What we learned at KLAA football media day
NORTHVILLE — Kensington Lakes Activities Association football media day has become the official start of a new high school sports year for reporters who cover at least some of the league’s teams.
It’s the first chance to get the lowdown on the 16 teams that make up a league that includes Livingston County’s three largest schools — Brighton, Hartland and Howell.
Here are some of the things we learned after talking with KLAA coaches and players Friday at Northville High School:
Seeing the outside world
Since 2018, KLAA teams haven’t played opponents outside their league during the regular season.
That will change this fall, as the league scrapped Week 1 division crossover games to allow teams to schedule outside nonleague opponents.
The result will be fresh matchups like Saline at Brighton, East Kentwood at Hartland and Howell at Hudsonville in season openers on Aug. 24.
“The best thing about it is to see teams that are in different conferences, because once you get into the playoffs, you see such an array of offenses, of schemes, of athletes different than just your surrounding area,” Howell coach Brian Lewis said.
“Everybody in the surrounding area is drinking the same water. Well, somebody in Grand Rapids might be drinking a little something different in the water, somebody on the east side of Detroit might be drinking a little something different in the water.”
Farewell to grass
Hartland has been the last school in the KLAA to play football games on grass, a situation that will change this season when the Eagles begin hosting games on synthetic turf.
The two players who represented Hartland at media day had mixed emotions about the change.
“Playing on grass will always hold a special place in my heart,” Hartland senior guard-linebacker Kaden Custodio said. “I love grass, but I’m willing to welcome the turf. I’m excited for the turf. It looks beautiful.”
“I’m a landscaper, so in general playing on grass and being around grass, I love it,” senior center Will Darish said. “This new turf, it’s top of the line.”
Can anyone beat Belleville?
Probably not.
The Tigers have a 41-1 regular-season record against KLAA opponents since joining the league in 2018.
Coming off back-to-back state Division 1 championships led by now-junior quarterback Bryce Underwood, Belleville should steamroll through the league once again.
First-year head coach Calvin Norman, the Tigers’ running backs coach for four years, says the Tigers could be even better.
“This team this year has a little bit more brotherhood than I’ve seen in the past,” Norman said. “That makes this team a little bit more dangerous because they’re always together. They’re always hanging out with each other. I know in the past, when you have that kind of unity, they look out for each other and that translates to the field.”
Prediction time
Brighton was picked by league coaches to repeat as West Division champion.
The predicted order of finish in the West is Brighton, Northville, Howell, Novi, Canton, Hartland, Plymouth and Salem.
Belleville is the East Division favorite, followed by Livonia Franklin, Dearborn, Dearborn Fordson, Livonia Churchill, Westland John Glenn, Livonia Stevenson and Wayne Memorial.
Former Brighton assistant gets his shot
Northville’s new coach, Brent Luplow, isn’t a stranger to the KLAA, having been the offensive coordinator at Brighton the past four years.
“I did just about everything I could to prepare myself at Brighton to become a head coach without being the head coach there,” Luplow said. “I was the offensive coordinator under (Brian) Lemons for a handful of years there, was the JV boys basketball coach and freshman coach for a couple years, and was the advisor for our DECA program.
“I thought Brighton did a phenomenal job preparing me for this role. I loved Brighton and will miss it a ton, but I’m excited for the next opportunity.”
Novi's championship pedigree
Can success in one sport translate to another?
Novi certainly hopes so, with six members of a state Division 1 championship baseball team in its starting lineup.
“I’ve always been one to preach the three-sport athlete,” Novi coach Jim Sparks said. “There’s a lot more value in having a student-athlete put themselves in as many competitive situations as they can. Don’t get me wrong — lifting the weights is fine — but there might be a lot more benefit to having a kid come up to bat in the seventh inning of a state championship game, knowing they have to get a hit and having that kid come through. Being able to put yourself in a situation like that — fail or succeed — the next time you come up, you’re gonna be more acclimated to it; you’re going to have a better chance of success.”
Culture shock in Canton
For decades, Canton's identity has been its full-house tight T-formation ground game that capitalized on deception.
Chiefs fans won’t recognize their team this fall under new coach Casey Bess, who will run a spread offense that makes it much more appealing to play wide receiver at Canton.
“It’s funny, because we started doing some summer stuff and I asked, ‘How many wide receivers do we have?’ Bess said. “Twenty-some kids all became wide receivers all of a sudden. I looked at them and said, ‘Some of you have got to keep running the football and be a running back.’”
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: What we learned at KLAA football media day
