Balancing Football Playoffs
April 18, 2017
Every time the Michigan High School Athletic Association Football Playoffs have been expanded, two voices have been heard – one complaining that too many teams or divisions have watered down the tournament; the other advocating that every school should qualify for the tournament regardless of its regular-season performance.
The playoffs have expanded from 32 to 64 to 128 to 256 to 272 teams; and for 2017, with the addition of 16 more 8-player teams, to 288 of the 626 MHSAA member schools’ football teams in Michigan.
We have reached the point where 46 percent of the schools which sponsor football qualify for the Football Playoffs, and we are approaching closely the point of qualifying every team with winning records during the regular season.
Those stats sound about right for a collision sport conducted mostly outdoors in a cold climate for teenagers. A longer tournament is unwise; a larger tournament is unneeded.
What is needed and wise is more attention to the regular season, and especially to practices which occur at least five times more frequently than games. That’s where the teaching and learning of football skills and life lessons can be everyday occurrences for every team in Michigan.
Performance of the Week: Colon's Justin Wickey
October 27, 2022
Justin Wickey ♦ Colon
Football ♦ Senior
Wickey caught 10 passes for 138 yards and five touchdowns as Colon finished an undefeated regular season with a 60-14 win over Tekonsha. In the process, the senior receiver set two more MHSAA 8-player records, for 31 receiving touchdowns to break the previous single-season record of 27 set by Lawrence’s Matthew Cammire in 2013. Wickey also is up to 55 career receiving touchdowns over the last two seasons, which broke Cammire’s record of 53 set from 2013-14.
Those are just the most recent records Wickey has broken this season. He’s up to 90 catches for 1,569 yards this fall – the 90 catches easily setting a record and the yardage ranking second all-time, 129 from tying the record in that category. His 3,076 career receiving yards in another record, as are his 154 career catches – and his 18 catches against Adrian Lenawee Christian set a single-game 8-player record. That 40-24 win over Lenawee Christian on Sept. 16 ended the Cougars’ 27-game winning streak.
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2022-23 Honorees
Oct. 20: Owen DeMuth, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood tennis - Report
Oct. 13: Mia Melendez, Ann Arbor Greenhills golf - Report
Oct. 6: Shawn Foster, Grand Ledge football - Report
Sept. 30: Hannah Smith, Temperance Bedford swimming - Report
Sept. 22: Helen Sachs, Holland West Ottawa cross country - Report
Sept. 15: Nina Horning, Lake Orion volleyball - Report
Sept 8: Arturo Romero, Muskegon Oakridge soccer - Report
Sept. 1: Austin King, Midland Dow tennis - Report
Aug. 25: Olivia Hemmila, Troy Athens golf - Report
(Photos courtesy of the Colon athletic department.)