1st & Goal: 2026 Week 6 Preview
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 2, 2026
Fall clearly has reached Michigan this week with temperatures beginning to dive, leaves falling to the ground, and the football regular season driving into its second half with league and playoff races taking shape.
This week’s schedule includes four matchups of 5-0 teams and several others that will further how those league championships could shake out, and also how the playoff field of 288 could unfold at the end of this month.
Games below are Friday unless noted. Tune in to the NFHS Network to watch the majority and follow the MHSAA Scores page for results as they’re submitted.
Bay & Thumb
Harrison (5-0) at Sanford Meridian (5-0)
The winner will claim a share of the Jack Pine Conference Division 2 title, with these two deciding the champion for the second season in a row as Meridian’s 20-6 victory last fall ended up giving the Mustangs the league title by a game over Harrison. Meridian is coming off an impressive 36-29 win over Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood in what was a meeting of undefeated teams, and the Mustangs have scored at least 34 points every week – although that likely will be challenged by a Harrison defense giving up 8.4 ppg.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Cass City (4-1) at Caro (3-2), Gladwin (4-1) at Midland Bullock Creek (3-2), Traverse City West (3-2) at Midland Dow (3-2), Ubly (4-1) at Unionville-Sebewaing (3-2).
Greater Detroit
Toledo Central Catholic (5-1) at Detroit Catholic Central (5-0), Saturday
Both teams are off to 2-0 starts in the Catholic High School League Central, but neither has much time to let up the rest of the way. DCC follows this matchup with a road game at reigning Division 2 champion Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in Week 7 and still must face Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice in Week 9. Last week was the first DCC didn’t reach 50 points – scoring a plenty respectable 36 – and it will be interesting to see how matchups translate as TCC is coming off a 49-7 win over Jackson Lumen Christi.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Detroit Martin Luther King (4-1) at Detroit East English (4-1), Dearborn Fordson (4-1) at Northville (5-0), Monroe Jefferson (5-0) at New Boston Huron (4-1), Port Huron (5-0) at Macomb L’Anse Creuse North (4-1).
Mid-Michigan
Pewamo-Westphalia (5-0) at Fowler (5-0)
These two started playing each other annually in 1966, and Fowler is the only league team that’s given the Pirates much trouble over the last several seasons. In fact, the Eagles are the only team that has defeated P-W in Central Michigan Athletic Conference play since 2010 – doing so four times. If last week’s 59-14 neutral-site win over Bark River-Harris is an indication, the Pirates are once again continuing to get stronger as the year goes on. But the Eagles already have three shutouts this fall, and as the teams have traded the last four meetings this would be Fowler’s turn on top after P-W won 37-6 a year ago.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Hopkins (5-0) at Belding (5-0), Hartland (4-1) at Howell (5-0), Ovid-Elsie (3-2) at New Lothrop (4-1), Montrose (4-1) at Durand (3-2).
Northern Lower Peninsula
Maple City Glen Lake (3-2) at Oscoda (3-2)
Five teams in the Northern Michigan Football Conference are 3-2 or better, and while neither of these leads the league currently (that’s East Jordan), both have a chance to shake up the standings over the next four weeks. Oscoda has rebounded from two losses to already surpass last season’s win total, while Glen Lake is a reigning league champion but can’t afford a misstep after falling to East Jordan by a point in Week 3.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Elk Rapids (3-2) at Boyne City (3-2), Evart (3-2) at Manton (3-2), Gaylord (3-2) at Petoskey (3-2). SATURDAY Pontiac Notre Dame Prep (2-3) at Traverse City St. Francis (3-2).
Southeast & Border
Clinton (5-0) at Hudson (4-1)
Clinton and Ida are tied for first in the Lenawee County Athletic Association and meet in Week 7. But Hudson could throw a wrench into that matchup deciding a league championship share by extending its winning streak over Clinton to three. While the Redwolves have been impossible to stop so far scoring 43 or more points in every game and holding opponents to a combined 33 over five weeks, Hudson has reached 48 points three times in four games and given up more than six points just once.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Adrian (4-1) at Tecumseh (4-1), Leslie (4-1) at Manchester (4-1), Springport (4-1) at Reading (3-2), Ypsilanti Community (3-2) at Chelsea (5-0).
Southwest Corridor
Decatur (5-0) at Galesburg-Augusta (5-0)
Decatur is attempting to close in on a second-straight Southwest 10 Conference title and has won 14 straight league games over the last three seasons including what’s turned into a significant one in Week 1 this fall, 29-25 over Cassopolis. Galesburg-Augusta is among teams that came over from the Southwestern Athletic Conference for football this season and is enjoying its best run in decades – and a win over the Raiders would be the biggest highlight yet.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Schoolcraft (4-1) at Kalamazoo United (5-0), St. Joseph (4-1) at Portage Northern (3-2), Coldwater (4-1) at Battle Creek Harper Creek (4-1), Dowagiac (3-2) at Berrien Springs (5-0).
Upper Peninsula
L’Anse (3-2) at Bark River-Harris (4-1)
L’Anse is one of three teams in the Western Peninsula Athletic Conference Iron chasing Bark River-Harris, which fell last week to Division 7 contender Pewamo-Westphalia on a neutral field but otherwise is undefeated. The Broncos also have won all three recent meetings with L’Anse, but the Purple Hornets bounced back from two straight losses this fall to down Gwinn last week and are working to build on last season’s playoff appearance.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Kingsford (5-0) at Hancock (3-2), Negaunee (3-2) at Ishpeming Westwood (2-3), Menominee (5-0) at Gladstone (1-4), Calumet (3-2) at Houghton (1-4).
West Michigan
Middleville Thornapple Kellogg (5-0) at Grand Rapids Catholic Central (4-1)
Middleville has built well on last season’s 7-3 finish, already avenging last year’s one-point loss to Holland Christian and hoping for a similar result in this week’s matchup after falling to Grand Rapids Catholic Central 10-0 a year ago. The Trojans and Cougars are the early leaders in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Black, and Catholic Central is coming off a notable 10-point win over East Grand Rapids – with its lone regular-season loss over the last two seasons in Week 2 to Chicago Kenwood Academy.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Rockford (3-2) at East Kentwood (5-0), Zeeland East (3-2) at Zeeland West (4-1), Byron Center (4-1) at Muskegon Mona Shore (4-1), Coopersville (5-0) at Sparta (3-2).
8-Player
Portland St. Patrick (5-0) at Pickford (5-0)
These two won’t meet in the playoffs as they are in different divisions, but they both might end up playing on the last day of the season at the Superior Dome. St. Patrick is a contender in Division 2, undefeated in part thanks to a forfeit win from Blanchard Montabella but also now riding an 18-game winning streak. Pickford is hoping for a title run in Division 1 and like the Shamrocks is annually capable of chasing that high bar.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Bridgman (4-1) at St. Joseph Our Lady of the Lake Catholic (4-1), Norway (4-1) at Crystal Falls Forest Park (4-1), Kingston (4-1) at Deckerville (4-1), Climax-Scotts (4-1) at Marcellus (4-1).
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PHOTO Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary sophomore quarterback Mason Krager (13) scrambles to elude Fowler senior linebacker Jack O’Hare (52) during the second quarter of their season opener Aug. 28 in Saginaw. (Photo by Kolleth Photography.)
Robichaud 3-Sport Legend Wheatley Selected to National High School Hall of Fame
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 11, 2024
The playing career of 1991 Dearborn Heights Robichaud graduate Tyrone Wheatley remains one of the most storied in Michigan high school sports history. His prestige gained during that early stage of his athletic stardom has been recognized nationally as well, as Wheatley was one of 12 honorees announced today as this year’s inductees into the National High School Hall of Fame by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
Wheatley – who grew up in Inkster and is currently the head football coach at Wayne State University – will be inducted as one of 11 honorees selected for the 41st Hall of Fame class at a ceremony during the NFHS summer meeting July 1 in Boston. The rest of the class is made up of three more athletes, four coaches, two former state association administrators and a game official. Wheatley was nominated by the Michigan High School Athletic Association.
Wheatley will become the Hall of Fame’s 10th inductee from Michigan, joining the MHSAA’s first full-time Executive Director Charles E. Forsythe (inducted 1983), River Rouge boys basketball coach Lofton Greene (1986), Warren Regina athletic director, softball and basketball coach Diane Laffey (2000), Fennville basketball and baseball standout Richie Jordan (2001), Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett boys and girls tennis coach Bob Wood (2005), Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook hockey standout Jim Johnson (2007), Owosso football, basketball and baseball all-stater Brad Van Pelt (2011); Vermontville Maple Valley baseball national record holder Ken Beardslee (2016) and retired MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts (2022).
To the greater public, Wheatley surely is best known as a star running back for University of Michigan who went on to play 10 seasons in the NFL for the New York Giants and Oakland Raiders. However, he is arguably most glorified in Michigan high school athletics for his accomplishments on the track, where as a junior in 1990 he became the first (of still only two) athletes to win four individual events at an MHSAA Lower Peninsula Finals – placing first in the 100 and 200-meter dashes, 110-meter hurdles and long jump. He led Robichaud to the Class B team title that day, scoring 40 of its 49 points. Wheatley completed his high school career in 1991 with three more Class B individual track & field championships and nine total over his final three seasons; he was injured in the 100 during that senior-year meet and could not run his final race to attempt another four-title day.
Wheatley’s meet records of 13.7 seconds in the 100 at the 1991 LP Class B Final and 23-10¾ in long jump in 1989 still stood when the four-Class track & field format was retired after the 1999 season. He also remains the only athlete to win the 100 three times at the prestigious Mehock Relays in Mansfield, Ohio, also finishing first in the 110 hurdles and 200 and runner-up in the long jump at that meet in 1991.
Wheatley was similarly accomplished on the high school football field, leading his team to a state championship in 1990 and earning a Parade All-America honor. Over three varsity seasons total he ran for a combined 4,257 yards and 67 touchdowns, including 2,010 yards and 33 scores on 208 carries as a senior in 1990 – the latter despite playing quarterback half of that season (and throwing five touchdown passes). He played quarterback, running back, defensive back, punter, kicker and returned kicks, and he scored 252 points over 13 games as a senior and 484 over 38 career games.
Wheatley also was a standout on the basketball court for Robichaud, averaging 14 points and 16 rebounds per game as a senior in earning all-state recognition in that sport as well.
“My city where I come from, Inkster, means the world to me. I grew up in an incredible era of sports in Michigan (with successful University of Michigan and Detroit pro teams) … but if you ask me who my idols were, they were the guys I grew up with playing on the playground,” Wheatley said. “After you come from a basketball game where you see Jarvis Walker drop 30, or Earl Jones running the last 200 of a race backwards … you hear people talk about them, you hear their reverence about them, and I just wanted to be put in the conversation of the best to come out of Inkster, forget the state. I can tell you this for sure: I’m not the best athlete to come out of Inkster, just the person who got the recognition. And my foundation was built watching, taking notes, preparing, working out and just trying to be one of the guys.
“(Robichaud was) the step. Because without Robichaud … Michigan, the NFL, me coming back to coach, it doesn’t happen,” Wheatley said. “Without the Robert Yaucks (his football coach at Robichaud), the Coach (Leit) Jones (his Robichaud track coach), the Coach (Mercer) Brysons, the (coach) Wade Cooks, the (coach Jeff) Flounorys, the Millie Hursins (his academic advisor) of the world, this doesn’t happen. Without my high school teammates, none of this happens. So it’s not just a step. What’s the saying – the first impression is the lasting and best impression? Robichaud was it.”
Wheatley returned to Robichaud as its varsity football coach in 2007 and led that team to a 9-2 record and the MHSAA Playoffs for the first time since 1994 – after Robichaud had finished 0-9 the previous season. He has served as an assistant football coach at four college programs including U-M and Syracuse, and with the Buffalo Bills, Jacksonville Jaguars and Denver Broncos.
He also served as Morgan State University's head coach from 2019-21 and just completed his first season as head coach at Wayne State, which finished 3-8 – an improvement of two wins from 2022 and the program’s best record since 2019.
Wheatley graduated from University of Michigan in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology. He and wife Kimberly have five children: Tyrone Jr., Terius, Tyrique, Tiana and Tamari. Tyrone Jr., an offensive tackle, played this past season for the New England Patriots.
“Many of us who grew up in Michigan grew up as fans of Tyrone Wheatley because of what he accomplished at the college level – but his legendary story begins at Dearborn Heights Robichaud, where his outsized athletic ability was on full display in every sport he played,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “Michigan has produced several professional athletes in a variety of sports and nearly 50 Olympians in track & field alone, and what Tyrone Wheatley achieved as a high school athlete remains a standard few have approached. We are ecstatic that he will deservedly take his place among the all-time elite high school athletes nationally as well.”
The National High School Hall of Fame was started in 1982 by the NFHS. The 11 individuals were chosen after a two-level selection process involving a screening committee composed of active high school state association administrators, coaches and officials, and a final selection committee composed of coaches, former athletes, state association officials, media representatives and educational leaders. Nominations were made through NFHS member associations. Also chosen for this class were athletes Joe Mauer (Minnesota), Takeo Spikes (Georgia) and Dot Ford Burrow (Mississippi); sport coaches Paula Kirkland (South Carolina), Gary Rankin (Tennessee), Roy Snyder (Pennsylvania) and Ronald Vincent (North Carolina); former state association administrators Mike Colbrese (Washington) and Marie Ishida (California), and baseball/football game official David Core (Oklahoma).
For more on this year’s Hall of Fame class, visit the NFHS Website.
PHOTO Tyrone Wheatley crosses the finish line first during one of his nine MHSAA Finals track & field championship victories. (MHSAA file photo.)