The Week Ahead: Rivalry Games Ahead in Soccer, Water Polo

It's a big week for soccer and football this week at Birmingham area high schools. Here's a look at the big games ahead:

Soccer

Another week, another battle between the Falcons and Maples. At 7 p.m. Friday, the and ' boys soccer teams will play at Groves.

Seaholm is coming off a nice 2-1 win over Lahser last week that pushed its record over .500 on the season (3-2). It will look to build on that momentum in a busy week.

Other games on the pitch this week include:

• SEAHOLM: Before Friday’s rivalry game, Seaholm has back-to-back games against Hazel Park, hosting the Vikings at 5 p.m. Tuesday and then playing them on the road at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
• GROVES: The Falcons have a similar schedule during the week with a home-and-home against a tough Andover team. Groves plays the Barons at 7 p.m. Tuesday and again at home at 7 p.m. Thursday.
• BROTHER RICE, DETROIT COUNTRY DAY: The boys from the Brother Rice and Detroit Country Day soccer squads will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Yellowjackets' home field. Both teams reached the regional finals in their respective divisions last season.

Football

The Groves High School football team hasn’t won three games in a row since 2004. Not so coincidently it was the last time the Falcons made the playoffs.

On Friday, they will have a chance to put together three wins in a row and equal last year’s win total in just four weeks at 7 p.m. against Hazel Park.

“It’s huge,” Groves head coach Brendan Flaherty said. “It’s going to be on that grass field, be muddy and all that stuff.”

This is a different Hazel Park team than the one that went 8-2 and beat the Falcons 38-24 last season. Hazel Park is 1-2 this year and lost last week to North Farmington 39-8. It’s a big opportunity for a Groves team looking to make the postseason for the first time in seven years.

Birmingham's other football games this week include:

• SEAHOLM: Seaholm will try to rebound this week when it plays its only non-conference game of the year away at 7 p.m. against Romulus. The Maples are coming off last week's tough 20-0 loss to Lahser and want to right the ship before heading to Avondale in two weeks for another tough Oakland Activities Association Blue division game.
• BROTHER RICE:  In what could be the game of the week, Brother Rice welcomes Warren De La Salle at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in a Catholic League Central division game. Both teams, who go into the game undefeated at 3-0, faced off last season in a defensive battle that the Pilots won 7-0.
• DETROIT COUNTRY DAY: Detroit Country Day won its first game of the year last week, but it doesn’t get any easier for the Yellowjackets when they head to Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes at 1 p.m. Saturday. They face a team that is 2-1 and hasn’t had a losing record since 1988. It will be the first of three straight road games for DCD.

Groves and Seaholm water polo

After Friday’s soccer game, the battle between Groves and Seaholm heads to the pool where the teams will face off in a water polo game at 11 a.m. Saturday.

The sport is not currently sanctioned by the MHSAA, but the Michigan Water Polo Association runs the sport according to most of the MHSAA policies and guidelines. Across the state, 24 schools have boys water polo teams spread out across six divisions.

Groves, Seaholm, Troy and Troy Athens all play in the same district. The Falcons started the season in the state’s top 10 rankings (as voted by coaches).