High School Football Playoffs Resume Saturday

We all played snow football at one point or another growing up, but official games in the winter. I'm not going to lie, this will be weird.

After a long delay due to a Covid outbreak, the Michigan State Athletic Association will allow the state high school football playoffs to resume after nearly two months off.

Action will pick up with the Reginal Championships at locations throughout the state Saturday.

Local teams still alive include Rockford, who will host Saline at Ted Carlson Stadium Saturday at 1pm for Division 1, Region 1 title. The weather will be cooperating with game time temperatures at a bearable 34 degrees under partly cloudy skies.

In Division 3, East Grand Rapids has a tough draw, squaring off with perennial power Muskegon at Hackley Stadium in the Port City. Kick off there is also at 1 pm.

Grand Rapids South Christian is still alive in Division 4, traveling to Edwardsburg to take on the Eddies. Kickoff there is at 7pm Saturday. Also in D4, Forest Hills Eastern's Hawks are also on the road, up in Cadillac with a 1pm kickoff Saturday.

Undefeated Catholic Central will be at home against Muskegon Oakridge in Division 5. The Cougars will kick that one off at noon Saturday.

Two teams statewide have decided to opt out, Stevensville Lakeshore in Division 2 and Oscoda in Division 6. Their opponents will advance to the semi-finals.

Limited seating will be allowed for the games, but this description from the MHSAA requires too much math:

SPECTATOR LIMITATIONS: Limitations on spectators are based on the MDHHS Emergency Order of Oct. 5. As of October 6, if an indoor event is in a fixed indoor seating venue (gymnasium or pool), 20% of seating capacity is allowed for up to 500 spectators (25% in Region 6). If your gymnasium seats 2,500 or more, you would be able to sell 500 spectator tickets. If your gymnasium seats less than 2,500, take 20% (or 25% in Region 6) of your maximum capacity to determine the number of allowed spectators. If an outdoor event is in a fixed outdoor seating venue (football or soccer stadium), 30% of seating capacity is allowed for up to 1,000 spectators. If your stadium seats 3,333 or more, you would be able to sell 1,000 spectator tickets. If your stadium seats less than 3,333, take 30% of your maximum seating capacity to determine the number of allowed spectators. Note that if an outdoor event is NOT in a fixed out-door seating venue (cross country, golf, soccer field with no permanent/fixed seating), a site must maintain no more than 30 spectators per 1,000 square feet of the facility, up to a maximum of 1,000 spectators. We realize this will be challenging to enforce in cross country and golf in particular given the massive expanse of many cross country and golf courses. In these cases, use every opportunity possible to announce and remind all involved to keep social distancing at all times. Effective immediately, local schools may use these new indoor and outdoor limitations or may continue to use the two spectators per participant guidance. If local health department orders exist that are stricter than these updated MHSAA requirements, member schools and host venues are expected to follow those local orders.