8/8/2019 Belleville View sports front for September 16

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The football team atBelleville High Schoolis looking a bit differ-ent this season.Whether it is the

coaching or the kids it ishard to say. The only thing Iknow for sure is that they area much better squad thisyear.

Last year, they fell toDearborn Fordson 56-0 andit was perhaps the ugliest

football game I have watchedat the high school level. Okay,maybe that is an exaggera-tion, but if it is it is not bymuch. Fordson scored everytime they touched the balland the Tigers could do littlemore than watch as the gameslipped away and got reallyugly.

This was not the case thisyear. The locals lost 36-26 andmade it a much closer gamethis season.

According to Tiger coachMatt Davenport the Fordsoncoach (who was the coachlast season) even said what adifference a year had madeand how much better theteam was now.

They have gotten better butthey only have a 1-2 record toshow for it. A one-point lossto Saline in the opener and a10-point loss to Fordson hasshowed improvement but notin the win column.

Davenport said he trulybelieves if his team workshard and plays hard theycan beat Jackson Northweston the road tomorrow. Thatwin and a 2-2 or .500 recordwould be something thisprogram hasn’t seen in yearsand something the players onthe varsity level at BHS mayhave never seen.

Working hard, playinghard and cutting down onthe penalties are importantto any program. If this pro-

gram wants to get to that elu-sive sixth win and yes I meantalking about football thenneed to step it up.

That means not taking anydowns or series in the gameoff and that means keepinga positive attitude and cheer-ing up the team on every play.

Football boys and girls is alot like life. It has its ups anddowns like a roller coaster,but the key is to keep it undercontrol and ride out thebumpy spots so the ups areeven better and the downsare not so bad.

It really is true that foot-ball is a good analogy for life.We all have to do things wedon’t like, the trick is to do

the best you can when youcan and remember that thesetimes may turn out to be thebest times of your life.

SPORTS September 16, 2010

SECTION

        B        E        L        L        E        V        I        L        L        E

LIVE ONLINE THIS WEEKBelleville football hits the road to

take on Jackson Northwest.

LOCAL SPORTS EVERYDAY 

www.heritage.comWEB EXCLUSIVE: The Tiger football team heads to Jackson on Friday.

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Bellevillefootballimproving

Tigers fall to TractorsBy Dave MerchantHeritage Newspapers

The Tigers let one slip awayfrom them on Friday nightin front of a home crowdat Rynearson Stadium.Belleville took the lead in thethird quarter, but fell to theDearborn Fordson Tractors36-26 in the end.

Fordson scored first inthe game and led 6-0 after amissed extra point attempt.The Tractors would add afield goal in the second quar-ter to lead 9-0 at the half.

Belleville came out onfire in the third quarter and

scored on an eight-yard runby Lamont Howard. The con-

version failed and the Tigerstrailed 9-6. The score was setup by a 27-yard pass comple-tion from Brendon Temple toJaVaunte Mackson. ShaquilleSmith also had a big 12-yard run in the drive.

Fordson came back anddrove the ball in for a touch-down. On the next set of downs junior running backCraig Cannon took the ballback 96 yards on the kickoff to make it a 15-13 game.

Belleville’s kicker missedthe ball and it bounced off a Fordson player and Bel-leville recovered the kick.Smith then ran the ball in

from 43 yards out to give thelocals a 19-15 lead.

“I felt we had themomentum at that point,”Tiger coach Matt Davenportsaid. “It was a crazy six andhalf minutes.”

Fordson would scoretwo more times in thefourth quarter to lead 36-19.Belleville’s Scott Powell con-nected late in the game to Jeff Burroughs on a 76-yard passfor final Tiger score. Fordsonwould end the game on theBelleville one-yard line bytaking a knee.

“I thought we had the bestweek of practice I had seen atBelleville in the last five years,”Davenport said.” Fordson is a

good team, but we are muchbetter than last year.”

A Belleville football player carries the ball during a recent game.

Bishop likes hisrole on the field

By Dave MerchantHeritage Newspapers

 The Bellevile Tigers football

team has some talent on theoffensive and defensive side of the ball. One of those talentedplayers this season is seniortight end and defensive backBrian Bishop.

“I have been on varsity fortwo years,” Bishop said. “Wehave a different captain everyweek and I have been a captainthis year.”

One of the big differenceson the team this season hasbeen the way they have cometogether on the field.

“Our attitude is a lot differ-ent than last year,” he said.“This year in practice we aremore focused and that givesus a different attitude in thegame. This year we know weare good.”

His favorite parts of thegame are blocking and hitting.He doesn’t run the ball but hehas been known to catch a passor two and run down field.

He has been playing footballsince he was 9-years-old whenhe started in little league.

“I have been playing everyyear since,” he said. “I likeplaying both ways.”

His hope is to play footballin college, Bishop is not sureif that will be Hope College or

even Hillsdale, but he knowshe would like to continue onthe gridiron after he graduatesfrom Belleville High School.

Bishop will either study busi-ness or mechanical engineeringin college. His grade point aver-age is 3.5.

He knows the tradition of football at BHS runs deep withsuch former players as KrisJenkins and Cullen Jenkins(current NFL players) and IanGold who retired from the NFL.

“We definitely have talent

this year,” he said. “We are alsomore focused on what we needto do.”

Belleville coach MattDavenport likes the type of player that Bishop has become.“He was the most consistentplayer as a junior,” Davenportsaid. “He never came off of thefield on offense or defense. Hepushes himself to be the best hecan and is a team leader.”His parents Bob and TammyBishop are big supporters of his game as are his grand par-ents who come to every singlecontest.

Bishop offers some simple,but true advice to anyone whowants to make it at the varsitylevel.

“Never take a play off,” hesaid. “Always have a good atti-tude and work your butt off.”

Photo by Dave Merchant

Belleville’s Brian Bishop likes to play football and it doesn’tmatter whether it is defense or offense he likes to be on thefield for every play.

U-M STARIS BORN!

QB DenardRobinson givesthe Wolverines achance to scorewhenever hetouches the ball.

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