play along: Week 2 high school football predictions; living up to lofty standards

Johnson had a 71-yard punt return, a 41-yard interception return, a 19-yard run and receptions of 18 and 26 yards. He also threw for a score while racking up 325 all-purpose yards.

“I’ve never witnessed anything like that,” said Pioneer coach Jeremy Gold. “I was talking with some friends who have been around ball for a while, seen players like Tyrone Wheatley, no one can recall a performance like that out of Drake Johnson Saturday night.”

As a general rule of thumb, when a coach mentions one of his players and Tyrone Wheatley in the same sentence, it’s sportswriter protocol to ignore such lofty comparisons. Normally, this means said coach is drinking the Kool-Aid … or maybe something else.

But after witnessing Johnson dodge, dip, duck, dive and dodge his way to the end zone on Saturday, I’ll be the first to call Gold’s comparison justified.

Barkeep, one glass of Kool-Aid, please. Purple, if you’ve got it.

“Saturday night is just the beginning of us seeing what this kid really can do,” Gold said.

Before the season, Gold said Pioneer would mix it up with a three-headed monster at tailback, but he’s not about to poor cold water on the hot hand and could use Johnson’s emergence as a feature back to shore up the defense.

“We’re going to probably take out some of the log jam we have back there because we have some holes to fill on D and we need those athletes on the field,” Gold said “I think it’ll all work itself out, but when you got a kid like Drake Johnson, you want him to do his thing.”

Pioneer faces Dexter on Thursday and history suggests that this won’t be much of a game, but Gold squashes the idea that his team might suffer the normal trappings of a “letdown game.”

“Every game is a big game for us. We’re Pioneer High School, so everybody’s gunning to beat us and we know Dexter is going to give us a good fight like they always do,” Gold said. “It’s not difficult for us to get up for these games that the media and fans will say we should run away with.”

“Let’s not forget, also, we lost this weekend,” Gold added. “We’ve gotta respond and make sure our kids are working hard in a short week.”

Gold is quick to point out that Dexter beat Pioneer in 2007, his first year with the team.

Of course what he doesn’t mention -- but what our intern down in the research department discovered -- is that Pioneer actually outscored Dexter in that game, but had to forfeit after the fact because a transfer student was ruled ineligible.

I’ll take the Pioneers to score the most points against Dexter for the seventh consecutive year. Pioneer, 38-15

TONIGHT'S GAMES

Ypsilanti (0-1) at Skyline (0-1): Ypsilanti's strengths in a loss at Milan were a large and imposing defensive line and the inside running of Austin Sanders (3 TDs, 173 yards). Skyline’s weaknesses were defense against the run (297 yards surrendered) and lack of size. Ypsilanti, 24-21.

Albion (0-1) at Father Gabriel Richard (1-0): Albion’s bid for a perfect season ended where my illustrious writing career started last week, Homer. The Wildcats also lost their JV program, which is bad for morale. Gabriel Richard, 41-14.

Michigan Center (1-0) at Manchester (1-0): Manchester sophomore quarterback Nate “Like A” Bossory told AnnArbor.com last week that when his team was down 7-3, he pulled wide receiver Devin Jose aside before going into the huddle and said “Hey, we're going to go down there and I'm going to throw you a touchdown right now.” The pair hooked up for a 60-yard touchdown on the next play. That’s the stuff cheesy high school sports movies are made of, baby! Manchester, 24-17.

Perry (0-1) at Whitmore Lake (0-1): It's usually not the smartest thing in the world to pick a team that got beat by 67 points (Whitmore Lake lost 75-8 to Stockbridge) to respond with a win, but Perry hasn't won a game since 2007. Whitmore Lake, 14-13.

FRIDAY GAME

Monroe (0-1) at Chelsea (1-0): The Trojans found their stride in the second half against Adrian, bringing a 14-0 game to 14-12 before losing 21-12. Chelsea found its in the first two minutes, 9 seconds against Huron, with 19 of its 26 points. Chelsea, 27-6.

Adrian (1-0) at Saline (1-0): Adrian showed signs of a balanced attack in the first half of its opener (76 yards through the air, 75 on the ground) but sputtered in the second. Saline, meanwhile, scored all its 17 points in the second quarter. Saline 22-21.

Huron (0-1) at Tecumseh (0-1): Twelve penalties - the most glaring of which were a barrage of false starts - plagued the River Rats in week one. In between flags, quarterback Alex Hassan showed an ability (when protected) to make big plays with his arm and running back/slot receiver/kick and punt returner Brent King exhibited an ability to make people miss in the open field. Huron, 28-8.

Riverview (1-0) at Milan (1-0): Both teams won games by slim margins last week, and whoever wins this one will likely do the same. Riverview, 17-14.

Lincoln (0-1) at Bedford (1-0): Temperance is no easy place to play, especially with Jared Kujawa under center, leading a Kicking Mule offense that put up 49 points last week against a Lincoln defense that gave up 45. Bedford, 45-21.

Willow Run (1-0) at Adrian Madison (0-1): It'll be the Flyers' first trip to Lenawee County since 1967. Maybe a successful night will motivate them to return in less than 43 years. Willow Run, 22-18.

My season Record: 9-1 (.900). Readers’ record: 9-1 (.900) Best Pick: Gabriel Richard 24, Lake Fenton 17 (Richard won 26-24). Worst Pick: Pioneer 32, Cass Tech 21 (Cass Tech won 44-42).

Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.