Seven local squads made the football playoffs

The MHSAA football playoff pairings have been set and kickoffs are set for the next few days.

Locally, there are seven football teams in our coverage area who made the post season. There is the potential for many of those teams to advance to the district finals next week. Each of these games is scheduled to kick off on Friday night at 7 p.m.

Division 8 — White Pigeon (6-3, 32.109) at Centreville (6-3, 33.206)

Centreville and White Pigeon will meet again this season on Friday night. The Bulldogs and Chiefs met on the gridiron back on Sept. 23 of this year, Centreville won that game 40-28. Centreville has now won four consecutive games over White Pigeon, including winning a pair of games over the Chiefs in their run to the 2020 Division 8 state championship.

The Bulldogs come into this contest having dropped the last two games of the regular season, falling to Muskegon Catholic Central and Buchanan to finish the season 6-3. Centreville once again had a solid defense all season, the Bulldogs allowed fewer than 14 points per game to opponents.

White Pigeon comes into the game winners of four consecutive games. The Chiefs were 2-3 following the loss to Centreville earlier in the season, but they managed to play their best football of the season in the last month. White Pigeon won games over St. Charles, Cassopolis, Kent City and White Cloud, outscoring those opponents 202-27.The winner of this game will play the winner of Reading and Decatur.

Division 3 — Sturgis (5-4, 43.222) at Mason (9-0, 64.889)

Mason enters this game with a record of 9-0 on the season. The Bulldogs held each of their last four opponents to single-digit scoring and have allowed just 92 points all season. Mason’s program speaks for itself when it comes to wins and losses as well, dating back to the start of the 2019 season the Bulldogs have a record of 36-5.

Jacob Thompson and the Sturgis offensive line will look to lengthen the game and keep this one close. Thompson has rushed behind that offensive line for better than 1,900 yards already this season, averaging more than 212 yards per game on the ground. He’s also scored 22 times.

The Trojans will have to play well on defense, too. Mason comes in scoring 45 points per game on average. For what it’s worth, opponents are scoring just over 27 points per game against Sturgis on the season, though back to back losses to Adrian and Edwardsburg saw the Trojans surrender 97 points combined.

This playoff appearance for SHS is the school’s first since 2015, omitting the pandemic year of 2020 when every team was placed into the post season tournament.

Division 6 — Buchanan (8-1, 46.083) at Constantine (8-1, 50.889)

Constantine won eight games this season. The Falcons piled up victories in seven straight games to end the regular season and they won the SAC league title this season. Despite all that, the Falcons drew fellow 8-1 Buchanan in the opening round of districts this weekend.

Constantine comes into the game scoring 47 points per game. Buchanan isn’t as high-powered at 36 points per game, but the Bucks can still find the end zone. They’ve also played in some close games as well, with three of the last four games this month being decided by one possession.

As a team, the Falcons have rushed for better than 3,700 yards on the ground. They’ve scored 52 TDs as well, including getting 1,488 yards and 29 scores from Brayden Clark. Dom Jacobs and Lukas Hagenbuch have combined to rush for 1,435 yards and 15 touchdowns as well.

Division 4 — Niles (5-4, 43.333) at Three Rivers (5-4, 46.667)

Three Rivers will play host to Niles for the second time this season in the opening round of the playoffs. The Wildcats finished the season at 5-4 and dropped two of their final three games, but still finished with a home playoff game. Earlier this season, Three Rivers beat Niles at home, 27-21.

QB Caleb Quake tossed three touchdowns in that game, he also ran one into the end zone.

Niles comes into the contest having won four consecutive games. The Vikings were 1-4 at one point this season, having played their five toughest opponents to open the season. Since, they won games over Plainwell, Paw Paw, Otsego and Dowagiac to get into the post season. Niles hasn’t given up double digit points since Sept. 30 in a 28-21 win over Plainwell.

Division 2, 8-player — Camden-Frontier (5-4, 26.889) at Colon (9-0, 39.333)

Colon is once again clobbering all of its opponents. The Magi have won all nine regular season games and posting 54 points on average. QB Simon Vinson has tossed it to WR Wickey a million times and nobody has been able to stop them yet.

Wickey has broken six MHSAA records so far this season, including TD receptions. Safe to say the Magi will get on the board with at least one Wickey TD catch in this one as well. Colon beat Camden-Frontier 73-34 a few weeks back, the Redskins put up 22 points in the fourth quarter in that one.

Vinson to Wickey accounted for 13 catches and five touchdowns in that one. Colon only ran the football 17 times as well, but they rumbled for 243 yards as Tucker Lafler, Kaleb Thaxton, Maverick Downs and Vinson combined to average more than 14 yards per rush.

Division 2, 8-player — Mendon (7-2, 31.778) at Climax-Scotts (8-1, 35.972)

So the winner of this game, Mendon at Climax-Scotts, will play the winner of Camden-Frontier and Mendon. The Hornets, Magi and Panthers are all ranked inside the Top 6 of the Associated Press final poll for the season. Sometimes, that’s just the way it is.

Hornet tailbacks Jack McCaw and Evan Lukeman will be the key players here coming out of the backfield. They’re tough to stop, even when opposing teams know they’re getting the football.

Mendon’s two losses on the year came to Bridgman (9-0, too big for the playoffs) and Martin (7-2). Martin’s two losses on the season came to Bridgman and Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian. Both of those schools are too big for the 8-player playoffs by enrollment purposes and will play in the “state finals game” this week.

Anyway, Mendon can run the football and so can Climax-Scotts. This game features a pair of offenses that will look to limit turnovers, work on time of possession and piece together first downs. While all of those collectively sound like coach speak and cliches, they’re absolutely true.

Mendon has won six straight entering the playoffs and averages better than 45 points per game, which includes a 2-0 forfeit win over Lawrence. Climax-Scotts comes in averages better than 42 points per game. The defenses will need to play well for either team to win.

This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Seven local squads made the football playoffs