Fracassa was going for his record setting 400th win. The game also had big implications in the division race at the time.

With both teams going on to win state titles, and , looking at the game in retrospect it becomes even more special. State champions don’t battle each other in the regular season very often.

Talent? Oh boy, some of the best in state. anchored the St. Mary’s defense at linebacker. The senior is bound for the University of Michigan. Brother Rice featured one of the top running backs in the state, , a senior headed to Northern Illinois next season.

And the game on the field? It didn’t disappoint.

Deciding Play: Down 9-3 in overtime, St. Mary’s had the ball third-and-goal from the Warriors' 17-yard line. Quarterback Dan Clements took the snap from the shotgun formation and tossed to Chris Woolen on a curl route.

Woolen caught the ball at the 7-yard line and beat three tackles to reach the end zone.

Quote: "Amazing,” Woolen said of his touchdown. “Greatest feeling of my life.”