Caution: High School Football Commentary... How Was Okemos HS This Bad?

deserves a thread of its own.

Okemos has never had a strong football team, at least in recent history. But, my GOD.. look at the final scores this season:

Okemos vs Mason - L 57-7
Okemos vs Haslett - L 47-0
Okemos vs Holt - L 60-0
Okemos vs Waverly - L 62-0
Okemos vs St Joseph - L 75-0
Okemos vs DeWitt - L 65-0
Okemos vs Grand Ledge - L 43-0
Okemos vs Everett - L 50-0
Okemos vs East Lansing - L 49-0


East Lansing was up 42-0... at the end of the first quarter.

DWags.. how insane is this? Not necessarily going 0-9 (that's bad enough) but look at those margins of victory. They scored one time.. ONE TIME.. all season.    

random thought post, sorry bob.. there are not a lot of less interesting things to me than high school football

Okemos seems like the kind of town where you’d have a tough time finding many parents willing to let their kid play football

How bad is Mason that they're the only ones that allowed them to score?

Robert J Sakimano wrote:deserves a thread of its own.

Okemos has never had a strong football team, at least in recent history. But, my GOD.. look at the final scores this season:

Okemos vs Mason - L 57-7
Okemos vs Haslett - L 47-0
Okemos vs Holt - L 60-0
Okemos vs Waverly - L 62-0
Okemos vs St Joseph - L 75-0
Okemos vs DeWitt - L 65-0
Okemos vs Grand Ledge - L 43-0
Okemos vs Everett - L 50-0
Okemos vs East Lansing - L 49-0


East Lansing was up 42-0... at the end of the first quarter.

DWags.. how insane is this? Not necessarily going 0-9 (that's bad enough) but look at those margins of victory. They scored one time.. ONE TIME.. all season.    

I don't get it. It has to be a cancer in the program where people just don't want to do the things to get better. Or, the coach doesn't have the programs to get the kids better or, he does, but the kids dont' like his personality. Shit, that's crazy.

DWags wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote:deserves a thread of its own.

Okemos has never had a strong football team, at least in recent history. But, my GOD.. look at the final scores this season:

Okemos vs Mason - L 57-7
Okemos vs Haslett - L 47-0
Okemos vs Holt - L 60-0
Okemos vs Waverly - L 62-0
Okemos vs St Joseph - L 75-0
Okemos vs DeWitt - L 65-0
Okemos vs Grand Ledge - L 43-0
Okemos vs Everett - L 50-0
Okemos vs East Lansing - L 49-0


East Lansing was up 42-0... at the end of the first quarter.

DWags.. how insane is this? Not necessarily going 0-9 (that's bad enough) but look at those margins of victory. They scored one time.. ONE TIME.. all season.    

I don't get it.  It has to be a cancer in the program where people just don't want to do the things to get better.  Or, the coach doesn't have the programs to get the kids better or, he does, but the kids dont' like his personality.   Shit, that's crazy.

yeah, I agree - there has to be something going on directly within the athletic dept., the team, etc. This is the sort of season that might make the school board say "why the heck are we funding this"?

yeah, Okemos is a country club sport school. But you'd think they could at least have enough guys on the team to go 0-9 while losing, say, 21-10 or 17-7?

I have some local HS athletic dept., contacts. Might have to put on my investigative journalist hat.

Never thought I’d see the day Waverly beat anybody 62-0, let alone Okemos.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:

DWags wrote:

I don't get it.  It has to be a cancer in the program where people just don't want to do the things to get better.  Or, the coach doesn't have the programs to get the kids better or, he does, but the kids dont' like his personality.   Shit, that's crazy.

yeah, I agree - there has to be something going on directly within the athletic dept., the team, etc. This is the sort of season that might make the school board say "why the heck are we funding this"?

yeah, Okemos is a country club sport school. But you'd think they could at least have enough guys on the team to go 0-9 while losing, say, 21-10 or 17-7?

I have some local HS athletic dept., contacts. Might have to put on my investigative journalist hat.

Coach quit before the season started. Pretty sure most of the assistants quit also. Feeder program was probably suffering for years. Kids get involved playing other sports more competitively at a younger age. Easy for parents to eliminate football as an option.

NigelUno wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote:
yeah, I agree - there has to be something going on directly within the athletic dept., the team, etc. This is the sort of season that might make the school board say "why the heck are we funding this"?

yeah, Okemos is a country club sport school. But you'd think they could at least have enough guys on the team to go 0-9 while losing, say, 21-10 or 17-7?

I have some local HS athletic dept., contacts. Might have to put on my investigative journalist hat.

Coach quit before the season started. Pretty sure most of the assistants quit also. Feeder program was probably suffering for years. Kids get involved playing other sports more competitively at a younger age. Easy for parents to eliminate football as an option.

sounds plausible. COVID season definitely didn't help from a feeder program standpoint.

I think this might be part of the problem tbh.

“As of right now Okemos’ football team is made up of 18 players. That’s it.“

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wlns.com/news/okemos-brad-lilly-has-one-mission-for-the-2021-22-season-and-that-is-to-grow-our-football-family/amp/

A co-worker said they have 3 freshman soccer teams. (or something like that).... and a freshman offensive line on varsity.

Plus "school of choice". Anyone worth a damn in football goes to EL or Haslett.

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:I think this might be part of the problem tbh.

“As of right now Okemos’ football team is made up of 18 players. That’s it.“

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wlns.com/news/okemos-brad-lilly-has-one-mission-for-the-2021-22-season-and-that-is-to-grow-our-football-family/amp/

That's just crazy and probably a bit dangerous. Looks like football is on the verge of extinction at Okemos High school. Sad because they have invested in the program. Their newish stadium and field are really nice. Maybe they just move on to 8 man football.

Bridgman Bees finish 9-0! Unfortunately we're too big for the 8-man playoffs. Stupid as hell

We kicked ass this year (beat state power Mendon 45-0). I really wish these kids had a chance, I think we'd win it all

duffy munn wrote:

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:I think this might be part of the problem tbh.

“As of right now Okemos’ football team is made up of 18 players. That’s it.“

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wlns.com/news/okemos-brad-lilly-has-one-mission-for-the-2021-22-season-and-that-is-to-grow-our-football-family/amp/

That's just crazy and probably a bit dangerous. Looks like football is on the verge of extinction at Okemos High school. Sad because they have invested in the program. Their newish stadium and field are really nice. Maybe they just move on to 8 man football.

Lawyers make decent money on big cases and help out the community.  Thanks Larry.

I think they won at least half of their games when I went there. I didn't really pay much attention though, too busy pursuing other interests.

Are the players coaching? Maybe fans get to take turns calling plays? That's pretty bad.

Turtleneck wrote:Are the players coaching? Maybe fans get to take turns calling plays? That's pretty bad.

that's kind of what I was thinking. Going 0-9.. hell, stuff happens.

but then I looked up their season, saw the individual game finals and was =  - as I mentioned, East Lansing was up 42-0... AT THE END OF THE FIRST QUARTER.

as bad as each of these finals were, you have to figure it could've been twice as worse.

and, as much as I admire the players who were still out there playing, imagine being an Okemos parent sitting in the stands and having to watch that. Yikes.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:

Turtleneck wrote:Are the players coaching? Maybe fans get to take turns calling plays? That's pretty bad.

that's kind of what I was thinking. Going 0-9.. hell, stuff happens.

but then I looked up their season, saw the individual game finals and was =  - as I mentioned, East Lansing was up 42-0... AT THE END OF THE FIRST QUARTER.

as bad as each of these finals were, you have to figure it could've been twice as worse.

and, as much as I admire the players who were still out there playing, imagine being an Okemos parent sitting in the stands and having to watch that. Yikes.

If I had a child on a team that bad, I would put the child up for adoption.

Turtleneck wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote:
that's kind of what I was thinking. Going 0-9.. hell, stuff happens.

but then I looked up their season, saw the individual game finals and was =  - as I mentioned, East Lansing was up 42-0... AT THE END OF THE FIRST QUARTER.

as bad as each of these finals were, you have to figure it could've been twice as worse.

and, as much as I admire the players who were still out there playing, imagine being an Okemos parent sitting in the stands and having to watch that. Yikes.

If I had a child on a team that bad, I would put the child up for adoption.

that's too much paperwork for a kid like that.. I'd just drop them off at the bus station.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:

Turtleneck wrote:

If I had a child on a team that bad, I would put the child up for adoption.

that's too much paperwork for a kid like that.. I'd just drop them off at the bus station.

Tim Wakefield wrote:Bridgman Bees finish 9-0! Unfortunately we're too big for the 8-man playoffs. Stupid as hell

We kicked ass this year (beat state power Mendon 45-0). I really wish these kids had a chance, I think we'd win it all

They must’ve created quite a buzz around town.

tGreenWay wrote:

Tim Wakefield wrote:Bridgman Bees finish 9-0! Unfortunately we're too big for the 8-man playoffs. Stupid as hell

We kicked ass this year (beat state power Mendon 45-0). I really wish these kids had a chance, I think we'd win it all

They must’ve created quite a buzz around town.

They got stung by their size.

By the way, , pretty damn good kicker from that HS. Buzzzzzzzzxx

DWags wrote:

tGreenWay wrote:


They must’ve created quite a buzz around town.

They got stung by their size.

Look honey, don’t poke at that nest.

Probably has a little to do with it

wait there are 8 player football teams out there?

AvgMSUJoe wrote:Probably has a little to do with it

Canary in a coal mine. Okemos has a pretty solid tradition of successful football teams, and for there to be such demand for soccer and so little interest in football says a lot. Soccer has finally made its way into the DNA of younger generations in America, and considering how less… violent it is, parents seem good with it. DWags would know better but I imagine many schools would love cutting football with all of its added expenses.

tGreenWay wrote:

AvgMSUJoe wrote:Probably has a little to do with it

Canary in a coal mine. Okemos has a pretty solid tradition of successful football teams, and for there to be such demand for soccer and so little interest in football says a lot. Soccer has finally made its way into the DNA of younger generations in America, and considering how less… violent it is, parents seem good with it. DWags would know better but I imagine many schools would love cutting football with all of its added expenses.

Maybe. I would guess the majority of Okemos' parents are educated or in education...assuming they would be the first to get their kids out of it.
Going to be interesting in the next 7-10 years. The kids who established themselves as "football" kids prior to CTE are still in the system. But soon, not.

AvgMSUJoe wrote:A co-worker said they have 3 freshman soccer teams. (or something like that).... and a freshman offensive line on varsity.

Plus "school of choice". Anyone worth a damn in football goes to EL or Haslett.

3 freshman soccer teams and a 2021 D1 MHSAA Boys Soccer State Championship

AvgMSUJoe wrote:

tGreenWay wrote:



Canary in a coal mine. Okemos has a pretty solid tradition of successful football teams, and for there to be such demand for soccer and so little interest in football says a lot. Soccer has finally made its way into the DNA of younger generations in America, and considering how less… violent it is, parents seem good with it. DWags would know better but I imagine many schools would love cutting football with all of its added expenses.

Maybe. I would guess the majority of Okemos' parents are educated or in education...assuming they would be the first to get their kids out of it.
Going to be interesting in the next 7-10 years. The kids who established themselves as "football" kids prior to CTE are still in the system. But soon, not.

Exactly what I was thinking, too.

Caution: More high school football commentary. If fragile, please look away..

so, Okemos football is back at it again this season. So far, they've played three games:

Okemos vs Mason 69 - 0 (L)
Okemos vs Haslett 66 - 0 (L)
Okemos vs East Lansing 77 - 0 (L)

how much longer can the district fund a football program?

former EL football/basketball/track standout Efe Scott Emakpour took over the head coaching ranks this fall and I suspect that if given the time, support, etc., he will eventually be able to have them a bit more competitive but, man, this has got to be hard to watch if you're a parent of an Okemos player.

So it’s been 11 games since they last scored a point then? That’s rough. You’d think at some point they would accidentally score somehow (famous last words last uttered during greenways single guy days)

Robert J Sakimano wrote:Caution: More high school football commentary. If fragile, please look away..

so, Okemos football is back at it again this season. So far, they've played three games:

Okemos vs Mason 69 - 0 (L)
Okemos vs Haslett 66 - 0 (L)
Okemos vs East Lansing 77 - 0 (L)

how much longer can the district fund a football program?

former EL football/basketball/track standout Efe Scott Emakpour took over the head coaching ranks this fall and I suspect that if given the time, support, etc., he will eventually be able to have them a bit more competitive but, man, this has got to be hard to watch if you're a parent of an Okemos player.

To me, it sounds dangerous to the kids. They are obviously way outmanned by superior athletes who could hurt them. I don’t know what the rest of their schedule looks like but it’s something the administration really hast to look into

DWags wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote:Caution: More high school football commentary. If fragile, please look away..

so, Okemos football is back at it again this season. So far, they've played three games:

Okemos vs Mason 69 - 0 (L)
Okemos vs Haslett 66 - 0 (L)
Okemos vs East Lansing 77 - 0 (L)

how much longer can the district fund a football program?

former EL football/basketball/track standout Efe Scott Emakpour took over the head coaching ranks this fall and I suspect that if given the time, support, etc., he will eventually be able to have them a bit more competitive but, man, this has got to be hard to watch if you're a parent of an Okemos player.

To me, it sounds dangerous to the kids. They are obviously way outmanned by superior athletes who could hurt them. I don’t know what the rest of their schedule looks like but it’s something the administration really hast to look into

true and a good point.

I don't go to EL games since the kid graduated (though I think I'll go this Friday vs. Dewitt as EL christens the new turf), but East Lansing was up 56-0 at the half.

granted, the Trojans are likely the best team in mid-Michigan, and I'm sure Feraco did nothing but run the ball up the middle the entire 2nd half, but you can't tell your team not to score.

DWags - serious question. If you're coaching a HS team that is literally capable of scoring on each play vs. a completely outmanned team, how do you handle that? Do you ask a receiver if he wants to play QB? Do you dress out the managers at halftime?

tGreenWay wrote:

AvgMSUJoe wrote:Probably has a little to do with it

Canary in a coal mine. Okemos has a pretty solid tradition of successful football teams, and for there to be such demand for soccer and so little interest in football says a lot. Soccer has finally made its way into the DNA of younger generations in America, and considering how less… violent it is, parents seem good with it. DWags would know better but I imagine many schools would love cutting football with all of its added expenses.

All in on this.

Football is a brutal "sport"

Robert J Sakimano wrote:

DWags wrote:

To me, it sounds dangerous to the kids. They are obviously way outmanned by superior athletes who could hurt them. I don’t know what the rest of their schedule looks like but it’s something the administration really hast to look into

true and a good point.

I don't go to EL games since the kid graduated (though I think I'll go this Friday vs. Dewitt as EL christens the new turf), but East Lansing was up 56-0 at the half.

granted, the Trojans are likely the best team in mid-Michigan, and I'm sure Feraco did nothing but run the ball up the middle the entire 2nd half, but you can't tell your team not to score.

DWags - serious question. If you're coaching a HS team that is literally capable of scoring on each play vs. a completely outmanned team, how do you handle that? Do you ask a receiver if he wants to play QB? Do you dress out the managers at halftime?

I’m just going off tackle left and right with my second and third stringers. Kids that don’t get to play much will see a lot of action. I even might use simple pass patterns on 3rd and long especially if it’s just basic stuff. You’re right, you can’t tell kids not to score.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:Caution: More high school football commentary. If fragile, please look away..

so, Okemos football is back at it again this season. So far, they've played three games:

Okemos vs Mason  69 - 0 (L)
Okemos vs Haslett   66 - 0 (L)
Okemos vs East Lansing   77 - 0 (L)

how much longer can the district fund a football program?

former EL football/basketball/track standout Efe Scott Emakpour  took over the head coaching ranks this fall and I suspect that if given the time,  support, etc., he will eventually be able to have them a bit more competitive but, man, this has got to be hard to watch if you're a parent of an Okemos player.

Might be in the best interest of the players to cancel the rest of the varsity season (and maybe freshman season if they are low on players).

Holland cancelled the rest of their varsity season.

Holland HS cancels season

Also think Okemos HS has become a soccer school and tennis school.  

You need a strong parent commitment to operate the 4th thru 6th grade Rocket football program then a commitment from the parents and school system to run the 78’ers getting middle school players ready for HS ball.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:

DWags wrote:

To me, it sounds dangerous to the kids. They are obviously way outmanned by superior athletes who could hurt them. I don’t know what the rest of their schedule looks like but it’s something the administration really hast to look into

true and a good point.

I don't go to EL games since the kid graduated (though I think I'll go this Friday vs. Dewitt as EL christens the new turf), but East Lansing was up 56-0 at the half.

granted, the Trojans are likely the best team in mid-Michigan, and I'm sure Feraco did nothing but run the ball up the middle the entire 2nd half, but you can't tell your team not to score.

DWags - serious question. If you're coaching a HS team that is literally capable of scoring on each play vs. a completely outmanned team, how do you handle that? Do you ask a receiver if he wants to play QB? Do you dress out the managers at halftime?

Go Panthers

GRR Spartan wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote:Caution: More high school football commentary. If fragile, please look away..

so, Okemos football is back at it again this season. So far, they've played three games:

Okemos vs Mason  69 - 0 (L)
Okemos vs Haslett   66 - 0 (L)
Okemos vs East Lansing   77 - 0 (L)

how much longer can the district fund a football program?

former EL football/basketball/track standout Efe Scott Emakpour  took over the head coaching ranks this fall and I suspect that if given the time,  support, etc., he will eventually be able to have them a bit more competitive but, man, this has got to be hard to watch if you're a parent of an Okemos player.

Might be in the best interest of the players to cancel the rest of the varsity season (and maybe freshman season if they are low on players).

Holland cancelled the rest of their varsity season.

Holland HS cancels season

Also think Okemos HS has become a soccer school and tennis school.  

You need a strong parent commitment to operate the 4th thru 6th grade Rocket football program then a commitment from the parents and school system to run the 78’ers getting middle school players ready for HS ball.

Okemos has always done well in the country club sports.. I suspect their feeder programs suffered a lot during COVID, so that might play a role, too, in how vapid the HS program has become.

let's face it, football in a lot of communities isn't what it used to be, for all the reasons (and more) that have been mentioned here. I don't know this for a fact, but I suspect it might be true, a lot of the guys on EL's team are likely school-of-choice kids.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/17/2123552/-Is-tackle-football-unsafe

Pretty sure I wouldn't let my kids play football.