FOOTBALL: DeGrieck the anchor of Rochester Adams’ talented lines
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
ROCHESTER HILLS — Football teams cannot succeed without several players willing to do the dirty work.
A lot of dirty work.
Unbeaten Rochester Adams has those players on its offensive and defensive lines who have done more than the dirty deeds for the state-ranked Highlanders. They have been a key component on perhaps the best season in school history.
While Adams has scored 425 total points en route to a 13-0 record, good for a 32.9 points per game average, they have held its 13 opponents to only 157 points, a stingy 12.1 defensive average.
And it’s not like Adams plays the little sisters of the poor each year. The Highlanders play in the three-division Oakland Activities Association, where they won the OAA White Division this year with a perfect 5-0 record.
Additionally, the good news for Adams. The Highlanders will face Belleville (12-1) in the Division 1 state finals at Ford Field in Detroit on Saturday. Kick-off is set for 1 p.m.
“This is what we have worked for since Day 1,” said Adams two-way lineman Alex DeGrieck, the Highlanders’ star leader and anchor of those talent-laden lines who will play at Harvard University next year. “Ever since we were kids we wanted to play for the state championship and now we’ll get that chance.”
During the first week of practice, DeGrieck, a towering and physical 6-foot-5, 240-pound right tackle on offense and defensive end on defense, made a promise that this will be the Highlanders’ best shot at a title run in years. Adams won the Division 2 state title in 2003, and also reached the Final Four in 2004, 2005 and 2007.
DeGrieck was only 4 the last time the Highlanders reached the state semifinals and only an infant when Adams won its first and only state title 18 years ago in 2003. All of Adams’ aforementioned deep Final Four runs came in Division 2.
The Highlanders did reach the regional finals (Elite Eight) in Division 1 once, and that came in 2013 before Adams was knocked out by eventual state champion and OAA colleague Clarkston. DeGrieck and his fellow seniors were in the fourth grade at that time.
Now an absolute pile mover on offense and a defensive terror on defense — DeGrieck owns a single-season school record 17 sacks on the season — the fourth-year starter will go down as one of the all-time greats to sport the Adams’ brown, gold and white.
As a team leader, fewer have been better.
“I know so much credit goes to the (skilled athletes) like Parker (Picot) and Griffin (Henke), but I’ve said this all along that you are only as good as your offensive and defensive lines,” noted veteran Adams head coach Tony Patritto. “We have so many guys that use do a great job on both sides of the football. If you don’t have guys creating the (space) and guys who can put pressure on the quarterback, make tackles and keep teams from making long runs, then you won’t be as successful no matter who your quarterback is, or running back or receivers are. In all of my years coaching football, some of our better teams had great line play.
“And Alex is one of our leaders out there. He’s done an amazing job at Adams,” noted Patritto. “He’s one of the best to come through Adams in my time here.”
DeGrieck’s regular fellow linemen in the offensive trenches include Andrew Rolfs, Finn Tobiczyk, Nick Stokan and Rocco Orsini.
Defensively, Hassan Murray, Brady Prieskorn, Griffin Henke and Orsini have joined DeGrieck on a defensive front that has helped pitch one shutout, held five opponents to nine or fewer points, seven opponents to 10 or fewer points and 12 schools to 20 or fewer points. Only North Farmington was able to score 21 on the Highlanders (a 28-21 Adams win) in Week 6 of the regular season.
Offensively, Adams has scored 40 or more points five times and eight times the Highlanders have put up at least 30 points on the scoreboard.
Collectively, the 425 points scored is second in school history to only the 2004 squad’s 435 points and the 13 wins is a school record.
“We take pride in the way we play defense and we take pride in the and move the ball on offense,” said DeGrieck. “We have so much talent on this football team all over the field.
“We also have great chemistry,” continued DeGrieck. “We all get along so well. Most of us hang out after games and practices and on weekends. A lot of us grew up playing football together and dreamed about playing at Ford Field.”
The time has come for DeGrick and Company, who will do the dirty work one last time together in a Highlanders uniform.
ROCHESTER ADAMS IN THE POSTSEASON
Beginning with its first state qualifying team back in 1997, Rochester Adams has amassed a 29-20 postseason record which includes six district titles, five regional titles, five Final Four appearances, two appearances in the state finals and one state title heading into Saturday’s Division 1 state finals against Belleville. Rochester Adams opened play for athletics in the 1969-70 school year. From 1969 to 1996, Adams did not reach the postseason,
1997: 1-1, reached Class AA regional finals
1998: 1-1, reached Class AA regional finals
1999: 0-1, lost in Division 1 pre-district
2000: 1-1, lost in Division 1 district finals
2001: 1-1, lost in Division 1 district finals
2002: 0-1, lost in Division 2 pre-district
2003: 5-0, won district, regional and Division 2 state title
2004: 3-1, won district and regional titles, lost in Division 2 state semifinals
2005: 3-1, won district and regional titles, lost in Division 2 state semifinals
2006: 0-1, lost in Division 2 pre-district
2007: 3-1, won district and regional titles, lost in Division 2 state semifinals
2008: 0-1, lost in Division 2 pre-district
2009: 1-1, lost in Division 2 district finals
2010: 1-1, lost in Division 2 district finals
2011: 1-1, lost in Division 2 district finals
2012: Did not qualify
2013: 2-1, won district title, lost in Division 1 regional finals
2014: Did not qualify
2015: Did not qualify
2016: 0-1, lost in Division 1 pre-district
2017: 1-1, lost in Division 1 district finals
2018: 0-1, lost in Division 1 pre-district
2019: 0-1, lost in Division 1 pre-district
2020: 1-1, lost in Division 1 district semifinals (final 64; all schools qualified; Adams had to forfeit due to players in their program tested positive to Covid)
2021: 4-0 thus far in postseason, district and regional champs; state finalist;
— Missed the postseason in 2012, 2014 and 2015
— Finished under five-hundred in 2012, 2014 and 2020, although in 2020 all teams reached the postseason due to COVID rules and the Highlanders were 1-1.
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