As expected, Friday night was a terrific kickoff to the district finals round of the state playoffs. Congratulations to Clarkston, Lake Orion, Novi Detroit Catholic Central, Oak Park and Walled Lake Western for advancing on to the regional finals. The NHL may still be in a lockout and canceled the Winter Classic at the Big House, but Kosmo will keep one NHL tradition going by handing out his 3 stars for Friday night's action. Third star The Lake Orion defense - It's hard to pick any one player for the Dragons monster of a defensive unit, so he'll just say the whole defense. It was simply brilliant in a 10-7 win over Utica Eisenhower, actually pitching a shutout because Eisenhower's only points came on a kickoff return for a touchdown. The defense held firm until the offense finally provided the game-winning points with two minutes left. Second star Anthony Darkangelo, Novi Detroit Catholic Central - Lots of credit for Catholic Central's blowout win at Walled Lake Northern should be given to David Houle, who ran for 130 yards on 17 carries. But not only did Darkangelo run for 120 yards and three touchdowns himself, he also spearheaded a CC defense that slowed down a high-powered Waled Lake Northern offense. Can somebody please offer this kid a college scholarship? First star Josh Jones, Walled Lake Western - The Warriors have the look of a championship-type of team, don't they? Western crushed a Fenton team that beat Harrison last week largely behind the play of Jones, who had 246 yards of total offense and five touchdowns. No wonder Illinois is so happy to have him.