11-Player Football Semis Sites UPDATED

November 16, 2014

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Sites and game times have been announced for the MHSAA Football 11-player Semifinals.

Friday's 8-player Final will kick off at 7 p.m. Friday at Greenville High School, with Cedarville and Lawrence both making their first 8-player championship game appearances.

Below are sites for the 11-player games; all are 1 p.m. Saturday unless noted, with Wednesday updates in bold (click for all previous results, team records and playoff points from this fall):

DIVISION 1

East Kentwood vs. Clarkston at Brighton High School
Saline vs. Detroit Cass Tech at Troy Athens High School

DIVISION 2

Muskegon Mona Shores vs. Farmington Hills Harrison at Howell High School
Southfield vs. Warren DeLaSalle at Novi High School

DIVISION 3

Muskegon vs. Zeeland West at Greenville High School
Orchard Lake St. Mary's vs. New Boston Huron at Dearborn High School

DIVISION 4

Grand Rapids South Christian vs. Edwardsburg at Jackson High School, 3 p.m.
Lansing Sexton vs. Detroit Country Day at Fenton High School

DIVISION 5

Menominee vs. Grand Rapids West Catholic at Northern Michigan University Superior Dome, 11 a.m.
Lansing Catholic vs. Almont at Ortonville-Brandon

DIVISION 6

Boyne City vs. Ithaca at Midland Community Stadium, 2 p.m.
Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian vs. Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central at Battle Creek Harper Creek High School

DIVISION 7

Ishpeming vs. Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary at the Superior Dome, 2 p.m.
Pewamo-Westphalia vs. Detroit Loyola at Jackson High School, 11 a.m.

DIVISION 8

Munising vs. Beal City at the Superior Dome, 7 p.m. Friday
Muskegon Catholic Central vs. Harbor Beach at Alma College

PHOTO: Detroit Cass Tech defeated Clinton Township Chippewa Valley on Saturday to return to the Semifinals. (Photo courtesy of the Detroit Public School League.)

Flashback 100: Before Leading Free World, Ford Starred for Champion GR South

October 25, 2024

The only U.S. president from the state of Michigan, Gerald Ford also is the only person to become president without winning an election to become either president or vice president.

But before a career in politics, Ford starred on the gridiron at Grand Rapids South High School. South opened in 1917 and closed as a high school in 1968. Ford graduated in 1931, playing as a senior on a football team that would go undefeated and eventually be named a state champion according to statewide media – whose rankings determined champions before the creation of the MHSAA Playoffs in 1975.

Ford appears in his uniform in 1928.Ford's final game was a scoreless tie played against cross-town rival Grand Rapids Union, a game Union would later forfeit for using ineligible players.

Ford also played basketball and ran track at South. After high school, he attended the University of Michigan and played football for the Wolverines. In 1934, his senior year, he was named team MVP. Following that, he attended law school at Yale and was an assistant football coach for the Bulldogs.

Ford was elected to Congress in 1948 and served 13 terms in the House of Representatives. When Spiro Agnew resigned as vice president in 1973, President Richard Nixon selected Ford as the new VP. A year later, after Nixon resigned, Ford assumed the presidency – becoming the 38th president of the United States.

Ford was inducted into the State of Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1977 and the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in 1978. He died in 2006 at the age of 92. The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids is the presidential museum and burial place of Ford and his wife Betty.

Previous "Flashback 100" Features

Oct. 18: Mercy Links Legend Becomes World Golf Hall of Famer - Read
Oct. 11: Fisher Races to Finals Stardom on Way to U.S. Olympic First - Read
Oct. 4: Lalas Leaves High School Legacies on Ice & Pitch - Read
Sept. 27: Tamer's History-Making Run Starts in Dexter, Continues to Paris - Read
Sept. 20: 
Todd Martin’s Road to Greatness Starts at East Lansing - Read
Sept. 13: 
James Earl Jones, Dickson High Hoops to Hollywood Legend - Read
Sept. 6:
Pioneers' Unstoppable Streak Stretches 9 Seasons - Read
Aug. 30: Detroit dePorres Rushes to 1995 Class CC Football Championship - Read 

PHOTOS (Top) Clockwise from top left: Gerald Ford headshot from 1929. (2) Ford appears in a team photo with Grand Rapids South that fall. (3) Ford stands in football pants in 1930. (Middle) Ford appears in his uniform in 1928. (Photos courtesy of The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.)