SPORTSwww.TheNewsHerald.comSection C Wednesday, August 29, 2012

More Downriver football — Page 2-C

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Photo by Larry Caruso

Aaron Letinski (26) and Nick Willetts cel;ebrate points on the board during Allen Park’s 41-21 win over Lincoln Park on opening nigh Friday.

Photo by Larry Caruso

Nick Luce (64), Jacob Mackie (24) and the rest of the Cabrini defense limited Westside Christian to just 12 points Saturday.

2012 News-Herald Volleyball Preview

Champ Trenton hopes to defend league titleBy Shane PrestonThe News-Herald

Trenton will look to defend its Downriver League title with a new, but familiar face taking over the reins of the varsity program.

Lynn Oakley will begin her first year as the head coach of the Trojans, but it is far from her first year with the pro-gram.

“I’ve been with Trenton for 16 years with the 7th grade, 8th grade, JV and Varsity,” Oakley said. “It’s been great because I’ve already coached all these

girls.”The Trojans will feature a number

of talented returners led by senior captains Danielle Deangelis (setter) and Lea Glenn (all-around).

Other senior leaders include all-around players Desiree Kuczynski and Kali Sclater as well as middle hitter Hannah Scharboneau and defensive spe-cialist Jordan Sutherby.

Sophomore middle hitter Aeyah Hebda and sophomore outside hitter Gabrielle Maciag will also look to con-tribute for the Trojans.

Oakley’s experience with her players

gives her an advantage over most first-year coaches.

“I’ve been with them their whole careers,” Oakley said. “I actually had this senior group as seventh graders.”

This familiarity with the program and her players has led Oakley’s expec-tation for excellence to remain the same.

“They know people are going to be gunning for them because we won last year,” Oakley said. “We want to con-tinue to hold the title this year.

The Trojans competed in the Melvindale tournament on Saturday.

WoodhavenExperience will lead the way in

Woodhaven this year as a senior-laden Warrior team looks to contend for a Downriver League title.

“I’ve got seven returning seniors,” Woodhaven Coach Dennis Yack said. “We have a lot of great leadership with our seniors and we have a lot of good kids on the team.”

Senior captains Brianna Brennan (outside hitter), Natalie Frensley (mid-dle hitter) and Erica Marvaso (defen-

PLEASE SEE SPIKE/4-C

By Shane PrestonThe News-Herald

For two quarters, it looked as if the streak could finally come to an end.

After two more quarters, the streak continued for at least another week.

Allen Park overcame an early 13-0 deficit and a 21-14 disadvantage to defeat Lincoln Park 41-21 at home on Friday.

“We changed the cover-age a little bit and got a cou-ple interceptions and got a little better pass rush,” Allen Park Coach Tom Hoover said. “After that, things went a lot better.”

Lincoln Park opened the scoring in the first quarter when Lucas Espitia found Byron Simmons for a 65-

yard touchdown pass.The Rails made it 13-0

later in the quarter when Dawone Gray caught a screen pass and took it 35 yards to paydirt.

The Jags cut the deficit to one score before the second quarter when Jake Makowski put it in from four yards out. A two-point conversion made it 13-8 after the first 12 minutes.

Allen Park took the lead in the second quarter when Nick Fulton connected with Dylan Pippin with a 39-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-13 Jags.

Lincoln Park answered just before the end of the half when Espitia hooked up with Simmons again for

By Shane PrestonThe News-Herald

The Cabrini Monarchs got the job done in their sea-son opener in a game where they dominated the entire game, except for a turbulent two-minute stretch.

The Monarchs defeated Western Christian Academy 26-12 on Saturday using solely the run game to piece together long, time-consum-ing drives.

Cabrini took a 12-0 lead after a pair of three-yard touchdown plunges from Pat Sekerak and Nick Lazorka.

Then momentum almost immediately shifted in favor of Western Christian Academy as the Warriors tied the game over the course of a two minute span.

A broken play led to a 25-yard touchdown scamper by Western Christian’s Martez Jones. On the first play of the ensuing Cabrini pos-

session, Jones recovered a fumble and returned it for a touchdown to tie the game 12-12.

“I was happy with what happened next because they didn’t drop their heads, they stayed focused the whole time and they really believed in what we could do,” Cabrini Coach Mark Shea said.

The following Monarch possession was capped off by a 10-yard touchdown run by Sekerak to put Cabrini up 20-12.

After forcing a fumble on the next Western Academy possession, Sekerak struck again, this time from 14 yards out, for his third touchdown of the game and a 26-12 Cabrini lead entering the half.

Both teams were score-less in the second half as Cabrini did a good job of chewing up time with long drives.

“They had 10 guys in the box at the end of the game

and we still pulled off three first downs to run the clock out,” Shea said.

Cabrini tallied 201 rush-ing yards and pulled away despite not throwing a pass.

Sekerak led the way with 101 yards on 18 carries. He also recorded six tackles on defense.

Sean David had 25 yards on seven carries and record-ed an interception and Lazorka ran five times for 25 yards and touchdown.

Lazorka, Joe Kines, John Cyster and Devon MacGregor each had six tackles and David Szczesny added an interception.

“The biggest thing that helped us is that I feel fairly confident with our depth, so we swapped kids in and out there on a hot day,” Shea said. “It was a good win and there’s a lot to build on, but it’s nice to be 1-0.”

The Monarchs will look to make it 2-0 when they host Bishop Foley tomorrow night.

PLEASE SEE JAGS/7-C

StreaklingersAllen Park’s second-half outburst keeps LP groping

Keeping their poiseCabrini weathers momentum shift, wins opener