High School Football Playoffs (A respite from insanity)
Mates,
Here in Michigan the regular high school football season ended last Friday, and tomorrow night is the start of the playoffs. There are 8 eleven-man divisions and 2 eight-man divisions. The top 32 teams are seeded by points and region.
Link to the various divisions and grids here: https://www.mhsaa.com/sports/football/stories/mhsaa-announces-2023-football-playoff-brackets-11-player-finals-schedule
Teams are given points for wins and get multiplier/more points if they play 'up' in divisions - meaning if you're, say, division 3 and you play a division 1 or 2 school you get bonus points for that game.
I'm not the only coach on the board as I know at least Qmatic and Magnus coach, and I'd bet there's at least a few others.
It is an exciting time of the year. Win and advance. Lose and you turn your equipment in on Monday. And the two best teams of each division play at Ford Field on Thanksgiving Saturday (beat ohio!) and Sunday.
I hope you get out to a game and root for your local team, your old high school, or maybe a U of M prospect or commit. No Michigan game on Saturday, so you've got a little extra time to do so.
Go Blue!
XM
October 26th, 2023 at 7:57 PM ^
Pioneer somehow inexplicably made it. Gonna lose to my actual alma mater again, like they did in the regular season. But mind blowing. Before this year hadn't had a home win in like five years.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:24 PM ^
I was actually about to post something similar. My alma mater (sounds weird saying that in reference to a high school) was DREADFUL this year and they're playing tomorrow. Not to sound like an old man yelling at kids on the lawn, but when I was in school you needed like minimum 7 wins and some luck to get in.
October 27th, 2023 at 2:49 AM ^
I’m not sure how Michigan high school football works, but I live in Columbus. Probably the best team in central Ohio Gahanna-Lincoln is 10-0 and playing 1-9 Reynoldsburg in the first round of the playoffs. It absolutely blew my mind.
October 27th, 2023 at 3:58 PM ^
My jr year (1998) season was the last year of playoff points. We (CC) had a game against a Canadian team cancelled in week 2 bc of a teacher's strike, and going into the Catholic League Championship there was a real feeling that despite being 7-0 and ranked #15 in USA Today we had to win to make the playoffs.
We did win, so it was moot, but the anxiety was real. In 1993, what a lot of people called CCs best team ever somehow missed the playoffs at 8-1.
The next year it was reorganized and expanded by one round. All teams with 5 wins get in, and then points determine the "at-large" qualifiers to get to 256 total. Then those teams are separated by size into 8 divisions of 32.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:25 PM ^
Probably don't stand a chance against Saline but a great season and hopefully something to build on. They had a hard time getting athletes to come out for the team the last few years.
October 26th, 2023 at 10:15 PM ^
Same with Clarkston. 4-5 and lost their last 3. Hosting a first round game. Huh?
October 26th, 2023 at 10:48 PM ^
I suppose I should be clear. Pioneer went 6-3 so deserves to be in, but it's baffling from watching them last year when they were very, very bad.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:00 PM ^
DIVISION 8
Frankfort (7-2) 32.750 at Beal City (8-1) 39.111
Beal City is Smooth Jimmy's lock of the week. Go Aggies!
(Sorry to steal your shtick, HP).
October 26th, 2023 at 8:27 PM ^
Sorry your guys traveled 2.5 hours to lose last week and bring back memories of the time you lost in the 2012 state title game!
But in all seriousness, this side of the bracket is brutal, the division with Fowler, Ithaca, and New Lothrop is nuts. Wish they would seed by region.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:46 PM ^
Ha. I missed to see that. TBH, I haven't been to a game since I moved out of state in 2000. But a guy I played with is the HC now, so I try to keep up on them when I can.
Damn, that is a tough side of the bracket. Y'alls region is tough.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:49 PM ^
Your buddy got the ship back on track after a bit of a rough time, rolling along again like Beal City football is supposed to.
And yeah, we're in a brutal district/region too. I don't think we get by Ubly, who is our rival and only loss this year, they're very good. But we have a team full of mostly sophomore contributors and went 8-1 on a schedule with 7 playoff opponents (including Beal City), so the future is bright.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:57 PM ^
Good luck! Hopefully we both get through the first three games and get a chance for a rematch. 😊
October 26th, 2023 at 9:08 PM ^
That would be a great development for both for sure!
October 26th, 2023 at 8:00 PM ^
I've got a couple trombone students who are marching at HS playoff games tomorrow, I think in the Flint area? Not sure which schools, I don't keep track.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:11 PM ^
User name checks out perfectly!
October 26th, 2023 at 8:06 PM ^
There needs to be 2 Catholic divisions added. All recruit schools vs public schools is nonsense
October 26th, 2023 at 8:15 PM ^
You mean like how the old Detroit Public Schools like Cass Tech and King are suddenly mid tier teams and *checks notes* Belleville (whose coach is suspended for recruiting) and West Bloomfield are now the powerhouses with multiple D1 talent. Right… total nonsense these public schools do everything the right way!
October 26th, 2023 at 8:18 PM ^
You mean how OLSM gets to board kids in the old college dorms so they can not only recruit the whole state but get kids from other states?
Also let me know when all the public schools can have “middle school” days where we can give out free gear to those kids that visit.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:21 PM ^
Yeah, that seems to be working for their baseball and hockey programs. For football? They’re nowhere near what they used to be early 2010’s.
If you don’t think Belleville and WB aren’t getting kids from Detroit and Southfield to come play football, I have some oceanfront properties in Iowa to sell you.
October 27th, 2023 at 4:00 PM ^
Farmington Hills Harrison got Mill Coleman's dad a fuckin JOB
gtfoh
October 26th, 2023 at 8:19 PM ^
Thank you. I can see an argument for a private-school multiplier, but school-of-choice has definitely helped a number of public schools too (more so in the higher enrollment divisions).
Not unrelated: Brother Rice went 0-9 this year and Orchard Lake Saint Mary's went 3-6. OLSM has 5 losing seasons and 1 playoff trip out of Districts in the last 7 years. A number of the big Detroit Catholic schools aren't what they were.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:21 PM ^
Their records sucked because the Ohio schools kicked their ass.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:23 PM ^
Rice lost to Roseville 41-0! They lost to a Canadian school 37-7!
Bringing the Toledo Catholics into the CHSL was a good move. But even before that, DLS/Rice/CC were frequently going to play one of the Ohio Catholics once a year anyway.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:27 PM ^
Lol! They had to schedule them because all us public’s told them to eat shit on scheduling them on our schedules. They had no one else to play.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:35 PM ^
Not entirely true ----- I'm a DLS alum and there have been plenty of regular-season games against Davison, Muskegon, Lowell, MLK, and Fordson over the past decade.
I'm not unsympathetic towards the D-2/D-3 MAC public schools. Port Huron Northern, L'Anse Creuse, Cousino, Roseville, et cetera. Every darn year, they go 7-2/8-1, a good season, then DLS beats them 47-7 with a running clock in the playoffs. That IS unfair to them.
That's why I proposed the idea below of an open division. I think we could find 32 schools that would opt in (3-4 CHSL, MAC Red, OAA Division 1, a few KLAA schools, Muskegon, Cass Tech, MLK, the usual 5-6 other suspects from the OK, Davison, Grand Blanc, Lapeer, maybe someone like GRCC or GRWC really stretches and opts in).
That's the most fair, IMO. DLS (& CC/Rice) are fine with their current regular season schedules. Then they're playing only the state powers in the playoffs. And then D-2/D-3 become more competitive also.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:23 PM ^
Those schools you listed are all division 1, and there's only 1 big Catholic school that stays in that division, DCC. all the other 7 divisions -5+ will be won by Catholic schools, that are evenly distributed throughout. Just confess on Sunday, when you realize your wrong
October 26th, 2023 at 8:28 PM ^
And there it is. My man forgets about the GR private cheaters out there
October 26th, 2023 at 8:24 PM ^
been saying this for years. in california they have separate leagues for the catholic schools. the other way to do it is to give them a multiplier of enrollment - because they are placed in divisions by total number of students. depending on where they are sited, they can pick from 5-10 school districts and give their recruits 'scholarships' to attend. so if a parochial school has 500 students, they get a 1.5 X or 2X multiplier and that puts them in a more equitable class.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:29 PM ^
New Jersey in basketball does it right. Public and private divisions. State champs for each division. Then they do a tournament of champions for one winner
October 26th, 2023 at 8:29 PM ^
Some of this issue when away with school choice, but not totally. The data is pretty clear that the top tier of private schools is better than the top tier of public, but the gap has closed a bit.
October 26th, 2023 at 9:06 PM ^
you would think, but the MHSAA puts pretty strict requirements on that, and makes the athlete sit out a year. you can attend the school, but you can't play the sport.
October 27th, 2023 at 5:49 AM ^
Not for privates. You do have to move in to the district they reside. Look at the Catholics in GR. Both have guys who played last year on a different team that play this year on their team. It’s a broken system. But, Socio economics play here more than anything.
October 27th, 2023 at 8:26 AM ^
that was what i was saying. there is no 'district' for a private school, they can cherry pick anyone. if a public school does that the kid misses a calendar year of sports.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:59 PM ^
I don't know that separate divisions for private/parochial schools are necessary. I seem to recall that back before most of the former all-boys Catholic HSs went coed, they'd simply double the enrollment in deciding where to slot them. Maybe they still do. Do the same thing for the coed private schools too
October 27th, 2023 at 3:41 AM ^
Completely Agree..totally UNFAIR how catholic schools can recruit but nobody else can
October 27th, 2023 at 5:50 AM ^
Publics do recruit. Check out how many good wrestlers in Lowell have moved in. Coincidentally…
October 26th, 2023 at 8:07 PM ^
My local team is Lake Orion. They finished their 1st 9-0 season since 2006 by beating CJ Carr and Saline and finished at the top of Division 1 in POP. They drew a very friendly district with (3) 4-5 teams.
The potential regional and semi-final matchups are all teams 7th or lower in POP. Folks around here have an eye on Ford Field. LO hasn't been since winning it all in 2010.
October 26th, 2023 at 10:31 PM ^
Lake Orion was possibly the best team I saw live all season.
October 27th, 2023 at 5:51 AM ^
I believe LO has a former Michigan player as a coach.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:09 PM ^
It’s kind of sad that these smaller upstate schools I used to play against have had to go to 8 man teams (AuGres, Posen) - just feels like they’ve lost something. Probably just being nostalgic
October 26th, 2023 at 8:26 PM ^
AuGres, Whittemore, Alcona and Hale have all gone to 8 man. Hale couldn't even field an 8 man team this year. Tawas and Oscoda are the only 2 left in the area for 11 man.
October 27th, 2023 at 9:38 AM ^
My old stomping grounds in the middle of the state seems to be trending that way. My alma mater is Division 5 and we used to field 3 pretty full football teams of 30-ish kids each. They are now down to just Varsity and JV and the JV team had 16 players. I don't know where everyone is going but it doesn't look sustainable.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:26 PM ^
AuGres, Whittemore, Alcona and Hale have all gone to 8 man. Hale couldn't even field an 8 man team this year. Tawas and Oscoda are the only 2 left in the area for 11 man.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:31 PM ^
I'm from the thumb, which is obviously very secluded and rural, very small schools. While my school hasn't gone 8-man, at least yet, many of the schools we used to play and were in our league have.
About a decade ago I used to kind of look down on 8-man too, but realistically now that I have become familiar with it, it's not anything bad. It's still football, when you're watching it you don't feel like you're not watching football. Some minor differences, sure, which lead to some more scoring, but overall it's still football.
If going to 8-man is what helps some of these small schools maintain a football program as school sizes shrink and athletics (especially football) participation declines, I don't see it as a bad thing at all.
October 26th, 2023 at 9:21 PM ^
The real solution is to consolidate the smallest school districts. There was a large appropriation for school district consolidation a year ago. There were close to 70 districts with fewer than 300 students at that time. There are legitimate debates about the economics of consolidation, but there are almost always major savings in consolidating districts with <300 students. One major objection is always "We can't lose the Mayberry vs Mt Pilot football rivalry! What about the Old Rusty Bedpan Trophy?"
October 26th, 2023 at 9:27 PM ^
There was a large move to consolidate districts here in the 60s and 70s, and we have a lot of those.
Unionville-Sebewaing Area
Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port
Kinde North Huron (now includes Port Hope)
Carsonville Port Sanilac
Croswell-Lexington
Ownedale-Gagetown
The problem now is the schools that remain as their own district, for instance us here in Harbor Beach, aren't particularly close to other school districts. There's miles of rural fields between most districts now, which makes it a bit more difficult to consolidate.
October 26th, 2023 at 9:40 PM ^
That's certainly true, but at least in the Lower Peninsula a centrally located HS would be no more than 15-20 miles from any spot in the same county.
October 27th, 2023 at 8:24 AM ^
I am also and have learned to pull for all the thumb schools if mine is eliminated. Go farmers and go Harbor Beach
October 26th, 2023 at 8:10 PM ^
I haven't lived in Michigan for awhile, but I still follow it (may go to some of the Finals as I'll be in Detroit that weekend).
Michigan's format seems ripe for a change. We're now at 10 divisions (2 8 Man divisions) - that with the number of schools participating decreasing. There are more teams with 3-6 records that qualified for this year's playoffs.
- I'd like to see a 32-team Open Division. Anyone, regardless of enrollment, can choose to opt up - and everyone who plays in this Division makes the playoffs. I'm presuming we could get to 32 teams willing to play in this division. California has an Open Division. I'm sorry, but the D-2 playoffs: its destined to be a Muskegon vs DLS (my alma mater) Final. Them playing the bigger boys from the start would be more competitive and fun.
- Everyone else, condense into 6 divisions.
- 8-Man, combine the 2 divisions, and play their Final downstate in Detroit. 16 teams from each division make it now - we can go to 32 and no less folks make the playoffs. Onekama made an 8-Man final a few years ago. I know a few people from there and the experience of them going to NMU for the Final: they enjoyed it but it just can't be the same as a you'll-always-remember-this visit to Ford Field.
October 26th, 2023 at 8:32 PM ^
I think this change will come at about the point they need to add a third 8-man division, at which point you'll see 11-man reduced to probably 6 divisions.