Council Approves Regional Seeding-Based 11-Player Football Playoffs During Spring Meeting
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 6, 2026
A change to the process for pairing 11-player football teams for the District and Regional rounds of the Michigan High School Athletic Association Playoffs was among the most noteworthy to emerge from the Spring Meeting of the MHSAA Representative Council, May 3-4 in Gaylord.
The Spring Meeting of the 19-member legislative body of the MHSAA’s more than 1,500 member schools is generally the busiest of its sessions each year. The Council considered 20 committee proposals and dealt with a variety of eligibility rule, postseason tournament and operational issues.
The change to designating football playoff pairings using a Regional seeding model was a recommendation from the MHSAA Football Committee. Beginning with this fall’s postseason, the playoff field in each of eight 11-player divisions will first be organized into eight-team Regionals. The eight teams in each Regional will then be seeded based on playoff-point average, with seeds 1, 4, 5 and 8 comprising one District and seeds 2, 3, 6 and 7 comprising the other. The winners of those Districts will play in the Regional Final.
As part of its continuing conversation on transfer matters, the Council approved the use of a “Transfer Tracker” system as the tool for entering student information when a student is transferring between schools, with the use of that tool becoming required with the start of the 2027-28 school year. The “Transfer Tracker” system allows schools to track movements by students between schools and is expected to assist administrators as they confirm students are eligible before participation at a new school.
The Council also took a formal step in ongoing discussions about MHSAA championships, approving a Classification Committee recommendation to create a “study group” made up of representatives from member schools to analyze school demographics, championship data at all levels of MHSAA tournaments and success factors – with those findings then used to assist in future classification processes.
Here is a summary of other notable Spring Meeting actions taken by the Representative Council, which will take effect during the 2026-27 school year:
Regulations
• The Council considered current game suspension guidance when activities are affected by inclement weather and approved an addition to current guidance to state a contest must be suspended if an independently validated lightning-detection device or mobile weather application indicates a lightning strike within 10 miles of the event location. The same devices or applications also may be used to eliminate uncertainty if no thunder can be heard but lightning flashes are observed low on the horizon and possibly farther than 10 miles away.
• The Council also approved a regulation that a student enrolled at an MHSAA member school may not participate as an unattached or non-school participant in any regular-season school contest.
Junior High/Middle School
• Following the creation of similar events in other individual sports, the Council approved a Wrestling Committee recommendation to have the MHSAA act as a presenting sponsor for junior high/middle school Individual Wrestling Regionals to be competed at the conclusions of the Winter 1 and 2 seasons. These Regionals will be conducted by the wrestling coaches association. Junior high/middle school participants may compete in only one Regional, and this event will not count as one of the 10 allowed during the junior high/middle school season.
Officials
• The Council approved an Officials Review Committee recommendation related to officials who make aggressive and/or intentional physical contact with a student or coach. Officials who do so will be suspended for a minimum of 14 days and excluded from postseason assignments.
Sport Matters
• BASKETBALL The Council approved a change in the point differential rule. Once a team trails by 40 points during the first half or 30 during the second, even if the margin becomes smaller than those standards, point-differential timing continues.
• COMPETITIVE CHEER The council approved Competitive Cheer Committee recommendations for new allowances for inversions at the high school level only.
• FIELD HOCKEY On the cusp of the first season of field hockey as an MHSAA-sponsored sport concluding in the fall, the Council approved a pair of Field Hockey Committee recommendations dealing with overtime and conclusion of games. The Council approved a 10-minute reduced player overtime procedure for all regular-season varsity games so that they align with postseason overtime procedures. Unless part of a regular-season bracketed tournament, a game still tied at the end of the 10-minute overtime would be declared a tie.
The Council also approved an inclement weather rule specific to field hockey for games that cannot be resumed after a delay. Any game with a goal differential of three or more at any time after the completion of the second quarter would be considered a complete game.
• FOOTBALL The Council approved a Football Committee recommendation allowing a team to participate in no more than one game of interscholastic football over five consecutive calendar days, and in no more than four interscholastic scrimmages and no more than nine games in one season (exclusive of the MHSAA Playoffs). A student also shall not participate in more than one game or four quarters in one day, and in no more than five quarters during one football week. For the purposes of this regulation, a “football week” is defined as Wednesday to Tuesday.
• GOLF The council approved a Golf Committee recommendation requiring a student to participate in at least eight dates of school team competition to be eligible to compete in the MHSAA Golf Tournament. If a school’s varsity team plays fewer than 16 regular-season dates of competition, a student must instead participate in at least 50 percent of the varsity’s regular-season dates to be eligible for the postseason.
• SOCCER The Council approved a Soccer Committee recommendation to expand the Limited Team Membership allowance for college ID camps to permit unlimited participation during the girls season, as these camps are scheduled during the spring.
The Council also approved a committee recommendation to move Boys Soccer Semifinals to Tuesday during years when Halloween falls on the usual Semifinal day of Wednesday. This is set to occur next in 2029, 2035 and 2040.
• VOLLEYBALL The Council approved a pair of Volleyball Committee recommendations regarding the MHSAA Tournament. The first requires a team receiving a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in a Girls Volleyball District to have a minimum of 15 varsity match results.
The second will allow a textured volleyball to used for the boys volleyball postseason beginning with the 2026-27 school year. Teams may continue to use a smooth or textured ball during regular-season play.
• WRESTLING The Council approved a Wrestling Committee recommendation that will allow, at dual-meet tournaments with an odd number of teams, for eligible individual wrestlers from separate participating teams to assemble as one team and compete in the event.
The Council also reviewed reports on membership, with 756 senior high schools and 773 junior high/middle schools in 2025-26 plus 61 elementary schools with 6th-grader participation; cooperative programs, with 425 high school programs for 807 teams during 2025-26; eligibility advancement applications, which totaled one; the use of Educational Transfer Forms, of which there were 162; travel forms for out-of-state practice, school violations, attendance at athletic director in-service workshops and Coaches Advancement Program sessions; officials’ registrations (which were up for the fifth-consecutive school year), and officials reports submitted for the past three sports seasons. The Association’s $16.8 million budget for the 2026-27 school year also was approved.
The Representative Council is the 19-member legislative body of the MHSAA. All but five are elected by member schools. Four members are appointed by the Council to facilitate representation of females and minorities, and the 19th position is occupied by the Superintendent of Public Instruction or designee.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.
Scholars & Athletes 2017: Class B
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 13, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The MHSAA has selected nine student-athletes from Class B member schools to receive scholarships through the MHSAA-Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award program.
Farm Bureau Insurance, in its 28th year of sponsoring the award, will give $1,000 college scholarships to 32 individuals who represent their member schools in at least one sport in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament. The first 30 scholarships are awarded proportionately by school classification and the number of student-athletes involved in those classes; also, there are two at-large honorees which can come from any classification.
Students applying for the Scholar-Athlete Award must be carrying at least a 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale) grade-point average and have previously won a letter in a varsity sport in which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors a postseason tournament. Other requirements for the applicants were to show active participation in other school and community activities and produce an essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.
Each of the scholarship recipients will be honored at halftime ceremonies of the Class C Boys Basketball Final game March 25 at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing. Commemorative medallions will be given to the finalists in recognition of their accomplishments.
The Class B Scholar-Athlete Award honorees are: Michael Bian, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood; Morgan Colling, Houghton; Jasmine Harper, Clare; Sasha Hartje, Detroit Country Day; Brayden Huddleston, Benzonia Benzie Central; Adam Kozinski, Edwardsburg; Tait Morrissey, Big Rapids; Kim Anh Nguyen, Wyoming Kelloggsville; and Emma Nowak, Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard.
Overviews of the scholarship recipients of the Class B Scholar-Athlete Award follow. A quote from each recipient's essay also is included:
Morgan Colling
Houghton
Played four years of varsity basketball and ran two years each of varsity cross country and track & field, plus played two seasons of subvarsity volleyball. Qualified for the MHSAA Finals twice in both cross country and track and earned all-league recognition in basketball while helping that team to three league and two District titles during her first three seasons. Served as cross country and basketball captain. Participating in second year of National Honor Society and third of student government and key club. Serving as service project coordinator chair for NHS and vice president for key club, and has volunteered with Salvation Army and Copper Country Humane Society all four years of high school. Participated two years in Junior State of America and studied during the summer of 2016 in Hiroshima, Japan, after winning a Japan-America Friendship Scholarship. Will study microbiology at California Polytechnic State University.
Essay Quote: “When my vision cleared and I saw the winning team, overjoyed and grinning ear-to-ear, something inside me mended. I recognized the look on their faces; I had seen it many times before on my own teammates. It was then that I realized that the only difference between my team, and theirs, was our uniforms. As fellow basketball players, we shared the same passion, determination and yearning for success.”
Jasmine Harper
Clare
Ran four year of varsity cross country and will run her fourth of track & field, and has broken a total of four school records while earning a combined 10 all-state honors in those sports. Selected as the top academic all-state cross country athlete in Lower Peninsula Division 3 as a junior and capped her career this past fall by finishing ninth at the MHSAA Final in that division. Served as captain of both teams and ran for Michigan at the 2016 Mid-East Meet of Champions. Participated two years each in National Honor Society and student government, as her class president both years of the latter. Also participated in marching and symphonic band all four years of high school and theater for three years; earned 10 state merit awards and two national fourth-place finishes from the National Youth Ministries’ National Fine Arts Festival. Also served in leadership roles in her local Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Will attend Spring Arbor University and study elementary education.
Essay Quote: “I was the conference champion my freshman year of cross country, but illness and injuries prevented me from keeping that title the next three years. I experienced what it was like to have a younger teammate beat me. But, I was reminded to treat everyone the same, whether I won or lost.”
Sasha Hartje
Detroit Country Day
Played three seasons of varsity volleyball and will pay her fourth of tennis and second of soccer this spring. Won Lower Peninsula Division 3 championship at No. 1 singles in 2016 after finishing runner-up in 2015, also leading Country Day to the team title. Earned all-state honors in tennis three times and all-region honorable mention in volleyball; served as captain of both teams and earned her school’s Scholar Athlete Award in 2016. Also plays ice hockey and was part of the 2014 bantam major national championship team, and serves as captain of her Little Caesars AAA hockey club. Serves as president of her school’s Current Events Club and lead instructor and coordinator for “Skate to be Great” in addition to volunteering with Big Brothers Big Sisters. Will attend Emory University in Georgia and major in pre-medical studies.
Essay Quote: “Over the years, these lessons I have been taught on the tennis court have rounded out not only my athletic education, but more importantly, my life. The lessons of sportsmanship and fair play on the field of battle, in the classroom or outside of both sports and school are always the same and carry the true measure of success.”
Kim Anh Nguyen
Wyoming Kelloggsville
Participated in varsity competitive cheer for three seasons, played two of varsity tennis and one of varsity volleyball. Earned all-conference honors in cheer as a sophomore and junior while helping her teams to league titles both seasons; served as captain of cheer and junior varsity volleyball teams. Participating in fourth year of student government and third of National Honor Society and is serving as president both of her class and NHS chapter. Also has participated in marching band four years including as drum major and for three years on her school’s Athletic Leadership Council. Will attend University of Michigan and study biochemistry.
Essay Quote: “When I am in a gym full of teams from all over the state, I see girls of different backgrounds, all wearing different uniforms. Despite this, we are unified by the same adrenaline that pumps through our veins as we approach an empty mat and staring faces. We are bound by the same passion and breathe as one before we perform. This sense of unity would not be possible without sportsmanship, for it creates memories that extend beyond titles and trophies.”
Emma Nowak
Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard
Played three seasons of varsity volleyball and will play her fourth of softball; also played freshman basketball. Started as setter of the volleyball team that finished 42-0 and won the Class B title in 2015 and three District and two Regional titles overall during her time on varsity; also expects to start at shortstop for her fourth season and helped her team to its first Detroit Catholic League title in 2015. Earned all-league honors in both sports, all-District in softball and all-Region in volleyball, and captained teams in all three of her high school sports and club volleyball. Participating in second year of National Honor Society and serves or has served in leadership positions for a number of efforts in her school and church including Be Love Revolution and as part of the Pine Hills Camp service team. Carries a 3.97 grade-point average and has earned multiple academic awards. Remains undecided on where she will attend college but intends to pursue studies in the medical field.
Essay Quote: “I have always been taught to compete hard, while respecting my opponent. What I have come to learn is you can also befriend your opponent and still compete every bit as hard … and that sportsmanship in athletics can lead to friendships and memories that I will always cherish.”
Michael Bian
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
Played four seasons of varsity tennis, winning an individual Lower Peninsula Division 3 championship at No. 1 doubles in the fall after finishing runner-up at No. 3 singles twice; helped Cranbrook Kingswood to MHSAA team titles in both 2015 and 2016 and served as captain as a senior. Earned all-state recognition the last three seasons and his team earned all-academic honors as well the last three years. Also has participated on robotics and quiz bowl teams the last four years, helping robotics team to a state championship and VEX World Championship qualification three times. Serving as vice president of senior class while in fourth year of student government and is co-founder and president of his school’s philosophy club; also has been president of robotics and quiz bowl teams and of his school’s Future Business Leaders & Economists and Science & Engineering clubs. Named National Consumers League LifeSmarts state champion and ranked as ninth-best debater at 2016 state finals. Remains undecided where he will attend college, but intends to study philosophy, economics or political science.
Essay Quote: “One of the greatest myths we hear about sportsmanship is that it is purely altruistic – that those who engage in it have nothing to gain. On the contrary, those who display sportsmanship gain important virtues.”
Brayden Huddleston
Benzonia Benzie Central
Ran four seasons of cross country, will run his fourth of track & field and played two seasons of varsity basketball. Earned all-state honors all four years of cross country, finishing seventh in Lower Peninsula Division 3 as a senior, and helped that team to two MHSAA championships. Also earned all-state five times in track and helped the basketball team to a District title, and has captained all three teams. Participating in second year of both National Honor Society and National Technological Honors Society; named “Student of the Year” at Traverse City’s Manufacturing Technology Academy. Serves as vice president of Interact Club which has raised more than $10,000 toward polio and multiple sclerosis research and has participated in “Back the Track” foundation that has raised more than $140,000. Will attend Bradley University and study mechanical engineering.
Essay Quote: “One of my biggest role models was a runner from another team. I remember watching, as a freshman, him dominate the field. It wasn’t how fast he ran or the distance he put on the second-place kid that made him stick out to me. … He was modest, never wanting to talk about himself. He had a way of making you feel just as fast or (like you had) the same potential as he did. At these realizations, I aspired to model my athletic career after him.”
Adam Kozinski
Edwardsburg
Played three seasons of varsity soccer and basketball and will play his third of varsity golf; also played a season of varsity tennis. Earned all-league honors in basketball and tennis and academic all-state in basketball and soccer while his team earned academic all-state in golf. Helped his basketball team to two District titles and has served as a captain of the soccer, basketball and golf teams. Serves as secretary of his National Honor Society chapter and as a committee chairperson for Students Against Destructive Decisions. Assisted in NHS fundraising of more than $30,000 for “Operation Christmas” event to benefit less-fortunate families and represented his school at a Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership conference. Has volunteered at a local food pantry and churches and serves as Sunday morning head chef at University of Notre Dame’s Corby Hall, where he prepares meals for priests. Will attend Central Michigan University and study business.
Essay Quote: “Having an opportunity to play varsity sports since my freshman year, I have experienced a variety of ways senior and junior teammates treat underclassmen. Throughout the years, I have observed seniors that are very positive and uplifting to underclassmen, but then some other senior teammates are negative. … I decided when I was a senior, I would try to be the most positive and encouraging teammate on the team.”
Tait Morrissey
Big Rapids
Played four seasons of varsity tennis, two of varsity basketball and will play his fourth of varsity golf this spring. Earned all-conference honors in golf his first three seasons and helped that team to league, District and Regional championships and a third-place MHSAA Finals finish last season. Also helped his basketball team to league, District and Regional titles and a Class B Semifinal berth in 2016. Earned academic all-state honors in tennis his last two seasons; served as captain of that team and will serve as golf captain this spring. Serving second year as his class’ vice president and also has served as a representative for Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Mecosta County Youth Advisory Council and his schools “Climate Crew” and in a number of leadership roles including as patrol leader of his Boy Scout troop. Participating in National Honor Society, key club, Students Against Destructive Decisions and attended American Legion Boys State in 2016. Also is a member of the Boy Scouts’ Order of the Arrow honor society. Will attend Alma College and major in pre-medical studies.
Essay Quote: “Although high school athletics are highly competitive, and emotions tend to run high, standard values such as sportsmanship are necessary in order to embrace and give meaning to the event. In turn, athletes learn integrity, ethics and values.”
Other Class B girls finalists for the Scholar-Athlete Award were: Michel Faliski, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood; Madeline Filiatraut, Dearborn Divine Child; Noelle Kraus, Edwardsburg; Peyton Rellinger, Gladwin; Lindsey Shearer, Gladwin; Erika Freyhof, Hamilton; Haley Heldt, Midland Bullock Creek; Megan Aalberts, Otsego; Raechel K. McKiernan, Richmond; Kylie Hutchinson, Shepherd; and Gabrielle Smith, Yale.
Other Class B boys finalists for the Scholar-Athlete Award were: Michael J. Gussert, Cadillac; Christopher A. Roush, Chelsea; Collin Lieber, Croswell-Lexington; Evan Latham, Dearborn Divine Child; Patrick Johns, Marine City; Richard Dominick Reo III, Paw Paw; Brendan Gered Fraser, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep; Ryley Alaspa, Sault Ste. Marie; Ryan Sanderson, Sault Ste. Marie; Josef Hissom, Spring Lake; Andrew D. Marten, Tecumseh; and Cade Smeznik, Yale.
The Class C and D scholarship award recipients were announced Feb. 7, and the Class A honorees will be announced Feb. 21.
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