![](/sites/default/files/imported/Photos/171110_Pesch_2H8.jpg)
Epler's 6, 8-Player Game Lives On
November 10, 2017
By Ron Pesch
Special for Second Half
Is it a coincidence that the Stephen E. Epler Residence Hall on the campus of Portland State University is a six-story building?
Constructed in 2003 in the heart of downtown Portland, Oregon, the 130-unit structure is a belated tribute to Epler, “the founder of the Vanport Extension Center — the beginning of today's Portland State University.”
Following World War II, Epler moved to Portland with his wife Ferne to take a job counseling returning veterans on their educational opportunities. Once in the position, Epler quickly “realized that few colleges had the housing and jobs needed for the flood of veterans who wanted to take advantage of the GI Bill,” according to Bryce Henry, writing for The Oregon Encyclopedia, a project of the Oregon Historical Society.
To meet the needs of the area, he proposed “a two-year ‘feeder’ college. Established in March 1946 by the State Board of Higher Education, within 86 days, Epler had secured buildings at an old shipyard in Vanport and assembled a teaching staff into a college with housing. The Center allowed those veterans to begin work on achieving a college degree. For the next 10 years, Epler did all he could to nurse the Center he had helped create as it sought success and recognition.
In 1952, after a series of physical moves around the Portland area, the Center was relocated to a site downtown and renamed Portland State Extension Center. Despite his work, Epler was passed over by the Oregon State Board as Dean. In 1955, with the announcement creating Portland State College by the Oregon state legislature, he was again passed over by the Board when they named a college president.
"’It was a blue day for me,’ Epler wrote in his diary,” wrote Charles White in a biography also written for the Encyclopedia. “With no administrative role in the new college, Epler accepted the presidency of Reedley College in California, where he served for five years. He then served as president of the prestigious College of Marin.
“Epler was fondly remembered by students who attended the Vanport and Portland Extension Centers, and in 1995, Portland State University honored him in a celebration of the school's origins,” continued White, a former professor at Portland State. “PSU feted its founder, dedicated the ‘Vanport Room,’ made him a PSU professor emeritus, and (later) named its new dormitory Stephen Epler Hall.”
The recognition for Epler, who passed away in 1997, was long overdue. Still, it wasn’t the first time Epler’s accomplishments had been celebrated. In what may have seemed a lifetime ago, he was honored on multiple occasions for an earlier creation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Born in 1909 in Brooklyn, Iowa, Epler was the son of a Disciples of Christ pastor and later played football at Cotner College in Lincoln, Nebraska. Following graduation, he taught for a year at Lincoln Teachers’ College High School. In 1934, he was working as a science and physical education instructor at Chester High School in Nebraska. On a rainy Saturday in the spring of 1934, an informal chat with Dean Moomey, the superintendent of Chester Public Schools, would alter the life path of both Epler and thousands of others.
The conversation was about football, or the lack of it at Chester, a school located on the Nebraska-Kansas border. “I was loyally defending football and giving reasons why every high school should play it,” recalled Epler, “but Mr. Moomey was reminding me of the actual situation in the small school and the sad experiences Chester and other small schools had … with the game in the past.”
Moomey identified two primary problems at play in Nebraska and beyond. Organizing a football team was a challenge because of expense, as outfitting “twenty-two or more players needed for a squad” was a burden for a small district, “when the gate receipts alone would hardly pay the official’s fee.” Funding was a major burden for small farming communities, compounded by a nation that was slowly working its way out of the Great Depression.
An even greater area of concern was for the safety of the players when a football team was formed. Squads from the smaller schools often included “lighter and weaker boys (competing) against players of vastly superior physical strength and stamina.” That, in turn, created worry and fear by parents about what might happen during a game, and certain disapproval if “their boy got hurt.”
In Nebraska at the time, more than 70 percent of the schools had enrollments of fewer than 100 pupils. Epler’s studies found that less than 19 percent could field a football team.
With Moomey’s encouragement and support, Epler settled on a goal of modifying the rules of the 11-man game he had played and loved to allow for “a safer, less expensive game, and one that required fewer players.”
Later that year, Epler outlined the rules of six-man football, and on September 26, 1934, the first six-man football games were played at Hebron College. The contests featured a preliminary battle between Beatrice High and Hebron Academy that ended in a scoreless tie. A second match-up, staged between teams from Belvedere and Alexander High Schools and a squad representing Chester and Hardy schools, also ended in a deadlock, 19-19. “One of the officials at the (later) game was Mr. Epler himself, then coaching at Beatrice High School.”
A crowd of around 1,000 attended the matchup, in which every man, with the exception of the center, was eligible for a pass. Epler’s game was played on a shortened field, 80 yards long and 40 yards wide. Playing time was to consist of four quarters, each eight minutes long. All players were to wear basketball or tennis shoes. While coaches of the two teams could allow exception, the rule was in place “to cut down the cost of equipping the team.” Instead of 10 yards in four downs, six-man football required a team to gain 15 yards in four attempts “to balance the increased offensive power that comes with the smaller number of players.” Also in place was a rule that required the player who received the ball from center to make a pass behind the line of scrimmage of not less than two yards forward or backward to another player, before the ball could be advanced.
A field goal was worth four points, while a point after touchdown was worth two if kicked, but only one if passed or run into the end zone. Goal posts were set 25 feet apart instead of 18, with a cross-bar mounted lower to encourage field goals and kicked extra points.
The news of this new version of the game was carried by wire services in newspapers nationally. Suddenly, “the terms ‘football team’ and ‘the eleven’” were no longer synonymous in the world of sports.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Epler’s first edition handbook on six-man football, numbering 64 pages, was published in 1935. In Michigan, the six-man game found immediate interest in the state’s northern-most region.
“As an answer to the curtailment of athletic funds and the question of attracting suitable material for a team, a drive is being made among smaller Upper Peninsula high schools to begin and to encourage ‘six-man’ football,” wrote the Bessemer Herald in May 1935. Channing High School coach A.J. Mautner approached Quinnesec, Felch, Amasa, Florence and Alpha about the possibility.
Knowledge continued to spread, aided by a September 1935 article by Epler in Scholastic Coach, mailed to nearly 100 percent of the nation’s high schools and colleges and aimed at coaches and athletic directors. The magazine was the first “to open its pages to six-man football.” Another Epler article, “A New Deal for Football” saw publication in October 1936 in Athletic Journal, another popular national publication targeting coaches. A September 1937 article in Detroit-based American Boy, the largest magazine for boys based on circulation, offered readers a copy of the official rule books for the game at a discount. Finally, in 1938, Epler’s book, Six-Man Football: The Streamlined Game, a 251-page book on the development of the game, its philosophy, fundamentals and style of play was published. It was dedicated “To the men and boys who organized and participated in the first game of six-man football played at Hebron, Nebraska, in 1934.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An alternative to both the 11-man and six-man games surfaced a couple months after the Hebron College contests. Little on the genealogy of the eight-man game has been documented, but, among the earliest records is one staged in Michigan between Morrice and Vernon High Schools.
Described in the Lansing State Journal as “a style of play designed to suit the smaller schools,” anyone interested in viewing the November 9, 1934, contest could attend free of an admittance fee. “Instead of the regulation 11,” wrote the State Journal, “each team will have but eight players. Two guards and one backfield will be eliminated from each team. The width of the field will be cut to 120 feet, the offensive team will be permitted but five men on the line of scrimmage and on kickoffs the receiving team must keep three men within five yards of the restraining line until the ball is kicked.”
E.J. Hendershott, principal, coach and agriculture instructor at Morrice, was certainly one of the earliest proponents of an eight-man version. In May of 1935, he presented on the variations of the game at the annual University of Michigan football clinic at Yost Field House.
In early November of 1935, an eight-man contest between Kalamazoo-area schools Comstock and Schoolcraft was judged “a success.” Consideration of the eight-man game was kicked around among the Jackson County High School Coaches Association in January 1936. Upon his return from a trip through the Upper Peninsula in September 1937, MHSAA director Charles Forsythe said “he found smaller schools enthusiastic about ‘miniature’ teams which play with but six or eight men instead of the regulation eleven.”
“The purpose … is to make football available to a wider range of boys than is now the case,” added Forsythe. “It is not pass and touch football, nor is it soccer. … The injury hazards are not so great with the smaller number of players on the field. … However the game should not be undertaken unless proper equipment is made available and coaching facilities are up to standard.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After limited experimentation, it appears that Epler’s version of the game won out in Michigan.
Nationally, the first Six-Man Football Committee was formed in 1937 and the group made some alterations to the rules, including movement of kickoffs from the 20 yard line to the 30, the creation of a “clear pass” rule that eliminated the need to judge whether a pass behind the line of scrimmage had traveled at least two yards, and changes to the substitution of players.
Nationally, it was estimated that 586 schools were playing six-man ball. In Michigan, the number was around 12.
In 1938, the national Six-Man Football Committee again altered the rules, this time to make all players, including the center, eligible to receive a pass. That fall, three schools in the Battle Creek area – Augusta, W.K. Kellogg Agricultural in Gull Lake and Climax – adopted the six-man game. Each played the other two twice during the season, with Augusta emerging undefeated, outscoring its opponents 134 to 8 over the four games.
A national report noted increased popularity of the sport. A total of 1,082 high schools now played the six-man game, nearly twice the number estimated in 1937. Around 50 schools played the six-man game in Michigan in 1938, according to Forsythe.
In 1939, the game again saw additional growth. In the Battle Creek area, Sherwood, Tekonsha, and Mendon joined Colon to form the St. Joseph Valley six-man football league. In addition, Climax, Schoolcraft, Richland, Scotts, Albion Starr Commonwealth, Sunfield, Martin and Marcellus took up the modified game. Reporting on the growing popularity, the Battle Creek Enquirer and News summed up the interest: “The scoring possibilities are numerous. … That’s what the fans like. Big Scores.”
Colon, coached by W.H. Judd, was awarded the Enquirer and News Trophy as St. Joseph Valley grid champion that season.
The “Tom Thumb League”, a subset of the Central Thumb League, also was formed in 1939. Comprised of Ubly, Port Hope, Kinde, Port Austin, Peck, Carsonville, Bay Port, Owendale and Gagetown, it was designed to provide a football program for small schools in the Thumb area of the state. Five of the nine had previously played either 11-man or six-man football in the past. No standings were kept that first year.
Statewide, 450 schools competed in traditional 11-man football in 1939, while six-man continued to grow rapidly. According to press reports, 100 or more now played the Epler version in Michigan.
In Fennville, coach Carson Niefert’s 1939 team notched an impressive 7-1 mark while jockeying between both versions of the game. Five wins came against six-man squads while the Blackhawks finished 2-1 in 11-man contests, downing both Hartford and Otsego. Their only loss came against Ravenna in the season opener. Due to a misunderstanding, Fennville was prepared to play a six-man game, but agreed to an 11-man game when the visitors arrived ready to play the standard version.
In the Lansing area, after a three-year lapse in which no football was played at Haslett High School, a six-man squad was assembled. Contests with other small schools including Bath, Morrice, Vernon, Byron, and Laingsburg were scheduled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In 1940, the MHSAA reported 150 schools across Michigan played six-man football. Schoolcraft and Climax were added to the St. Joseph Valley League. Colon emerged as the league’s sole champion. The conference title had been shared by Colon, Sherwood and Mendon in 1939.
The Central Thumb League and Thumb Tip League consolidated, and had shrunk to six schools playing football, as Port Austin dropped the sport, while Peck and Carsonville left the league. Ubly was honored as champion with a perfect 7-0 record.
Haslett, under the guidance of coach Paul Moyes, began its second year of six-man competition in 1940. In 1941 the Tri-County League was formed, comprised of Haslett, Bath, Morrice, Vernon, Byron, Laingsburg, DeWitt and the Michigan School for the Blind. Bath emerged as champions that season.
Augusta and Gull Lake W.K. Kellogg were added to the St. Joseph Valley in 1941, bringing that league total to eight teams.
Marenisco High School, coached by Joseph Poisson of Iron Mountain, claimed the “undisputed six-man football championship” of the Upper Peninsula in 1941. Undefeated in six games, his team averaged 51 points per contest.
Another successful six-man team from the era, according to the Detroit Free Press, was Roscommon, which had lost a single game from 1938 to 1941.
Travel restrictions and product rationing impacted high school sports around the state during the war years. Petersburg downed Britton in the final game of the 1942 season, wrestling away the Raisin Valley six-man football championship for the first time. Britton had won the league crown the previous two seasons. The teams would share the league crown in 1943.
Climax grabbed its sixth straight St. Joseph Valley win, its fifth by the league’s maximum score limit, with a 50-0 victory over Tekonsha on October 29, 1943. League rules ended games when a team’s point total equaled or exceeded 45. A week later, Climax traveled to Colon for a conference showdown of unbeaten and untied squads. Like Climax, Colon had dominated conference opponents during the season.
Played under the lights before a crowd of 1,200, the largest in Colon history, the battle between the evenly-matched squads was a worthy finish to the season. A “safety by Ralph Slage of Colon, his second of the night, sent the invading Climax team into a two-point lead at 10 to 8, with four minutes of play remaining.” With eight seconds left on the clock, that two-point margin looked secure when Climax surrendered the ball on downs at the Colon 15-yard line.
“There was just time for one play. Climax arranged its defensive forces for an anticipated pass.” Instead, Colon back Elmer Saddison broke free from a mass of Climax defenders at the 15-yard line and raced 65 yards for the game-winning touchdown.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In September 1945, the Lansing area Tri-County League reorganized to handle the three sports of baseball, basketball and six-man football. The circuit was now composed of Bath, Byron, Gaines, Haslett, Morrice and Laingsburg. The St. Joseph Valley reorganized, with Colon and W.K. Kellogg departing to play 11-man ball. Rechristened the Southwestern Michigan Six-Man League, Marcellus joined in 1946, Martin was added for two seasons, 1946 and 1947, Centrevillie was added in 1948 and Albion Starr Commonworth in 1949.
On Monday, November 11, 1946, Laingsburg, champion of the Tri-County league, represented Central Michigan against Burr Oak, winner of the Southwestern Michigan league, in what was billed as the state’s first “six-man state championship.” With the game staged on the lighted field at East Lansing High School, Dick Sparkes scored four times on runs of 30, 19, 18 and six yards to lead Laingsburg to a 33-26 win.
A year later a crowd of 700 at Mendon High School watched as Bath, the Tri-County champ coached by former Michigan State star halfback and captain, Walt Pawlowski, downed Climax, 36-20, in the second six-man championship game between the Central Michigan and Southwestern Michigan title winners.
Again the Bath squad won the Tri-County League title in 1948 and represented Central Michigan in the six-man championship series. The third title game was again hosted at East Lansing High School on Armistice Day. Victory came easily over Schoolcraft, the Southwestern League hopeful, 43-13. Bill Ballard and Forest Bass each scored three touchdowns in the rout.
In spite of the loss to Bath, the season was richly celebrated by Schoolcraft. Runner-up medals were awarded following the game, and later a steak dinner with all the trimmings was hosted at a banquet in Kalamazoo. There, coach Kenneth Krum’s squad celebrated the school’s first-ever Southwestern Conference football championship.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One month before on October 7, 1948, Epler, a naval officer during World War II, flew back to Chester, Nebraska from his current home in Vanport, Oregon. He was the guest of honor brought back to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the game he created. A crowd of more than 1,000 fans was on hand to applaud his achievement.
“To make the celebration perfect,” stated The Lincoln Star, “the home-town Chester six-man team bounced undefeated Sacred Heart of Norfolk by a resounding score of 26-2.”
According to rival Lincoln newspaper, the Nebraska State Journal, “It was the first defeat in 22 games for the invading Knights. … Between the halves, Epler received a trophy from the community of Chester. In turn, he presented plaques to the coaches of the two teams. …Governor (Val) Peterson, a former football coach himself, braved the weather to view the entire game.”
Earlier in the day, Governor Peterson greeted Epler, calling him a “man of vision” and “presented him an admiralty in the Nebraska ‘navy’.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Is Eight-Man Football Preferable to the Six-Man Game?” asked an article in the Athletic Journal in 1942. Nationally, eight-man football had started to take hold, at the expense of six-man, especially in mid-sized schools during the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Back in Michigan, the 1949 season saw a marked decrease in six-man ball, as around 50 schools in the state still played Epler’s version of the game.
Bath again finished 1949 undefeated and was now riding a 21-game win streak. Mendon ended the year unbeaten and untied in seven games, outscoring its opponents by a 262 to 112 margin. Plans for another “six-man championship” contest were made, but, as Bill Tucker, center for the Bath squad recalled in 2007, Bath’s coach Pawlowski sat the team down and announced no title game would be played.
“It was heartbreaking,” Tucker told Lansing State Journal reporter Chris Solari. “(Mendon’s coaches) said they were tired of playing football. I’ll tell you what – we’d have whomped them, anyway.”
The 1950 season saw the formation of the Cherryland Class D Conference, comprised of Leland, Suttons Bay, Lake Leelanau St. Mary, Empire, Williamsburg and Kingsley. New arrangements were made for a mythical six-man state title contest, pitting the Tri-County Class D champion against Lake Leelanau St Mary, the Northern Michigan champ. Laingsburg won the game, played at Clare High School, 34-12. Laingsburg and the rest of the Tri-County League moved to 11-man ball in 1951.
At Elk Rapids, Bellaire, Bergland, Ewen, Mercer, and Ironwood St. Ambrose, Epler’s game endured several more years. According to press reports, St. Ambrose scored four undefeated seasons of six-man ball between 1942 and 1947, before discontinuing the sport following the 1951 season. It was revived in 1954 for three additional campaigns before stopping again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In 1950, Freeport High School played its first-ever football game – the eight-man version. The season opener was a loss to Schoolcraft, 46-19, but the team managed a 3-6 record in games with the Hastings reserve team, Parnell, Rogers, Gaines and Sand Lake. (Freeport jumped to 11-man football in 1951). Schoolcraft, Mendon and the rest of the Southwestern Michigan league also played eight-man football in 1950, and then moved to the traditional 11-man game in 1955. In the Upper Peninsula, Bessemer and others districts experimented with eight-man ball at the junior high level.
The 1952 season saw six-man competition continue to drop off around the state. Still, in northern Michigan, the game remained. At Sault Ste. Marie Loretto, the Little Eight Conference six-man schedule called for six contests with the other Class D membership, as games were scheduled with Grand Marais, DeTour, Brimley, Cedarville, Rudyard and 1951 league champion Pickford. Loretto hoped to arrange an 11-man game against St. Ignace, also a member of the Little Eight, late in the season. According to Herb Levin of the Sault Ste. Marie Evening News, St. Ignace, with a Class C enrollment, was the first league member to attempt a move to the traditional game, scheduling a slate of opponents comprised of “reserve teams from Class C and Class B in Upper Peninsula and lower Michigan. If the venture into the ranks of 11-man ball is successful, several other conference schools may follow within the next few years.”
It appears most of the Little Eight moved to eight-man ball in 1959, then 11-man in 1961.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cheboygan Catholic earned at least a share of the Northern Michigan six-man football league crown in 1952 as well. The sole winner of the league in 1950, the team shared the league championship with Bellaire in 1951 and with Elk Rapids in 1952.
An attempt to move to six-man ball by Class D schools from Pentwater, Freesoil, Holton, Custer and Ludington St. Simon in western Michigan lost steam before the 1954 season.
Thanks to the baby boom and increased enrollments, the resulting growth of the suburbs, and the expanding consolidation of smaller rural schools around the state, the coming years would see rapid decline in both six and eight-man squads. With the 1960 season, the Northern Six Football Conference operated as the last six-man league in the state. Bellaire won the conference, comprised of Central Lake, Ellsworth, Frederic, Indian River Inland Lakes, Mackinaw City and Vanderbilt, all Class D schools.
That lasted until 1964, when the league moved to eight-man ball, then to 11-man in 1968.
The Wolverine Conference, comprised of Rock, Carney, Bark River-Harris and Powers-Spalding, switched from regulation 11-man football to 8-man football in 1961, and was the last in the U.P. to play that style of ball. In 1962, Carney dropped from the league for financial reasons, as football was not paying for itself. It was replaced in the league by Pembine, “a Marinette County school in Wisconsin.” The league continued playing eight-man through the 1971 season.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like in Michigan, the six-man game had died out in Nebraska in the 1960s.
In October 1991, “as the last rays of sunlight disappeared across the plains, the mighty starting six of the Chester-Hubbell-Byron Consolidated High School Bulldogs squared off against the starting six of the hated visiting Campbell Cardinals,” penned Los Angeles Times staff writer Bob Sector. Describing the resurgence of the game, rediscovered thanks to dwindling enrollments across the country, he discussed its origins with Epler, who had returned at age 82 to be honored at a special halftime ceremony.
“The six-man game gave the high school students something to do,” said Epler to Sector, “and they could stay at their own schools and they could have all the bands and pep rallies just like the big schools.”
Chester junior Thad Mumm started the game with a highlight, returning “the opening kickoff for a 78-yard touchdown.” Mumm was the “grandson of Garald Van Winkle, who played in Epler’s groundbreaking six-man game,” back in 1934. Unfortunately, the home team fell this time, 26-20 in overtime.
Those dwindling enrollments have brought six-man to five states according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, including Texas, where it was first played in 1936 and has continued uninterrupted. More than 130 schools play Epler’s game in the Lone Star state today.
The 8-player game is now played in 18 states, including Michigan. It returned to the MHSAA-sponsored high school sports menu in 2010, with its first playoffs in 2011. Michigan 8-player football now is played by more than 60 schools, with the first two-division Finals scheduled for Nov. 18 at the Superior Dome at Northern Michigan University.
Ron Pesch has taken an active role in researching the history of MHSAA events since 1985 and began writing for MHSAA Finals programs in 1986, adding additional features and "flashbacks" in 1992. He inherited the title of MHSAA historian from the late Dick Kishpaugh following the 1993-94 school year, and resides in Muskegon. Contact him at [email protected] with ideas for historical articles.
PHOTOS: (Top) Bellaire's six-man offense lines up for a photo in 1960. (Middle 1) Stephen Epler, from a 1935 newspaper report. (Middle 2) A poster announces the “first six-man football game in the U.S.A.” to be played in Nebraska. (Middle 3) The Lansing State Journal advertised a “state championship” game between Laingsburg and Burr Oak in 1946. (Middle 4) Bath High School displays its championship trophies won during the six-man heyday. (Middle 5) The Schoolcraft 1948 six-man team. (Middle 6) The Bellaire yearbook celebrated its 1960 Northern Six Football Conference championship team. (Below) Stephen Epler, from the Nebraska Hall of Fame. (Special thanks to Tom Townsend, Bath schools’ Denise Wahrer and library staff at Central Michigan University for providing background, photos and resources used in this piece.)
![Negaunee's Kai Lacar (10) finds a hole and breaks away for another Miners touchdown in the second quarter.](/sites/default/files/2022-10/221024_1st%26Goal_2H.png)
1st & Goal: 2022 Week 9 Review
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 24, 2022
Every league champion has been crowned. All 144 playoff pairings are set.
This fall seemed to fly by, but the football regular season is complete. See below for several of the final steps we took to get there across the state during Week 9.
Bay & Thumb
HEADLINER Davison 28, Lapeer 6 The Cardinals (8-1) clinched the outright Saginaw Valley League South championship as this was a winner-take-all matchup. The victory also avenged a 2021 loss to the Lightning (7-2), and Davison’s defense arguably was the star of this show by limiting a Lapeer attack averaging 39 points per game in one of its most impressive performances of the fall. These two could meet again in a Division 1 District Final. Click for more from the Flint Journal.
Here are the highlights of the Davison at Lapeer football game that aired on Football Fridays Overtime powered by STATE CHAMPS! on @BallySportsDET.@BraylenHimm23 | @DavCardFootball pic.twitter.com/ClNCN2hMZM
— STATE CHAMPS! Michigan (@statechampsmich) October 23, 2022
Watch list Gladwin 35, Standish Sterling 7 The Flying G’s (9-0) won one of three matchups of unbeaten teams this weekend, and in doing so finished their second-straight perfect regular season. Standish-Sterling (7-1) has plenty to boast as well as it takes a combined 17-4 record over the last two seasons into these playoffs.
On the move Croswell-Lexington 41, Freeland 34 The Pioneers (7-2) saw their league title chances dissolve with two losses over the last month, but defeating the No. 12 team in Division 4 playoff-point average in Freeland (7-2) was a solid way to enter the postseason. Essexville Garber 34, Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker 21 The Dukes (6-3) were No. 29 in Division 5 playoff-point average heading into the week but got a four-spot bump in handing Laker (8-1) its only loss. Goodrich 42, Almont 21 The Martians (8-1) will be home throughout the playoffs with this win over Almont (6-3) another solid building block for the postseason.
Greater Detroit
HEADLINER Belleville 42, Brighton 3 Although both teams entered undefeated, few have slowed Belleville over the last few seasons as the Tigers (9-0) ran their winning streak to 20 with this Kensington Lakes Activities Association championship win. Brighton (8-1) had given up only 81 points this season before Belleville scored 42; the Tigers have put up at least 41 in every game this fall. Click for more from the Detroit News.
Watch list Grosse Pointe South 44, Grosse Pointe North 14 With the Norsemen (8-1) eying their first perfect regular season since 1986, the Blue Devils (6-3) swooped in to win their sixth game over their last seven this fall and fifth in a row over their rivals.
On the move Detroit Cass Tech 33, Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice 14 The Technicians (6-3) were able to hold on to the No. 29 spot in Division 1 playoff-point average with their fifth-straight win. Southfield Arts & Technology 28, River Rouge 21 The Warriors (7-2) rebounded from a Week 8 loss to West Bloomfield with a win over a River Rouge team that while 5-3 is much better than that record as all three defeats were by seven points or fewer. Gibraltar Carlson 38, Brownstown Woodhaven 18 Carlson (8-1) is a co-champion in the Downriver League for the second-straight season, with Trenton after the Trojans (8-1) defeated Southgate Anderson.
Mid-Michigan
HEADLINER Grand Ledge 45, East Lansing 30 The Comets (7-2) were considered emerging entering this season, but they finished the regular season as co-champions in the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue. The surge seemed to start with a Week 6 win over DeWitt and carried through with this victory over the Trojans (6-3), who were in first place before falling in their final two games to Grand Ledge and the other co-champion, Holt. Click for more from the Lansing State Journal.
Watch list Belding 36, Hopkins 14 The Black Knights (8-1) finished a perfect run through the Ottawa-Kent Conference Silver and also ended a five-game regular-season losing streak against Hopkins (5-4), which would have shared the title with a win. (Belding did win a playoff game over Hopkins in 2020 after losing the regular-season meeting.)
On the move Lansing Catholic 42, Pewamo-Westphalia 7 The Cougars sat 3-5 with their string of 13 straight playoff appearances potentially on the verge of ending before they posted their most impressive win in downing the Pirates (5-4). Durand 48, Marine City 28 During an undefeated run of impressive performances, Durand (9-0) may have saved the best for last in this win over the Macomb Area Conference Silver champion Mariners (7-2). Mount Pleasant 28, Linden 21 The Oilers (8-1) won another matchup of league champions, as the Eagles (5-4) suffered their second one-score defeat over the last three weeks.
Northern Lower Peninsula
HEADLINER Traverse City St. Francis 45, Detroit Country Day 20 The Gladiators may be favorites in the Division 7 playoffs and certainly are mathematically so as the closed the regular season 9-0 and with a playoff-points average nearly 4.7 points higher than the field. This defeat over a Country Day team (5-3) in line to host both District rounds in Division 5 was among six wins over teams that finished the regular season with winning records. Click for more from the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Watch list Ogemaw Heights 35, Lake City 7 Ogemaw Heights’ six-game winning streak got a nice boost from this big win over the also-playoff bound Trojans (5-4). The Falcons (7-2) also surpassed the six wins they’d totaled over the last two seasons combined.
On the move Gaylord 28, Clare 7 The Blue Devils (6-3) entered Week 9 as the No. 32 team on the Division 3 playoff-point list, but were able to bump up a few spots thanks to this win over playoff-bound Clare (5-4). Frankfort 36, Elk Rapids 14 The Panthers (8-1) tied their most wins since 2017 with their sixth-straight this fall. Elk Rapids (6-3) is headed back to the playoffs for the first time since 2018, despite the defeat. Traverse City Central 14, Traverse City West 13 Even with West (2-7) finishing below .500 for the first time since 2015, this rivalry game remained must-see as Central (5-4) won for the fourth-straight season but with this matching the one-score deciders the teams waged from 2013-18.
Southeast & Border
HEADLINER Clinton 32, Hudson 26 The Redwolves (9-0) made one of the loudest statements of the weekend, not only clinching the Lenawee Country Athletic Association championship for the first time since 2000 but ending Hudson’s state-best 22-game winning streak. The perfect regular season was Clinton’s second in four years (and first since 2019), while Hudson heads to the playoffs at 8-1. Click for more from the Adrian Daily Telegram.
Watch list Dexter 45, Chelsea 0 The Dreadnaughts (9-0) finished atop the Division 2 playoff-point average list by more than four points after defeating Chelsea (5-4) for the first time since 1995.
On the move Napoleon 15, Union City 0 After missing out on the playoffs last season despite a 6-3 record, Napoleon has left no doubt this fall with this win in a Cascades/Big 8 crossover of champions giving the Pirates (9-0) their first perfect regular season since 2002. Union City (7-2) lost for the first time since Week 1. Ida 17, Dundee 12 The Bluestreaks (4-5) needed a strong finish to make the playoffs, and edging Dundee (6-3) gave them the boost. Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central 41, Ecorse 22 St. Mary (4-5) similarly needed to close on a high note to make the playoffs, and got it by handing Ecorse (8-1) its only loss.
Southwest Corridor
HEADLINER St. Joseph 47, Battle Creek Central 29 This winner-take-all Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference matchup went to the Bears (8-1), who earned their first championship since sharing the title in 2015. St. Joseph turned in one of its best offensive performances while scoring the most points the Bearcats (7-2) have given up in a game this season. Click for more from the St. Joseph Herald-Palladium.
Watch list Buchanan 36, Centreville 28 The Bucks (8-1) have gotten a lot of attention in this space lately, with good reason, as they added to their league title with a win over the Southwest 10 Conference champion Bulldogs (6-3).
On the move Constantine 37, Benton Harbor 20 The Falcons (8-1) capped a regular season that saw their only loss by two to Hudson in Week 2, and they enter the Division 6 playoffs No. 6 in playoff-point average. Portage Northern 35, Mattawan 21 The Huskies (6-3) closed on a three-game winning streak to return to the playoffs after missing last season. Plainwell 29, Paw Paw 23 The Trojans (4-5) missed the playoffs but ended with something to build on, stopping a four-game losing streak with this win over the playoff-bound Red Wolves (4-5). Three of Plainwell’s losses were by seven points or fewer.
Upper Peninsula
HEADLINER Bark River-Harris 28, Ishpeming 20 The Broncos helped open the weekend Thursday by clinching the last league title up for grabs in the Upper Peninsula. Downing the Hematites not only gave the Broncos the outright Western Peninsula Athletic Conference Iron championship, but put them at 7-2 to conclude their winningest regular season since 2015. Ishpeming’s loss was its third by eight points or fewer, but it still qualified in Division 8 at 4-5. Click for more from the Escanaba Daily Press.
Watch list Menominee 42, Kingsford 41 Arguably the most exciting game above the Bridge this season saw the Maroons hold off a final charge by the Flivvers. Menominee (5-4) in doing so solidified its spot in the Division 6 field, while Kingsford (6-3) qualified as No. 12 in Division 5.
On the move Calumet 41, L'Anse 22 The Copper Kings (6-3) were out of contention in the West-PAC Copper but closed with three straight wins to make the playoffs for the 18th time in 19 seasons. L’Anse also advanced for the first time (not counting all-in 2020) since 2013. Sault Ste. Marie 20, Benzie Central 14 (OT) The Blue Devils (6-3) just missed the playoffs for the second-straight season but came back from a midseason three-game losing streak to finish above .500 for the fifth-straight year. St. Ignace 54, Harbor Springs 14 The Saints capped their turnaround regular season at 7-2, their best record since 2016, and as outright champions in the Northern Michigan Football Conference Legacy.
West Michigan
HEADLINER Rockford 38, Caledonia 15 Another winner-take-all decided the Ottawa-Kent Conference Red championship, with the Rams clinching their fourth straight with their third-straight undefeated regular season while sending the Fighting Scots to 8-1. Rockford built a sizable first-half lead in part by locking down a Caledonia offense that entered the game averaging nearly 46 points per. These two could see each other again in a Division 1 District Final. Click for more from FOX 17.
Here are the highlights of the Rockford at Caledonia football game that aired on Football Fridays Overtime powered by STATE CHAMPS! on @BallySportsDET.@RockfordRamsFB | @RockfordAD pic.twitter.com/hDRzyrj5O8
— STATE CHAMPS! Michigan (@statechampsmich) October 23, 2022
Watch list Muskegon 55, Muskegon Mona Shores 35 The Big Reds (7-2) seemed to fall out of the statewide conversation after a two-point loss to Zeeland West put them at 3-2. But they need to be talked up again after this big win over Mona Shores (7-2) gave them a share of the O-K Green title and vaulted them to No. 6 in Division 3 playoff-point average. Shores sits No. 9 in Division 2 playoff-point average.
On the move Fruitport 52, Holland Christian 21 The Trojans (7-2) clinched a share of the O-K Blue title and continued to build on their best record since 2012. Reed City 16, Cadillac 8 (OT) The Coyotes (8-1) are riding substantial momentum into the playoffs as the No. 3 team in Division 6 playoff-point average. Grand Rapids West Catholic 39, Hudsonville Unity Christian 18 West Catholic is the No. 1 team on that Division 6 list and the other half of the O-K Blue co-championship after downing last season’s Division 4 runner-up Unity (5-4).
8-Player
HEADLINER Au Gres-Sims 42, Posen 24 The Wolverines finished up an outright championship run in the North Star League Little Dipper, sending Posen (7-2) into second place with its lone league loss. Au Gres-Sims (8-1) has won seven straight games (including a forfeit in Week 8), and held a Posen offense averaging 45 points per game to nearly half that. Click for more from WBKB.
Watch list Deckerville 62, Peck 60 (4 OT) The Eagles (6-3) finished third in the North Central Thumb League Stars but vaulted into the postseason with this win over the Stripes champion Pirates (7-2). The teams hadn’t faced each other since 2019, but Deckerville has won their last seven meetings.
On the move Stephenson 50 Norway 40 This was notable for several reasons – the Eagles secured a spot in the playoff field, they did so against a Norway team (6-3) that’s been considered among the best in 8-player Division 1, and at 6-3 as well Stephenson has its most wins since 2017. Powers North Central 42, Crystal Falls Forest Park 0 The Jets (9-0) finished another Great Lakes Eight Conference West title with their 33rd straight win, and could see Forest Park (7-2) again in a Regional Final. Bridgman 35, Martin 34 The Bees finished their second-straight perfect regular season after moving to 8-player four years ago, with this win over Division 1 contender Martin (7-2) among their most impressive victories of the run.
MHSAA.com's weekly “1st & Goal” previews and reviews are powered by MI Student Aid, a part of the Office of Postsecondary Financial Planning located within the Michigan Department of Treasury. MI Student Aid encourages students to pursue postsecondary education by providing access to student financial resources and information. MI Student Aid administers the state’s 529 college savings programs (MET/MESP), as well as scholarship and grant programs that help make college Accessible, Affordable and Attainable for you. Connect with MI Student Aid at www.michigan.gov/mistudentaid and find more information on Facebook and Twitter @mistudentaid.
PHOTOS Negaunee's Kai Lacar (10) finds a hole and sprints for another Miners touchdown in the second quarter of last week's win over Ishpeming Westwood. (Middle) A Davison ball carrier follows his blocker during Friday's win over Lapeer. (Below) A Cass City ball carrier prepares to take on a Beal City defender. (Photos by Cara Kamps, Terry Lyons and High School Sports Scene, respectively.)