Teams enter the stretch run as season winds down

Sturgis quickly moved past the glow of beating Three Rivers last Friday. It was a big win for the Trojans, who moved to 5-2 with the victory and have now won three consecutive contests.

It puts the Trojans in a good position for a playoff position. Senior tailback Jacob Thompson has rushed for better than 1,500 yards in the team’s seven games to date, quickly bursting through the holes his offensive line creates.

Thompson and the Trojans will be looking to win on the road against Adrian on Friday, but it will be a tough contest.Sturgis is 0-2 on the road so far this season, losing at Vicksburg (42-7) and Paw Paw (56-42).

“Adrian is a very explosive team that flies around and is very physical,” Sturgis coach Chance Stewart said. “Their offense has given teams fits.”

Adrian enters the game losers of three of the last four games, though. Stewart and his coaching staff aren’t reading too much into the Maple misfortunes of late, though. Sturgis is not in a position to drop a game when they are making the push to the playoffs.

“This team knows how important this week is. Good teams win at home, great teams win on the road,” Stewart said. “It’s time for this team to take the next step.”

The Trojans have been solid on the defensive end of the field this year. It’s something they want to continue moving forward. Opponents have scored just 22 points per contest against the Trojans this year, but that includes a three-game stretch where Vicksburg, Plainwell and Paw Paw scored 133 points and the Trojans went 1-2.

In the other four games combined, Sturgis has yielded just 21 points.

“Defensively, we have to tackle very well this week,” Stewart said.

A victory here for the Trojans would give them a sixth on the season. That hasn’t happened for SHS since the 2015 season.

South Haven at Constantine

The Constantine Falcons can win the SAC league crown with a victory on Friday over South Haven. That’s right, South Haven is in the same league as Constantine and the Falcons will be looking to remain unbeaten in league play. A victory would be the sixth straight if Constantine is able to do so.

Falcon coach Shawn Griffith said the Rams are a big squad.

“They’re big, they’re physical and they try to play a game kinda like we do,” Griffith said. “I don’t know if they have the same speed we do, but they like to run the football and control the game.”

The Rams come into the season at 2-5, they are coming off a win over Watervliet last week, 22-14. Opponents have been scoring at 27 points per contest against the Rams so far this season, that number will probably rise after this week. The Falcons come in scoring 48.5 points per game, they have posted at least 47 points in the five-game winning steak.

The Falcons are motivated and the offensive line is coming together.

“The offensive line has gelled a little bit, we’re starting to get our blocking schemes figured out and our kids have done a nice job,” Griffith said. “These kids have all grown up in the system and have been successful.”

Constantine has plenty of options coming out of the backfield with Brayden Clark, Dom Jacobs and Lukas Hagenbuch. That trio has rumbled for nearly 2,300 yards on the season and 36 touchdowns to date.

The Falcons are also motivated to earn some much-needed playoff points with a win here. Constantine, a Division 6 team, can pick up a win over a Division 5 team here.

Muskegon Catholic Central at Centreville

Centreville goes outside the SouthWest10 Conference this week with a home game against Muskegon Catholic Central. It should be a good game as the Bulldogs, at 6-1, host a Crusaders team that is now 5-2 on the season.

Centreville prides itself on defense, the Bulldogs are allowing only 10 points per game to opponents. They did win 2-0 last week in a forfeit over Comstock, but in the week prior to that the Bulldogs won 80-0 over Cassopolis.

The defense for the Crusaders is strong as well. They’ve allowed just 108 points all season and have now won four consecutive games.

Quincy at Bronson

It’s homecoming week for Bronson. The Vikings have struggled so far this season, after winning the first two games of the year they have dropped five consecutive contests.

At 2-5, Bronson will be looking to put another win in the column this week. They host a Quincy team that is 1-6 on the season and has scored only 90 points all season. In one game this season, the Orioles 42 points in a win over Springport.

Mendon at Marcellus

Marcellus and Mendon meet up on Friday night in a battle of 5-2 teams on the season.

Both teams come into the matchup on four-game winning streaks and are looking toward playoff aspirations.

Marcellus has won consecutive games over Lawrence, Bloomingdale, Bangor and Concord, averaging just under 50 points per game in those victories.

Mendon’s four-game win streak came over Bloomingdale, Gobles, Fennville and Bangor. They out-scored those teams by an average of better than 43 points per game. The Hornet defense has allowed just 14 points in those four wins.

White Pigeon at Kent City

The White Pigeon football team will travel up U.S. 131 for just over 100 miles. There, the Chiefs will take on Kent City, a 6-1 football team. The most recent game for the Eagles was the team’s first loss on the season, though. It came by a score of 52-0 to Reed City, another 6-1 football team.

The Chiefs are 4-3 entering the game and looking to improve their playoff probabilities.

Wins in the previous two weeks for White Pigeon have put them in this decent position. The Chiefs have taken out St. Charles and Cassopolis in consecutive weeks, out-scoring those teams 103-8.

Waldron at Burr Oak

Waldron and Burr Oak meet up on Friday. The two teams have combined to a record of just 1-13 on the season as things have gone south for both clubs.

Waldron comes into the game with the lone win, a 46-24 victory over North Adams-Jerome earlier this season. The Spartans come into the contest with an offense that is averaging better than 21 points per game, but they have scored just a single touchdown in two straight losses to Camden-Frontier (52-6) and Battle Creek St. Philip (58-6).

Burr Oak comes into the contest also having scored just a single touchdown in two straight losses, they came to Battle Creek St. Philip (56-6) and Tekonsha (62-6). Burr Oak has scored just 32 points all season.

Colon at Camden-Frontier

The Colon Magi, ranked second in the latest Associated Press 8-player football poll for Division 2, takes its show on the road to Camden-Frontier. The Redskins are having a decent season at 4-3, but they have given up nearly as many points (217) as they have scored (218) this season.

Not a good recipe when Colon, a team averaging better than 50 points per game, is coming to town. Camden-Frontier did pick up a nice win over Athens last week.

Plainwell at Three Rivers

Three Rivers will be looking to rebound from a tough loss at Sturgis (26-15) last week. The Wildcats can still have playoff aspirations on the season and hope to continue to aim for that with a win here over Plainwell.

The Trojans are 3-4 on the season and have lost three consecutive games to Edwardsburg, Niles and Vicksburg. The losses to Edwardsburg and Niles were one-score games, but Vicksburg won comfortably last week 28-7.

This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: There are some big games on Friday