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A different kind of pressure: Sentinels have numbers, but fight a smaller-schools schedule at playoff time

By Steve Brownlee 6 min read

MARQUETTE -- Marquette's challenges in high school football are a whole lot different than what most schools face in the Upper Peninsula.

Most schools with much smaller enrollments just hope to find enough bodies to be able to fill positions on the field, even in eight-player programs when you're dealing with the smallest of schools.

But once these teams hit the field, the schools stand a decent shot at success with opponents often in the same predicament with their personnel.

At Marquette, however, varsity head coach Eric Mason has the numbers. He said he has 110 players spread throughout three teams -- the varsity, junior varsity and freshman squads.

What he has to worry about it trying to amass as many wins as possible playing in Division 3 in the Michigan High School Athletic Association.

More than half of the Sentinels opposition -- five of nine opponents -- play in smaller divisions, generally meaning less playoff points are available to be earned. That's the nature of the beast when every other school in the U.P. plays in a smaller-size division.

Because most of the rest of the state's D-3 schools get to play similar-sized opposition, it puts MSHS behind the 8-ball -- every single other D-3 school in the state is located below the Mackinac Bridge.

Last year, Marquette compiled a pretty solid 6-3 record playing in the Big North Conference, where the four Lower Peninsula schools that are part of it were in Divisions 2 and 3.

But with four U.P. opponents being in Divisions 4 and 5, including Big North opponents Escanaba and Sault Ste. Marie, the Sentinels were just able to grab a subregional playoff spot to draw undefeated Gaylord in the first round.

The Blue Devils might've been an opponent that Mason wanted another crack at, considering that the Sentinels came closest to marring their unbeaten regular season. Gaylord only prevailed 28-27 in overtime at Marquette's William R. Hart Stadium on Sept. 13.

And MSHS again came close in its playoff encounter, losing just 38-34 to end its season at 6-4.

All that is water under the bridge, though, according to Mason.

"With this big of a group (110 players), we have a lot of hard-working, intelligent and selfless group of kids," the coach said earlier this week.

At that point, he'd had just a week of practice, and felt he was still working on fundamentals and working his players toward game shape.

"I feel I have a pretty good idea of what these guys can do, working with them in off-season programs," Mason said.

"I'd say we're pretty even across the board," the coach said when asked if offense or defense was a team strength. "Both sides of ball we have a lot of excitement and anticipation."

He did feel confident enough to name senior Winston Leonard as his starting quarterback to begin the season.

Leonard didn't play that particular position much last year with the now-departed Ford Richardson the fully entrenched starter for several years.

"Winston is an extremely intelligent player within our offense and within himself," Mason said. "He makes the right decisions."

Like just about everywhere around the Sentinels varsity, there's some quality depth at receiver, with Mason ticking off the names Skyler Blackburn, Braylon Zdunek, Brody Clements, Evan Brown, Wes Robinson, Jack Keough and Will Bradley.

Blackburn, Zdunek, Clements and Keough are seniors who at the start of last season were on varsity, while Brown, Robinson and Bradley are juniors coming up from the JV.

At running back, Mason lists senior varsity returnees Landen Faccio and Clayton Edwards and newcomers Dylan Pond, a junior, and Coltyn Plantenga, a sophomore.

"This group has a strong athletic ability, and Faccio looks like he'll be one of the better backs in awhile at Marquette," Mason said.

The offensive line has been a real Sentinels' strength in recent memory, simply evidenced by a Marquette player winning the top All-U.P. award for a lineman the past three years.

The Mitchell Snyder Lineman of the Year award voted on by the U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association went to Marquette's Talon Smith in 2023, his brother Dasan Smith in 2024 and then to Pavel McCutcheon in 2025.

The Smith brothers now play at Central Michigan of the NCAA Division I Mid-American Conference, while McCutcheon will be at Northern Michigan University this fall.

Mason mentioned that this year's top group of linemen will be senior varsity returnees Brecken Goodwin, Rocky Sholl and Tyler Hendrickson, along with juniors Ayden Plantenga and Jack Korpela. Plantenga was also on varsity to start last year.

"They are a group with good size, but what they really do is play well together and play well as a unit," Mason said.

On defense, where Mason said he'll rotate a number of fronts with a 4-3 the most common, Sholl, Hendrickson, Goodwin, Ayden Plantenga and junior Connor D'Ambrosio are the top players on the line.

At linebacker, expect to see most often Blackburn, Pond, Coltyn Plantenga and seniors Josiah Youngren and Hunter Cain.

Safety is led by Edwards and Clements, while defensive backs include Keogh, Zdunek and Brown.

Finally, the coach said a week into practice that it was too early to narrow down any choices for skill players on special teams.

The Sentinels have much the same schedule as last year, with the six Big North opponents -- Esky, the Soo, Gaylord, Alpena, Cadillac and Petoskey -- just switching the home-and-away sites this year.

Two of the three nonconference games are also the same -- Negaunee to lead off the season again, this year at home at 7 p.m. Thursday. Kingsford also ends the regular season schedule again, this year at the Flivvers' field on Oct. 23.

Menominee at home takes the place of Saginaw United on the road from last year. The Maroons come to William R. Hart Stadium in week 2 at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 3.

All other games are at 7 p.m. EDT Friday except in week 4, when Cadillac visits for Marquette's third home game at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 19.

Story contents based on a telephone interview with Marquette Senior High School head football coach Eric Mason. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee's email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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