St. Mary's Prepares for Pershing with 'Win or Go Home' Mindset

The Orchard Lake St. Mary's varsity football team will kick off the first round of the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) playoffs against Detroit Pershing, as announced Sunday night.

The Eaglets (7-2, 4-0 Catholic Central League) will come to the game, which begins at 1 p.m. Saturday at Msgr. Milewski Field in Orchard Lake, healthy and focused on getting back to the Division 3 state championship game at Detroit's Ford Field after falling in the title game last season.

"It’s one game at a time," head coach George Porritt said. "In the playoffs, you can’t look past anybody. If we do that, we won’t be going very far. Everybody's 0-0. We can't make penalties and we can't make turnovers."

Star senior linebacker/tight end James Ross echoed Porritt's sentiment that during the playoffs, the team's mentality shifts to a sense of "win or go home."

"It gets real serious around here on campus," said Ross, who has verbally committed to play for the University of Michigan. "Practice gets serious. It’s a lot of fun. We just want to get it off right — go in with a great mindset, preparation and play a great game."

St. Mary's will look to get back in the swing of things after a 21-7 loss to Novi Detroit Catholic Central on Saturday in the Catholic League Prep Bowl at Ford Field. Ross said the team would carry a different mindset into the practice field and at game time.

"Just the way we approached the game — we didn't take it seriously," Ross said of the loss. "Going into these playoffs, it changes your mindset. It’s lose or go home. Going in there with that mindset, we’ll do well."

Ross should know what it takes — the Eaglets have gone to the state title game the past two seasons he has started, only to fall to East Grand Rapids both times. Pershing (7-2, 4-2 Detroit Public School League II) is next on the schedule, and Ross vowed to leave St. Mary's a champion.

"I don't know too much about Pershing, because I've never had a chance to play them," he said. "I just want to leave everything on the field — no regrets, no doubts, you know."

More high school football playoffs matchups

For a complete list of pairings, see this MHSAA list.