POWERS — A year ago, the North Central Jets were enjoying a highly successful football season.

Then, they hosted Pickford in an eight-player Division 2 regional final and dropped a 22-14 decision to the Panthers that ended their postseason hopes.

Pickford went on to take the state title, and the Jets finished 10-1.

North Central (6-0) hopes to make a deeper run into the playoffs this time.

The Jets open by hosting the Engadine Eagles (0-6) Saturday at 1 p.m. (EDT).

“I remember them coming over here and scoring (more than) 60 points in my debut,” said third-year Jets’ coach Leo Gorzinski. “That was a humble beginning. They got us on that night (64-34), but we learned from that.

“With playoffs in this crazy year, we’re not going to rule out anything. On film, it looks like they have a lot of size. Their kids play hard and haven’t quit in any game. Anything can happen.”

The Jets’ offense is led by 6-foot-0, 170-pound sophomore quarterback Luke Gorzinski.

“Luke shows a lot of promise and is having a great season, but it has to be a team effort,” said coach Gorzinski. “We want to play into our athletes. We like to throw, and we have a lot of different sets and formations. We feel we have 5-6 fast kinds on our team. We like to give opposing co

“aches headaches when it comes to film and game time. At least we’ll try to do that anyway. We try to create space and get the ball into our athletes’ hands.”

Luke Gorzinski has plenty of wide receivers to throw to, including seniors Wyatt Riley (5-8, 155), Gavin Casperson (5-10, 185), Luke Kleiman (5-10, 170) and Ian Gorzinski.

Providing the blocking are senior linemen Fabian Chartier (5-9, 220), Carter Eichmeier (6-0, 190) and Cayden LaBelle (5-10, 225) and freshman center Maxwell Nason (5-10, 210).

“It has been fun watching Max mature,” said coach Gorzinski. “He makes our line very dangerous, and Ian is a leader on offense and defense.”

Ready to help at running back are seniors Alex Naser (5-7, 160), Daniel Dani (5-5, 155), Casperson and Kleiman.

“Alex is a speedster, and Wyatt Raab is a great athlete to have,” said coach Gorzinski. “He complements Alex real well.”

Coach Gorzinski stressed the need to stay on their toes.

“Eight player football in Upper Michigan is the toughest in the state.,” he said. “You can’t take anyone for granted. We have longevity in the coaching ranks. They’re always going to field a competitive team.”