Football Playoffs: Who’s Going Where?

Seriously...who the heck is this guy?

The second season begins this week for four of our area teams.

Division 5

Grant at Tri County, Friday 7pm.
The Grant Tigers will make a return visit to Tri County, the site of their encounter earlier this season when the Vikings lit up the scoreboard with 40 points to the 14 the Tigers were able to tally.
It was a low point for the Grant team after opening with losses to a pair of highly ranked teams in Comstock Park and Reed City plus a forfeit win over Chip Hills. After the loss to TC they were 0-3 when taking the field but rebounded with wins over Fremont and Newaygo before dropping a pair of close ones and finishing with the Kent City victory that propelled them into the playoffs.
The Vikes have had a dream season marred only by a 6 point loss to eventual conference champ Reed City. They have reeled off 6 straight wins since then including a few comebacks behind an uptempo offense anchored by a strong running game and a big play defense.
Their last 2 wins required some Viking magic in the 4th and this is a team that simply believes they can win each time they take the field.
Grant is a better team than the one that visited TC 6 weeks ago.
But so is their opponent.
The winner will face the survivor of Big Rapids vs Oakridge. 
Eagle fans are accustomed to playoff football with the program playing past game #9 in 26 of the last 27 years while claiming a trio of state titles along the way.
The Cards were taken out of last season’s all inclusive tourney by Oakridge and their passing game will need to be on fire to have a shot at game #11.

Division 8

White Cloud at Carson City Crystal, Friday 7pm
The good news is that White Cloud made the tourney.
The bad news is they face a Carson City Crystal team that has rolled over opponents with the exception of  a scoreless effort against conference rival Breckenridge 3 weeks ago that cost them the conference crown. Last season in the playoffs the Eagles lost a close one to eventual state finalist Ubly and many players remain from that team. Even including the shutout CCC is averaging 40 points a game. The most the Cloud has put on the board was a 33 point effort in the season opener and their non forfeit wins came against teams with a combined record of 2-24.
Not saying the Cloud doesn’t have a chance here but a lot would have to go their way.
A whole lot.

Holton at  Muskegon Heights, Saturday 1pm
This one should be pretty interesting. The Heights haven’t won a game on the field in 6 weeks since besting conference rival Manistee. It was also their only win against a team with a winning record.
The Red Devils are a enigma. The team shows signs of being a really good team  and can fall short in games they should win. They can put up points behind their  strong passing attack but like many high school air games it can be prone to turnovers. The defense gives up points...a lot of points...and the offense needs to outshoot opponents to give the Devs a shot at a win. 
But the Tigers also yield plenty of points.
This one might need a calculator to keep track of the score but we’re hoping the Devs win so N3 contributor Joe Mclean can continue to gift us with his innovative and insightful views of the game.

The winners of these games will face each other in the District Finals 


Other CSAA teams in the playoffs

Manistee at Reed City
The ‘Yotes should handle this one against a Manistee team that is probably pretty happy to be in the playoff round.

Central Montcalm at Montague
The Hornets are a good team but they better bring their best game to the lakeshore because Montague at home will be a rough go.

​