Friday Night Recaps Week 5: Trio of commits in Florida join the fold

This week’s Friday Night Recaps sees the introduction of three Michigan commits, all from the state of Florida.

St. Thomas Aquinas, where Jaydon Hood and Ja’Den McBurrows play, just started their season. They forfeited the ability to participate in the playoffs by waiting this long, but will at least play a few games this season.

New commit Branden Jennings and Sandalwood have been playing for over a month but obviously haven’t been covered here until now. Luckily, all of his stats on the season have been available, so scroll down to his section to see what he’s done so far.

J.J. McCarthy and Greg Crippen (IMG Academy - FL)

After gritting out a win against Duncanville on a sprained ankle last week, McCarthy took this week off against outmatched Bishop Sycamore. IMG still cruised to an easy 56-6 win in his absence.

With McCarthy sitting out, IMG shifted more towards the run, only attempting seven passes on the night. Greg Crippen helped pave the way for 280 yards and six touchdowns on 25 carries, good for 11.2 yards a clip.

IMG was originally scheduled to play Clarkston Football North out of Canada next week, but COVID-19 travel restrictions have made that game impossible. Instead, IMG replaced them with Northwestern (FL), a national top 10 team, for a game two weeks from now.

Tavierre Dunlap (Del Valle - TX)

Del Valle lost once again this week, but were at least able to score in a 35-22 loss to Bowie.

Dunlap bounced back from a tough game last week by running for 224 yards and two touchdowns. However, all but 18 of those yards were in the first half as Bowie was able to make some halftime adjustments to bottle Dunlap up for the rest of the game. It’s becoming clear the loss of 2022 five-star wide receiver Caleb Burton for the season has allowed opponents to key on Dunlap and limit his opportunities.

Del Valle will travel to Akins next week, who is also 1-3.

Andrel Anthony (East Lansing - MI)

East Lansing continued to bulldoze its way through the schedule, beating Grand Ledge 41-6 on Friday night.

Anthony only had one catch, but it was a big one for 46 yards. That catch was good enough to make up one-third of the team’s receiving yards as East Lansing focused mostly on the ground in the blowout.

With their perfect season still intact, East Lansing will face Okemos in their regular season finale.

Giovanni El-Hadi (Stevenson - MI)

El-Hadi and Stevenson edged out major 2022 cornerback target Will Johnson and Grosse Pointe South by the score of 42-35 to claim the MAC Red title. Because Stevenson can never not play in a tight game, they staved off a 21-point run led by Johnson in the fourth quarter but eventually pulled it out with two minutes left.

Like usual, El-Hadi contributed on both sides of the ball. Here he is getting pressure on the quarterback from his spot on the defensive line:

Johnson rushed 11 times for 66 yards and scored three touchdowns, even lining up as a wildcat quarterback during Grosse Pointe South’s comeback.

Stevenson will cap off their regular season with a crossover game against Henry Ford II.

Raheem Anderson (Cass Tech - MI)

Michigan’s other in-state offensive line commit also picked up some hardware this weekend, when his Cass Tech squad beat rival King for the second time this season, 41-19, to win the PSL championship.

Anderson was again an anchor on the offensive line, showing off his chops on the ground and in pass pro:

Cass Tech wraps up their regular season against Southfield A&T, looking to remain unbeaten.

Quintin Somerville (Saguaro - AZ)

Saguaro crushed Maricopa on Friday night by the score of 70-14, with a good portion of that scoring coming from defense.

The Saguaro secondary had three pick sixes on the night, outscoring Maricopa themselves. Somerville only had two tackles, but both were for a loss.

Next, Saguaro faces Hamilton in a big matchup against Michigan 2022 quarterback target Nicco Marchiol.

Dominick Giudice (Mater Dei Prep - NJ)

Mater Dei won a tight, 10-3 defensive battle against Middletown South to notch their second win of the season.

Frustratingly, Mater Dei only posts their offensive stats on MaxPreps so we still don’t know if Giudice is keeping up his state-leading sack pace like last year. He at least posted one sack in this game, though.

Giudice and Mater Dei will go up against Long Branch next Saturday.

Branden Jennings (Sandalwood - FL)

Now we get to the new guy in the group. Sandalwood is off to a hot start, reaching 5-0 with a 17-14 win over Trinity Catholic.

Jennings had six tackles, including two sacks and four tackles for loss. Through five games he’s tallied 43 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and six sacks. He also had two safeties in one game earlier this season.

Sandalwood will face Mandarin next week.

Junior Colson (Ravenwood Academy - TN)

Ravenwood whooped Smyrna in a 55-10 blowout to keep their head above water at 5-4 on the season.

No stats were available for Colson, who has been injured on and off this season.

Ravenwood’s penultimate game of the season will be against Cane Ridge.

Jaydon Hood and Ja’Den McBurrows (St. Thomas Aquinas - FL)

After waiting a few weeks to start the season, St. Thomas Aquinas had to wait a little bit longer to finally play. After a two hour lightning delay, STA came away with a big 25-13 victory over TRU Prep.

McBurrows had a tough assignment, covering the top wide receiver in the 2023 class, Brandon Inniss. After struggling in the first quarter and allowing a touchdown grab, McBurrows recovered by nabbing two interceptions afterward. He took one back 80 yards to the house, but it was called back by a penalty.

Hood, on the other hand, struggled a bit in his first game at STA. He only played about half of the snaps while still learning the system and adjusting to the higher level of competition. He notched a couple of tackles.

McBurrows will have another tough matchup next week against Cardinal Gibbons and Clemson four-star commit Troy Stellato.

Rod Moore (Northmont - OH)

In the second round of the playoffs, Moore and Northmont were pitted against Marysville and Gabe Powers, the 2022 five-star linebacker committed to Ohio State. Northmont prevailed in a wild 48-41 victory.

While defensive stats were once again not available for Moore, he did contribute on offense like usual. He caught four passes for 84 yards, inching him towards 500 on the shortened season.

In the state semifinals, Northmont will play Springfield, who they beat earlier in the season for their only loss.

Tommy Doman (Orchard Lake-St. Mary’s - MI)

Unfortunately, OLSM’s regular season finale was canceled “as a safety precaution.” OLSM took the loss by forfeit so the issue seems to be from their end. Here’s the statement they posted on Twitter:

Doman and the rest of the seniors will still be able to participate in the playoffs starting in two weeks.

Marlin Klein (Rabun Gap-Nacoochee - GA)

After losing to Rabun Gap-Nacoochee a few weeks ago, Christ School got their revenge with a 38-35 victory.

Klein only had one reception on the night, but it’s not known for how many yards as information is still scarce for his small school.

Rabun Gap-Nacoochee travels to face High Point Christian Academy next week.

Alex VanSumeren (Garber - MI)

Garber notched a big win against Swan Valley on Friday night to the tune of 56-32.

VanSumeren had seven tackles, including one for a loss. The TFL was a violent one:

In the final game of the season, Garber will play against Carrollton.

Chart

(click to enlarge)

Jonathon Simmons