NEWBERRY — The first area high school varsity football team to pick up a victory this season was the Newberry Indians.

But they aren’t overly ecstatic about it. Indians’ head coach Joe Austin said he was informed last week that tonight’s scheduled opponent, downstate Wolverine, would have to forfeit the game.

“We tried to pick up another opponent, but there were only two downstate that showed any interest,” Austin said, adding that the distance involved in playing southern Lower Peninsula schools made the scheduling impractical.

The MHSAA had already credited Newberry with a 1-0 forfeit win even before Thursday’s games were played, giving the Indians a leg up on the MHSAA 8-player playoffs that begin in early November.

Making the switch to 8-player football over the offseason, Newberry is forced to play as an independent this season while every other Upper Peninsula 8-player program is a member of the East or West divisions of Great Lakes 8-Man Conference.

The Indians did manage to pick up eight of those Great Lakes teams as nonconference opponents this fall.

The Indians’ first actual game will now be at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7, at home against Stephenson.