1st & Goal: 2026 Week 8 Preview
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 15, 2026
Winner takes it all.
That might be the most to-the-point expression in sports – and most exhilarating scenario.
And it’s going to play out all over Michigan this weekend, as one last game will determine several league championships and provide crowning achievements – at least for now – rewarding the last two months of work.
Games highlighted are tonight unless noted. Tune in to the NFHS Network to watch the majority and follow the MHSAA Scores page for results as they’re submitted. Keep an eye as well on the Playoff Point Summary page to watch how those lists are updated with every win and loss.
Bay & Thumb
Grand Blanc (7-0) at Davison (6-1)
The Saginaw Valley League South title has come down to these rivals for the third straight season, as neither has lost a conference game this fall although Davison has two remaining and Grand Blanc finishes up tonight. Last season it was the Bobcats with a 57-29 win that decided the league title, and they’ve won two straight championships after Davison’s most recent in 2023. Neither has been challenged much over the last month; the lone loss between them was the Cardinals’ in Week 2 to still-undefeated Detroit Catholic Central.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Flint Elite (5-2) at Burton Bendle (7-0), Goodrich (7-0) at Fenton (6-1), Frankenmuth (6-1) at Saginaw Swan Valley (7-0), Gladwin (5-2) at Sanford Meridian (7-0).
Greater Detroit
Detroit Cass Tech (7-0) vs. Detroit Martin Luther King (6-1) at Ford Field
Although King has defeated Cass Tech twice over the last five seasons, the Technicians have won all five of their city championship game rematches and will attempt to add this time to a 20-7 victory over the Crusaders in Week 5. That was easily the toughest challenge Cass Tech has faced this season, and if King generates more offense this time it could make a run at breaking a four-game losing streak against its rival.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Detroit Central (6-1) vs. Detroit Denby (5-2) at Ford Field, Ecorse (7-0) at Detroit Edison (6-1), Clarkston (7-0) at Harper Woods (6-1), Walled Lake Western (6-1) at South Lyon East (6-1).
Mid-Michigan
DeWitt (6-1) at Grand Ledge (7-0)
Despite suffering its first regular-season loss this fall since 2023, DeWitt still has a 21-game Capital Area Activities Conference Blue winning streak intact and a familiar challenge ahead as these two also decided the league title last season. DeWitt won that one 59-7 amid a perfect fall that ended with a Division 3 championship victory, and the lone loss this season came to still-unbeaten Mason. The Comets will work to slow the Panthers’ offense, but instead may have to answer it with a similarly successful attack.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Fowler (6-1) at Ithaca (7-0), Napoleon (6-1) at Leslie (4-3), Hastings (52) at Mason (7-0), Olivet (5-2) at Lake Odessa Lakewood (6-1).
Northern Lower Peninsula
Marquette (5-2) at Petoskey (5-2)
Petoskey has been chasing in the Big North Conference since falling to Cadillac 22-20 in Week 5, but the Northmen have lost twice by a combined five points this fall and can finish with a share of the league title by getting past the Sentinels. Marquette already owns a share and won last year’s meeting 20-7. After opening this fall with a pair of nonleague losses to Negaunee and Menominee, the Sentinels have run through the BNC unscathed, with a 33-27 win over Cadillac especially of note.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Escanaba (3-4) at Cadillac (5-2), Charlevoix (5-2) at Elk Rapids (5-2), East Jordan (6-1) at Frankfort (5-2), Evart (3-4) at McBain (5-2).
Southeast & Border
Monroe Jefferson (7-0) at Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central (7-0)
It’s difficult to imagine a better way to end an era, as this will be the final Huron League matchup between these neighbors for now with St. Mary moving to the Catholic High School League next fall. The Falcons are seeking a third-straight Huron title on their way out, having won it outright in 2024 and then sharing with Jefferson and Riverview last season. That split title was the product in part of SMCC’s 20-15 win over Jefferson, and both have fended off close challenges this fall to set up this winner-take-all scenario.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Saline (7-0) at Temperance Bedford (7-0), Adrian Madison (6-1) at Clinton (6-1), Ida (6-1) at Hudson (6-1). SATURDAY Hanover-Horton (6-1) at Manchester (6-1).
Southwest Corridor
Vicksburg (7-0) at Edwardsburg (7-0)
This isn’t quite winner-take-all, but the winner will earn a share of the Wolverine Conference title although Vicksburg must still face Paw Paw next week and Edwardsburg will travel to see three-time reigning champ Niles. An Eddies win tonight would give them their first Wolverine championship since 2022, while Vicksburg is seeking its first since the league went to one division again in 2015. Vicksburg won both of last season’s matchups, 38-35 during the regular season and 43-30 in a Division 4 District opener.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Reading (4-3) at Bronson (5-2), Coldwater (5-2) at Marshall (6-1), Lawton (5-2) at Parchment (4-3), Portage Northern (4-3) at Kalamazoo Loy Norrix (4-3).
Upper Peninsula
Kingsford (7-0) at Menominee (7-0)
The Western Peninsula Athletic Conference Copper could send five of its seven teams to the playoffs this season, and great matchups have abounded all fall – but this is the title decider most have anticipated. Kingsford won 14-12 in 2024 to claim the championship, and Menominee stormed back with a 49-14 clincher last season on the way to also claiming the Division 7 title. Both are coming off close wins last week, Kingsford over Ishpeming Westwood and Menominee over Negaunee.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Manistique (4-3) at Bark River-Harris (6-1), Hancock (3-4) at L’Anse (3-4), Houghton (2-5) at Negaunee (4-3), Calumet (4-3) at Gladstone (1-6).
West Michigan
Ravenna (6-1) at North Muskegon (6-1)
North Muskegon is 27-0 in the West Michigan Conference Rivers since the league split into divisions in 2022, but arguably the most consistent challenges during that run have come from Ravenna – which actually avenged a title-deciding loss in 2022 with a 10-7 playoff win over the Norsemen. North Muskegon did win last year’s meeting 36-29 and has extended its streak in part with a one-point victory over Shelby in Week 3 and 11-pointer over Manistee in Week 6.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Middleville Thornapple Kellogg (6-1) at East Grand Rapids (5-2), Cassopolis (6-1) at Saugatuck (5-2), Rockford (4-3) at Hudsonville (5-2), Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills (6-1) at Lowell (5-2).
8-Player
Mendon (7-0) at Climax-Scotts (6-1)
One of these two has won their league the last four seasons, with Mendon already securing a share of the Southern Central Athletic Association Red championship this fall. The Hornets will attempt to make that title outright with a third-straight victory over Climax-Scotts (including a 2024 Regional win). But the Panthers can grab a share as well as they’ve rebounded nicely from a Week 4 loss to Colon, putting up a combined 157 points over three wins since scoring eight in that defeat.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Powers North Central (5-2) at Felch North Dickinson (4-3), Pickford (6-1) at Gaylord St. Mary (7-0), Marion (7-0) at Onekama (6-1). SATURDAY Mio (5-2) at Merrill (6-1).
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PHOTO Detroit Martin Luther King and Cass Tech linemen line up across from each other during their Week 5 matchup. (Click for more from Olivia B. Photography.)
Hudson Paying 50-Year Tribute to Winning Streak Record-Setters, Supporters
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
October 14, 2025
It’s a little over two hours’ drive from Mount Pleasant to Hudson. But the November 1975 bus ride seemed to take forever.
The Hudson football team had just lost in the Class C state championship game to Ishpeming, ending a national record 72-game winning streak, and was on the way home.
“It was a really long ride,” said Ray Curran, an assistant coach for the Tigers. “A quiet ride.”
After the game, Hudson head coach Tom Saylor let his players know they had played hard and he was proud of them, but there were plenty of tears.
“We tried to tell them it wasn’t the end of the world,” Curran said.
For nearly everyone except maybe a few coaches, it was the first, and probably last, time they rode the bus home after a loss.
Hudson’s streak still stands today as the record for consecutive wins by a varsity football team in Michigan. From Week 2 of the 1968 season until the Class C Final in 1975, the Tigers never tasted defeat.
As disappointing as it was to lose, what happened on that bus ride home had a huge impact on the program for years to come.
“When we got close to town, we started to see fire trucks and cars lining the streets,” Curran said. “We lost, but the fans still showed up for us. We had tremendous community support from parents and families and community members. I think that made a lot of the players feel like everything was going to be okay.”
Everything was okay. In fact, Hudson went 9-0 the next season, although the Tigers failed to qualify for the MHSAA Playoffs (which had a field of only four teams in each classification, 16 teams total, at the time).
To mark the end of that incredible 72-game win streak, Hudson is inviting back everyone who had a part in those undefeated teams during the 1960s and 1970s – players, coaches, cheerleaders, band and members of the flag corps are all expected to take part in the ceremony before Friday’s final home game of the regular season at Thompson Field in Hudson.
Bill Mullaly, who played for Hudson during that streak and has become a historian for the Tigers, said this celebration will be the last one.
“This is it,” Mullaly said. “It’s been 50 years, and this is the last one we are planning.”
Curran went to see Saylor a few weeks before he died, at the family’s request. Saylor had been in declining health and had dementia. Curran said when they got together, they talked football.
“We were talking about some of the games, some of the players,” he said. “He definitely remembered. It was a good visit.”
Hudson’s football team this season is undefeated, ranked No. 1 in Division 8 and gearing up for what the Tigers hope is another historic playoff run. Head coach Dan Rogers said the record streak remains an important piece of the community’s history, and the celebration Friday and recent passing of Saylor have brought it all back to the forefront.
“It’s definitely a big part of the community,” Rogers said. “I grew up here, and I’ve heard stories about it. You don’t live it, but you are part of it. I think it has helped mold our community, and it has been a way to identify the community. The streak is definitely alive and well.”
To commemorate this season, current Hudson players will be wearing a throwback uniform Friday – black and white jerseys with orange pants and the same design of socks the players in the 1970s wore. The helmet sticker will be the same one used during the streak.
“It’s all been very positive, all season,” Rogers said. “Some of the kids have grandpas that played in the streak, which is great. They weren’t around, but I think it’s my job to pass all of that along to a new generation. We have embraced it.”
Rogers said he’s gone back and talked to former players and coaches, and Hudson plans to pattern much of its pregame routine on the Tigers’ during Saylor’s regime.
“We have people coming back who haven’t been to a Hudson football game since they played here,” Rogers said. “They had a lot of cool traditions back then. We want them to be proud.”
One of the current assistant coaches is Chris Luma, who played on that 1975 team. Luma was Hudson’s head coach before Rogers took over six years ago. He and Saylor were close. Luma will speak at Saylor’s memorial service later this month.
“It just seemed like with Tom you were learning life lessons along with how to win football games,” he said. “He installed discipline in all of us. What he had us go through was the things you needed to know to go through life.”
Mullaly also played for Saylor.
“He didn’t put Hudson on the map, but he took it to another level,” he said. “He was a great coach and a great man. His legacy is with Hudson football.”
Rogers said after Saylor died, more RSVPs started coming in for Friday’s event.
“It’s brought it to another level,” he said. “There are people flying in from all over the country to be a part of it. This is the final one. After this, it’s only the stories.”
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 (Top) A wall in the Hudson press box tells of the football program’s rich history. (Middle) Tom Saylor, top, was the longtime coach of the Tigers dynasty, while Tim Decker (18) was among standouts during the streak. (Below) Hudson players come together for a quick photo on a game night this fall. (Wall photo by Doug Donnelly. Saylor photo courtesy of Todd Saylor; Decker photo courtesy of Jackson Citizen Patriot/Hudson Historical Museum. Current team photo by Rachel Stiverson.).