By John Raffel
MaxPreps.com
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Michigan football teams are gearing up for this weekend's playoff action. There's one small school program that can't wait to get started in the five week playoffs after a 9-0 finish in the regular season.
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It's Jake Emmendorfer's fourth year as football coach at New Lothrop, located near Flint.
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"My first year we went 9-0," Emmendorfer said. "Before that, the last time we had gone 9-0 was in the 1970s."
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In 2003, Emmendorfers' rookie season, New Lothrop went 11-1, losing in the regional finals.
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"I would say we're a finesse team," Emmendorfer said. "We have some good athletes. Overall, compared to 2003, our speed is better. We're not as powerful as that team. But we've still had a good season."
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Quarterback Mike Vincke leads the New Lothrop offense. The coach's son, Roger Emmendorfer, is the team's leading running back.
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"Roger also leads us in scoring since he's our PAT kicker," Emmendorfer said. "He has 168 points."
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Roger's cousin, Dennis Emmendorfer, is a slot back who has 175 yards rushing, plus three touchdowns, and 42 receptions for 707 yards.
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Other outstanding receivers include Brent Ruddy, who has 38 catches for 336 yards and Jason Knieper, who has 19 receptions for 661 yards.
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Defensively, New Lothrop has enjoyed success. James Rombach has 71 tackles at his outside linebacker spot. Kyle Moore, an inside linebacker, has 69 tackles. Defensive lineman Dave Spiegel has 57 tackles.
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New Lothrop is averaging 38 points on offense per game and has given up an average of six points a game. The offense is averaging 331 yards per game.
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Oakridge Has Expectations
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Muskegon Oakridge is among the teams entering the playoffs as defending champions.
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Veteran coach Jack Schugars entered the season with an accumulative record of 213-68 over 27 years, coming off a state championship effort in Division 5. He wound up 8-1, losing only to Muskegon Orchard View, another state power in Division 4, 21-7, in the last week of the regular season.
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"I didn't know for sure what we could do," he said. "Our league (West Michigan Conference) is so tough. Five teams from that league are going to the playoffs. I didn't know if we could even win our league title."
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The Eagles emerged as league champions and are looking to have a 5-0 run in the playoffs to take another state title.
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"We've been expecting our team to get better and better," Schugars said. "We have high expectations for this team every year."
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Schugars has been head coach at Oakridge since 1979 and on the coaching staff for 38 years.
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"It's always exciting to get into the playoffs," Schugars said. "There's only 256 teams that are left and we're among them."
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Oakridge had more than 4,000 fans in the stadium against Orchard View.
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"The experience we had from being in the playoffs last year should really help," he said. "We played 14 games last season. That experience rubs off on the players. They want to go back and do it again.
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"We expect to be in the playoffs. We have high expectations for our team every year. But you never know. We're not a school of choice so we rely on athletes to come from our own student body."
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Senior running backs T.J. Patton and Cordero Ibarra lead the way for Oakridge's offense. Patton has rushed for 1,309 yards and Ibarra for 651 yards during the regular season.
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They're also top notch middle linebackers. Patton has 16 tackles and 42 assists while Ibarra has 15 solos and 39 assists.
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Girls Basketball
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Wyoming Park, with a 14-2 overall record, is emerging as one of the top Grand Rapids area schools. Park is 9-0 in one of the state's toughest girls basketball conferences, the O-K Blue.
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The Vikings used their speed to knock off the Belding Redskins 68-53 Thursday.
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Cheritee Green scored 18 points while Jasmine Padin and Erika Witherspoon added 16 points apiece to help the Vikings improve to 14-2 overall and 9-0 in the league.
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"Belding does a nice job of attacking the basket. They didn't rotate a girl back," said Park coach Kirk Kambestad. "Jasmine Padin found the open girl downcourt for the easy basket. She's so unselfish and sees the floor so well.
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"Our depth showed against Belding," Kambestad said. "We got into some foul trouble so our bench came through and kept us in the game. We played a good second and third quarter."
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Russell had 10 of her points in the third quarter.
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Padin wound up with 13 assists.
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"I thought we did a good job tonight," Belding's April Adams said. "We showed a lot of effort and a lot of energy. Wyoming Park's speed is tough. They can really get up and down the court."
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Belding hopes to be a state contender when the postseason tournament starts Nov. 13.
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Boys Golf
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Carol Melcher is the coach for the Saline boys golf team, which won the state's Division 1 state title.
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"We knew coming into the season that we would be a competitive team," Melcher said. "We were undefeated during the regular season."
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But the team's performance at the state golf finals Oct. 20-21 was "absolutely not our best performance of the year," Melcher said. "We shot 18-hole rounds of 314 and 311. Our average score was a 295. Maybe it was from the nerves and adrenalin of playing in the state finals. The weather was cold but not really that bad. All our players played very well, especially Spencer Slay who was low man. He played in the No. 2 position all year."
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Girls Tennis
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Ann Arbor Huron finished the season with a 12-2 record and as state girls' tennis champions in Division 1. Two years ago, Huron was fifth overall in Division 1. This year, Huron won the state title.
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"We had a real strong lineup this year," said Huron Coach John Veit. "We got 12 points out of singles and 15 points out of doubles. Our singles could hang with anyone. Our doubles teams are among the tops in the state."
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Veit expects his team to be the best in the state again next year.
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"We'll be very good next year," Veit said. "Three of the top four singles players are coming back. But I lose one singles player and one doubles team. I've got some spots to fill.
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"We have some young players come up and they'll be hungry. But there's a lot of good teams out there."