Final Friday Football Preview

Mystery Ref Readies Himself For The Playoff Action Ahead

By Ken De Laat

This week wraps up the regular season for high school football and barring a couple of upsets and a  dynamic domino effect in the current seedings it’s the final game for the 6 pack of teams we cover.
At the bottom we listed the seedings for teams in the CSAA and WMC who are in the top 40 for playoff points. The top 32 get to play in the postseason. 


White Pigeon (8-0) at White Cloud (4-4)
A win for White Cloud over undefeated and 8th seeded White Pigeon would give them a decent shot at elevating the team into the playoffs.
But man, that’s a steep climb. The Chiefs have outscored opponents 316-43 and the Cloud’s offense has been a bit dormant the past couple of games. Games that looked to be winnable.
They’re at home, have a bunch of seniors playing their last game on that field, and feel like they have something to prove after the last 2 losses.
But as I said, this is a big ask from the WC players. They’ll be facing  a team that no one has come close to beating all season. They jump out early and bury opponents who are forced to play catch up. Granted they played in a conference that didn’t fare well overall and their noncon opponents didn’t include teams that will be playing beyond Friday, but seriously, a lot of things would have to go right for this one to stay close and the Indians really need it to be close near the end to have a shot.

Newaygo (3-5) at Comstock Park (4-4)
The Lions are 40th among teams qualifying for the post season and go on the road to face the Panthers who are in the hunt at #29. Would a win over Park guarantee a spot? Not entirely but should there be a collapse of several teams in front of them, combined with the stars aligning and Jupiter in the 7th house it could happen.
 Of course first of all, you have to beat the Panthers whose 4 wins came against teams who are 4-28 on the year. And those 4 wins didn't come easy. Well, except when they played Kelloggsville, a team that hasn’t even come close to sniffing a win this season. 

Kent City (6-2) at Grant (1-7)
The Kville team we referenced above represents the one and only win on the season in Grant’s pocket. The Tigers put up 40 in that one and have averaged 7 points a game since.
The Tigers close out a tough season by hosting a Kent City team looking to secure a home game in the playoffs. They sit behind a couple teams including Montague who will be battling to keep that home spot when they face off with Oakridge. 
The Eagles got hammered by Reed City a couple of weeks ago but have generally played good enough to win the games they should win and have posted big numbers in a few.
The Tigers haven’t been able to stop anyone from scoring and have found the endzone just 3 times in their last 5 games.

Fremont (2-6) at Manistee (6-2)
The Packers will put a punctuation mark on their season when they travel north to meet up with one of the best teams in the WMC. The Chips are sitting strong in D6 with a #5 seed and a win will likely secure a home field advantage that could go two rounds if they win the first. They lost a battle royale to a determined Montague squad on the road last week but they’re at home, they have a lot to play for and they are a pretty good team. The Packers will be playing with some senior pride but they will need a lot more to beat Manistee. Like maybe a mistake free, turnover dominant, sack filled performance?

Hesperia (1-7)  at Holton (0-8)
Pride on the line here. The Red Devils haven’t been in contention in the second half of any game yet and the Panthers only win was over a decimated Heights team that bowed out of competition by halftime due to numbers and have since forfeited the remainder of their season.
Both teams have yielded a boatload of points and neither averages more than one score a game.
This could be the most interesting contest on the schedule with kind of a resistible force meets moveable object situation. Will there be an explosion of scoring from both teams? Or will it be defense dominated?
Well, it’s a rivalry game so  the stands should be packed on both sides and my hunch is that this game is The Season for thse two gritty groups.
Hespo won at home last year. In their last 20 matchups the schools are 10-10.
Ought to be fun.

Side Note: A couple of years ago N3 had RD Alumnus  Joseph Maclean covering the Holton games. He has since moved on to study sportscasting in Florida and now covers events on a national level but we miss his openers such as: 
 “The lights of Red Devil Stadium were shining bright for this CSAA crossover matchup…” and “It was a rockin' crowd in Holton as a big time matchup between two powerhouses took place…”
With an intriguing story filled game coming Friday I’m certain  JMac would have added even more color to this season finale. 

Tournament Seeding going into Friday’s games. The top 32 qualify for the past season.

D4
Whitehall #2
Big Rapids #22
Ludington #39

D5
Tri County #13
Muskegon Oakridge #19
Newaygo #40

D6
Manistee #5
Reed City #11
Hart #15
Montague #16
Kent City #18
Central Montcalm #25
Mason County Central #29
Chippewa Hills #34

D7
North Muskegon #2
Ravenna #37
Lakeview #39

D8 
White Cloud #35