The OAA Red has a new look

Written: Thursday November 12th at 5:27 PM.

It’s out with the old and in with the new. With the Oxford Wildcats arrival to the Oakland Activities Association next season, all 24 athletic directors in the OAA voted and approved the new football divisions based on enrollment, in the schools. The OAA Red will have a new look for 2010.

Gone are Royal Oak and Oak Park, both the Ravens and the Knights will move down from the OAA Red division to the OAA white division. Troy will be one of the few teams to say good riddance that Oak Park is leaving the OAA Red, because the Colts fell to the Knights 27-14 at Troy in week four in 2009, and has lost three of its last four games to the Knights since 2005.

Enter the Pontiac Phoenix and the Rochester Falcons to the OAA Red. The Phoenix and the Falcons will face teams like Lake Orion, Clarkston, West Bloomfield, Troy, Athens, and Southfield Lathrup. Talk about a nightmare of teams to meet in the Red in 2010.

Also the athletic directors approved that there will be a crossover game between the OAA Red and the OAA White in week eight of the 2010 football season on the scheldue. A perfect example would be if Lake Orion was leading the OAA Red and Rochester Adams was leading the OAA White, then those two teams would play each other at Adams. It’s going to be first place vs. first place, second place vs. second place, you all know the idea. All of those crossover games will be played at the OAA White location, the next year in 2011 it will be played at the OAA Red location.

The Pontiac Phoenix came into 2009, after the merging of both Pontiac Northern and Pontiac Central. Also the Phoenix had a new head coach in Greg Ganfield. Ganfield coached in North Carolina, and also had stints at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, and Romeo. He completely changed the culture at Pontiac, transforming two schools that struggled as Northern and Central to make the playoffs in their first season as Pontiac High School. The Phoenix finished 2009, at 7-2, and won the OAA Blue division championship, despite the fact their two losses were to North Farmington in week one, and a tough loss to Class B state power Birmingham Detroit Country Day on the road. However in the playoffs, Pontiac ran into Macomb Area Conference Red division powerhouse Utica Eisenhower and the Eagles steamrolled the Phoenix 35-6 at Wisner Stadium in Pontiac.

The Rochester Falcons come into the red with not a lot of momentum. They are like your version of the Detroit Lions, only in reverse, the Falcons can win on the road but haven’t been able to win a home football game in two seasons. Rochester's closest chance of victory at home was in 2009, when they lead Stoney Creek 34-28, and lost the game with two seconds as they gave up a late touchdown and lost 35-34 in 2009. But the Falcons proved they could compete at least against an OAA Red member. It was week one when the Falcons host Troy, in a tight competitive match up, however the Falcons couldn’t get enough offense against the Colts and fell 17-6. The other red member Rochester faced was Southfield-Lathrup at Lathrup Village. Things didn’t go so well for the Falcons as they fell to the Chargers 49-21 in week 8. The Falcons finished 2009, at 1-8. Rochester’s only win came in week three against Birmingham Groves, a team who is heading down to the OAA Blue, winning 38-26 at Beverly Hills. After that win the Falcons went on and lost their last six contests including beatings against Rochester Adams (55-21 in week nine) and Southfield (32-0 in week five).

To both Rochester and Pontiac welcome to the OAA red, even though it’s going to be a challenge for you guys to make the playoffs. Pontiac benefited from playing teams in the OAA Blue, it won’t happen in 2010, things could get real bad for Pontiac, if they don’t step their game up and things just may get worse at Rochester after a 1-8 season. Playing teams like Lake Orion, Clarkston, West Bloomfield, Troy, and Southfield Lathrup is no easy task, and that’s what both of them face. It looks like it could be a long few years for both Pontiac and Rochester if all those tough teams get their way in the OAA Red. Time to step up your game now Phoenix and Falcons you’re now in the big leagues with the rest of the Red.

OAA Divisions for 2010

OAA Red:

Lake Orion, Clarkston, Pontiac, Troy, Troy Athens, West Bloomfield, Southfield-Lathrup, and Rochester.

OAA White:

Rochester Adams, Stoney Creek, Farmington, Farmington Hills Harrison, Southfield, Oxford, Royal Oak, and Oak Park.

OAA Blue:

Birmingham Groves, Birmingham Seaholm, Auburn Hills Avondale, Berkley, North Farmington, Ferndale, Hazel Park, Bloomfield Hills Lahser, and Bloomfield Hills Andover.