We wish the very best of luck to three local high school football teams who will be participating in the first round of the Michigan High School Athletic Association playoffs this weekend.

All three will be playing in lower Michigan, which means a lot of Upper Peninsula cars will be crossing the Mackinac Bridge, filled with fans anxious to cheer on their teams.

Newberry, with a 6-2 record, plays at Frankfort at 7 p.m. Friday. Westwood at 8-1 visits 7-2 Elk Rapids at 1 p.m. Saturday, while later that day, Munising (4-4) will invade Gaylord St. Mary (9-0) at 3 p.m.

If both Munising and Newberry win these first games — the pre-district round — the Mustangs would visit the Indians the following weekend.

A Westwood win would put the Patriots in a district championship game either at downstate Lake City (9-0) or hosting McBain (7-2) the weekend of Nov. 3-4.

What these teams are battling for is a MHSAA championship, Westwood in Division 7 and Newberry and Munising in Division 8. Those final round championship games will be Nov. 24-25 at Ford Field in Detroit.

We hope many fans from the U.P. are able to make the trip down and tons of Yoopers living in lower Michigan make their way to these games to cheer on the teams who are making the long journey south.

We hope both Friday and Saturday, U.P. Power prevails on the gridiron and all three teams advance to the next round.

Go get ’em, Patriots, Indians and Mustangs!