Madison Heights buzzing about Lamphere and Foley
The football squads at Madison Heights Bishop Foley and Madison Heights Lamphere are all the late-fall rage in southern Oakland County this year, upstaging the city’s normal November stalwart Madison Heights Madison.
Upstarts Foley and Lamphere are the teams poised to make noise in the postseason this year, causing quite a buzz around town.
As Madison’s good fortunes have faded, Bishop Foley and Lamphere have shifted into high gear.
Bishop Foley (6-1) beat Madison two weeks in a row, walloping the Eagles 34-2 to conclude the regular season and then sneaking past them 27-24 in comeback fashion Saturday
afternoon to open the Division 7 playoffs and collect the program’s first postseason win in seven years.
Junior quarterback Dylan Gough (6- 0, 170) and sophomore slot back Jackson Zeiter have flourished for the Ventures in 2020, blossoming into bonafide stars on offense.
In his first year under center, Gough has thrown for 1,500 yards and 15 touchdowns, including a 305-yard, 3- touchdown performance against Madison over the weekend to
rally Bishop Foley to victory.
“His maturation process at the position has just been phenomenal,” said Ventures head coach Brian Barnes of Gough’s season. “We put a lot of pressure on him, a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders for a guy in his first year on the job and he’s been up the challenge in every way. The composure factor for him well exceeds his experience level.”
Zeiter (5- 9, 165) is the Catholic League’s version of Chris
tian McCaffrey, trending towards 1,000-yard campaigns both rushing and receiving.
“Jackson does it all for us, he exhibits spectacular toughness,” Barnes said. “He’s the kind of player who lives for preparation. The work ethic he puts forth on a daily basis on and off the field puts him in situations to shine.”
On defense, Zeiter is just as much as a playmaker. He has returned a pair of interceptions 100 yards for touchdowns so far this year.
Zeiter caught the gamewinning score Saturday against Madison in the final minutes. Gough’s No. 1 target in the passing game, Adam Kidder, hauled in two touchdowns in a day where he racked up 160 yards in catches. Kidder has 10 touchdown grabs on the season.
The anchors in the trenches for Bishop Foley are senior linemen Nick Harnadek and Gio Polsinelli. Harnadek is the team’s leading tackler (70) and sack man (6).
“This group of players posses such a high football IQ, we as a coaching staff have the utmost faith in them,” Barnes said. “They play big with the game on the line. They don’t let the moment overcome them, instead they seize the mo
ment.”
Lamphere came out of nowhere to win the MAC Bronze and are undefeated (7- 0) heading into its Division 4 district semifinal matchup with Harper Woods Chandler Park. Last season, Lamphere was 2-7.
The program hadn’t won a playoff game in more than a decade until the suddenlysurging Rams rolled roughshod over Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook 43- 0 to kickoff the playoffs last Friday. Lamphere’s defense has logged five shutouts already. The unit didn’t surrender its first points of the season until Week 4.
Art Maisano is in his first year on the sidelines coaching the Rams.
Nick Krstich is breaking
out at quarterback and Nico Hernandez (running back) and K. J. Whitman (wide receiver) Javarie Johnson (wide receiver) are a trio of dangerous weapons for him to utilize operating the offense.
Billy Collins spearheads the defense from his spot on the line.
Quote of the Week
“We grind and when you grind, when that’s your approach every snap, good things tend to happen and those things become the difference between winning and losing,” Rochester Adams senior linebacker Billy Hart after his underdog Highlanders took out favored Rochester 39-7 in the first round of the playoffs.