NEWS: Undefeated Harbor Beach can clinch the outright Greater Thumb East football championship Friday night with a win on the road at Mayville.
VIEWS: Not only should the Pirates roll to an 8-0 record, they will probably be able to sew up at least two home playoff games with a victory.
And, if they can win their Week 9 matchup against Unionville-Sebewaing Area, they will more than likely secure home field through the regional.
The Pirates have been impressive on both sides of the ball, but according to coach Troy Schelke, they are still looking to improve and put four quarters together in the same game.
Nevertheless, they have answered five consecutive challenges, dating back to early September when they beat a very good Reese squad. Since then, they’ve knocked off Brown City, Ubly, Marlette and Sandusky.
It’s a nice turnaround for a program that hasn’t made the playoffs since its 2007 state semifinals run.
NEWS: Reese can clinch the outright Greater Thumb West title with a win against Bay City All Saints on Friday.
VIEWS: Like the Pirates, the Rockets shouldn’t have much trouble disposing of the Cougars.
In an odd twist, Friday’s game at BCAS is Reese’s final contest of the regular season. The Rockets do not have a Week 9 game scheduled.
NEWS: As of today, only Harbor Beach has clinched a playoff spot of all the teams in the Tribune’s coverage area.
VIEWS: The only guarantee this week is that either Deckerville or Ubly will secure a berth. Both of those teams are 5-2 and meet at Deckerville on Friday night.
If the Bearcats win, the Eagles will then have to beat a pretty good Armada squad on the road in Week 9 to guarantee their ticket. They could still qualify on points at 5-4, but that would be tempting fate.
USA is the only other area team with a chance. The 4-3 Patriots, who qualified last season at 5-4, have a rough road with games against Sandusky and Harbor Beach.
Non-area teams which have qualified include Vassar and Marlette.
In 8-man, Owendale-Gagetown looks like it will be one of the 16 teams to qualify for the official first-ever 8-man playoffs, regardless of what it does the rest of the season.
Those schools with 8-player teams will be ranked by playoff average at season’s end, and the top 16 programs will be drawn into regions of eight teams each for the playoffs in that division.
NEWS: Rumor has it that ALL the schools in the North Central Thumb League will be playing 8-man football next season.
VIEWS: This certainly is a contradiction to what some NCTL coaches said at the start of the season. A couple were adamant that they wanted to stay with an 11-man program, regardless of what some of the other schools did.
Apparently, NCTL schools have discussed this over the past month, and they will be announcing the change some time in November.
In short, this whole thing is a mess. NCTL schools wishing to stay with an 11-man program should merge with the GTC and form a football conference. This should have been hashed out a few years ago.
There is a way to do it. Some creative scheduling (ie. work) would have made it possible.
I have nothing against the 8-man game. But it will be simply shocking to see programs like Deckerville, North Huron and Kingston playing 8-man.
Sad, too.
Mike Bogan is the Daily Tribune’s editor. He also serves as sports editor.
About Harbor Beach home field advantage. There is a small nondescript school called Nouvel near here with a better POP.
ReplyDeleteI give up with these arses that call themselves ADs (athletic or administration)and the parents and boosters that support them. They are arrogant, self centered and refuse to see anything beyond a selfish good. Its a shame that high school athletics in this area has come to this.
What is wrong with a school playing 8 man football? Maybe none of the D schools want to play the bigger schools. Before calling everyone arrogant, maybe you should take a longer look at it. Why would Peck want to have a schedule that they would end up playing 4 GTC teams and never make the playoffs? The D schools are better off all going 8 man and having a full NCTL schedule of football again. With the way schools are losing students, it wouldn't surprise me to see the smaller C schools joining them.
ReplyDeleteNouvel may have a better POP but if you look at the maps, there's a good chance that they won't be in the Harbor Beach Region. Problem is even if Nouvel isn't in the region, there's a team or two that will have more POP than Beach. With the 2 teams they have left to play, their points are going to drop.
ReplyDeleteWhy would deckerville drop to eight man? Even with a decrease in talent over the last couple of seasons they have easily captured the nctl title. When a team like cps can win the "mythical" 8 man state title, what will a team like deckerville do? Personally I believe deckerville made a big mistake by entering the nctl. I as a former deckerville/gtce alum would rather finish middle of the pack in the most competitive small school confrence in the state(gtc) than be known as the best of the worst(nctl)...
ReplyDeleteWell if you look at snooze2you.com the predictions are for week 7 division 7 that the Pirates will fall but if you look at Division 8 there are 14 teams they have in the predictions at 4-3 they all need to win out to make playoffs a very good chance for the Pirates and Bearcats to fall to Division 8
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you look to snooze2you.com projections for Division 7, that guy who does the projections has Reese with the unlucky fate of being in the same district with Nouvel and that District going to the Grand Rapids area for Regionals. While Harbor Beach is in the District with Sandusky, Burton Bendle and Ubly with 2 home games and the winner goes to the Detroit/SE Michigan area for Regionals. So Harbor Beach might luck out! http://www.snooze2you.com/2011/mapetologyprojections.php?week=7&division=7
ReplyDeleteNo way USA will make playoffs this year. They got too much credit at the beginning of the season beating weak teams. They won't win either of the next two.
ReplyDeleteDiv8 would give HB home field advantage except maybe New Lothrop. That would be a great game.
ReplyDeleteDiv7 who knows??? snooze2you's maps are not set in stone.
The idea of Kingston, Peck, North Huron and even Deckerville being forced to play 8-man because of the lack of any nearby schools to play is what irks me. A six school division made of these four plus Memphis and Mayville would allow them to continue to play 11-man and play through less than stellar seasons like NH is experiencing this year and Kingston experienced two years ago. The NCTL didn't shoot down that proposal, the GTW schools did!
What on earth happened to the football coverage @ WLEW? I can't stand to listen to the dumb wisecracks and the way they work commercials in with the type of play that just happened, whats with that?
ReplyDeleteOn top of it all, Bad Axe on 4 weeks out of 7, seriously?????
I'm not real crazy about the idea of Kingston, North Huron and Peck playing 8 man football either, but i think some blame has to be put on the MHSAA. Ever since the change to 8 divisions it seems like Class D schools or Division 8 schools have slowly been getting the short end of the stick. How many Class C schools each year get pushed down to Class D. I realize schools need to get 6 wins or 5 with a with a 8 games schedule. But to me its blantanly obvious that when teams get pushed down a division the smaller schools are the ones who suffer. I can't really blame our local class d schools for changing to 8 man. Its a tough call.
ReplyDeleteThe sad thing is that once again we are asking a good solid conference to bail out the other schools due to poor planning. (Remember the mess that BA, Laker, Marlette, and Cass City were in late 80's early 90's?) The GTC which is derived from the old Thumb C Conference is strong because the core members have been careful to keep the conference strong.
ReplyDeleteI like the way they cover the games but agree they should try another method for the commercials, very tiring. But, its a lot better than not having anything.
ReplyDeleteAs for eight man football. Same thing, better to go to 8 man than nothing. If the population ever goes back up in our County then we can expect to see it go back to 12 man.
Wouldn't NH, Peck, Kingston, Deckerville, BCAS (already class D), and Mayville (slightly larger then Ubly or HB but not competitive in many sports in GTE) make sense? You could call it the GT - Central. GTE - HB, Ubly, Marlette, Sandusky, BC, and Memphis. GTW - Lakers, USA, Reece, Vassar, CC, and BA.
ReplyDeleteNew alignments
ReplyDelete1. vassar, millington, b.a, cc, reese, caro. These are the bigger schools in the area and are relatively close.
2. ubly, laker, hb, usa,sandusky, marlette, brown city- I think this would be a great league.
Let the NCTL disolve and play 8 man. And to heck with Memphis. To far. BCAS is on their own.
You might be on to something. If I am not mistaken Millington and Caro have applied- Don't quote me on this though.
ReplyDeleteWhat if Marlette went to #1 conference and Deckerville stayed in #2 for football!. You would have 6 league games and schools like Bad Axe could still play Ubly, HB and USA!
I agree with Memphis and All Saints. Forget about them. To long of a drive!
I know we are talking football but it would make for a great basketball league.
Deckerville graduates 18 this year alone on a 500 year. The glory years of the Eagles is well in the past. 8man is the only choice for them as they have shown this year they can no longer compete in 11man vs larger schools..There is a train on the horizon......It only seats 8.... Hate the 8man game all you want,but if you don't get on that train you are practice dummies for the GTC. GTECALUM your living in the past. Deckerville is no longer a factor in 11 man. After all the years of focusing on football the end run is Deckerville was average.
ReplyDeleteBest of the worst? GTCALUM thats how we describe your overall programs at deckerville other than your girls programs......Last time the boys won in anything? When all the factories left deckerville they must have taken the talent and the brains too! Akron, CPS, North Huron,Kingston all have better programs than you guys.....Heck Owen Gage may be better overall than you guys.Too much focus on football and like Ubly fan said you were average in the end.
ReplyDeleteHere it is!!! Kingston, Peck, North Huron, CPS, Deckerville, Akron Fairgrove, Owen Gage, and Cardinal Mooney. The eight team league will produce Eight Man State Champions on a regular basis. In three years there will be 40 schools playing Eight Man football across the state. Aside from Peck having to eat a huge CROW DINNER because of their negative resistance this will be a great move for all concerned. Die hard 11 man fans let it go. Eight Man is here to stay thanks to a wise move on the part of CPS, Akron, and Owen Gage three years ago.
ReplyDeleteAs far as these teams going to 8 man, I hate to see it. I can understand the issue at hand, but I personally am not a fan of 8 man. As far as Deckerville being down, I think we all know talent comes and goes (i.e. Ubly in the 90's and early 2000's to the late 2000's). Deckerville has been one of the best programs in the area for some time now. Correct me if I'm wrong, but did they not come a play or two away from a regional title last year? The game against Ubly last night could easily had gone the other way had Deckerville capitalized on two drives inside the 5 yard line. Ubly is obviously down from what they were, but are by no means no longer a factor. Saying that Deckerville is no longer a factor in thumb football is simple ignorance. Also tough to say that the likes of Akron-Fairgrove, CPS, Kingston, and Owen-Gage have better sports programs than Deckerville. Come on now. From what I hear, North Huron has some young athletes and will probably be pretty good in a year or two, but thats not possible because they were 0-9 this year, and havent been good in a few years, right? I almost forgot why I stopped reading these comments...
ReplyDeleteDeckerville has a great football progra. Up until last year they played in the GTE and were very competitive. For someone to say that teams in the NCTL have better programs is true ignorance. I coach in the NCTL and Kingston is the closest thing to successful Football program we have. Peck and North Huron have had some very good teams throughout the years as well. Owengage, Akron Fairgrove and CPS do not belong in the conversation. Coach Brown has a great program at Deckerville.
ReplyDeleteNeed to get the 8 man thing going and the conversation will change over time. Those schools playing 8 man love it and there are some very strong former 11 man schools in that mix across the State. It is a shame that some "experts" just cannot get past the success that it bring to schools who no longer want to be the blocking dummies for the larger schools in the area. Those who just don"t like 8 man have never seen it or they would have some thing intelligent to say.
ReplyDeletePride before the fall may be the best way to describe those small schools that oppose 8man football. The Deckerville and Peck players and fans chant " 8man " "8man" during the games in boys basketball in the winter vs Akron and CPS as to say 8man is less of a game. Yet, the only hope that is left in hooterville is indeed 8man.Deckerville did win a watered down NCTL,but overall, the boys programs are less that average. Peck is being led by the female version of the captain of the titanic and is a hiccup from becoming the outreach center for Yale,Cros Lex and Sandusky. There is a train on the horizon, its an 8 man train,either get on that train or be the pencil in wins by the GTC.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the rumor floating around that Deckerville may co-op with Sandusky and have the Brown boys coach?
ReplyDeleteNO SUCH RUMOR is floating around. How does such a thing get started? It is absolutely false. Find something else to invent maybe something logical
ReplyDeleteI am not sure that OwenGage or Akron will want to change from their current 8 man league. One of the reasons they left was that they could not compete with the larger NTCL teams and now Deckerville is back in the league.
ReplyDeletesuper1 You may be right about OwneGage but Akron may go with the Deckerville, Kingston, North Huron, CPS, Peck, Mooney line up. Which is six games for each of the seven and a need to find four more games which is a lot easier then OwenGage will find it if they do not get in. Right now OwenGage is resisting the offer to join with the others. Maybe it will all come apart because the Mid Michigan League now in place does work WITHOUT the other four. I am sure Peck will have lots of advice on this issue.
ReplyDeleteSo Bogan thinks it is sad that Kingston, Deckerville and North Huron are considering playing eight man football. The SAD thing is Bogan just does NOT get it but keeps talking like he has a solution. It has all been discussed by people who understand all the factors and it is time for people like Bogan to do the right thing and let it go. Congratulate those who have made a decision and take a positive slant to helping everyone understand rather than stirring the pot with how SAD it is. Give me a break...
ReplyDeleteMaybe Bogan will have to work a little harder by having to set up different stats columns for each sport. SAD
ReplyDeleteYou don't put your names on your comments. SAD
ReplyDeletePeck 1-8
ReplyDeleteNorth Huron 0-9
Deckerville 5-4(No Playoffs)
Kingston 7-2. New Lothrop looming.
Hmmmn.....wonder why they would ever consider going 8man?
Peck, North Huron, Deckerville, Cps, Akron. OwenGage, Kingston, Cardinal Mooney. Eight Man Football It is a no brainer inspite of all the naysayers in the newspaper business and on the side lines. This eight team league will be in contention for State Championships for years to come. Fond memories are made of this kind of logical decision making.
ReplyDelete