1st & Goal: 2025 Playoffs Week 3 Preview
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 12, 2025
The MHSAA Football Playoffs turn into a second season for teams still alive at this late date – and it’s impossible to not begin sensing the opportunities opening up for those teams as we move into mid-November.
With two weeks remaining in the 8-player season, we’re running a counter and starting this week with a little deeper dive into our four Semifinals in those divisions. One reigning champion is still in pursuit of a Superior Dome return, and two teams are seeking Saturday to reach Finals for the first time.
After that, we check out Regional Finals in every 11-player division, with four games matching undefeated opponents. All of those games are Friday unless noted below, and Semifinals sites will be announced Sunday.
Tickets this weekend are $9 for 11-Player Regional Finals and $10 for 8-Player Semifinals and can be purchased at GoFan.co. All four 8-Player Semifinals and all 32 11-Player Regional Finals will be broadcast and available to watch with subscription on the NFHS Network.
8-Player Division 1
Blanchard Montabella (10-1) vs. Norway (11-0) at Traverse City’s Thirlby Field WATCH
Montabella has pulled within one more win of reaching the Finals for the first time, its only loss this season to Division 2 semifinalist Portland St. Patrick. As a team, the Mustangs are averaging 8.5 yards per carry, paced by senior Brady Kieff (1,475 yards, 8.5 per carry, 16 touchdowns rushing). Norway last reached the Semifinals in 2006 (in 11-player) but has seemed on the verge of a run since moving to 8-player in 2021. Senior quarterback Owen Baij has run for a team-high 1,443 yards and 30 touchdowns and thrown for 817 yards and 13 more scores.
Kingston (10-1) vs. Martin (11-0) at Chelsea WATCH
Martin moved to a combined 13-2 in playoff games this decade with last week’s 36-20 win over Climax-Scotts, and the Clippers are once again led by a two-way threat in senior quarterback Haylen Buell, who has run for a team-high 1,528 yards and 32 touchdowns and thrown for 866 and 13 scores. Kingston has run into eventual champions the last two seasons, falling to Martin in a Semifinal in 2023 and then Deckerville in a Regional Final last year. The Cardinals are attempting to reach their first championship game powered as well by a dangerous two-way quarterback in senior Tanner James (524 yards/11 TDs rushing, 902/20 passing).
8-Player Division 2
Felch North Dickinson (11-0) vs. Onekama (11-0) at Marquette WATCH
North Dickinson has stormed into its first Semifinal since 2001 (in 11-player) with senior quarterback Brady Jungwirth directing an offense that has outpaced every opponent by at least three touchdowns, including adding to a 38-34 win over Lake Linden-Hubbell in Week 1 with a 32-12 win in their rematch last weekend. Jungwirth has thrown for 1,888 yards and 28 touchdowns, with just three interceptions. Onekama is playing in a second-straight Semifinal seeking to get to the Superior Dome for the first time since 2018, paced by a pair of running backs both averaging more than nine yards per carry – senior Tyler Hart (859 yards, 15 TDs rushing) and freshman Bennett Zeller (821/13).
Deckerville (10-1) vs. Portland St. Patrick (11-0) at Mount Pleasant WATCH
Deckerville won Division 1 last season and is seeking to return to Superior Dome with junior Brandon Salowitz moving up from supporting cast in 2024 to the starring role. He’s the leading rusher with 1,311 yards and 24 touchdowns, starts at linebacker and punts. The Shamrocks are working to get back to the Finals for the first time since 2020 and showed off a dynamic playmaker as well last week in senior running back/linebacker/punter Brady Leonard, who has run for 1,091 yards and 14 touchdowns and intercepted 10 passes. He scored five touchdowns in last week’s 51-22 win over previously-undefeated Mendon.
11-Player Division 1
Detroit Catholic Central (11-0) at Clarkston (10-1) WATCH
These two have met twice previously in playoff games, with Clarkston winning both including their Division 1 championship matchup in 2013. These days, Detroit Catholic Central has won 22 of its last 23 games – the only loss to eventual champion Detroit Cass Tech during last year’s Semifinals – and perhaps most impressively this fall hasn’t given up more than 14 points in a game despite playing Grand Ledge and Detroit Martin Luther King on top of a loaded Catholic High School League Central slate. Clarkston is a 27-21 Week 2 loss to undefeated Harper Woods from a perfect run through this season as well, and handed previously-unbeaten Grand Blanc its only loss last week – doubling up the Bobcats 44-22. The Wolves also won all of their games in the power-packed Oakland Activities Association Red by at least two touchdowns.
Other Regional Finals FRIDAY Detroit Cass Tech (11-0) at Saline (10-1) WATCH, Romeo (8-3) at Rochester Adams (9-2) WATCH. SATURDAY East Kentwood (9-2) at Hudsonville (11-0) WATCH.
11-Player Division 2
Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (8-2) at Midland Dow (10-1) WATCH
Reigning Division 2 champion St. Mary’s cleared a major hurdle last week, avenging a Week 8 loss with a 35-14 win over rival Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice. But the Eaglets obviously can’t rest this weekend. Dow played three teams during the regular season playing this weekend for Regional championships (and went 2-1 against them), and a win would send the Chargers to the Semifinals for the first time since 1997. That only loss this fall came to still-undefeated Mount Pleasant in Week 3, and Dow hasn’t given up more than 15 points since.
Other Regional Finals FRIDAY Traverse City Central (7-4) at Portage Central (11-0) WATCH, Dexter (10-1) at Gibraltar Carlson (11-0) WATCH, Birmingham Groves (8-3) at St. Clair Shores Lakeview (9-2) WATCH.
11-Player Division 3
Warren De La Salle Collegiate (5-6) at Detroit Martin Luther King (7-4) WATCH
As likely anticipated, both of these teams have surged in the postseason after navigating two of the toughest schedules in the state. The Pilots actually have won four of their last six games and opened the playoffs with a 56-34 victory over Macomb Area Conference Gold champion Warren Fitzgerald before downing Port Huron last week. King provides another level of challenge, and it opened the playoffs defeating Huron League co-champ Riverview before downing Trenton to clinch a District title.
Other Regional Finals FRIDAY East Grand Rapids (9-2) at Mount Pleasant (11-0) WATCH, Zeeland West (8-3) at Lowell (9-2) WATCH, Fenton (8-3) at DeWitt (11-0) WATCH.
11-Player Division 4
Goodrich (11-0) at Williamston (11-0) WATCH
This could be a clash of styles as Williamston rode big plays to a comeback win last week over Haslett, while Goodrich has won 24 straight games (including last season’s championship decider) with a powerful running attack and physical defense that earned its first shutout of this season last week against Chelsea. The Hornets trailed Haslett 21-7 at halftime last week before scoring 28 third-quarter points mixing speed to get to the perimeter and a potent downfield passing attack.
Other Regional Finals FRIDAY Big Rapids (10-1) vs. Hudsonville Unity Christian (10-1) at Hudsonville Baldwin WATCH. SATURDAY Vicksburg (7-4) at Portland (11-0) WATCH, Dearborn Divine Child (10-1) vs. Harper Woods (11-0) at Westland John Glenn WATCH.
11-Player Division 5
Frankenmuth (10-1) at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep (9-2) WATCH
It was easy at the start of these playoffs to circle this rematch of last year’s Division 5 championship game as one of the most notable matchups in the entire bracket. Notre Dame Prep won last season’s 42-7 and has continued to follow the lead of quarterback San Stowe, putting up 50 or more points against five playoff teams over the course of this fall. The Eagles will counter with a defense that has shown itself plenty capable allowing only 10 points a game and giving up only 17 in its lone loss to reigning Division 4 champ Goodrich.
Other Regional Finals FRIDAY Kalamazoo United (9-2) at Grand Rapids West Catholic (10-1) WATCH, Michigan Center (10-1) at Monroe Jefferson (10-1) WATCH. SATURDAY Ogemaw Heights (10-1) at Saginaw Swan Valley (10-1) WATCH.
11-Player Division 6
Montrose (11-0) at Kent City (11-0), Saturday WATCH
Montrose has built on its first perfect regular season since 2013 with a pair of big home playoff wins the last two weeks, but will travel for this one to take on a Kent City team that finished the regular season undefeated for the first time since 2017 and has added the first District championship in program history. The Eagles no doubt are enjoying a little bit of an additional bump this week with this game at home after playing their first two playoff games – and five of their last seven total – on the road.
Other Regional Finals FRIDAY Reed City (9-2) at Kingsley (9-2) WATCH, Ida (9-2) at Jackson Lumen Christi (8-3) WATCH, Detroit Edison (9-2) at Almont (11-0) WATCH.
11-Player Division 7
Clinton (9-2) at Millington (9-2), Saturday WATCH
This will be the first playoff meeting between these two annual contenders, and neither will shy away from taking on an unfamiliar but powerful opponent. Clinton’s losses this season were to undefeated Hudson and last year’s Division 7 runner-p Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central, and the Redwolves avenged the latter last week by a 22-14 score. The Cardinals won the Division 7 title a year ago downing SMCC 24-0. They lost early this fall to Cass City and then to undefeated Harbor Beach in the regular-season finale – but stormed back to win both of their first two playoff games 49-0.
Other Regional Finals FRIDAY Ithaca (8-3) at Pewamo-Westphalia (10-0) WATCH. SATURDAY Shelby (7-4) at Menominee (11-0) WATCH, Schoolcraft (9-2) at Hanover-Horton (9-2) WATCH.
11-Player Division 8
Beal City (11-0) at Harbor Beach (11-0), Saturday WATCH
The reigning Division 8 champion Aggies have rumbled through their competition this season, winning all of their games by at least two touchdowns and by 40 points on average. Harbor Beach is pursuing a first Regional title since 2018 and has been similarly dominant, winning its games by an average score of 41-8. Both closed the regular-season with a notable nonleague win as well – Harbor Beach over reigning Division 7 champion Millington, and Beal City over Ithaca, which like the Cardinals is also playing for a Division 7 Regional title this weekend.
Other Regional Finals FRIDAY Springport (11-0) at Hudson (11-0) WATCH, Bark River Harris (9-1) at Maple City Glen Lake (9-1) WATCH, Allen Park Cabrini (10-1) at Madison Heights Madison (10-1) WATCH.
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PHOTO Clarkston's Griffin Boman (0) follows his blockers as a Grand Blanc defender pursues during the Wolves' District Final win last Friday. (Photo by Terry Lyons)
Adrian Football's 'Storyteller' Koehn Begins 52nd Season on Radio Waves
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
September 3, 2025
John Koehn used to collect Sports Illustrated covers – with good reason.
Koehn, 74, has been a sports broadcaster at WLEN, a 3,000-watt station at 103.9 on the FM dial in Lenawee County for more than 50 years. If you are at a football or basketball game where Koehn is broadcasting, chances are you will see a “WLEN” banner hanging nearby.
That banner has been in some unique settings.
“We used to collect Sports Illustrated covers because every once in a while, someone would take a photo and I’d be in the background with the WLEN banner doing the game,” Koehn said. “Over the years we had six or seven Sports Illustrated covers that popped up like that. We went all over back then.”
Koehn broadcast University of Michigan football and basketball games for two decades for WLEN, bringing the action home to listeners in Lenawee County long before the days of streaming services or Internet radio. He did live play-by-play at The Spectrum in Philadelphia when Michigan battled Indiana University in the NCAA men’s basketball championship game in 1976.
“That’s always been my favorite Michigan team ever,” Koehn said.
His favorite thing to broadcast – and the one that has stuck the longest – is Adrian High School football. Koehn did his first Maples football game in 1974 and has done almost every Adrian game since, live on the air. Last week he kicked off his 52nd year doing Maples football when Adrian defeated Dundee 21-0 at Maple Stadium.
“I’ve only missed a handful of games,” he said. “I had a wedding once, and I think another time or two I was sick. I thought I was going to do this maybe three or four years. Here I am. On and on it went.”
Joel Przygodski is the Adrian head football coach. Before that he was an assistant for several seasons and got to know Koehn. Now, they do a weekly pregame coaches show together.
“John has been an important part of the Adrian football community,” Przygodski said. “Friends and families of the program have had the pleasure of hearing his voice call our games for a long time. I enjoy our weekly conversations during the season, and we always seem to talk about players and teams from the past.”
Koehn’s voice is familiar to sports fans in Adrian and Lenawee County. In addition to broadcasting Maples football, he also does at least one county high school basketball game a week and still broadcasts live a handful of baseball and softball games every spring.
“Spring sports are tougher,” he said. “Games get canceled, and it becomes difficult to make them up. The weather outside is unpredictable.”
Koehn grew up in Adrian and played football for the Maples in 1967 and 1968. His father, also John Koehn, held various jobs in the county, including teaching a class at Adrian College.
“He was working on his MBA and teaching at Adrian College,” Koehn said. “For his senior business thesis class, he assigned his students a semester project to research the feasibility of starting an FM radio station in Adrian. He gave them all good grades and used the information to start the station.”
His father was granted the license for 103.9 FM in 1965.
“I was in high school, but I was here when it all started,” Koehn said. “I was pushing a broom and that kind of stuff.”
Adrian had an AM radio station at the time, but the FM station was new.
“The first few years we just gave away FM radios and FM car converters so that people could get the signal,” Koehn said.
One of the first things his father did was form a small network of five stations to broadcast University of Michigan football and basketball games.
“When we started, Michigan allowed any station to broadcast as long as they paid the fees,” Koehn said. “There were at least seven stations. Our station started doing Michigan in 1965 when they went on the air. They were able to do that until the mid-1980s before they went to (WJR) network.”
Koehn, who graduated from Notre Dame, never intended to get into broadcasting. He was at an Adrian basketball game when it happened.
“My first game was a basketball game,” he said. “I just went to help out. I was there, doing stats, and the second half started and the general manager who was doing the game said, ‘Here,’ and handed me the microphone. I got handed a soapbox.”
His dad also launched an FM station in Monroe, 98.3, and gave famed WJR host Paul W. Smith his first radio job.
“My dad knew all about big radio,” Koehn said. “He always said the only way we are going to survive is to make it local, local, local.”
For Adrian, University of Michigan football and basketball was local. He put a lot of miles on his car.
“Back in the day, Michigan basketball played games on Thursdays and Saturdays,” he said. “I remember one weekend, on a Thursday morning, I drove to Madison, Wisconsin, to do a Michigan basketball game. I drove home after the game, got home probably 6 a.m., got some sleep, did a high school game Friday night, and Saturday afternoon I went up to Ann Arbor to do Michigan-Indiana and did a high school game Saturday night. I didn’t have much in the way of pipes by then.”
He also was part of the MHSAA broadcasting network for years.
“I was probably doing 80 basketball games a season back then and driving everywhere,” he said.
During his broadcasts, Koehn keeps his own running stats and often refers back to them throughout his coverage. At halftime, he gives halftime stats, such as leading rushers in football, and tracks things like penalties and first downs.
Koehn said he is an Adrian fan for every game – except when the Maples are playing another local team.
“I’m a fan,” he said. “The only time I’m not is when Adrian is playing another county school. You have to be nonpartisan with that.”
The radio stations have remained in the family. WLEN and 96.5 The Cave, an all-sports format station in Adrian, are owned by his late father’s trust. The other two stations in Adrian, 95.3 FM and WABJ – an AM radio station that was around when WLEN was created – are owned by John’s sister Julie. All four stations are housed in one building in downtown Adrian.
Koehn, who is married, has two children, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. His bucket list is to broadcast a hockey game.
While he waits to do that, Koehn remains hooked on broadcasting Adrian football.
“You get to be a little crazy,” he said. “You get into doing the games. We are telling stories and creating memories for people. I’ve had people come up to me and say, ‘Oh, I remember that one game. I was listening. That was one heck of a game.’ It’s all linked to some other memory outside of the football game. Basically, I’m a storyteller – a partisan storyteller.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS John Koehn begins his 52nd season as the voice of Adrian High School football, broadcasting last week from Maple Stadium. (Photos by Deloris Clark-Cheaney.)