11 man football doesn’t get smaller than division 8, but games don’t et much bigger than the D8 district semi final matchup of Beal City and Breckenridge! The cherry on top, the Oilers face a very strong Marquette that travels down from the UP. Clare has a tough one going on the road to face highly ranked Montague Friday night. Sacred Heart Academy faces Bay City All Saints for the second time in three weeks. While our other ultra local school will now be rooting on their Mid Michigan friends as Shepherd was eliminated by Saginaw Swan Valley this last Friday.
Last year Beal City and Breckenridge could have face off in the stet semi finals. This year with all the hoopla it just so happens to be in the second week and only a district semi final. Beal City is arguably the most historic football program in the state…No school has more playoff appearances that the Aggies, while Breckenridge made the playoffs for the first time ever in 2016. It was an incredible turnaround from 0-9 to 9-0, but they were eliminated in the district opener by Saginaw Nouvel. The next year it was D7 and they made it to the Regional championship before falling to Lake City, then in 2018 it all came together…Breckenridge made it to the MHSAA finals before falling to Reading at Ford Field. Last year another outstanding regular season only to be eliminated again by Saginaw Nouvel in the playoffs. This year the only blemish on the Huskie schedule is a Saturday loss to the back to back defending champ Reading Rangers. They head into Friday night at 6-1, just hundredths of playoff points behind Beal City.
While Breckenridge was getting things rolling the Aggies had maybe their two worst combined years ever, but oh boy they responded in a big way last year with the greatest turnaround in program history! Maybe even more impressive that the huskies 0-9 to 9-0 (you can decide that for yourself). From 2-7 to Ford Field, and it was a wild ride with wins in the snow, by one single point in the state semis, and just a battle on the gridiron vs Ishpeming. That wild run was also upended by the aforementioned back to back state champ Reading Rangers. This Aggie squad has a plethora of key players back from last years state runner up team that knows what it takes to make a trip to the state finals.
The Huskies also have key players from their title run remaining particularly Garret Fitzgerald and Cam Vallerie, add everything up and this might be the biggest football game I’ve had the pleasure to call. Midland or Midland Dow vs Mt Pleasant is always big, but those matchups happen in the regular season. This may be the biggest small school football game in our area since back in 2010 when Beal City took on Sacred Heart Academy for the second time that season. The game didn’t really live up to the hype as it was an easy victory for the Irish, but guess who won that 2010 state title…Sacred Heart. Don’t be surprised if the winner of Friday nights game is hoisting several trophies in the coming weeks!
On Saturday the Oilers face off against Marquette. As the only D3 school in the UP Marquette often plays down for their schedule so you never know, well after dusting Muskegon Reeths Puffer 38-0 we know. They come down to Mt Pleasant looking to plan another trip to the lower peninsula next week. The winner of this game is 99% going to face the team that has been atop the D3 polls for the better part of half a decade Muskegon High. Mt Pleasant has the tougher schedule and it’s not even close with wins over Midland Dow, Bay City Central and Western and their only loss to Midland High. As opposed to Marquette ho has played D4, D5, and D6 schools. Their only loss is to Sault St Marie who is still playing in the D4 playoffs. However, no matter how you add it up the Oilers have played tougher competition going into Saturdays game. One big factor that may have helped Marquette vs Reeths Puffer is the weather, I imagine it was cold at Marquette’s new outdoor stadium, but this game is here in Mt Pleasant and the forecast looks pretty darn good for Saturday!
So all in all I think Clare can beat Montague if they get off to a good start, if Ruggles has time to throw the Irish should get the better of All Saints, Mt Pleasant is a small, but clear favorite over Marquette, and Friday night it’s a toss up with Beal City and Breckenridge. I will say Beal does have a bit more experience having their championship run last year, but it’s sooo close just like these two teams playoff points Beal has 32.267 points to Breckenridge’s 32.183 that’s .084 hundredths of points that has this game in Beal City. They have played one common opponent this year in Manton…Breckenridge beat them last week 57-24 while Beal City beat them 45-8 on October 2nd. Friday should be one heck of a ball game in Beal City.
Join me Saturday on Spach’s Sports Show for rundown of all the action of Mid Michigan High School Sports!
