Orchard Lake St. Mary's 35, Melvindale 21

Melvindale's run, controversy end with loss, coach's resignation

Tom Markowski / The Detroit News

Melvindale -- It took Orchard Lake St. Mary's four minutes to turn Melvindale's turbulent, unbeaten season inside out.

St. Mary's scored three touchdowns during a four-minute stretch of the second quarter to take a 21-0 lead.

Those quick scores, and a strong defense, proved too much for Melvindale as St. Mary's won, 35-21, in what was a long and rather sloppy Division 3 district final on Friday.

St. Mary's (6-4) will play at the winner of today's Detroit Crockett (9-1)-Hazel Park (8-2) game for the Region 4 title next Friday or Saturday at a time to be announced.

Running back Earnest Thomas ran for three touchdowns and quarterback Robert Bolden passed for two to lead St. Mary's.

Melvindale (10-1) committed eight penalties for 87 yards, had five turnovers and had a punt blocked. But St. Mary's made more than its share of mistakes, too, with three turnovers. During one stretch, there were turnovers on three consecutive plays.

After the defeat Phil Howard, Melvindale's head coach for the last eight seasons and an assistant for the previous nine, announced his resignation, ending two weeks of controversy at the downriver school. Howard's brother, Denny, a Melvindale assistant, was fired after distributing fliers with racial slurs to the team in the locker room before it left for its game at Wyandotte Roosevelt on Oct. 16. The fliers were made to look as though Wyandotte head coach Ron Adams wrote them.

"I made the decision two weeks ago that I would resign after the season," Phil Howard said. "It was my decision. This is really tough for me. My goal was to leave the program better when we left. I'll be their biggest fan now. I'll coach somewhere, even if it's not in Michigan."

Melvindale did not win a playoff game before Howard became head coach.

After a scoreless first quarter Bolden (4-of-8, 62 yards) led St. Mary's on a 69-yard drive. He ended the drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Michael Padula with 9:57 left in the half. Bolden completed all three of his attempts on the drive for 28 yards.

On St. Mary's next possession Bolden threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Gary Hunter.

James Ross recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff at Melvindale's 20 and four plays later, Thomas ran 2 yards for a touchdown and a 21-0 lead with 5:57 left.

Despite the victory, Thomas, the team's top linebacker, said his team needs to execute better to advance further.

"We have to go back to the drawing board," he said. "We made some mistakes today but our defense is the best in the state. (Detroit) Catholic Central's is good, but I still say St. Mary's' is better. I wish them luck.

"We know they (Melvindale) really wanted it. That's an aggressive team. There was a lot of chatter out there. When we come to play, we're tough. East Grand Rapids, we're coming at you."

Melvindale's touchdowns came on long pass plays. D.J. Smith passed to Jovon Wilson over the middle and with a St. Mary's defender hanging on, Wilson pitched it back to Walter Williams, who ran untouched into the end zone to complete the 70-yard touchdown. The score came with 5:23 left in the half and Melvindale trailed, 21-7.

It never got closer than 14 points.

Smith (12-for-30, 199 yards, one interception) also threw a 61-yard touchdown pass to Wayne Pettus and a 20-yard touchdown pass to DeJohn Randle.

tom.markowski@detnews.com