These 13 Teams Have Their Playoff Chances On The Line in Week 9

The final week of the high school football regular season is already upon us and for over a dozen Lansing-area schools, their fates could still be unknown even after this week.

According to the MHSAA, 174 teams have qualified for the MHSAA playoffs already with six wins or more, and by their schedule that number can only max out at is 244. This means that six wins will guarantee you a playoff spot (as it does most years) and there will be at-large spots available to 5-4, 4-4 and 4-3 teams.

The Lansing-area is still chock full of schools who could make it in on six wins and plenty who could find themselves at the mercy of the mathematics at 5-4, trying to qualify for an at-large bid via the playoff points formula.

5-3 Teams with opponent this week in parentheses

Lansing Sexton (@ Lansing Eastern)
East Lansing (@ Okemos)
Dansville (@ Maple Valley)
Fowler (@ Merrill)
Olivet (v. Battle Creek Pennfield)

4-4 Teams with opponents this week in parentheses

Holt (@ Grand Ledge)
Jackson (@ Lansing Everett)
St. John's (v. Goodrich)
Williamston (v. Lake Fenton)
Bath (@ Perry)
Perry (v. Bath)
Stockbridge (v. Parchment)
Ovid-Elsie (@ Croswell-Lexington)

In 8-man football, Morrice also sits at 4-4 however there are already 16 qualifers at six wins meaning that there are no at-large bids available, and a Lansing-area team (Webberville) will be on the bubble should they lose week 9 and more than 16 teams find themselves at six wins or above.

Including Webberville, there are 12 teams currently in the MHSAA playoff picture (10 11-man schools, a pair of 8-man schools), if all the 5-3 teams win and with only one crossover of 4-4 teams there could be as many as 24 teams watching Selection Sunday to see where they place in the MHSAA brackets, if they'll even place there at all.