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11/3/05-Football

St. Mary's to face Western without quarterback Siller
BY MIKE ROSENBAUM OF THE OBSERVER AND ECCENTRIC

ORCHARD LAKE-- The outlook on Saturday's Division 2 district final game between 10-0 Orchard Lake St. Mary's and 7-3 Walled Lake Western changed dramatically this week with the news that Eaglets quarterback Justin Siller was out with a broken index finger on his throwing hand. The timing of Siller's return is not known, but he may miss the remainder of the playoff season.

St. Mary's gained the district final berth with a 35-26 victory over Walled Lake Central Saturday, while the Warriors defeated North Farmington, 24-3, Friday. The teams will meet at 1 p.m. Saturday, at West Bloomfield High School.

St. Mary's retains numerous big-play offensive threats, but the strong-armed Siller forced opponents to respect the Eaglets' passing attack, not just their outstanding ground game. Siller completed 66 of 123 passes this season for 1,433 yards and 16 touchdowns against just one interception. He also ran 62 times for 249 yards and 10 TDs.

Conventional wisdom says that the Eaglets won't throw the ball as often, or as deep, as they did with Siller at the helm. But coach George Porritt hopes that his offense won't change.

"It'll be a different person running the show, but we can still do the things we do. You lose an outstanding quarterback, and it's going to be hard to fill that (spot). But I don't think we'll change what we're trying to do."

Porritt has two options at quarterback. Junior Nick Sloney filled in for Siller late in Saturday's victory. But versatile senior Nick Koenigsknecht began taking snaps during practice this week and could get the start Saturday.

Another key to Saturday's game will be the Eaglets' emotional reaction to Siller's loss.

"Sometimes when you lose somebody you get down, and sometimes kids rally around (the replacement)," Porritt said. "Our team's made up of a lot of kids and they've been in a team concept all year, so I expect them to play."

St. Mary's also faces a defensive challenge Saturday. Western runs a wing-T offense, similar to the Walled Lake Central offense that scored four touchdowns Saturday.

Western, Porritt said, has "a lot of playoff experience in recent history, and coach (Mike) Zdebski does a great job. (He runs) a multiple offense with deception in it. And they play an attacking defense."

Porritt said the Eaglets must "do a better job preparing ourselves and...trying to stop the run. We didn't do a very good job last week. When a team comes back right at you with the same thing, hopefully it's not the same story. But those are good teams and they run their offenses well."

Zdebski noted that Central "played a really good game" last Saturday. "Watching St. Mary's in past games, it didn't seem like the same St. Mary's team we saw against Catholic Central and Brother Rice twice."

But he called St. Mary's "a very, very talented team. They just out-athlete you. Their kids have the ability to go the length of the field on any play. You can be perfect, but if your kids aren't absolutely perfect they're going to beat you."

Zdebski also warns that the Eaglets are more than just a team of skilled ballhandlers.

"You watch Brother Rice and Catholic Central; they're pretty physical teams," Zdebski said, "and St. Mary's just stuffed them three-and-out. The thing that gets overlooked on their team is their defense and kicking game. The kicking game puts you in bad field position all the time. They keep punting you deep, and pretty soon you're trying to get out from the five-yard line. More and more you're working on a shorter field. That's one of the things that gets overlooked because of the skill kids they have offensively."

Saturday's victor meets the winner of the Birmingham Brother Rice-Livonia Franklin game in the regional final, Nov. 11 or 12.

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