Oakland County

OAA football names its honor teams

By Christian Davis
C & G Sports Writer

The Oakland Activities Association was chock-full of good football teams this season, as the conference had 13 teams qualify for the postseason out of 25 schools.

“This is, by far, the deepest our conference has been. It’s not even close,” Rochester Adams coach Anthony Patritto said earlier this season.

For the conference as a whole, two of the three division champions earned the crown on head-to-head tiebreakers.

Here’s a look at where each team finished and the players that helped the squads get there.

Red Division
Recordwise, Clarkston High and Lake Orion tied at 6-1, but Clarkston beat the Dragons in their head-to-head season finale to earn the divisional title.

Troy Athens was third after posting 5-2, and Pontiac High was fourth with a 4-3 finish.

Troy High (3-4), Rochester High (2-5), West Bloomfield High (2-5) and Royal Oak High (1-7) rounded out the division.

All-Association honors go to Joey Goss, Zac Collins, Matt Dellinger, Travis Smith, Ethan Frick, Lucas Sanders, Craig Columbo, Mike Schwartz, Alex Barta and Mitch Baenziger, Clarkston; Andrew Shafkalis, Trent Paveglio, Jon Gall, Derrick Williams, Nick Booker, Sean Charette, Jacob Miller, Chaz Miller and Robert Aiello, Lake Orioin; Corey Thai, Lonnie Bolden, Sam Haskell, Lonnie Jaynes, Matt Fitzpatrick, Brandon Terry, Brandon Neal and Andrew Aurand, Athens; Romain Johnson, CJ Hall, Josh Guy, Mark Cargle, Jeff Johnson and Kezlow Smith, Pontiac; Jarrett Bochniak, Matt Oppenlander, Greg Webber, Justin Losey and Oliver Jiang, Troy; Cody Devoe, Kurt Apostol, Darren Witherspoon, Manny Mendoza and T.J. Dean, Rochester; C.J. Bratwaithe, Chauncey Briggs, Zach Root and Jalen Campbell, West Bloomfield; and Wesley Howell and Nolan Jones, Royal Oak.

Athens’ Josh Heppner was named Coach of the Year.

White Division
Farmington Hills Harrison continued its dominance in the division, finishing 7-0. Its closest margin of victory was13 points against Oak Park High.

Oxford High was second at 5-2, the same mark as Southfield High, however the Blue Jays finished third because they lost their head-to-head against Oxford.

Rochester Adams (4-3), Farmington High (4-3), Oak Park (2-5), Southfield-Lathrup (1-6) and Rochester Hills Stoney Creek (0-7) made up the rest of the division.

All-Conference honorees are Mario Ojemudia, Jake Vento, Devon Funchess, Aaron Burbridge, Jake Slobin, Ed Huckleby, Lamarr Marshall, Lorenzo Collins, Brandon Buckner and Aaron Johnson, Harrison; Prescott Line, Anthony Cappuccilli, Tyler Hunsucker, Collin Goetz, Matt Economou, Piper Thaler, Zack Hadron and Glacier Wallington, Oxford; Leviticus Payne, Brandon Watkins, Ron Thompson, Keenan Nash, Justin Danzy, Brandon Bean, Willie Duncan and Jeff Madison, Southfield; Tony Annese, Mike Fisher, Dave Jagow, Alex Borglin, Jack Sicheneder and Kyle Niswonger, Adams; Marvin Jefferson, Al Lesperance, Bryan Green, Jordan Degreffenrred, Chris Morgan and Aaron Buckley, Farmington; Chris Wesley, Marquise Wallace, Denzel Wright, Brian Williams and James Gault, Oak Park; Jamal Lyles, Chris Davis and Colin Parks, Lathrup; and Nick Gajdsik and Brandon Arduno, Stoney Creek. Oxford’s Bud Rowley was selected Coach of the Year.

Blue Division
Birmingham Groves and North Farmington tied at 6-2 in the division, but Groves beat the Raiders 22-15 in the second week of the season.

Birmingham Seaholm (5-3), Bloomfield Hills Lahser (5-3), Auburn Hills Avondale (4-4), Ferndale High (4-4), Berkley High (4-4), Hazel Park High (2-6) and Bloomfield Hills Andover (0-8), which played much better than its record indicates, losing four games by three points or less.

All-Conference honorees are Joe Mayong, Brad Goforth, Scott Fiest, Blake Jackson, Andrew Alder, Devon Moosher, Keon Collier, Matt Simpson, Jacob Snead and Mark Corless, Groves; Josh Abruzzo, Anwar Alquerneh, Chauncey Bridges, Itoh Buley, Justin Ervin, Kevin Miller, Majd Mokbel, Justin Shelton and Jacquis Woods, North Farmington; Dan Gibbs, Neil Page, Sterling Johnson, Chris Barr, J.D. Hess, Xavier Taylor and Jack Apap, Seaholm; Tyler Roth, Nate Cole, Andrew Gikas, Nick Dimaggio, Dajuan Burnley, Zack Tornow and Reilly Manz, Lahser; Mitch Robinson, Chris Wilson, Troy May, Mike Johnson and Clark Clancy, Avondale; Brandon Davis, Chevez Farris, Elliott Oldham, Aaron Duhkie-Davis and Eric Ellis, Ferndale; Josh Hall, Omar Sitto, Matt Koerner, Jason Taylor and Markeis Hampton, Berkley; James Laube, Thomas Baker and Keith Bucholtz, Hazel Park; and Juarrezz Smith, Winston Urwiller and Kyle Sroka, Andover.

North Farmington’s Todd Schultz is the Blue Division Coach of the Year.

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Christian Davis at cdavis@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1062. Follow Christian on Twitter.