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4 left standing: Ishpeming Hematites, Negaunee Miners, Manistique Emeralds, Munising Mustangs make high school football playoffs

Negaunee's Hank Tincknell, left, readies to absorb a tackle from a Westwood defender during their high school football game played at the Patriots’ field in Ishpeming on Oct. 4. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

This weekend: First-round games in both 11-player and 8-player tournaments. Ishpeming has a home game at 1 p.m. Saturday with other 3 area schools going on the road at 7 p.m. EDT Friday

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MARQUETTE — Just four of the area’s nine high school varsity football teams have made the Michigan High School Athletic Association playoffs that begin this weekend.

And only one earned the privilege of hosting an opening-round game, according to information available at the MHSAA website, www.mhsaa.com.

That school is Ishpeming, which had to feel a bit fortunate with its 6-2 record as the Hematites will host 7-2 Norway in the regional semifinals of the Division 1 eight-player tournament.

Oakland Christian’s Colin Kolb, No. 4 at center, tries to continue his run despite getting wrapped up by Ishpeming defender Derek Meyer, behind him, during their high school football game played in Ishpeming on Saturday. (Journal photo by Caden Sierra)

Ishpeming is the No. 2 seeded team in Region 1 of Division 1, the larger-school division of eight-player, while Norway is No. 3 based on playoff points.

Joining those two schools in the region are Munising (6-3), the No. 4 team in region, and Pickford (9-0), the No. 1 team in the region. The Panthers host that game as the team with more points.

In 11-player football, two area teams made their fields as lower seeds that have to go on the road to open play.

In Division 6, Negaunee (6-3) is the No. 3 team in Region 1, District 1, and will play at Boyne City (7-2), the No. 2 squad.

The other district game pits No. 4 Calumet (6-3) at No. 1 Kingsley (7-2).

Negaunee receiver Weston Yesney crosses the goal line to score a touchdown on a pass reception in the first quarter of a West PAC game played against Houghton at Miner Stadium in Negaunee on Oct. 18. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

And in Division 8, Manistique (4-5) is the No. 4 team in Region 1, District 1, and will play at No. 1 seed Iron Mountain (9-0).

Its partner game in the district is No. 3 seed Bark River-Harris (5-4) playing at No. 2 East Jordan (7-2).

In another section of the website, www.mhsaa.com/sports/football/pairings#Div=1, game times are also listed.

All four of the area teams will be playing at 7 p.m. EDT Friday, except for Ishpeming, which will play at 1 p.m. Saturday.

With divisions in both the 11-player and eight-player tournament predetermined based on school enrollment before the season began, it was then a competition for schools to reach the top 32 in their division of 11-player or be in the top 16 of their division in eight-player.

Negaunee defender Kaiden Menard, left, makes a fumble recovery during a West PAC game played against Houghton at Miner Stadium in Negaunee on Oct. 18. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

Just over half, or 52%, of 11-player teams listed on the MSHAA rankings made the playoffs, and just over a third, about 35%, of eight-player teams got in.

The tournament, as is usual in football, is held in a knock-out, one-and-done format — once you lose, your season is over.

Playoff points are awarded for each win in the regular season based on the division of the team you defeated, plus bonus points for opponents’ victories. The total was then divided by the number of games played to come up with a playoff “average.”

Once the 32 teams in each division of 11-player and 16 teams in each division of eight-player were determined, those teams were divided into geographical groups of four, with those schools playing within each other for the first two rounds. Pairs of four-team districts in 11-player were grouped to form an eight-team region, too.

For example, in Division 6, the only two Upper Peninsula schools to reach the playoffs, Negaunee and Calumet, were paired with the two most-northerly Lower Peninsula schools to form District 1. This weekend’s two winners will then play each other in the district championship round the following weekend.

In Division 8, three U.P. schools qualified, so they along with far northern Lower Peninsula school East Jordan make up District 1.

In eight-player, it happened that exactly four U.P. schools made the Division 1 playoffs, so they were grouped together in Region 1. In Division 2, there were just two U.P. qualifiers, so Forest Park and North Central were paired with the northern Lower Peninsula’s Bellaire and Gaylord St. Mary to form a region.

Within each 11-player district and eight-player region, the highest playoff-point team hosts the lowest in the opening round, while the second-highest hosts the third-highest. No geographical distinctions are made in the matchups once the 11-player districts and eight-player regions are established.

Second-round games on Nov. 8-9 are also hosted by the higher playoff-point team, then in the Nov. 15-16 third round — the regional finals in 11-player and the semifinals in eight-player — the higher playoff-point team hosts for the final time.

The following weekend, Nov. 22-23, is the “final four” semifinals of 11-player and the state championship games at the Superior Dome in Marquette for eight-player. That’s due to there being twice as many teams in each 11-player division as there are in eight-player, 32 vs. 16, it taking one extra round in 11-player to get to the state finals.

Locations for the 11-player semifinals will be made by the MHSAA as it seeks neutral sites for that round. The two days after Thanksgiving, this year Nov. 29-30, are the traditional 11-player state championship weekend held at Ford Field, the home of the Detroit Lions, in Detroit.

This information was gathered from a story written by MHSAA.com senior editor Geoff Kimmerly and found at the link directly off the MHSAA’s home page listed as “2024 MHSAA Football Playoff Pairings Announced.”

Kimmerly also lists times and locations of the various finals along with ticket price information.

A further look at the MHSAA website — www.mhsaa.com/sports/football/playoff-point-summary — shows where all the teams in the state ranked within their divisions.

This includes the area’s other five varsity football teams — Superior Central played as a junior varsity team this year — that finished in varying degrees of proximity to their playoff cut.

The closest call in missing the playoffs is Marquette, which finished 37th in playoff points in Division 2 with 32 teams making the cut. Marquette had moved back up to D-2 this season after being in Division 3 for a number of years.

The Sentinels, with a listed enrollment of 1,097 students, finished at 6-3, a record that matched 14 Division 2 playoff teams and was better than another four schools that are playoff-bound in their division with 5-4 records.

That’s likely due to a weakness in the divisions of Marquette’s opponents and/or a lack of strength in their opponents’ records.

MSHS has 50.111 playoff points with the 32nd and final team making it in Division 2, Flushing, at 54.444 points.

Westwood was almost as close as Marquette in Division 6, finishing 39th with a 4-5 record. The Patriots had 29.667 points, while 32nd-place Royal Oak Shrine Catholic is at 35.000.

Not quite as close were the area’s two other Division 8 schools.

Gwinn (3-6) was 42nd with 18.444 points and L’Anse (1-8) 55th with 13.000 points. Actually, the closest area team to the cut line in this division was the one that made the playoffs, Manistique, which finished 27th with its modest 4-5 mark and 25.444 points.

The 32nd-place cut in Division 8 was Marine City Cardinal Mooney (4-5), which has 24.111 points.

The one eight-player area school missing the playoffs was Newberry (2-7), which was 27th in Division 2 with 20.222 points as 16 teams make the grade. In 16th is Adrian Lenawee Christian (4-5) at 28.403 points.

Here is the playoff game schedule this weekend involving U.P. teams:

11-PLAYER

• Division 5 — Gladwin (6-3) at Kingsford, 1 p.m. EDT Saturday

• Division 6 — Negaunee at Boyne City (7-2), 7 p.m. Friday

• Division 6 — Calumet (6-3) at Kingsley (7-2), 1 p.m. Saturday

• Division 7 — Houghton Lake (5-4) at Menominee, 1 p.m. EDT Saturday

• Division 8 — Manistique (4-5) at Iron Mountain, 7 p.m. EDT Friday

• Division 8 — Bark River-Harris (5-4) at East Jordan (7-2), 7 p.m. Friday

8-PLAYER

• Division 1 — Munising at Pickford, 7 p.m. Friday

• Division 1 — Norway at Ishpeming, 1 p.m. Saturday

• Division 2 — Bellaire (7-2) at Forest Park, 2 p.m. EDT Saturday

• Division 2 — Gaylord St. Mary (7-2) at North Central, 2 p.m. EDT Saturday

Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 552. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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