DECEMBER 17 • 2020 | 43

NORTH FARMINGTON’S HISTORIC FOOTBALL
SEASON STOPPED BY PANDEMIC

It’s been a memorable season

for the North Farmington High

School football team. The

memories are both good and

bad.

The Raiders won their first

playoff game and first district

championship since 1978 and

have advanced to the Division

2 quarterfinals.

But their already-shortened

season has come to a

screeching halt because of the

COVID-19 pandemic.

North Farmington was

supposed to resume practice

Dec. 8 after a three-week

“pause” on high school

sports called by the Michigan

Department

of Health and

Human Services

and play at

Traverse City

Central on Dec.

15, but the pause

has been extended until at

least Dec. 20.

It isn’t known when or if the

playoffs will resume.

“Our kids have been

awesome this season. They’ve

made the best of it. They’ve

been compliant. They’ve

followed all the rules. We

haven’t had one positive

COVID test,” said Billy Slobin,

North Farmington’s strength

and conditioning coach.

“If our season is over, we at

least got to play nine games,

we had three postseason wins

[one by forfeit against South

Lyon in the district finals] and

our seniors have game film

they can use if they want to go

further in their football career,”

Slobin said.

The Raiders are 6-3.

They were 9-1 last season,

the first in which several

coaches, including Slobin

and the legendary John

Herrington from now-shuttered

Farmington Hills Harrison

High School, went to North

Farmington.

“We had a much tougher

regular-season schedule this

season, and we moved up

from the Blue Division to the

White Division in the OAA,”

Slobin said.

North Farmington beat

Waterford Kettering 44-7 and

Flint Metro League champion

Fenton 44-28 in its first two

postseason games this year

before getting the forfeit win

over South Lyon.

Slobin, who played

football at Harrison, became

the Hawks’ strength and

conditioning coach in 1986. He

hasn’t missed a season since

then.

Billy Slobin

BILLY SLOBIN

HUNDREDS OF TEAMS INVITED
TO TRAVEL TO MOTOR CITY CLASSIC

Josh Birnberg and

Matt Sandles

have given travel

baseball teams

something to

look forward to

next summer.

The friends

have organized

the inaugural

Motor City

Classic. If the

initial response

to the July 21-25

competition is any

indication, the tournament

with 13U, 14U, 15U and

17U/18U divisions will be a

home run.

“Our original goal was 200

teams. In less than three

weeks, we signed up 115

teams,” said Birnberg, the

West Bloomfield High School

baseball coach and coach of

the 18U DBacks Elite travel

baseball team.

Only one Canadian team,

from Ontario, had registered

as of Dec. 8, most likely

because of the COVID-19

ban on nonessential travel

between the U.S. and Canada.

Teams from Michigan, Ohio,

Illinois, Pennsylvania and West

Virginia have registered.

“Our expectations have

been blown out of the water,”

said Sandles, who was the

coach of the 18U Michigan

Jets travel baseball team

for five years and has been

organizing travel baseball

tournaments for seven years.

From 25 to 30 fields in

Oakland, Macomb and Wayne

counties will be used for the

Motor City Classic. Seven

fields have been confirmed

already, including diamonds at

Oakland University, Northville

High School and West

Bloomfield High School.

“It’s best to have one

field for every six teams in a

tournament,” Birnberg said.

Birnberg is a West

Bloomfield resident. Sandles

lives in Novi.

“We’ve been talking about

putting together a tournament

like this for a few years,”

Birnberg said. “We have

some extra time on our hands

because of the pandemic, so

we thought we’d make good

use of it.”

There’s a five-game

guarantee (weather permitting)

for each division of the Motor

City Classic except 13U, which

has a three-game guarantee

(weather permitting).

Schedules and rosters will

be sent to college baseball

coaches and pro baseball

scouts. The champion and

runner-up in each division will

receive individual and team

awards.

Fee is $575 per team

for the 13U division. It’s

$1,250 per team for the

other divisions, with a $250

discount for early signups with

a $50 deposit by Jan. 1.

Birnberg can be reached

at (248) 303-6732 or

CoachJoshBirnberg@

gmail.com. Sandles can be

reached at (248) 752-8185 or

Novisandles@aol.com.

Matt Sandles

ELIJAH SCOTT

Josh

Birnberg

WENDY BIRNBERG

quick hits
BY STEVE STEIN
continued from page 41