That will be at L’Anse, for the L’Anse-Baraga cooperative program, after those combined districts took a big 52-student hit on their enrollment numbers from February 2022 to this February.

That was a 17% drop in enrollment, going from 310 in ’22 to 258 this year.

The MHSAA stresses that these numbers are in almost all cases different from those used for school aid purposes by the state of Michigan, since the MHSAA doesn’t include students ineligible for athletic competition because their 19th birthday is prior to Sept. 1 of the current school year and also doesn’t include alternative education students if none are allowed athletic eligibility by their district or districts.

So the Purple Hornets — which could technically be called the Purple Hornet Vikings — will be classified in Division 8 this October after being in Division 7 a year ago.

Negaunee High School student fans watch a play in anticipation during the MHSAA Division 6 Finals in 11-player football at Ford Field in Detroit on Nov. 25. (Photo courtesy Heather Abram)

L’Anse did make the playoffs last fall, but lost in its opening game 59-8 at traditional football powerhouse Traverse City St. Francis.

High school football in Michigan is divided into the traditional 11-player format, which is played by about 84% of programs, and the newer eight-player game, played almost exclusively by the smallest programs.

Because of the huge difference in the numbers of programs, there are eight playoff divisions set up in 11-player, but only two in eight-player.

Divisions are set up exclusively by enrollment, with each division having as equal as possible the total number of teams each year.

For example, in 11-player for 2023 there are 493 teams, with each division having 62 teams except for Division 7 with 61 and Division 6 with 60.

Negaunee linebacker Eli VanBuren, front left, reaches out to grab Reed City running back John Ondrus during the fourth quarter of an MHSAA 11-player football Division 6 semifinal playoff game in Gaylord on Nov. 19. (Cadillac News photo by Ricardo Martin)

While a program may ask permission from the MHSAA to move up a division, they aren’t allowed to move down.

With the Upper Peninsula having so many smaller schools, this fall will actually see eight-player programs for the first time outnumber 11-player ones, 21 to 18.

This fall, St. Ignace will become the latest 11-player program to make the switch to eight-player, while Mid Peninsula added eight-player last fall after not offering the sport at all for around a decade.

Aside from L’Anse, the other nine football-playing area schools in Marquette, Alger, Luce and Schoolcraft counties have seen changes in their MHSAA enrollment figures ranging from nothing (at Munising) to a drop of 55 (at Marquette) to an increase of 20 (at Negaunee).

In total, three area districts saw an increase in students, Munising remained constant and six saw decreases.

Hancock quarterback Vanden Jacques, center, looks to evade tackles by L'Anse defenders Eddie Bice, left, and Danny Nieske in their high school football game played Aug. 25 in L'Anse. (Houghton Daily MIning Gazette photo by Eddie O'Neill)

Division 6 Negaunee had the highest raw increase of 20 students from 414 to 434, but is still comfortably within Division 6 in 2023 that has enrollments ranging from 364 to 468.

Eight-player Division 2 Superior Central increased from 83 to 96, and while that is only an increase of 13 students, it represents an increase of 16%. However, the Cougars are nowhere near the cutoff between the two divisions in eight-player, which is 153 or higher to be in Division 1.

Eight-player Division 1 Munising remained unchanged at 179, 26 above the D-1/D-2 cutoff, while eight-player Division 1 Newberry is down from 166 to 162, though the new number remains nine above the low end of D-1.

Back in 11-player, Marquette has by far the highest enrollment of any area school, thus often also has the largest fluctuations in its enrollment.

This year, MSHS dropped from 1,114 in 2022 to 1,059 this year, still comfortably in the Division 3 range of 815 to 1,104 students. Though Marquette’s 2022 number is above the upper end of this year’s D-3, the numbers making up each range have generally dropped each year along with overall enrollments in schools all across the state.

The other program with an increase in enrollment is Westwood, which went from 383 to 388 and is still more than 20 students above the low end of Division 6.

Staying in Marquette County, two Division 8 schools lost a modest number of students.

Gwinn fell 18 students from 261 to 243, while Ishpeming, which is in a cooperative with Republic-Michigamme, slipped from 251 to 229.

Both are well under the high end of Division 8 that is 278.

Another 11-player program outside Marquette County is comfortably ensconced in Division 7, with Manistique dropping slightly from 319 to 314 but almost dead center in the D-7 range of 279 to 363.

Later this week: A look at boys and girls basketball changes for those MHSAA playoffs

Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.