The Divine Child Falcons traveled to the home of the defending Division Four State Champions, the Harper Woods Pioneers. The first half was a tough, hard-fought battle, and the second half was more of the same until late in the fourth quarter when the Pioneers smelled blood in the water and went for the kill shot to beat the Falcons 40-21.
Divine Child Falcons
Lights Too Bright?
The Falcons of Divine Child have a young team, and the lights in this game might have been too bright. Of the players that made the biggest impact in the game against the Pioneers of Harper Woods, two were juniors; one was a sophomore, and one was a freshman. While the Juniors in Marcello Vitti and Antonio Solares Vitti made the most of their night, Freshman Quarterback Drew Sheridan may have suffered from the lights being too bright. While he completed 12 of his 21 passes for 149 yards and a touchdown, he did throw three interceptions, all of which came in the fourth quarter, and took some bad sacks in the game. Sheridan showed signs that he is going to be a great Quarterback, but today, the playoff lights shined a little too bright.
Vitti Times Three
The Divine Child Falcons are blessed with a family of Vitti’s. Marcello and Giancarlo Vitti are brothers, and Antonio Solares Vitti is their cousin. Marcello and Antonio had the bigger day on offense, with Marcello scoring all three of the Falcons touchdowns. He finished the game with 52 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns on 16 carries, and he pulled in four receptions for 37 yards and a touchdown. Antonio played a role in the receiving game, pulling in two tough receptions for 30 yards. For Giancarlo, while he didn’t do much on the offensive side of the ball, he played great on defense, making plays. What made Giancarlo’s performance even better was that he dislocated a finger late in the game, came back in, made plays, and even broke off a ten-yard rush after the dislocation.
Harper Woods Pioneers
The Next Gen Stars
Last year, The Pioneers rode the back of their star Jacob Oden to the school’s first State Title, and this year, they are using the likes of Colby Bailey, Nate Rocheleau, and Dakota Guerrant. While they all played in the state final last year, each of the players has come into their own. One of the biggest helps for Harper Woods was the development of Rocheleau. This year, in the two games we saw Rocheleau, his arm looks better, and he looks more comfortable in the offense. He finished this game completing 10 of his 19 passes for 164 yards, a touchdown, and a two-point conversion.
Champ Bailey
The offensive game plan for the first two weeks of the playoffs has run through Senior Colby Bailey. In this game, Bailey scored three touchdowns while running for 185 yards on 15 carries. Not only did Bailey run for 185 yards, but he added another 19 yards on a catch. Bailey has made his mark on the team’s playoff run so far this year.
Joe Krolak