By John Raffel
Max Preps.com
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Keith Nichol has already committed to playing college football at Michigan State University, but right now, he's trying to lead Lowell to another state high school championship.
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Nichol, the 2005 Class A Associated Press Player of the Year, has led his team to a 4-0 start including a 56-10 rout over Greenville Friday night.
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Nichol wound up passing for 188 yards on 10 completions and running for 76 more and threw for three touchdowns, while running for two more.
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"Everything was going great," Nichol said. "Our line played well and our receivers made a lot of great catches. Our defensive line played well."
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"That's a great team," Greenville coach Dave Moore said. "They've got everything starting with a Division I quarterback, who played like it."
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Nichol led his team to a 28-25 victory over another Grand Rapids area prep power, East Grand Rapids, Sept. 8. It was probably the toughest game on the schedule for Lowell, which won state titles in 2003 and 2004, and hopes to return to the title game this year after losing out in 2005. But Nichols said his team didn't have a letdown.
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"I'm happy with how everyone is playing," he said.
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Lowell coach Noel Dean realizes his team's state championship hopes rely on the talents of the quarterback.
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"He has a lot of heart," Dean said, adding that, "our defense played well together."
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Another 4-0 team with designs on a state title is small-school power Vestaburg. In a 30-14 victory over Ashley, Vestaburg had 226 yards rushing and 35 passing.
"We are right where we want to be, 4-0, and 1-0 in our conference," Vestaburg coach Ben Steele said.
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Large-school teams that have started out undefeated include Rockford, Macomb Dakota, Lake Orion, Canton, Milford, Birmingham Brother Rice, Muskegon, Orchard Lake St. Mary, Lowell, Davison, Allen Park, DeWitt, Chelsea, Fruitport, Escanaba, Muskegon Orchard View, and Holland Christian.
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Small-school teams with 4-0 starts have included Muskegon Oakridge, Jackson Lumen Christi, Menominee, Hillsdale, Saginaw Swan Valley, Saginaw Nouvel, Schoolcraft, Addison, Manchester, Fulton-Middleton, Cassopolis, Waterford our Lady of the Lakes, Beal City, Crystal Falls Forest Park and Gaylord St. Mary.
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Girls Basketball
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It's been said that winning streaks don't last forever. But they are fun while they last.
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A good case in point would be a 51-game winning streak in the Macomb Area Conference that was maintained by a Detroit-area basketball team.
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St. Clair, with a 3-0 record and No. 1 state rating in Michigan, lost 47-40 last week to Grosse Pointe North, which improved its record to 6-0. St. Clair lost for the first time in 52 games in the MAC.
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Kelly DeFauw, who will play at Oakland University, a Division I school in Michigan next year, led the winners with 17 points.
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St. Clair, led by 6-3 Brittany Carnago with 13 points and 11 rebounds, lost to a team ranked third in Class A.
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"Our start is a surprise," Grosse Pointe North coach Gary Bennett said. "We moved up two freshmen and two sophomores. But we have a group of girls willing to work hard."
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Despite the win over St. Clair, Bennett anticipates a tough schedule in the league for his team.
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"Teams like Fraser and Utica Ford, there's a lot of teams that could beat us," he said.
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Olivia Stander, averaging 15 points a game, leads the team.
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Sandy Rutledge has coached St. Clair for six years and expects his team to be state contenders despite the end of the streak.
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"The seniors on this team have a four-year varsity record of 96-7," Rutledge said. "We've been fortunate to have some size. This year, we've had 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 players. Size has been a huge advantage for us. We've had players who have played AAU basketball.
"We're going to be very competitive in our league. We have a good schedule. We play some of the best teams in the state."
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Sarah Davis, a 6-2 sophomore, is leading the team with 12 points and six rebounds per game.
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"We hope to learn from the loss and get back at it," Davis said.
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Besides Grosse Pointe North, undefeated basketball teams in Class A and B, which includes the largest schools in Michigan, are Auburn Hills Avondale, Detroit Martin Luther King, Grand Blanc, Clarkston, Lansing Waverley, Saginaw Arthur Hills, Flushing, East Lansing, DeWitt and Detroit Country Day.
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A 27-year basketball rivalry between Saginaw and Buena Vista high schools in the east part of Michigan, has ended because of concerns about gang violence.
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A recent girls basketball game between the two schools was ended at halftime because of skirmishes inside Buena Vista's gymnasium. Following that officials decided to cancel all future games between the Saginaw Trojans and the Buena Vista Knights.
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The two schools are just three miles apart and began playing girls basketball against each other in 1979, Saginaw High Athletic Director Marshall Thomas said.
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The high schools' wrestling and boys and girls track teams also have met regularly in recent years but it was not clear if the schools would continue to play in those sports.
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Cross Country
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Depth is the key in having successful cross country teams and the East Grand Rapids Pioneers seem to have it in Class B for girls.
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The return of Nikki Brown at the Sparta Invitational seemed to give credence to that notion.
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She was making her first race of the season Sept. 16, after an injury sidelined her for eight weeks. Her time of 20:39 was impressive for the first time out.
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"I'm hoping to break into the 18's before the season is over," Brown said. "I hope to get better as the season goes on. Our team is definitely hoping to make it back to the state finals."
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Golf
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A boys golfer with a sub-par round had never happened in Grand Rapids Northview coach Bob VanderZwart's five years with the Wildcats.
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Dan Climie carded a two-under 32 as the No. 4 golfer led Northview to a 143-157 win over Greenville last week at Glenkerry Golf Club.