By Mike Moore
C & G Sports Writer

MADISON HEIGHTS — He had crunched the numbers, added up the points and scoured over every other school that was similar in size.

A legitimate answer — a ticket punched or a ticket refused — was still hours away, but Madison Heights Bishop Foley football coach Paul Stanton was doing the math, trying to figure out the fate of his team.

When he arrived at the school late in the afternoon of Oct. 26, he was confident. But with his team finishing the regular season 5-4 and on the playoff bubble, he couldn’t shake the nerves.

“You never know until you see your team’s name,” Stanton said with a laugh a day after learning his Ventures had, in fact, qualified for the Division 6 playoffs. Foley played an Oct. 31 game at Whitmore Lake High after press time.

“We knew how many (playoff) points we had. We knew we’d played a very difficult schedule, and we knew we were one of the higher-ranked teams in Class C. But you just never know.”

Like most five-win teams — one win shy of a guaranteed playoff berth — Foley knew its playoff fate rested in the hands, or hard drive, of a system of computers that placed all six-win teams in Divisions 1 through 8. The 5-4 teams were then filtered in according to their playoff point totals to fill the 256-team playoff format.

On the evening of Oct. 26, the Ventures met at the school for dinner, put the selection show on and waited … and waited.

“The guys were getting pretty anxious,” Stanton recalled. “We were named to one of the last districts in Division 6. We tried staying positive as long as possible. Once we saw our name, though, the guys were pretty fired up.”

Stanton’s confidence heading into the evening was based largely on an advantage not many other 5-4 teams had, strength of schedule.

Over the course of the year, Bishop Foley, a Class C school, played four Class B teams and finished 3-1. The Ventures defeated Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep and Detroit Old Redford. Its only loss was a 39-20 setback to Dearborn Divine Child.

“It’s never easy to play schools that are from classes higher than you,” Stanton explained. “But if you find ways to beat those teams, there is a big advantage when you need those points to earn a playoff spot.”

Foley has now made the playoffs in four of the past five seasons. Since 2004, the only year the program hasn’t qualified was last season. But in each of the previous three playoff appearances, six wins were earned and the stress of selection night was never endured.

“It’ll make for some memories, maybe even some team bonding,” Stanton joked. “But it’s never something I’d want to do again. Just give me those six wins.”

You can reach Sports Writer Mike Moore at mmoore@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1038.