Stoney Creek Scouting Report

Written Saturday September 14th, at 9:50 PM

Ever since the 2002 season when Stoney Creek came into existence, the Stoney Creek football program has seen the early rise, then the fall, and then the rise again of its program. Stoney Creek has made the playoffs twice in its history. The first time was in 2006 when they went 8-0 in OAA Division Three and 8-2 overall when they lost to Grosse Pointe North in the first round of the playoffs and in 2007 when they went 8-2 and 7-1 in Blue play before falling to Birmingham Brother Rice in the first round of the playoffs. The Cougars were a combined 16-4 and 15-1 in Blue play in those two seasons.

Stoney Creek has changed as well since those special two playoff seasons. They struggled as they went into White from 2008-2011 and then they had an enrollment hike. The enrollment hike led the Cougars to the Red in 2012 and have been there since.

Friday night Stoney Creek will have the biggest game in its school history when the Cougars face the Lake Orion Dragons in Rochester.

This will be the first major test for Stoney Creek since Clarkston came to Rochester. The Cougars had the Wolves beat until Clarkston scored two touchdowns late to beat Stoney Creek 28-21 last season.

Stoney Creek comes in with a 3-0 record, 2-0 in the Red and has a good chance to make the playoffs for the first time since 2007. It is the first time since 2007 that the Cougars were 3-0 but they were in the Blue that season. The schedule has not been that impressive this season for Stoney Creek. The Cougars beat Royal Oak 42-8 three weeks ago, Pontiac 62-13 two weeks ago, and got a big road win at Troy 21-12 last week. Stoney Creek had 510 total yards of offense, 353 on the ground last week against the Colts.

The Cougars are a four headed juggernaut with their triple option offense and is a senior laden team. This 2014 class at Stoney Creek maybe the most successful class in program history since the Phil Swanson days in 2006. The Cougars offense has scored 125 points (41.6 ppg) and the defense which runs a 4-3 scheme has allowed 33 points (11 ppg) this season.

The maker of the offense is second year head coach Brad Zube. Zube spent two seasons at Pontiac as head coach before coming to Rochester to coach Stoney Creek. Before Zube arrived, the Cougars were 3-15 in the last two seasons before he arrived and after that Zube has led Stoney Creek to an 8-4 record since 2012. The Cougars finished last season 5-4 losing a heartbreaker the final week of the season to Southfield.

This is not the first time that Zube and Dragons coach Chris Bell has faced off against each other. Bell is 3-0 against Zube in his career. The Dragons in 2010 beat the Zube led Pontiac Phoenix 44-13 and 40-12 in 2011. Last season, Lake Orion won over Stoney Creek 42-7 but the Cougars were without Justin Allor, their quarterback who got hurt in the Troy game did not play.

The first player is quarterback Joseph Allor. Allor has a good arm, can throw, and run when need to. He was hurt last season and did not play against the Dragons. Allor is a good quarterback for the triple option attack that Stoney Creek possesses. He threw for 113 yards and an eight yard touchdown pass to Sean Scullen along with an interception last week against Troy.

The next player is slot back Sean Scullen. Scullen is considered as an athlete on the roster and there is a reason why he is an athlete. He is a runner, can catch the ball, AND CAN THROW THE FOOTBALL. He was the starting quarterback against the Dragons last season when Lake Orion beat Stoney Creek at Lake Orion. Scullen had 120 all purpose yards (98 yards rushing) He had a rushing touchdown, caught a pass for a touchdown, and threw a 44 yard pass to wide receiver Alex Schnurr as part of their “Joker” package last week against the Colts.

The next one player is power back Nick Rangos. Rangos is physical and likes to go in between the tackles. He had 145 rushing yards on 16 carries, 133 of those yards was in the first half last week against Troy. He has had some big games against Royal Oak and Pontiac going over 100 yards in those games.

The next one is wide receiver/running back Joe Cox. Cox can run and catch the ball very well. He had 61 yards on 13 carries and a two yard touchdown last week against Troy. Cox also had 100 all purpose yards and an interception last week against Pontiac and did well against Royal Oak.

Zube praised his offense to reporters after the Troy game but it could be a different story against a Dragon defense that since allowing 30 points against Oxford three weeks ago have only allowed 12 points. “That’s one of the things with our offense. We can speed our tempo up and we can slow our tempo down. When it gets to game situations like this (against Troy) we can slow it down and control it.”

Stoney Creek’s defense is a 4-3 defense and has only allowed 33 points (11 ppg) so far this season but they were against Royal Oak, Pontiac, and Troy. They may have their greatest challenge this week with the Dragons speed, size, and depth.

If this game goes to a track meet, it favors Lake Orion. Depth could be a major problem for Stoney Creek as well in this game. The Cougars have always used that they are up against the wall. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if Stoney Creek tries to use the same game plan like Oxford did against Lake Orion and also use some trickery which they have. Scullen and Cox can both throw the ball along with Allor. Scullen was the quarterback last season in the Lake Orion game. The Dragons are much different than Troy, Pontiac, and Royal Oak. It is something that Zube said to reporters after the Troy game and we’ll leave at that.

“Chris Bell’s program at Orion is awesome. They are the standard of the OAA. We’re going to have to give them our best shot.”

We’ll see what happens Friday night.