Three Area Football Squads Ready For Playoffs

The football teams at , and have all qualified for the MHSAA Playoffs in the Division 2 bracket, but all three got to this point taking decidedly different paths.

For the Harrison Hawks (9-0), qualifying for the postseason is practically an expectation. The Hawks have won 13 state titles, including the Division 2 crown last season, and are riding a 23-game winning streak. The players believe that the confidence and experience they have from last season’s championship run will be a huge asset as they aim to repeat.

“It helps a lot because we’ve got a lot of guys that were on last year’s team,” said Harrison senior tight end Devin Funchess. “We know what it’s like, and we know how to compete against those teams.”

The Hawks will host Birmingham Seaholm (6-3) in the pre-district round with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday.

Harrison sealed an undefeated regular season by topping Farmington (5-4) on Oct. 21. The Falcons went into the game feeling that they would need a win to earn a playoff berth, but fell to the Hawks, 56-13. After the game, believing that the squad’s season was over, Farmington head coach John Bechtel had his team complete its traditional senior handshake line and later started the process of collecting all of the equipment.

Much to the surprise of Bechtel and the players, Farmington got the results it needed in other games and ended up with a pre-district matchup at Detroit Henry Ford (7-2) on Saturday at 1 p.m.

“To be honest, I’m not sure it could have played out any better for us,” said Bechtel. “When we found out we just went ‘Oh my Lord!’ From there you start to prepare for the next game and away you go.”

The North Farmington Raiders knew they were in the playoffs, having finished the regular season with a 7-2 record, but for a program that had not qualified for the postseason since 2005, seeing “North Farmington” come across the screen on FOX Sports Detroit’s Sunday Selection Show was a significant moment.

“It’s confirmation, and it’s affirmation that you played well this season,” said North Farmington head coach Todd Schultz. “It’s a good district and a tough region, so we’ll be strapping it up and ready to go.”

The Raiders will host Birmingham Brother Rice (5-4) in their pre-district game on Friday at 7 p.m. Should North Farmington and Harrison both win, the two schools would meet in the district final on either Nov. 4 or 5. Schultz said that his team’s attitude, as well as the nature of playoff football, will keep them from looking ahead to a possible matchup with the Hawks.

“That’s been our focus all year; learn from the last game and focus on the next game,” Schultz said. “There is no next game if we don’t win this Friday, so we know that our focus has to be on Friday night.”