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Jason Schmitt is the editor of MIPrepZone.com, the high school sports website for The Oakland Press. He has served as the sports editor for a number of newspapers, including the Daily Tribune in Royal Oak and the Macomb Daily in Mount Clemens. In his time in the industry, he has covered every high school sport and has served a a beat writer for boys and girls soccer, boys and girls tennis, hockey, wrestling, bowling and cross country.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Some congratulations are in order

Don't get me wrong. The season is far from being over. But over the weekend a few teams captured regular season league championships.
    The Berkley-Ferndale hockey team celebrates
    its OAA White championship. (Moe Fernandez)
  • Rochester United beat up on Birmingham Unified, 7-1, on Friday night, clinching a share of the OAA Red championship along with the #1 seed in the league tournament, which begins next weekend. Rochester was forced to settle for a share of the title with Farmington Unified after falling to rival Stoney Creek on Saturday. Rochester finished 5-2 in league play, while the Flyers were 4-1-2. Both teams finished with 10 points.
  • Over in the OAA White, Berkley-Ferndale Unified wrapped up its second-straight league title with a 6-0 win over West Bloomfield Saturday night. The Bears avenged their only league defeat of the season, which came at the hands of the Lakers back in early December. Coach Jeff Fleming's team is 9-1 in league play and 15-3 overall.
If you didn't catch it over the weekend, we had our first hockey broadcast on MIPrepZone. Clarkston beat Lake Orion, 5-3, at the Detroit Skating Club. Rich Kincaide and Ben Szilagy had the call, with Emmy Lucas providing the off-ice interviews and stories. It's one of two we plan on airing this winter. The second is in the works. Thanks to Lake Orion AD Bill Reiss and head coach Nick Field for assisting us with our broadcast efforts.
Also over the weekend, Detroit Catholic Central handed Brother Rice its first loss since mid-December, of last season. The Shamrocks were responsible for that loss, too.

Top performances from this past week
- Joe Nagle, Royal Oak Shrine: Nagle notched a hat trick to lead the Knights to a 4-2 win over Troy on Sunday.
- Chase Smith, Bloomfield Hills United: The senior captain scored twice to help the Chargers knock off Troy, 3-2, on "Seniors Night" at the Detroit Skating Club. Smith also scored twice in his team's 3-1 win over Avondale Thursday.
- Steve Erwin, Royal Oak Shrine: Made 20 saves while picking up the shutout in the Knights' 5-0 win over Bishop Foley Unified Saturday.
- Matt Goldin, Farmington Hills Unified: Scored twice to help his team to a 5-0 shutout of Grosse Ile Saturday night.
- Maxx Grant, Stoney Creek: The goalie came up big, with 25 saves and pitching a shutout in his team's 3-0 win over rival Rochester United Saturday night. It was his first shutout of the season.
- Andrew Wood, Walled Lake Central: Scored twice to help the Vikings to a 4-1 win over Walled Lake Northern Saturday night.
- Zach Bensinger and Austin Hickner, Country Day: Bensinger had a hat trick and Hickner added two of his own to lead the Yellowjackets past Royal Oak, 7-1.
- Garrett Polish, Clarkston: Scored a pair of goals in the third period - which proved to be the difference - in the Wolves' 5-3 win over Lake Orion in our video broadcast of the game of the week.
- Ian Melrose, Berkley-Ferndale: He and his linemates dominated in a 6-0 win over West Bloomfield, as he had four goals while Joey Leider and Max Dooley added the other two.
- Blake Robertson, South Lyon: Skated off the ice with a hat trick in the Unified team's 8-1 win over Waterford Mott. Teammate Nick Burton added two himself.
- Mike Pelino, Rochester United: Had a goal and assisted on four others in his team's OAA Red clinching win over Birmingham Friday. Teammates Brent Boudreau and Luke Brunson scored two each in the win.
- Charlie Green, Catholic Central: Scored the game-winner in the Shamrocks' 3-1 win over Brother Rice Friday night. It snapped the Warriors' 13-month unbeaten streak. Junior Carson Gatt had a goal and assist in the victory.
- Toby Murray, Country Day: Notched a pair of goals in leading the Yellowjackets past St. Clair Shores Unified Friday night.

Game coverage on MIPrepZone this past week

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