C & G Newspapers’ projected standings for OAA football

METRO DETROIT — Home to two state champions last year — Southfield A&T and Harper Woods — the Oakland Activities Association is propping itself up to be the conference to beat this year.

Below is C & G Newspapers’ projected standings for the 2024-2025 OAA football season. Regular season and division records from last year are in parenthesis.

 

OAA Red Division
West Bloomfield (10-3, 3-2)

Lake Orion (10-1, 5-0)

Clarkston (6-6, 4-1)

Rochester Adams (6-4, 2-3)

Oxford (4-6, 1-4)

 

Heading into the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 1 state tournament last year, the OAA Red was home to three potential Division 1 state championship-caliber teams in West Bloomfield, Clarkston and Lake Orion.

That was until the league beat up on itself, and Clarkston, who finished second in the league, earned some revenge by eliminating Lake Orion, who won the league, from the playoffs.

West Bloomfield then eliminated Clarkston before coming up a game short of the Division 1 championship game, falling to OAA White’s Southfield A&T in the semifinals.

The top three teams are interchangeable, so the standings could shake out either way. For the sake of having a league champion, our projections favor West Bloomfield because of its returning cast of Kamren Flowers (WR), Elisha Durham (WR), Jay Gardenhire (OT), and Josh Tate (RB), but the Lakers matchup against Clarkston Sept. 27 will be one to watch.

To show how close it’s been, the Lakers are 7-9 against Clarkston since 2010 while posting a much more respectable 9-5 record against Lake Orion.

Adams and Oxford will try to do what they do best: make the top three teams sweat. Adams posted a one-score loss to West Bloomfield during the regular season.

If one thing is for sure, there are no days off in the OAA Red.

 

OAA White Division
Birmingham Groves (6-4, 4-1)

Harper Woods (11-3, 3-2)

Southfield A&T (13-1, 5-0)

Rochester (3-6, 2-3)

Rochester Hills Stoney Creek (3-6, 0-5)

 

How about two state champions coming out of the OAA White? And they say the OAA Red is the one to beat.

Harper Woods graduated a top D1 college talent in Jacob Oden, a University of Michigan commit, but there’s still plenty of talent from their title-winning season with Dakota Guerrant (WR), Colby Bailey (ATH), Jevon Jones (DL) and Matthew McCraw (ATH) all returning.

As good as Harper Woods has been, the Pioneers are winless against Groves since joining the OAA in 2022, and Groves should only be stronger this year after returning the majority of its offensive and defensive weapons.

Groves, who finished second in the league last season, had its only league loss come at the hands of Southfield A&T, the eventual D1 state champion who had an abundance of D1 college talent.

Graduating the majority of its skill players on both sides of the ball, Southfield A&T is expected to drop a few spots, but it’s difficult justifying a defending state champion any further than third.

 

 

OAA Blue Division
Birmingham Seaholm (9-2, 4-0)

Oak Park (3-6, 2-2)

North Farmington (4-5, 3-1)

Troy (5-4, 1-3)

Farmington (2-7, 1-4)

Bloomfield Hills (1-8, 0-5)

Troy Athens (3-6, 0-4)

 

The OAA Blue could inevitably end up being the league with the most movement in the standings, which makes for some great football.

Our projected standings give Seaholm the benefit of the doubt as the two-time league champions (tied for first with Farmington in 2022), but there’s a lot of unknown with the OAA Blue heading into the year.

Seaholm obliterated the OAA Blue last year, outsourcing opponents 189-62 en route to an unbeaten league record, and the hope is that the well-oiled machine continues to run without all-Region talents, such as Granden (RB) and Colton Kinnie (QB) as the skill positions and Blake Baldner (OL) on the line.

Prior to last year, Seaholm was 0-6 against Oak Park since 2010. Oak Park will play host to this year’s matchup on Sept. 20.

North Farmington hopes its 4-2 stretch to end the year continues on this season after handling Troy and Troy Athens by a combined score of 46-13. The Raiders are 4-0 against Troy and Troy Athens since 2022, when the program rejoined the OAA Blue.

 

OAA Gold Division
Auburn Hills Avondale (9-2, 4-0)

Ferndale (4-5, 3-1)

Royal Oak (3-6, 2-2)

Pontiac (3-6, 1-3)

Berkley (0-9, 0-4)

A conference is only top-to-bottom strong if every division can bring something to the table, and the OAA Gold reserved itself a seat last year.

Auburn Hills Avondale made quick work of its league opponents and even crossed over to the Macomb Area Conference Gold to beat Warren Cousino and Warren Fitzgerald.

With the type of showing the Yellow Jackets put on in 2023, it’s impossible to not have them reclaim the top spot in the league again.

As for Avondale’s league counterparts, Ferndale earned a MAC Gold win of its own by besting St. Clair Shores Lake Shore, and handled league business by beating Royal Oak by 19 points and taking care of Berkley.

Pontiac showed life early in the season and hopes to re-light its flame, but the only movement to potentially foreshadow is Ferndale and Royal Oak in the second and third spots.

Pontiac has suffered eight-straight losses to Royal Oak after beating them in 2011.