This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Farmington Falls To Southfield In District Final, 27-9

Unforced errors cost the Falcons against OAA-White foe.

Mistakes and missed opportunities were the difference as the Farmington Falcons fell to the Southfield Blue Jays in the MHSAA District Finals on Saturday, 27-9.

The Falcons were able to drive past the Blue Jays’ 30-yard line on five separate occasions, but were unable to muster an offensive touchdown over the entire game with touchdowns being called back because of penalties, dropped passes in the end zone, failures to convert on fourth down, and turnovers.

“We made way too many mistakes and that’s something we knew that we couldn’t do coming in to this game,” Farmington head coach John Bechtel said. “That’s kind of been the story of our losses this year. We had untimely penalties, a turnover here and there, and there were a couple passes that we didn’t catch that could have kept drives alive.”

Find out what's happening in Farmington-Farmington Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

After Farmington took a 3-0 lead less than three minutes in to the first quarter, Southfield went on to score 27 points over the remainder of the half. Perhaps the most crucial score came when the Falcons were on the brink of regaining the lead, and Senior wide receiver/defensive back Leviticus Payne returned a fumble 82 yards to give the Blue Jays a 14-3 advantage midway through the second quarter.

“Our safety, Cedric Hill, made a heck of a play to force the fumble,” Payne said. “I was right there at the right time, and just picked it up and ran with it.”

Find out what's happening in Farmington-Farmington Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Another two of Southfield’s touchdowns came on passes of 32 and 40 yards from senior quarterback Justin Danzy to junior wide receiver Tre Walton.

“The coaches called great plays and the receiver just ran great routes there,” Danzy said. “That just made my job a lot easier. All I had to do was put the ball up there for him to make the play and he did both times.”

For the afternoon, Danzy completed 16-of-21 passes for 239 yards, including eight straight completions to start the game.

“Danzy did a really great job for us back there,” said Southfield head coach Tim Conley. “He made great reads and he’s a real smart guy. He’s going to be playing football next year because he’s got that kind of ability. I’m really proud of him and happy to have him on the team.”

The district title for Southfield means that they will play the winner of the Farmington Hills Harrison-Birmingham Brother Rice district final. The Blue Jays lost to Harrison in the second game of the regular season on Sept. 1, 28-14.

The loss gives Farmington a final record of 6-5. Despite the sour ending, Bechtel said that he is proud of how his team competed.

“They fought hard and no one thought we were going to do anything except us,” Bechtel said. “I think we represented our league well, and I know these kids represented their school and administration great. We’re very proud of them.”

After celebrating their win, Southfield is looking forward to their next step on the playoff road.

"We'll play whoever is on the schedule and play as hard as we can, but we just feel that it would be a lot sweeter if it was against ," Danzy said.

The match-up is not to be; Harrison lost 30-7 to Birmingham Brother Rice Saturday night.

Scoring Summary

Farmington - 3   0 6 0  -  9

Southfield  -  7 20 0 0 - 27

First Quarter

FHS – FG Hill 27, 2:55

SHS – Walton 32 pass from Danzy (Sanders Kick), 5:54

Secon Quarter

SHS – Watkins run 2 (Sanders Kick), :09

SHS – Payne fumble return 82 (Sanders Kick), 4:23

SHS – Walton 40 pass from Danzy (Kick blocked), 8:48

Third Quarter

FHS – Green kickoff return 75 (Green run failed), :11

Fourth Quarter

No Scoring

Records: Farmington 6-5 (4-3, OAA White), Southfield 8-3 (5-2, OAA White)

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Farmington-Farmington Hills