With the high school football season now concluded, it's now time to publicize the unofficial postseason awards for the Lansing-area.

Coach of the Year, Player of the Year, Game of the Year are obvious ones. But there are other unofficial honors to be awarded:  Such as Underclassman of the Year, Special Teams Player of the Year, Best Defensive Game of the Year.  You get the idea.

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Ok, let's start with Coach of the Year...

MIKE SPARKS: CHARLOTTE

After years of struggling, the Orioles rebounded in 2022.  They finished second behind Portland in the CAAC White with an 8-1 regular season record, and won their first playoff game since 2004.  Sparks has the Orioles flying again!!!

Player of the Year:

SHAWN FOSTER: GRAND LEDGE

This was an extremely difficult decision.  As they're wasn't a clear-cut number 1 player like last year with DeWitt's Tyler Holtz.  But when he got healthy, the Comet offense took off.  His Week 6 performance against DeWitt (396 yards rushing and 7 touchdowns) was the best of the season.  That was the tie-breaker for me.  This leads us to...

Game of the Year:

WEEK 6 - GRAND LEDGE OVER DEWITT 56-49

Grand Ledge QB Shawn Foster scored SEVEN touchdowns rushing, and his 75 yard TD run with less than a minute left gave the Comets the victory.  Foster's 396 yards rushing against DeWitt's defense was the best single game performance of the season.

UNDERCLASSMEN OF THE YEAR

TIE - CASON CARSWELL & A.J. MARTEL - MASON, JACE CLARIZIO - EAST LANSING

Mason's sophomore QB (Carswell) just keeps getting better and better the more he plays.  His junior teammate (Martel) rushed for over 1,000 yards for the regional champs.  The Trojans sophomore RB Clarizio replaced an injured Kanye Jackson and rushed for over 1,000 yards.in part-time duty.  He, along with Martel, will be one of the best returning players next season.

Special Teams Player of the Year:

NAKAI AMACHREE - HASLETT

He returned two kicks for touchdowns in the season opener against DeWitt.  After a few more returns for touchdowns, teams finally stopped kicking the ball to him.  Amachree has already visited Michigan State and is getting other looks from MAC schools.  And he's a junior, so he'll be back next season.

We hope you enjoyed the high school football season, we'll see you next August!!!

Final Mid-Michigan H.S. Football Top 10 Poll

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