Thursday, December 2, 2010
Optimism is high with seven players back from "Final Four" season.
When they're taking jump shots at just the right angle in the Phase III gymnasium, Canton High School girls basketball players can see the "Final Four" banner they helped raise last season. Although it's a cool sight, the Chiefs would like to add some new wording to the banner: State Champion. With a returning talent base that rivals any other program in the state, no would be surprised to see the Chiefs surpass last season's Class A semifinalist accomplishment and walk off the Eastern Michigan University Convocation Center court with state-championship hardware in late-March. The Chiefs finished 24-2 last season, with the second loss coming to Detroit Renaissance in a Class A semifinal contest. "Getting so close last year but not getting …
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
New coach Bob deBear likes the blend of young and veteran talent.
Those stainless-steel water dispensers positioned just outside Plymouth High School's gymnasium are drinking fountains, but judging by the school's girls basketball team, you'd think they were fountains of youth. First-year head coach Bob deBear's roster includes twice as many freshmen (four) as seniors, giving the Wildcats hope for the future as well as the present. "I love this team's upbeat attitude," said deBear, a Plymouth High School science teacher whose basketball-coaching resume stretches back 30 years. "They all want to do well and they're all good players. There's not one girl on this roster who I'd be afraid to put in during a tight game." Included in deBear's coaching history are stints with the Canton High School boys …
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Plymouth High School
8400 N Beck Rd, Canton, MI
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Friday, November 26, 2010
Lake Orion is strong and fast on both sides of the ball.
When you knock off three former No. 1-ranked teams in consecutive weeks like Plymouth's football team has done, it's time to trade in the "Underdog" label for something more fitting. Something blue with a red "S" on the front would fit the Wildcats, whose recent run has been nothing short of super, man! The only potential kryptonite standing between 11-2 Plymouth and the school's first-ever state title in any sport is 12-1 Lake Orion, which held off a last-minute Detroit Cass Tech rally to advance to Saturday's 1 p.m. MHSAA Division 1 final at Ford Field. The Dragons, who lost to Rockford, 26-14, in the 2008 title game, are as dangerous as the Wildcats' three previous powerhouse foes -- Canton, Novi Detroit Catholic Central and Rockford – …
Thursday, November 18, 2010
A commitment to the weight room is a catalyst for the Wildcats' rise to prominence.
How does a football program go from scratch to the state semifinals in eight years? With a lot of practice, a lot of patience and countless hours in the weight room. "I remember looking at (head coach) Jay (Blaylock) the first day of practice (in August of 2002) and saying, 'We've got our hands full,'" said Plymouth head coach Mike Sawchuk, who has been present for every day of the Wildcats' eight-year ascension. "We only had about four or five kids who had ever played football before, and we didn't have a lot of talent. "But I never forgot something one of the coaches I coached for at Naples (Fla.) High School told me: 'If you keep doing things the right way, good things will happen.'" The Wildcats' first official varsity contest didn't …
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Plymouth High School
8400 N Beck Rd, Canton, MI
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Wednesday, November 17, 2010
The long drive and opponents' home gym was no deterrent for the high-flying Eagles.
DECKERVILLE — Some teams would have viewed the two-and-a-half-hour bus ride Plymouth Christian Academy's volleyball team faced Tuesday afternoon as an obstacle. The Eagles embraced the long haul as an opportunity to bond. And bond the Eagles did, sweeping host Deckerville, 25-10, 25-11, 25-11, in a Class D quarterfinal match. PCA will now take its 29-9-2 record to Battle Creek for Friday's 3:45 p.m. semifinal match against Central Lake. A victory on Saturday would propel the Eagles into Saturday's Class D final. Amazing stuff. "I'm so gratified and proud of the girls," PCA coach Kelly Blackney said. "Even though we've already reached our goal — which was to win the regional — we're not satisfied yet. "To be one of four teams left in the …
Friday, November 12, 2010
Catholic Central's offense is old-school efficient.
Facing heavyweight ground games is becoming a weekly task for Plymouth's surging football team. One week after knocking out Canton's Tight-T attack, the Wildcats will line up against Novi Detroit Catholic Central's pound-it-on-the-ground offense, which has averaged 35.8 points in its nine wins. The Division 1 regional final contest pitting the 9-2 Wildcats against the 9-2 Shamrocks is set to kick off Saturday at 1 p.m. at Catholic Central High School, which is located at 27225 Wixom Rd. in Novi. Like Canton, the Shamrocks' running game features a talented committee as opposed to one stud stallion. In last week's 35-10 rout of Northville, sophomore Wyatt Shallman picked up 76 yards on nine second-half carries while Justin D'Agostino churned…
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Thursday, November 11, 2010
Wildcats' D-line combines quickness, tenacity and discipline.
Late in the first quarter of Plymouth's then-scoreless first round playoff football game against Saline, Wildcat defensive lineman Adam Packer bull-rushed past the Hornets' left tackle and leveled quarterback Trey Heren with a crunching blindside tackle. The hit separated Heren from the ball, which was recovered on the Saline 11 by Plymouth linebacker Faris Abraham. Six plays later, Plymouth scored its first touchdown in a game it would go on to win, 27-7. Chalk one up to the Wildcats' "Goon Squad," the nickname of Plymouth's resurgent defensive line, which is heating up as the temperatures drop. "No matter what team we play, if we come out and do what we're supposed to do and do what we're coached to do, we can take it to anybody," Packer…
Friday, November 5, 2010
Chiefs, Wildcats meet again with district title on the line.
Tonight promises to be the coldest night of the fall -- everywhere, that is, except on the P-CEP varsity football field. Cross-campus rivals Canton and Plymouth will renew their red-hot rivalry in an encounter that carries higher-than-ever stakes at 7 p.m. on the field, located at 8145 N Canton Center Rd. The winner of tonight's Division 1 district final contest will advance to next week's regional final against the victor of Saturday's Detroit Catholic Central-Northville battle. The Chiefs gained the upper-hand in the regular-season meeting with the Wildcats, running away with a 36-0 triumph on Oct. 8. Coach Tim Baechler's 10-0 team has since earned a No. 1 ranking in the state by the Associated Press, outscoring its opponents, 464-81. …
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8145 N Canton Center Rd, Canton, MI
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Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Chiefs play in state semifinals today against East Kentwood.
On a toasty August afternoon, a few days before Canton's soccer team would light the fuse on what would turn out be one of the most successful seasons in the program's rich history, Chiefs senior captain Phil Baciak talked about goals. Not the ones that end up in the back of the net; rather, the kind that teams set in preseason meetings, then strive to reach over the ensuing weeks. "This year's team has a lot of chemistry and we've set really high goals," Baciak said, nearly 10 weeks ago. "We think we can win a state championship. I think it's a very realistic goal." Baciak was right. Thanks to an electrifying 1-0 victory over Novi in Saturday's Division 1 Regional final, the Chiefs are on the cusp of winning their first state championship…
Defensive specialists are the unsung heroes of their teams' success.
If they had personalized license plates on their vehicles, the plates would probably read something like this: WE DIG KILLZ. They are the Plymouth-Canton Educational Park volleyball teams' defensive specialists, the players who may not receive as many props as the outside hitters, but their ability to change the momentum of a match at the drop of a fist is invaluable. The importance of a dependable dig was never more obvious than in the fifth and deciding game of the Oct. 21 cross-campus match between Canton and Plymouth. With the Chiefs clinging to a 10-9 lead in the first-team-to-15 encounter, Plymouth's Kayla Bridge sent a well-struck hit toward the unoccupied -- temporarily, at least -- back-right corner of the Canton side of the …
Mary LeMerise
12:54 pm on Monday, November 15, 2010
Thanks for the great coverage! Go Plymouth Wildcats! more ›