Looking Back: Top 10 High School Games of 2011 (6-10)

Patch covered a lot of high school games in Oakland County this year.

From the basketball playoffs in East Lansing to regular season lacrosse, Oakland County Patch sites were there to cover it all. To celebrate the end of 2011, our sports staff put together a list of the top 10 games they covered this season.

This lists focuses on schools from Berkley, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Clawson, Ferndale, Royal Oak, Troy and West Bloomfield.

Agree? Disgaree? Make sure to sound off in the comments and tell us the top games you saw in 2011.

Check back on Wednesday for the top five!

10.

Boys basketball, Jan. 7, 2011

Context: The Berkley and Ferndale varsity basketball teams hadn’t played in a couple of years before the 2011 season. In January, the rivalry was renewed between the schools in a big way.

“When we moved up to the (OAA) White this year, one of the things we were looking forward to was playing Berkley,” Ferndale coach Tom Staton said.

Key Performance: Bears guard Ryan Bush helped the Bears win the nail-bitter with 32 points, including the game winner.

Deciding Play: Ferndale guard Anthony Garland hit a 3-pointer for the Eagles to tie the game at 67-67 with less than 30 seconds to go on the clock. On the ensuing play, Bush scored the game-winner under the basket with two defenders guarding him.

The whistle blew as Bush’s layup bounced off the glass and in. The crowd erupted when the referee counted the basket and put the senior forward on the line for a potential three-point play. Bush shrugged off jeers from visiting Ferndale fans and hit the free throw to finish off the three-point play and give Berkley a 70-67 lead.

Ferndale missed a 3-pointer and gave the Bears the ball right back. Berkley would hit one more free throw to ice the game.

Quote: “My guys showed a lot of heart,” first year Berkley coach David McGlown said at the time. “All of them just came today really intense and came to play with passion.”

9.

June 1, 2011

Context: It was the Divisional 1 regional semifinals for Birmingham United and the girls were coming off a 13-12 win over Lahser in the opening round of regionals. The two schools had met in the regional semifinals the previous year, with Grosse Pointe South winning 7-6.

Deciding Play: The entire game was a back-and-forth affair. Grosse Pointe South started off hot by scoring the first four goals of the game while Birmingham finished the first half strong with a 5-0 run.

But the key play came with the score tied 14-14 and 1:38 left in the game.

Carly Signorello knocked the faceoff right to Kathy Quigley, who quickly ran the ball up the field. The sophomore made it behind the Blue Devils net and looked around for an open teammate. When a defender moved out of the way, Quigley quickly decided to run in front of the goal and take the shot herself.

And it worked.

“I saw the girl run the other way," Quigley said. “I saw the open net and thought what better chance than this? I took it and it went in.”

Quote: “That was one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had,” Kathy Quigley said of losing to Grosse Pointe South in 2010. “I was just thinking we’ve worked really hard this season and I was not going to let it end with that kind of loss.”

8.

Football, Aug. 25, 2011

Context: Royal Oak football hadn’t won a game in more than three seasons (28 straight losses). The school’s last win was back on Oct. 12, 2007, a 14-7 win over Farmington. It was also head coach Jeff Hill’s first game at the helm of the Ravens' program.

Deciding Play: Lake Shore gave Royal Oak a scare when it scored a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to cut the Ravens lead down to one point.

Instead of kicking an extra-point, the Shorians went for the win on a two-point conversion, but the effort failed with 25 second left. Senior Justin Hatchett made the game-saving tackle when he stopped running back Travis Joseph short of the goal line.

Quote: “"I was a little anxious, but after watching the kids and Jeff and his staff prepare from the moment he got the job until the moment he won this game — it goes to show hard work certainly does pay off," Athletic Director Brian Gordon said.

7.

Boys soccer, Oct. 19-20, 2011

Context: Macomb Lutheran North had sent the Trojans packing from the district round of the playoffs in back-to-back years. Both games were extremely close. In 2010, the game came down to a shootout after the teams finished the second overtime tied 1-1. This year, the teams played in the second round of districts.

EXTRA, EXTRA: An added wrinkle to the game was that it took two days to complete.

The game started on Wednesday under a heavy rain and on a very muddy field. At the 15:21 mark, the referees decided to suspend play, stunning the coaches, players and fans.

“I’ve never had a game suspended, never seen a game called on the count of conditions in the middle of the first half,” Clawson head coach Jared Kullman said. “If it was that unplayable I’m not sure why he didn’t call it the first five seconds of the game.”

Clawson had a 1-0 lead when the teams walked off the field.

Deciding Play: When play resumed on Thursday, Clawson added to its lead 10 minutes into the second half. Tyler Lehman scored his second goal of the game, but Macomb Northern North came storming back. It scored two unanswered goals to tie the game up 2-2. The second goal came with less than two minutes left in the game.

Neither team scored in two overtime periods, so the game went into a shootout. In the first shootout, each team picks five shooters and the team with the most goals wins.

“We each made four, we missed our third and they missed their fifth (in the first overtime),” Clawson head coach Jared Kullman said. “Their fifth shooter would have won the game for them. Alex Maison made the save.”

In the second shootout, teams pick five new shooters and the first team that gains a lead, after each takes turns shooting, wins. Maison, Clawson’s goalie, scored on the first attempt and Macomb Lutheran missed.

Quote: “We made our first, Alex Maison actually took the shot and made it, their shooter missed the net completely,” Kullman said. “All the shooters were great today, the one Alex had a shot at (stopping) he got. You can’t imagine all that pressure.”

Full Recap: There were two stories, for and .

6.

Score: 22-25, 27-25, 25-16, 27-25, Nov. 8, 2011

Context: Marian was going for its third-straight Class A championship and a fifth-straight finals appearance. Going into the game, both teams were ranked in the top 10 in the state. Lake Orion’s season ended the previous year with a loss to the Mustangs in the regional finals.

Deciding Play: The Mustangs won the first set against Lake Orion and was one point away from taking the second, with a 24-19 lead. However, they failed to close out the game point five straight times and the Dragons won the pivotal second set. Lake Orion outside hitter Shannon Murdock, who had two kills in the 6-0 run, said her team had never staved off a game point for so long.

“We had never done that,” Murdock said. “Not with one point, not with game point. We kept it together so well. It was awesome.”

When Marian’s Kaleigh Pohlman hit the ball out of bounds to give the Dragons a 27-25 win in the second set, the home crowd went nuts.

The rally gave the large student section something to cheer about. It turned up the decibel level in a big way and seemed to rattle the Mustangs in the third set.

Quote: “That’s when we lost,” Mustangs head coach Irick Gardner said of the second set. “We had three or four chances to win in that the second game. They had what? Ninenteen? We have to be able to get that one point. Players have to step up to get one point. We have junior varsity players that can get one point.”

Come back on Wednesday for the top five games of the year

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