Avondale Football Suffers Disappointing 56-14 Loss at Groves

BIRMINGHAM – In a battle for first place in the Oakland Activities Association Blue division, the Avondale High School football team forgot to show up on Friday night.

The Yellow Jackets lost, 56-14 to Groves in a game where very little went right offensively or defensively for the team.

“You got to show up every game,” Avondale head coach Steve Deutsch said. “You can’t just walk out there and think things are going to happen for you.”

Fans expecting a shootout between the top scoring teams in the division were half right. Groves' (5-1; 5-1 OAA Blue) first team offense scored on every possession it had the ball.

Quarterback Joe Mayone finished the night 5-for-6 through the air with 109 yards and a touchdown. He also ran 86 yards and two touchdowns on only five carries. Running back Keon Collier ran for 212 yards and had two touchdowns.

“It’s disappointing is what it is,” Deutsch said. “They didn’t do anything we didn’t practice or that we didn’t know they were going to do. We played slow tonight, sluggish.”

Collier scored his first touchdown on the game’s opening drive. Groves moved the ball quickly up the field with a 33-yard pass from Mayone to tight end Mark Corless. That put the ball at the 27-yard line and Collier rushed the ball four straight times to score the game's first points.

An offsides penalty on the extra point attempt by Avondale put the ball on the one-yard line, so the Falcons decided to go for two. Mayone converted it with a short pass to give his team an 8-0 lead.

After a four-and-out effort from the Yellow Jackets on the ensuing possession, Groves came back with a six-play, 68-yard scoring drive. Mayone hit Corless on a beautifully-executed 23-yard playaction pass to the end zone. The Falcons went up 16-0 after another successful two-point conversion.

“Joey’s fakes are really outstanding,” Falcons head coach Brendan Flaherty said. “That stuff is always a good part of our game because of his mechanics and fakes. And we’re running the ball pretty well so it’s there."

Mayone’s next touchdown was the one that seemed to demoralize the Avondale side permanently. Groves was facing a fourth-and-two and decided to go for it. To try and get the two yards, Mayone ran a quarterback sneak up the middle. The defense knew it was coming and had the play well-defended.

Somehow the senior slipped through the pile of defenders and burst through the line for a 50-yard rushing touchdown. It was something Deutsch couldn't explain.

“We were ready,” Deutsch said. “We knew they were going to run it and he just snuck out of there, it was just one of those nights.”

The Falcons had a 30-0 lead by halftime and only needed five points in the second half to force a running clock (per MHSAA rules a running clock starts when a team has a lead of 35 points or more in the second half).

Flaherty wasn’t surprised by his offense’s success, but he wasn’t expecting his defense to be able to hold Avondale (4-2; 3-2 OAA Blue) to under 20 points.

This was a Yellow Jackets team that came into the game averaging 38 points per contest and had one of the Oakland County’s most experienced and dynamic quarterbacks in Mitch Robinson.

“I thought it was going to be a shoot-out, we were blitzing and played man (coverage) 98 percent of the time,” Flaherty said. “I thought we were going to get some things home and they’re going to get big plays, I was expecting a shootout.”

The Falcons starting defense made sure it wasn’t. The defense forced two turnovers, scored a touchdown and was every bit as impressive as the offense was.

They limited Robinson to 71 total yards. He was 6-for-12 passing and didn’t see the end zone. The starters came out of the game in the fourth quarter having scored only seven points.

Avondale head coach Steve Deutsch watched his team get the ball down to the Groves 35-yard-line twice in the first half and come up with no points. The Yellow Jackets failed to convert to short fourth down conversions on both drives.

“Bottom line is we didn’t score those first three drives, we moved the ball, but we didn’t score,” Deutsch said. “As soon as they got up 24-0 now it’s a different game plan. We gave up too many opportunities.”

Next week Groves will have chance to clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 2004 when it plays Ferndale at home on Thursday at 7 p.m.

“That’s huge,” Flaherty said. “It’s really great for our whole school. It’s great for the band, for the kids here.  Our school is due, it’s due for some excitement. I’m happy for everybody, the student body and administrators. It’s our time.”

Avondale will try to rebound from its worst regular season loss since 2008 (a 52-20 loss to Lahser) against North Farmington on Thursday 7 p.m.

“We have three games left and two to get out of it,” Deutsch said. “We’re are still a good football team."