quick hits

Groves Football 
Star Makes Waves 
Both On and Off 
the Field 
It was quite a fall for Birmingham 
Groves High School football star 
Avery Gach.
The 6-foot-5, 275-pound soph-
omore lineman was offered schol-
arships by eight major college 
football programs (more offers 
are on the way), he attended six 
college football games (includ-
ing Michigan vs. Ohio State) as 
a guest of the home team, and 
he played a big role in the resur-
gence of the Groves football 
team.
Five of Gach’s eight schol-
arship offers are from Big Ten 
Conference schools. They are 
Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio 

State, Penn State and Maryland. 
The other offers are from Central 
Michigan, Toledo and Boston 
College.
While all that recruiting was 
going on, Gach’s main focus was 
on becoming a better football 
player and helping Groves win 
games.
“I feel I improved tremendously 
as a player this season and the 
game slowed down for me,” said 
Gach, who was a stalwart at right 
tackle on the Falcons’ offensive 
line. He also got some time at 
defensive end.
Groves had a great post-season 
after winning its final two regu-
lar-season games to get into the 
playoffs.
The Falcons won three playoff 
games including a 26-12 victory 
over arch-rival Birmingham 
Seaholm and a stunning 32-25 

upset of Livonia Franklin in district 
and regional championship games 
before running into eventual 
Division 2 state champion Warren 
De La Salle in the state semifinals.

De La Salle beat Groves 43-15 
on a cold, windy November 
afternoon at Troy Athens.
Groves finished 9-4. That was 
quite a turnaround from 2021, 
when the Falcons went 2-7 and 
failed to make the playoffs for the 
first time in nine years. Groves 
also advanced to the state 
semifinals in 2016 and 2018.
“Our goal this season was to 
make a deep run in the playoffs 
and we did it, although we wish 
we would have played better 
against De La Salle,” Gach said.
Workouts and recruiting are 
on Gach’s calendar for the next 
couple months before he turns his 
attention to baseball.
The first baseman hopes to be 
promoted to the Groves varsity 
team this coming spring after 
playing on the JV team as a 
freshman.

BY STEVE STEIN 

MURRAY GOLDENBERG/CLASSIC PHOTOGRAPHY

Avery 
Gach

B’nai B’rith Bowling Season Nears 
the Halfway Point 
The Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson B’nai B’rith Bowling League 
season is rolling along as it heads into the holiday break.
Heading into league matches Dec. 2 — week No. 10 of the 
29-week schedule — the 
leading teams were Bowl 
Me in the Pete Weber 
Division, FlashDancers in 
the Mark Roth Division, 
Mark IT Zero in the Earl 
Anthony Division and 
600 Club in the Walter 
Ray Williams Division. 
FlashDancers had the most 
wins (143).
Here were the high 
games and series in each 
division prior to Dec. 2:
• Pete Weber: Jason Cox 
267, Sam Mauch 699.
• Mark Roth: Dave 
Shanbaum 290, Aaron 
Radner 802 (third career 
800 series).
• Earl Anthony: Mitch 
Cohen 285, Mike Rosen 
797.
• Walter Ray Williams: 
Steve Moss 298, Mitch 
Lefton 745.
Aaron Zimberg rolled his lifetime high game (275) and series 
(677) on Nov. 14 while recording his first 600 series. He was 
149 pins over average for the night.
The 13-week first half of the league season will end Jan. 
2. There will be no bowling Dec. 26. The league bowls on 
Monday nights at Country Lanes in Farmington Hills.

The FlashDancers aren’t waltzing 
through the Brotherhood-Eddie 
Jacobson B’nai B’rith Bowling 
League season. From left are 
Matt Rappaport, Gary Klinger, 
Ben Shapiro and Aubrey Topper.

BROTHERHOOD-EDDIE JACOBSON B’NAI B’RITH BOWLING LEAGUE

Orthodox Boxing 
Promoter Takes His 
Show on the Road
Former professional boxer turned box-
ing promoter Dmitriy Salita is a busy 
man these days.
Two Michigan boxers promoted 
by Salita, an Orthodox Jew, through 
his Detroit-based Salita Promotions 
fought recently in front of big crowds in 
London, England against British oppo-
nents and made news around the world.
Flint’s Claressa Shields, a two-time 
Olympic gold medalist, beat bitter rival 
Savannah Marshall by a unanimous 
decision and became the undisputed 
world middleweight champion in the 
main event of the first all-female boxing 
card in Britain.
There were 11 matches on the Oct. 
15 card, “which was the highest-rated 
women’s sports event ever on (Sky UK, 
the UK’s largest pay-TV broadcaster), 
and the second-highest-rated boxing 
show on the network, men or women, 
since 2014,” Salita said.
The Shields-Marshall fight was sup-
posed to take place Sept. 10, but it was 
postponed because of the death of 
Queen Elizabeth II on Sept. 8.
Marshall is the only boxer who has 
beaten Shields in her amateur and pro-
fessional careers. That win came in the 
2012 world championships in China.
Shields, 27, who survived poverty 
and sexual assault in her childhood, 
won Marshall’s WBO title to add to the 

IBF, WBA and WBC titles she already 
possesses.
Jermaine Franklin lost a controversial 
12-round decision to former heavy-
weight champion Dillian Whyte on Nov. 
26. It was the first defeat in 22 fights 
(21-1, 14 knockouts) for the 29-year-old 
Franklin, who is from Saginaw.
Two other Salita boxers -- super 
middleweight Vladimir Shishkin and 
bantomweight Nikolai Potapov -- will 
compete in IBF elimination matches 
Dec. 17 in Las Vegas. The bouts are part 
of a tripleheader that will be telecast on 
Showtime.
Shishkin (13-0, eight knockouts) and 
Potapov (23-2-1, 11 KO’s) are from Russia 
but were trained in Detroit by SugarHill 
Steward, nephew of famed trainer 
Emanuel Steward.
Born in Ukraine, Salita, 40, grew up in 
New York City after his family left their 
native country because of antisemitism.

SALITA PROMOTION

Dmitriy Salita (left) celebrates 
Claressa Shields’ victory in 
London, England.

32 | DECEMBER 15 • 2022 

