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Posted on Tue, Sep 6, 2011 : 10:15 a.m.

Pioneer loses QB, game to Birmingham Brother Rice, top performers and notes

By Pete Cunningham

The holiday weekend just ended and everybody's back to school, but that doesn't mean you don't need a midweek football fix.

This week, passing and receiving numbers were way down compared to Week 1's top performers. That's understandable at Pioneer High School, where the starting quarterback is no longer under center, and at Whitmore Lake High School, where there's only 13 kids still on the varsity team.

Piling on Pioneer

FOOTBALL TOP PERFORMERS, AUG. 31- SEP. 4

nate-bossory-throw.jpg

Nate Bossory

PASSING YARDS
252 - Nate Bossory, Manchester (19 of 38, 3 TDs, 1 INT)
150 - Mike Mioduszewski, Dexter (13 of 25, 1 TD, 0 INT)
142 - Andrew Copp, Skyline (10 of 17, 2 TDs, 0 INT)
108 - T.J. O'Bryan, Lincoln (6 of 13, 0 TDs, 0 INT)
79 - Alex Hassan, Huron (8 of 19, 0 TDs, 1 INT)

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Parish Jacobs

RUSHING YARDS
135 - Parish Jacobs, Huron (11 carries, 1 TD)
131 - Berkley Edwards, Chelsea (29 carries, 0 TDs)
127 - Drake Johnson, Pioneer (24 carries, 1 TD)
122 - NyShaun Marks, Willow Run (8 carries, 0 TDs)
120 - Mike Mioduszewski, Dexter (12 carries, 1 TD)

Rare-williams-receiving-leader.jpg

Rare Williams

RECEIVING YARDS
108 - Rare Williams, Lincoln (6 receptions, 0 TD)
99 - Josh Finley, Manchester (5 receptions, 1 TD)
86 - Alex Mortensen, Dexter (6 Receptions, 1 TD)
79 - Jack Clark, Skyline (6 Receptions, 1 TD)
75 - Tory Martinsen, Milan (5 receptions, 0 TD)

nyshaun-marks-tackling-leader.jpg

NyShaun Marks

TACKLES
13 - NyShaun Marks, Willow Run
13 - Wade Radatz, Milan
12 - Ty Peterson, Milan
11.5 - Luke Denson, Huron 11 - Chase Reiberger, Milan

While most people enjoyed a long holiday weekend for Labor Day, the Pioneer football team simply had a long weekend.

With a 7:30 p.m. kickoff on Saturday night, the Pioneers’ game with perennial state power Birmingham Brother Rice was already the last game played in the state by more than five hours. Then, near the end of the first quarter, Mother Nature got involved, forcing the teams to postpone the game until 5 p.m. Sunday.

There would be no barbeque for the Pioneers, just a 27-14 grilling (Boxscore at MLive.com) in which the Warriors had 324 yards of offense to Pioneer’s 184.

In addition to the game, Pioneer lost its starting quarterback, Andy Creal to a knee injury.

“We don’t know the extent of (the injury) yet,” said Pioneer coach Paul Test, “but (Creal) will probably be out next week.”

Stepping in for Creal will be Aedan York, a 6-foot-2 junior high in ability but low in experience.

“(York) is competent and capable, but he needs a lot more reps,” Test said.

Another key senior member of the team, Aaron Nofke, is out 4-6 weeks after having surgery on his injured foot. Nofke was the only player on Pioneer playing both sides of the ball on the line.

“We were really counting on him on defense and lose probably our best lineman,” Test said of losing Nofke.

An encouraging sign for Test in two season-opening losses has been the running game. The Pioneers gained 129 yards versus Brother Rice (Drake Johnson with 127) and 183 against De La Salle (Johnson with 171).

“We can run the ball against anybody,” Test said.

What has really hurt the Pioneers so far is points of turnovers. Pioneer gave up a 55-yard interception return for a touchdown against Brother Rice, and against De La Salle gave up a fumble return for a touchdown and a safety.

“We gotta stop shooting ourselves in the foot,” Test said.


Juide-icial Enforcement

Skyline running back Torrey Juide was officially the Eagles' third-leading rusher in a 42-12 win over Dexter on Thursday with six carries for 48 yards.

Juide would have had many more yards, but his team’s penalty total (13 for 104 yards) kept that from happening. Juide had five different runs called back because of penalties, at least three of which were 15 yards or more.

“We were actually kind of laughing at it,” said quarterback Andrew Copp. “Torrey wasn’t too happy about getting his yards taken away, but we got a win.”

“I’m sure Torrey’s a little discourage, but he’ll be fine,” said Skyline coach Rod Jones.


Unlucky 13

Whitmore Lake had to cancel its junior varsity contest against Perry last week. Injuries reduced the Trojans’ already-sparse varsity roster to just 14 players, so the JV played with the varsity to add depth.

By the end of the 20-14 loss to Perry, Whitmore Lake had also lost its leading receiver, Sam Paniccaci, to a season-ending injury. Whitmore Lake coach Barry Pierson said he hopes canceling the JV game was a one-time thing.

“We’re hoping -- when school starts -- to get a few more out (for the team),” Peirson said. “Canceling the JV, it's just for the week for right now.“


SEC Crossover Championship

Despite eight of the 12 Southeastern Conference teams being from Washtnenaw County, both the SEC Red and White division titles were both won by teams outside of the area last season.

Temperance Bedford won the Red division, Adrian the White.

Those teams, who are among the favorites to win their divisions again, play at 7 p.m. Friday in Adrian. There will be a replay of the game aired on MHSAA.tv and on Comcast channel 900 at 7 p.m. Sept. 14.

Contact Pete Cunningham at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.