By John Raffel
MaxPreps.com
The 2007 Michigan football season starts in two weeks and if things go according to plan for coach John Herrington, Farmington Hills Harrison will be making a bid for a state record 13th state championship.
Harrison, along with now-defunct Detroit St. Martin dePorres, is the proud owner of 12 state titles. Harrison, nearly added No. 13 last winter, losing in the state finals.
Herrington is starting his 37th year as head coach of the Division 3 program in the Detroit area.
"I'll have my 35th pancake supper next week," Herrington said, referring to an annual fund-raiser for the high school program.
It's his 45th year of coaching overall. Monday, Herrington and his players, along with other coaches and players across Michigan, started three weeks of preseason practices. The season starts Aug. 23.
From season one to season 45, the meaning of the postseason doesn't seem to change for the longtime coach.
You still have the same excitement," Herrington said. "We have our quarterback and halfback back. You have good receivers. We have to build the line. I'd rather have to build a line rather than not having the skilled players. We may not have the size but we have the speed."
Quarterback Craig Sacha, a senior, threw 37 touchdowns passes and accumulated over 3,000 yards through the air last season. Senior tailback Norman Shuford ran for more than 1,000 yards. He started as a sophomore and is coming back from knee surgery.
The second week of the season, Harrison plays another Detroit-area school, Rochester Adams.
"That will be our toughest game," Herrington said. "They were young last year and made the playoffs. They'll be good again. We play a few new teams in our league that I don't know too much about."
A Hot Start
Because practices start in early August to allow for three weeks of preseason, nine weeks of regular season and five weeks of postseason - ending on Thanksgiving weekend - players run into immense heat in Michigan's summer weather cycle.
Temperatures this week across the state got into the low 90s, forcing coaches to make sure players got plenty of water and rest breaks during two-a-days.
"I remember several years ago when we wouldn't even start practices until after Labor Day," Herrington said. "I get a little older and I suppose it gets harder each year."
Teams will play multi-team scrimmages Aug. 16-18 for their only interaction against other squads prior to the regular season.
Vestaburg, located north of Lansing, goes to Mayville to play other schools of similar size, around 230 students, in the non-scoring scrimmage.
Many coaches use scrimmages to determine who some of their starters will be for the season opener.
"That scrimmage has been a good one for us," Vestaburg coach Ben Steele said. "It's a long ways to drive, but the schools are the same size and the coaches have the same philosophy. It's a teaching scrimmage. I don't enjoy scrimmages where teams act like they're playing for a championship."
Girls Golf
The court-ordered change in seasons includes girls golf switching from the spring to the fall in Michigan. It means that coach Rod Van Dyke, whose Grand Rapids South Christian squad won the state Division 3 title in the spring, has to turn around a few months later and begin defending it.
Teams can start playing matches Aug. 13. The state finals are Oct. 20-21 in the Lansing area. Van Dyke likes recalling the success of his 2007 spring team.
"I thought when we started a year ago that we had a lot of good talent but it was young talent," Van Dyke said.
Van Dyke's four top golfers are returning. Freshmen Jackie DeBoer and Heather Marks, who averaged 42 strokes for nine holes last season, are now sophomores. Emily Astma, who averaged 43 for nine holes last spring, is a senior.
The fourth golfer will be Sam Duthler, who averaged a 49 for nine holes last year and will be a senior this season.
In the long run, Van Dyke likes the change, although it may be a struggle during the initial run.
"I like it for the girls," Van Dyke said. "A lot of things and distractions go into the spring with proms, graduations and open houses.
"But going into the fall, they're going from the state finals in the spring right to the fall, along with having played summer tournaments. There might be some burnout coming into the fall season."
Volleyball
Monday, Aug. 13, marks the opening of volleyball practice, which becomes a fall girls sports in Michigan for the first time.
Belding has usually been a volleyball power in west Michigan and was relying heavily on the talents of Taylor Johnson, one of the state's standout three-sport athletes as a freshman.
Johnson averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds a game as a freshman before tearing her anterior cruciate ligament and being forced to call it a season last fall in basketball. She saw limited volleyball action but still helped her team win 40-plus games and a district title.
In softball, Johnson ripped 15 home runs, falling two short of the state record in Class B.
But when volleyball starts, Johnson won't be wearing a Belding uniform. She has transferred to Comstock Park, located just outside of Grand Rapids. She was living with her father in Belding but decided to move to her mother's residence.
"It definitely was a very difficult decision. I lived in Belding my whole life. It was tough to leave," Johnson said. "Comstock Park has a very good program. I've been getting ready for basketball by playing a lot of AAU. That's my main focus after volleyball."
"She's a great athlete and it's a great loss," sBelding volleyball coach Mikayla Linebaugh said. "The other kids will have to step up."
