Scheduling Solution
September 27, 2016
One of our state's consistently best high school football programs needed a ninth game this season but could find no opponent within the state of Michigan. It was able to find a game with an equally prestigious football program in an adjacent state that was having the same problem – the "problem" of being such a formidable program year after year that other schools shied away from scheduling them.
Two different schools in two different states with two different football playoff formats and qualifying procedures, facing the same problem.
This helps to demonstrate that it is not any particular football playoff system that is at the heart of high school football scheduling difficulties. Much more at fault is human nature. One could change the qualifying system or double the number of qualifiers so that even winless teams make the playoffs, and some schools would still refuse to schedule others, which would then have to travel out of state to complete their schedules.
The solution to football scheduling will have very little to do with expanding the playoff field or changing the qualifying criteria. It is only when the scheduling of varsity football games is removed from the local level and assigned to the MHSAA that all teams will play the opponents that are closest to them in enrollment and location. Hard to fathom that will ever occur. But then, no team would have to travel out of state, or even across the state, to complete a varsity football schedule.
#TBT: Reeths-Puffer Legends Born
November 30, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The “Legends of the Game” program returned to the MHSAA Football Finals this past weekend, as members of the 1992 Muskegon Reeths-Puffer football team and cheerleaders from that fall were honored at Ford Field.
The Rockets won the Class A championship game that season 21-18 over Walled Lake Western at the Pontiac Silverdome as Stacy Starr plucked a last-ditch downfield throw out of the air and raced into the end zone to finish one of the most well-known highlights in MHSAA Football Finals history.
The play included a pitch, then a handoff, then another pitch back to quarterback Geoff Zietlow, who threw toward the end zone. His pass was deflected and snagged by Starr, who raced the final yards for the 37-yard touchdown with 23 seconds to play.
Below is the video that introduced returning players and cheerleaders.
PHOTOS: (Top) Stacy Starr makes his way around defenders to score the game-winning touchdown at the 1992 Class A Final. (Middle) Members of the 1992 Reeths-Puffer football team and cheerleaders watch the Rockets' famous highlight as they are honored at Ford Field.