In the next few weeks The Oakland Press will unveil its top 10 county teams of all-time. So that gave me the great idea to unveil the greatest teams I have seen since I started covering high school sports for the paper in the winter of 2004 or as I like to call it the ‘Pemberton era.’ Well I never call it that, but I like the way it sounds.

The rules are simple: whatever I say goes since it’s my list. Just kidding. But remember fall of 2004 teams are not eligible because I was not around. Also no disrespect to bowling, cross country, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, skiing, swimming, track and field, competitive cheer, tennis, gymnastics and wrestling, but I hardly see those sports in person so my pick would be a pure guess. I will start with fall sports today and do winter and spring sports later in the week.

Feel free to tell me how wrong I am. That’s what makes lists like this fun.

Fall sports
Football — 2005 Birmingham Brother Rice team. The Warriors were a deep squad that year, which won the Division 2 championship game with its backup quarterback Andy Lentz taking most of the snaps. The same Lentz that led the baseball team to a state championship this past season. Brother Rice did lose to Orchard Lake St. Mary’s twice that year, but won when it mattered the most in a Division 2 regional title game.

Others I considered (in no order): ’05 Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, ’06 Farmington Hills Harrison, ’06 Clarkston, ’07 Lake Orion, ’05 Milford, ’05 Rochester Adams

Boys soccer — 2005 Birmingham Detroit Country Day team. The Yellowjackets won their second straight Division 3 state championship. The most memorable moment of the season was senior Rob Denious scoring the game-winning goal with 12 seconds left against No. 1 Jackson Lumen Christian in regionals.

Others I considered (in no order) — ’07 Clarkston, ’05 Birmingham Brother Rice, ’05 Bloomfield Hills Lahser, ’05 Rochester, ’07 Detroit Country Day

Volleyball — 2006 Birmingham Marian team. The Mustangs won their sixth straight Catholic League championship and fell to Fraser in the Class A quarterfinals. The team was full of talented players including junior setter Claire Paszkiewicz, who unfortunately missed her senior season with a knee injury. I strongly considered the 2007 Pontiac Notre Dame Prep team because the Fighting Irish were the first county team to win a state title, but I think the ’06 Mustangs were the most talented team I have seen.

Others I considered (in no order) — ’07 fall Notre Dame Prep, ’06 Lakeland, '07 fall Birmingham Marian, ’07 winter Troy, ’05 Troy Athens