×

Week 9 grid dandies

Escanaba, Gladstone face stiff road tests

Mike Mattson | Daily Press Scout Wunder (2), far left, heads up field as teammates Logan Carroll (30) and Cody Vandermissen (44) clear some running room against Kyle Huskey (9) and the Sault defense earlier this season. Escanaba hopes to keep its ground game clicking at Kingsford.

ESCANABA — It’s probably not safe to say Calumet owns Gladstone in high school football. But the Copper Kings seem to have the Braves’ number.

Calumet (5-3) sports a seven-game win streak in the recent nine-game series entering Friday’s showdown against the visiting Braves. Gladstone (7-1) will be seeking a bit of revenge and the Copper Kings are hoping for their sixth win of the season and automatic state playoff berth when they collide at 7 p.m.

“We want to end that streak against Calumet and come out on the winning side,” said Gladstone coach Jeff Hansen, who lost last year’s game 24-6. “We are highly motivated to play our best and try to get a home playoff game.”

Indeed, the Braves have locked up a post-season spot and can secure a home playoff game or maybe two by knocking off Calumet.

Hosting a playoff game would be another reward for the Braves, who captured the outright Mid-Peninsula Conference title at 6-0 and the school’s first outright league crown since 1998. Gladstone, which competed for the first time in the M-PC, had won its other outright league title in 1986.

“We had two big goals this year – to be conference champions and to get to the playoffs. I am very proud of my coaches and the kids. The kids came out and accomplished these goals.”

Calumet features an option-oriented attack, led by mobile quarterback Brent Loukus.

“It’s a heck of a program,” Hansen said. “It’s a hard place to go up there and play. They run an option system that forces you to be assignment sound. We will go up and play our best football and hope to come out with a victory.”

Senior running back Owen Hanson did not play last week against Iron Mountain and will not play against Calumet. Coach Hansen said his senior will continue to rehabilitate a high ankle sprain suffered in the Escanaba game.

“Our goal is to have him back and available for the playoffs,” Hansen said. “He’s a senior and we want him to be on the field to play in a playoff game.”

Playoff selection show

The annual Selection Sunday show announcing the qualifiers and pairings for the MHSAA state football playoffs is set for Sunday at 7 p.m. on FOX Sports Detroit-PLUS. The show also can be viewed online on the FoxSportsDetroit.com website and complete pairings will be posted to the MHSAA website (www.mhsaa.com) after the show.

The state playoffs begin Oct. 27 for 11-player and 8-player schools.

To review: The 11-player teams with six or more wins playing nine-game schedules, or five or more wins playing eight games or less automatically qualify for the playoffs. Schools with 5-4, 4-3 or 4-4 records may qualify if the number of potential qualifiers by win total does not reach 256.

Schools may be subtracted from the field based on playoff average if the number of potential qualifiers exceeds 256.

When the 256 qualifying schools are determined, they will be divided by enrollment into eight equal divisions of 32 schools and drawn into regions of eight teams and districts of four teams

The 8-player schools will be ranked by playoff average at season’s end, with the top 32 programs being divided into two divisions of 16 each based on enrollment.

Win and wait?

Bark River-Harris heads to Munising Friday with playoff implications for both teams. The Broncos (4-4) are hoping for a victory and to be added to the playoff field as an at-large Class D 5-4 team, while Munising (4-3) is playing for a fifth win on its eight-game schedule and automatic playoff berth.

The Broncos will ride the momentum of their xx-xx win at Gwinn last Friday night. BR-H coach Al Stenberg said his team must beat Munising and wait for the final playoff point tabulations Sunday night.

“If we win, we have a good chance of getting in,” Stenberg said. “We have to win and hope we’re in.”

BR-H last qualified for the playoffs in 2015.

Stenberg expects the Mustangs to bring their power attack to the table Friday night.

“The challenge when you play Munising is they are big barrel-chested kids,” Stenberg said.

“They have the same size and style every year – that is they are big and physical. If we can match their physicality, we can be OK in this game.”

Surging Jets

North Central started the season 1-2 and has won four straight games, including last Friday’s stunning 36-0 victory at Rapid River. The Jets hope to continue their winning ways Friday when they host Stephenson.

The Eagles (6-1, 5-1) are looking to gain a share of the Western Eight Conference title with Rapid River (7-1, 6-1), while the Jets (5-2, 4-2) are hoping to earn a share of second place with a win.

North Central has locked up a playoff spot and is hoping to gain valuable points for the post-season.

“We want to keep getting better,” Jets’ coach Kevin Bellefeuil said.

“We want to play as hard and as fast as we can. We know they are a quality opponent with good skill people, but we like where we are, too.”

North Central is the two-time defending eight-player state champion.

Bellefeuil said the Jets have been healthy and received a boost from four talented jayvee players during their winning streak.

“We need to perform again this week,” he said.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today