Whether it’s Thanksgiving weekend or the dog days of summer, whenever the football teams from Clarkston and West Bloomfield meet, the stakes are high.
And whenever it takes place, both players and coaches from the two Oakland County rivals look forward to the matchup. This year’s game -- at least the first one -- takes place Friday night at Clarkston High School.
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“No. 1, I like playing them,” Clarkston coach Kurt Richardson said. “I think (West Bloomfield) coach (Ron) Bellamy is a class guy, and he has a class program. It’s going to be a great challenge.”
Last year, West Bloomfield defeated Clarkston 37-16 in Week 4 of the regular season, a victory that helped the Lakers claim a share of the Oakland Activities Association Red Division title.
But Clarkston prevailed in the rematch, a 3-2 triumph in the Division 1 state championship game at Ford Field in November. That win gave the Wolves their third state crown in five years.
“I’ve been playing Clarkston since my freshman year,” said West Bloomfield linebacker Lance Dixon, a Penn State recruit. “It’s definitely a rivalry game. It’s early in the season, and it’s definitely going to be exciting.”
If history is an indicator, it also should have a big impact on the final conference standings. Since 2011, when both teams tied for the OAA Red Division crown, one of the two teams has claimed at least a share of the league title.
“That adds a little bit to the whole thing,” Richardson said. “Obviously, last year adds to it, too.”
Clarkston’s culture has helped it become one of the top high school football programs in Michigan.
“It’s team first,” Richardson said. “We don’t cater to the star players.”
Richardson, who became the head coach at Clarkston in 1987 (and was an assistant coach for 10 years before that), has recorded 246 career victories to go along with the three state championships.
He gives a lot of the credit to his assistant coaches.
“I think the biggest thing is the consistency of the coaching staff, from the seventh grade on up,” Richardson said. “There’s not much turnover.”
Assistants Steve Pearson, Phil Price, Tony Miller and Rich Porritt have been on the coaching staff for more than 20 years.
There are also former players now on the staff, including Ryan Kaul, who was the quarterback for the Wolves when they reached the state semifinals in 1999 and is now the team’s offensive coordinator.
“We have some arguments, but they’re constructive,” Richardson said. “I just love my staff. They’re great to work with, and we have a good thing going.”
Clarkston looks to keep it going this year. Despite graduating 39 players from last year’s state championship team, the Wolves return two stalwarts on the offensive and defensive lines in sophomores Rocco Spindler and Garrett Dellinger. Spindler is the son of former Detroit Lions defensive lineman Marc Spindler.
“They’re our leaders both offensively and defensively,” Richardson said.
Jake Billette and Jacob Honstetter lead Clarkston’s ground game. Billette was the leading rusher in last year’s state title game, and Honstetter ran for more than 100 yards and a touchdown in the Wolves’ season-opening victory over Grandville last week.
Senior Jake Jensen is the quarterback, and Keagan King is among his top targets.
Defensively, Jay’viar Suggs rejoins Spindler and Dellinger on the line.
Hostetter teams with Brendan Barker and Max Nicklin at linebacker, and Richardson said senior safety Josh Luther was outstanding against Grandville.
Kicker Tristan Mattson kicked two field goals last week, and he also had a booming free kick following a safety that helped pin Grandville deep late in the game.
“We made a lot of mistakes,” Richardson said of the season-opener. “Defensively, we were pretty strong. Offensively, we’re young, and we’re growing. But a win is a win.”
West Bloomfield’s Bellamy shared similar feelings after the Lakers’ 39-28 victory over Birmingham Groves last week.
“If we don’t clean up these penalties and become a better football team, we’re not going to reach our goals,” Bellamy said.
Still, there were plenty of positives for West Bloomfield, including the play of sophomore running back Donovan Edwards, who rushed for three touchdowns.
“He is a heckuva football player,” Bellamy said. “Hopefully he can continue to grow and develop. He’s special.”
Dixon added a touchdown. Junior quarterback Christopher Harris ran the offense, which also features Michigan State-bound wide receiver Tre Mosley.
Junior safety Makari Page and junior linebacker Cornell Wheeler are in the 2020 Rivals.com Michigan Top 20.
“The whole week of practice we have to be focused,” Mosley said. “If we’re not focused, we’re going to be embarrassed like we were in the championship. We had a lot of people thinking we were going to win that game, throw the ball a lot, and that didn’t happen. We have to make our adjustments and do what we have to do to get the W.”