 FEBRUARY 4 • 2021 | 31

JACK MUMFORD

SPORTS
QUICK HITS

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

There won’t be any B’nai 
B’rith basketball league 
games this season.
League spokesman Gary 
Klinger said the closure 
of the Jewish Community 
Center of Metropolitan 
Detroit in West Bloomfield 

because of the COVID-
19 pandemic left the 
weekly league, which 
normally starts in 
January, without a 
home.
“We didn’t want to go 
through the process of find-

ing a new place to play, 
but the safety of our 
players was the more 
important reason for the 
cancellation of the sea-
son,” Klinger said.
Last year, the league’s 
45th season had one 
week of regular-season play 
and one week of playoffs 
remaining when it had to 

shut down because of the 
pandemic. The four league 
teams’ last day of competi-
tion was March 8.
The league had never had 
a season end early before the 
stoppage. The cancellation 
of the season now also is a 
league first .

N

oah Rioux described 
his first season with 
the North Farmington 
High School football team in 
five words.
 “It was quite a ride,
” said 
the sophomore fullback/mid-
dle linebacker 
who played in the 
Raiders’ three state 
playoff games, 
mostly on special 
teams.
The ride 
Rioux referenced 
was highlighted by North 
Farmington’s furthest advance 
in the state playoffs since 1978.
Also, there was the Raiders’ 
forfeit win over South Lyon 
on Nov. 13 in the Division 2 
district finals, followed by a 
two-month wait before North 
Farmington lost 50-22 on the 
road to Traverse City Central on 
Jan. 9 in the regional finals. The 
forfeit and layoff were because 
of COVID-19, of course.
The state football playoffs 

resumed in January after 
games and practices were halt-
ed Nov. 15 — one day after 
district championship games 
— because the Michigan High 
School Athletic Association and 
Michigan Department of Health 
and Human Services came up 
with a pilot program of rapid 
antigen coronavirus tests for 
players, coaches and others. 
“Testing actually was easy. 
Everyone went to a station, and 
the results came back in about 
20 minutes,
” Rioux said. 
The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder 
said he tested negative three or 
four times.
Rioux is by far in the majority 
in the pilot testing program. 
The MDHHS reported last 
week that 99.6% of tests among 
high school football, volleyball 
and girls swimming and diving 
athletes since Dec. 30 came 
back negative.
Restarting the season wasn’t 
easy for North Farmington and 
the 71 other football teams that 

were still alive in the playoffs.
Practice resumed Dec. 21, 
then was halted after one day 
for a week so teams could get 
up to speed with antigen testing.
“We were given workouts 
to do by our coaches and told 
to do our best to stay in shape 
while the season was stopped so 
we’
d be fit when the state playoff 
games resumed,
” Rioux said.
After outscoring Waterford 
Kettering and Fenton 88-35 in 
its first two state playoff games 
and advancing thanks to its for-
feit win over South Lyon, North 
Farmington ran into a Traverse 
City Central team that was 
averaging 48.4 points per game 
coming into the regional finals. 
North Farmington finished 
7-3 under second-year coach 
Jon Herstein. Traverse City 
Central moved on to the state 
semifinals with a 9-1 record.
Rioux was brought up to 
the North Farmington varsity 
football team midway through 
the late-starting regular season. 

He saw action on the Raiders’ 
kickoff, kickoff return, punt, 
punt return and placekick block 
special teams. 
Doug Lemberg, North 
Farmington’s running backs and 
outside linebackers coach, said 
Rioux’s energy, attitude, work 
ethic and physicality are the 
reasons why he got the call to 
the varsity.
“
A player is brought up to 
the varsity only when he’s ready 
physically and mentally and 
can contribute to the team,
” 
Lemberg said. “Noah fit the bill. 
He was ready.
”
Rioux hopes to play varsity 
basketball and lacrosse this 
winter and spring for North 
Farmington after being on sub-
varsity teams as a freshman.
After doing online learning 
during the first semester of this 
school year, Rioux will be on 
a hybrid in-person and online 
schedule in the second semes-
ter. 

North Farmington 
Football Player Calls 
Season ‘Quite a Ride’

Noah Rioux

Buzzer Sounds Before B’nai B’rith 
Basketball League Gets Started

Gary Klinger

NOAH RIOUX

GARY KLINGER

North Farmington’s 

Noah Rioux (26) 

makes a tackle 

during the Raiders’ 

state playoff win 

over Fenton.

