If you had asked most prep football fans after Week Three of the 2008 MHSAA football season where the strength of the state lied in terms of regional supremacy, more would have voted for the lower west side of the state than voted for Barack Obama two weeks ago.

Thanks to Oakland County's strong showing and a handful of schools in and around metro Detroit, any mandate from the voters 10 weeks ago carries about as much clout as a restaurant bill signed on behalf of the City of Detroit by county inmate Kwame Kilpatrick.

Three of the four schools from the Division I semifinals were metro Detroit schools, including Lake Orion, who was breathing fire instead of cold breath in a start-to-finish domination of the Dearborn Fordson Tractors at Troy Athens tonight. Livonia Stevenson has made back-to-back trips to the semifinals, a strong testament to the quality of play in the Kensington Lakes league.

Detroit Country Day, Bloomfield Hills Lahser, Southfield High, Warren DeLaSalle and Inkster's Vikings all made it to the semifinal showdowns today, with DCD, Inkster and DeLaSalle advancing to next week's chapionships at Ford Field. The possibility of having four Oakland County schools playing for championships didn't come to fruition but it's still an impressive feat that the possibility even existed. The Yellowjackets are returning for a back-to-back finals appearance and there's a chance that two Oakland County teams and four metropolitan schools could earn titles next weekend.

Obviously Lake Orion's rematch with Rockford will be the most highly-discussed game in some time because a start and finish bookend games between two East-West superpowers is also about as likely as the Lions beating Tennessee on Turkey Day. The two schools opened the season at Eastern Michigan University's Rynearson Stadium and the Rams emerged as 17-7 victors.

Now we as a community and region must support our own cause. Two mega days of prep football at Ford Field. It's time to bolster our own economy and and show the flag of the east side of the state. Our youth from four local schools located in three different counties will be ready, willing and able on the field -- will we return the favor in the stands?

Eight months ago, I wrote within this blog's space about change. I watched change take place as a college student when Eastern Michigan University unceremoniously ditched their Huron identity in 1990-1991. Change is messy and sometimes, not for the best.

So when Royal Oak dismantled it's prep sports legacy brick-by-brick starting in 2005 by combining Kimball and Dondero High, I wondered what the aftermath might leave in the immediate years to come. It was a costly, controversial decision that embittered both school cultures. The Detroit News described the two schools as historic rivals when the paper wrote a recap of the first merged year as Royal Oak High.

I think I may have an answer.

Royal Oak High School is 0-7 in the current football season. The Ravens have been close in one game, but the others? Monumental blowouts, and with two games remaining, Royal Oak's gridders have just two more chances to avoid the first winless season in the history of the city's high school at 1500 Lexington. Royal Oak has new uniforms, new colors, new coaches and new field turf but there's something missing. There's no tradition, because the past two seasons were teams made up mostly of the remaining Kimball players coached by the former Kimball coach, Terry Powers. Powers told me during the first year of the combined school (2006), 21 of the 22 starters were Kimball players. That team went 8-3 and won the district playoff opener.

Many newspapers still referred to the Ravens in those first couple years as Kimball. There was a lot of Kimball tradition and just because it was pulled off the walls, it doesn't die in the memories and minds of prep sports fans. Just like Renaissance was still Catholic Central for many years, and the De LaSalle Pilots were still from their old campus off Connor.

I know football is just a game among many different sports at the area high schools, but it's important to have a good football team in Royal Oak, just like it's part of the culture at Pershing, Fordson, King, John Glenn, Harrison and Allen Park. I watched Kimball suffer it's first losing season after 27-straight seasons without a losing ledger starting in 1984 as a high school freshman and it set an ugly tenor for our four years. Three years later, the district plucked Powers from Detroit Catholic Central to mold the Kimball program as the Shamrocks were built. There was a palpable spirit at Kimball and having a good football team was an important part of the building's culture for the 49 years it was open.

The other day I was in Royal Oak to get my haircut at, ironically enough, the Kimball Barbershop. One my way I drove past Royal Oak's football field where the signature blue n' gold K has been missing for three years. As I passed the baseball field, there was a gold, block-letter "K" hand-painted onto the dugout facing Normandy. On the other side of the building, the school's signature rock was slathered in gold with blue letters reading "KHS ROCKS".

I've talked to several familiar with the culture in the former Kimball building. There's a bit of a rebellion going on. Last winter the old Kimball gear started to show up. First it was a shirt or two, then a varsity jacket, and then a few more noticeable references. It's lead to dissension. This is possibly the bitter aftermath of tearing the district schools' good names to their foundations and combining two distinct cultures.

Good memories die hard. Change doesn't guarantee continued success.

Polar Bears Are Back! Less than a week after declaring the season over at Highland Park, head coach Cedric Dortch said yesterday in Detroit Free Press that the season will go forward for the final two games. This week the Polar Bears will face the rising Phoenix of Ypsilanti High, followed with a season-ending battle with top-ranked Dearborn Fordson.

The Parkers will have to win both games to qualify for the playoffs, as does Ypsilanti, so for all intents, this is the season for Highland Park. Even if they win Friday versus Ypsilanti, the monumental task of toppling the Tractors in Week Nine awaits. Fordson is preparing this week for the game of the year in metro Detroit, as Southgate Anderson and Fordson will meet tomorrow night for the final MEGA Red championship.

Speaking universally, this is a good move by Coach Dortch. That would have been an inglorious way to end a season and with his school and many others looking for a new place to park their athletic fortunes when the MEGA disbands this upcoming spring, people need to know Highland Park won't throw in the towel.

Two years ago Highland Park signed a contract to go play the Howell Highlanders in Howell. It was something I took notice of immediately when the prep football schedules were released. It took a lot of guts to agree to put his kids on a bus and go to a place that hasn't always been associated with, shall we say, tolerance. Howell is working hard to break that image and Highland Park is working hard to rebuild the honor and pride that used to be signature staples of the school's athletic department. Playing the rest of the season is another step in that direction.

Harrison A Victim Of An SI-Like Jinx? Two weeks ago Farmington Hills Harrison lost a 20-19 heartbreaker to Farmington High, the first time in 31 years the Falcons escaped the clutches of the Hawks. The last time that happened? 1977, when Farmington defeated the defending state finalists by an identical 20-19 count.

What's on the front cover of Metro Detroit's High School Football Rivalries? A picture from that 1977 Harrison-Farmington game, with the same score and result of the game played this year.

What are the odds of that?

~ T.C. Cameron is the author of Metro Detroit's High School Football Rivalries, and is working on a follow-up title, Metro Detroit's High School Basketball Rivalries!

I had the opportunity to serve Fox Sports yesterday as the Time-Out Coordinator (TOC) for the Chicago Bears' 34-7 victory over the Lions yesterday at Detroit's Ford Field. Even the staunchest Lion backers will admit it was an ugly defeat for the home team, and nothing was uglier than the booing that took place as the Lions left the field for halftime trailing 17-0.

Andy McCollum was one of those Lions that endured the wrath of the fans as he and his teammates walked off the field and began the long walk up the tunnel at Ford Field. McCollum's a center with the Lions and he easily could have walked up to his team's dressing room without making eye contact with anyone -- no one would've blamed him -- but he didn't.

For about 300 elementary kids lining the tunnel in full pads and uniform, this was their moment. The Lions hosted four youth football teams and their cheerleaders who were waiting to play 5-10 minutes of football on the same field that hosted Super Bowl XL. While a tempest of ugly fandemonium was taking place from the stands, McCollum went out of his way to make the moment special for the kids.

Wearing his No. 67 jersey, McCollum high-fived every kid that stuck his hand out, whether it was a cheerleader or player or coach. He cheered them on with "Have fun out there!" and other words of encouragement. The kids responded with a "Let's Go Lions!" chant, unaware of the ugly response 35,000 Lion fans had just serenaded the home team with.

McCollum didn't have to do any of his good-natured gesture with these kids. He's a professional athlete with professional responsibilities. Maybe he simply needed to feed his own soul after the verbal abuse the Lion fans were dishing out as the team walked to the tunnel. Maybe McCollum simply is a kid at heart when it comes to football. Possibly McCollum remembered his own experiences playing youth football and wanted to pay it forward, so to speak.

Whatever it was, it was thrilling to see. It made professional football human for these kids instead of monstrous men hulking upwards inside a massive, larger-than-life stadium. It was one of the classiest gestures I've ever witnessed a professional athlete offer and it was genuine, unplanned and not designed by or for a staff of public relations professionals.
In the worst moment of a bad season so far, Andy McCollum showed his heart yesterday and made some 300 kids Lion fans for life.

Save The Date: I'll be hosting an interactive viewing of the Images of Football from the four high schools in the City of Dearborn on Wednesday, October 8th at the Dearborn Public Library on Michigan Avenue. The program starts at 7pm and will feature pictures and images from Dearborn's Pioneers, Edsel Ford's Thunderbirds, Fordson's Tractors and Divine Child's Falcons.
After the program I'll have a book signing and sale in the atrium of the library, with the benefactor being the Dearborn Public Library. Come Join me!

Bear Down: The orange gloves of the TOC came up missing yesterday in pre-game production, leaving me with no visable eye candy for the game's referee to see me with from 60-80 yards away. Thankfully, the Bears saved the day. The team's equipment manager handed us a long-sleeve orange shirt and a set of orange-faced gloves. The Lions donated a white NFL t-shirt and the problem was solved. Thanks, guys!

You're On: I was the man yesterday for three brief moments yesterday. With the weight of the world on my shoulders, and all of the western world, not to mention mankind, watching with unfettered attention, I cue the game's Referee for three game-altering replays... OK, it wasn't that big of a deal. We had three replays and I had the responsibility to cue the game's Referee for live television's presentation of the announcement. Thankfully, my man Rich York helped make it flow smoothly yesterday and our broadcast was like Krylon: No runs, no drips, no errors.

~ T.C. Cameron is the author of Metro Detroit's High School Football Rivalries, and is working on a follow-up title, Metro Detroit's High School Basketball Rivalries!

The Northwest Suburban League looks like a strong candidate to come back to fruition in 2009-2010. Whether or not the schools in negotiation keep the retro moniker remains to be seen, but there's a historic union being forged and a couple rivalries to be saved by these discussions.

I've learned that Dearborn high schools Fordson and Edsel Ford would join Dearborn Heights' Annapolis, Crestwood and Robichaud along with Garden City, Redford Union and Redford Thurston in a league for the 2009-10 year. That Dearborn Heights and Dearborn could become neighbors in the same small, cozy league is quite a concept given the history of each city squabbling with the other. It's not the same as being in the MEGA, which by comparison was like 30 schools parking their respective cars in a massive shopping mall parking lot.

The high school football success this season for the neighboring public schools of Dearborn and Dearborn Heights is something not seen since the early 1990s when Tyrone Wheatley ran with All-State success for state champion Dearborn Heights Robichaud (1990) and Dearborn Fordson was building towards the 1993 Class AA championship under Jeff Stergalas, a product of the Riverview football tree of Don Lessner. Five of the six schools are enjoying some of their best football success in recent memory this year, with Edsel Ford (3-1) enjoying a significant revival and Dearborn High (3-1) and Fordson's Tractors (4-0) on a collision course for one another next week. In Dearborn Heights, Annapolis is having one of its best seasons in 25 seasons at 4-0 and Robichaud is holding their own at a very respectable 3-1. The possibility that all three Dearborn schools could qualify of the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) tournament along with two of the three Dearborn Heights teams is legitimate.

Now the two neighboring districts could be housed in the same, quaint league, an idea that was eased into serious discussion when the MEGA began to crumble last year and the Downriver League was formed. The original Northwest Suburban League folded in 1992-93 when the MEGA was formed under auspicious conditions. Those blessings quickly deteriorated into a quagmire of legal wrangling and overbearing travel requirements.

The obvious question is where does this leave Dearborn High School? In the past 18 months it was made clear to all three Dearborn schools from Dearborn Superintendent Brian Whiston that no one school could leave the other two schools behind with complete autonomy. With permission of Superintendent Whiston, Dearborn High School would be allowed to pursue membership in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association (KLAA) and form a division with Livonia's Stevenson, Franklin and Churchill, Wayne Memorial and Westland John Glenn. The KLAA is in need of one more school because Howell's Parker High School never opened due to financial constraints and enrollment issues.

There's a significant caveat to this possible new league alignment: Dearborn and Fordson would continue to play an annual football rivalry game, something that was promised by Whiston as a condition to Dearborn possibly joining the KLAA. In another twist, Ypsilanti High School joining the Southeastern Conference (SEC) would open the necessary date for Monroe High School to renew their long-standing rivalry with Fordson in 2010. The two rivals won't play next season because Monroe, which already agreed to accept membership for 2009-10 in the SEC, has no date to offer Fordson with the current alignment in the SEC.

That's good news for area football fans. One casualty of the MEGA's demise is the loss of Allen Park-Fordson game, one of the more compelling contests from the past handful of seasons. That the long history of the Monroe-Fordson game and the heated Pioneer-Tractor game could be salvaged keeps a lot of tradition going forward.

This news leaves the remaining schools from the ill-advised MEGA power conference to scramble to forge a union by the end of this year in this final, lame-duck season. The most likely scenario? A revival of the old Southeastern Athletic Conference (SAC) with Belleville, Highland Park, Romulus, Inkster, River Rouge, Ecorse and Willow Run.

~T.C. Cameron is the author of Metro Detroit's High School Football Rivalries, available now from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and Borders Books

UPDATE: Copy was updated with new information courtesy of Dearborn Edsel Ford Athletic Director Bob Picano.

Imagine an Oakland Activities Association (OAA) football season without Clarkston playing Lake Orion. That would be nearly unthinkable today, but from 1957 to 1976 that's exactly what happened. Last year, for the first time since 1966, Detroit Pershing didn't face Detroit Denby's gridders, two historic rivals that dominated the Detroit Public School in the 1950's and 60's, then known as the Metropolitan League. Birmingham Brother Rice and Novi Catholic Central haven't missed a meeting since 1962, the year Rice opened.

When the OAA began in 1994, it was the combination of two small but highly-successful suburban leagues, the Metro Suburban Activities Association (MSAA) and the Southeastern Michigan Association (SMA). While the south Oakland trio of Berkley, Ferndale and Hazel Park hailed from the SMA, both Rochester schools were in the MSAA. The sister schools from Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Royal Oak, Southfield and Troy in each league combined as one. Lake Orion, Clarkston and the Pontiac schools joined. Farmington's trio joined in 2002. Others have come and gone in that time, for better or worse.

Why is this important? In the past few weeks it seems everyone -- coaches, directors, officials and fans -- have a valid opinion about the Mega Conference's possible demise. This is big news as it relates to high school football and specifically, rivalry games. A possible Mega break-up potentially endangers one school to losing a handful of big games. Dearborn Fordson's Tractors could potentially lose their rivalry with Allen Park, Monroe and Edsel Ford if rumors prove true about the three Mega League schools parting ways for different affiliations.

More than a few Oakland County athletic directors have grumbled about increased costs of travel in the OAA. The prep community in metropolitan Detroit is watching with rapt attention while a potential monster-league break-up plays out in real time downriver.

Allen Park Athletic Director Ken Stephens says this isn't about rivalries and hurt feelings but rather, dollars and sense. Allen Park is one of eight schools trying to put together the Downriver League, along with Woodhaven, Wyandotte, Trenton, Southgate, Gibralter Carlson and Taylor's Kennedy and Truman high schools.

"Our budgets are getting hit at every turn with increases on an annual basis. It makes no sense not to play schools we border with," Stephens explained this afternoon. "While nothing official has been submitted, on May 6th, we'll either be moving or not. That's the day the Mega Conference asked these eight schools to submit their plans, in writing, about leaving or returning for the 2009-10 calender year.

"It's amazing all the things that are being said about the possibility of schools leaving the Mega. It's not about Fordson, it's not about leaving other schools behind," Stephens said. "There will still be a Mega Conference, but currently we're playing schools we have no rivalry with and don't take in enough to pay the workers at our games on a Friday night. Plus, our students miss so much class, and that's all we hear, that this is all for the students. Well, it's time to put the money where the mouth is," Stephens said. "This is what makes the most sense for the downriver schools."

Dearborn Edsel Ford Athletic Director Bob Picano wouldn't add to the heavy amount of conjecture when I spoke to him this morning of who's leaving and staying, instead offering, "I can tell you I've been granted permission by our district to attend some purely informational meetings about other possible affiliations -- I can say that much -- but I'm bound by the fact we (Dearborn Public Schools) have three high schools and a school board that ultimately represents us all."

It's no secret there's no money to burn in Michigan, and even Dearborn, the biggest district in the Mega Conference, had moved to school of choice enrollment within the district to try to survive but recently closed district borders after pushing Fordson to 2,300 students while dropping Edsel to just over 1,400. Picano says he encounters kids having to work when a parent has lost a job and admits his frustration about travel times and cost. "I'd feel better if my kids were back at school 15 minutes after a game rather than 45 minutes after a game. With snow storms, 45 minutes can turn into an hour and a half. The cost of travel and what you take in at the gate is very important these days."

Picano isn't yet sold on the idea of the Downriver League's ultimate formation but admits all schools are looking to cut cost while not being orphaned without a league to compete in.

"The word is this is about proximity and average travel time, and I think the schools rumored to be moving could do what they want to do, based on geographics, from within the Mega League. No one wants to do something that costs money, and I think the threat of lawsuit could kill the Downriver League from forming," Picano said. "We're not the only ones looking. If you look at the south Oakland County schools, they're a good fit, geographically speaking, for some of the Mega schools. There's a possibility of schools expanding to the Mega as much as there's the possibility of schools leaving the Mega."

Ensuring long-standing rivalries don't die in the wake of the Mega's rumored demise is what's most important to most coaches and fans. Picano hinted that an annual Fordson game would be easier if Edsel was in a smaller league. "Having a chance at six wins makes it tough to schedule Fordson when we already have a tough, nine-game schedule."

Stephens agreed rivalries are important while hinting at a rivalry week in all sports if Allen Park were domiciled in a smaller league.

"Imagine if we had a 'Gibralter Carlson Week', where Gibralter Carlson and Allen Park could face each other in cross country, soccer, football and volleyball in the same week -- that would really capture the essence of a rivalry, and it's something you can do when the league is manageable, " Stephens said. "You know this as an official, T.C., that working a rivalry game is always better than working a game no one cares about."

Currently Edsel Ford doesn't have a single Dearborn rival on the football schedule in '08, while Fordson plays Divine Child, Allen Park, Monroe and Dearborn in the upcoming fall.

~ T.C. Cameron is the author of Metro Detroit's High School Football Rivalries, due August 25th , 2008 from Arcadia Publishing.