OCTOBER 20 • 2022 | 31
playoff appearances. Groves
scored only 118 points last
season, its lowest season
point total since 2007.
“Friday nights are my
focus. That’s my mindset,”
Gach said.
Gach is a staple at right
tackle on Groves’ offensive
line for the second straight
season. He’s also getting
some snaps at defensive end
this fall.
Last season, Gach became
only the fourth freshman
to start for Groves football
coach Brendan Flaherty,
who is now in his 22nd
season in charge of the
Falcons. The other freshmen
starters during Flaherty’s
tenure were a fullback and a
defensive end.
“It’s tough for a freshman
to play on the offensive line
on a high school varsity
football team because of the
physicality involved, but
Avery is tough and strong,”
Flaherty said last fall.
“And he’s fearless. He isn’t
intimidated.”
David and Amy Gach are
Avery’s parents. The family
lives in Bloomfield Hills.
Avery’s father made a
name for himself as an
athlete at Berkley High
School, where he played
football, basketball and
baseball and was on the
wrestling team before he
graduated in 1996.
David Gach had offers
to play college football at
Division II and Division
III schools, but he decided
to go to Michigan State to
study business. He didn’t
play sports in college.
It was a family affair
for the Gach family last
Friday (Oct. 14) when the
Groves football team hosted
Berkley.
Send sports news to
stevestein502004@yahoo.com.
Avery Gach holds Archie
Griffin’s Heisman Trophy
at Ohio State.
AMY GACH
quick hits
BY STEVE STEIN
Jewish athletes are making
news:
— Josh Nodler got off to a
great start with his new college
hockey team. The University
of Massachusetts senior
forward from Oak
Park scored the
No. 13-ranked
Minutemen’s first
goal of the season
Oct. 8 in a 2-2
tie vs. American
International. With
UMass down 2-0 in
the third period of
its opener, Nodler
took a feed in the
slot and scored
at 12:52. The goal
came in the Michigan State
transfer’s 100th collegiate
hockey game. Nodler was
selected in the fifth round of
the 2019 NHL draft by the
Calgary Flames. This is his final
season as Flames’ property.
— Yale University junior
forward Elle Hartje from
Bloomfield Hills is a candidate
for the Patty Kazmaier
Award, presented annually
to the nation’s best Division 1
women’s hockey player. Hartje
had a breakout season for
Yale last year as the Bulldogs
played in the NCAA Frozen
Four for the first time in team
history. Hartje’s 35 assists
set a team season record,
and her 51 points were the
second most in a season in
team history. She also led Yale
in blocked shots (46) and led
ECAC Hockey by scoring 1.42
points per game. Hartje was
named to the ECAC Hockey
pre-season all-league team
just before the start of this
season.
— Elon University junior
soccer player Ben Rosenblatt
from Huntington Woods
missed his team’s first 11
games this season because of
an injury. He returned to action
Oct. 8 and had the only shot
on goal of the game in Elon’s
scoreless tie against Colonial
Athletic Association opponent
William & Mary. Rosenblatt
was alone against the William
& Mary goalie in the game’s
54th minute when his shot
from near the top
right corner of the
6-yard box was
kicked away. It was
the eighth shutout
of the season for
North Carolina-
based Elon (7-3-2,
4-1-1).
— Former
Bloomfield Hills
resident Jason
Boschan, whose
Run4Papa
campaign to raise money
for research and awareness
for Alzheimer’s Disease and
related dementia has taken
him to all seven continents
to run a marathon, is on a
quest to run a half-marathon
in all 50 states. The Charlotte,
North Carolina, resident ran
recently in the Amica Newport
Half-Marathon in Rhode Island
and received a $1,000 award,
one of 10 presented annually
to randomly chosen Amica
Newport runners who are
running to support a charity.
All of Boschan’s Run4Papa
runs are self-funded. All
donations go to Northwestern
University’s Mesulam Center
for Cognitive Neurology and
Alzheimer’s Disease. Papa is
pediatrician Dr. Louis Heyman
of Bloomfield Hills, Boschan’s
late grandfather, who died in
2013 at age 88 from dementia.
— Senior offensive lineman
Mica Gelb from Washington,
D.C., the lone practicing Jew
on the University of Michigan
football team, played a
career-high nine snaps in the
Wolverines’ 59-0 win over
UConn on Sept. 17 at Michigan
Stadium. Gelb’s mother, Betsy
Shapiro, was a tennis star at
Bloomfield Hills Andover High
School and U-M.
Names in the News
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS
Josh Nodler
continued on page 32