FNV Division 1-4: Final Four, Champion and Sleeper Picks
Here are the FNV Staff picks for the MHSAA Football playoffs for Divisions 1-4. Let us know what you think in the comments sections down below.
Division 1
Chris
Final Four: Saline, Clakston, Belleville, Macomb Dakota
Sleeper: Livonia Stevenson-the 3-3 Spartans have lost 3 games by a combined 8 points and have the best player in the state that most people have never heard of in Harvard commit, Caden Woodall.
Champion: Clarkston-the 6-0 Wolves have played arguably the toughest schedule in the state and have as much star power as anyone out there.
Gary
Final Four: Rockford, Clarkston, Belleville, West Bloomfield
Sleeper: Grand Blanc-Beat a very good Saline team. Might be peaking at the right time.
Champion: Belleville-Most talent. Period
Frank
Final Four: West Bloomfield, Detroit Cass Tech, Davison, Rockford
Sleeper: Saline. QB Larry Robinson has been electrifying for the Hornets. This might be the best team that Joe Palka has ever had.
Champion: Davison. Hard not to pick the Cardinals with all the returning talent they have from last year’s team that won it all.
Division 2
Chris
Final Four: Mona Shores, Midland, Grosse Pointe South, Birmingham Groves
Sleeper: Warren De La Salle-the Pilots sit at 2-4 and are a #6 seed, but have played one of the toughest schedules in the state.
Champion: Mona Shores-the defending Champs will be most everyone’s pick again this year.
Gary
Final Four: Mona Shores, Midland, Churchill, De La Salle
Sleeper: Jenison-Performed well this season. Same district as Mona, however.
Champion: Mona Shores-How can you not pick these guys. The toughest test will be in their own region.
Frank
Final Four: Muskegon Mona Shores, Midland, Birmingham Seaholm, Livonia Churchill
Sleeper: Traverse City Central. This is arguably the best Trojans’ team since the split with Traverse City West.
Champion: Mona Shores. Another team that returns a lot of talent from last year’s state championship winning squad, including QB Brady Rose.
Division 3
Chris
Final Four: Zeeland West, DeWitt, Chelsea, River Rouge
Sleeper: Martin Luther KIng-the runner-ups in D2 last season enter the playoffs at 3-3. They have three quality losses, but no real quality wins.
Champion: DeWitt-the Panthers have lost in the semis five times and the finals once in the last decade. This team may be the best one of them all.
Gary
Final Four: Muskegon, DeWitt, Chelsea, King
Sleeper: Mason-The Bulldogs have quietly put together a nice resume.
Champion: DeWitt-This team seems to have what it takes in a very tough division. Sound in every facet.
Frank
Final Four: Birmingham Brother Rice, River Rouge, Muskegon, Mason
Sleeper: Riverview: The Pirates present a tough defense and a punishing ground attack that features plenty of weapons.
Champion: River Rouge. Much like Grand Rapids Catholic Central, the Panthers return plenty of talent from the team that won it all last season.
Division 4
Chris
Final Four: Whitehall, Edwardsburg, Milan, Country Day
Sleeper: Spring Lake-the Lakers (4-2) play in the tough OK Blue Division and are in a favorable regional while owning competitive losses to Hudsonville Unity Christian and Grand Rapids West Catholic.
Champion: Edwardsburg-Seems like everyone has tried to dodge the Eddies this season and for good reason.
Gary
Final Four: Spring Lake, Edwardsburg, Williamston, Country Day
Sleeper: Milan-The Big Reds should come out of their district. From that point, anything can happen.
Champion: Edwardsburg-Love what the Eddies do and how they do it. The regional final might be the final.
Frank
Final Four: Detroit Country Day, Williamston, Hudsonville Unity Christian, Whitehall
Sleeper: Edwardsburg. The last time we saw the Eddies in Division 4, they won the whole thing back in 2018.
Champion: Detroit Country Day. The drought ends for the Yellow Jackets after finishing runner up five times since the turn of the century
Great discussion everyone! I love it! Here are my picks.
Division 1
I think about 6 teams could win division 1 and I would not be shocked.
Final Four: Saline over Rockford, Clarkston over Detroit Catholic Central, Belleville over Cass Tech, West Bloomfield over Macomb Dakota. All those regional final games would be pretty awesome! That's even leaving out the defending champ.
Sleeper: I don't really have a good sleeper. Guess I will go with Grandville. Although I don't think they will get by Rockford.
Champion: I will go with the physical up front Clarkston team over Belleville 24-21.
Division 2
Final Four: Muskegon Mona Shores over East Lansing, Midland over Fenton, Grosse Point South over Dexter, Birmingham Groves over Warren De La Salle.
Man, I did not realize how weak regions 3 and 4 are in D2. I think the state title game will be the regional final between Mona Shores and East Lansing.
Sleeper: Is East Lansing a sleeper at #2 in the state?
Champion: Would be really surprised if it wasn't Mona Shores repeating.
Division 3
I thought at the beginning of the year that division 3 was loaded, and I guess it still is.
Final Four: Muskegon over Zeeland West, Dewitt over Stevensville Lakeshore, Brother Rice over Bay City Western (what a terrible district), River Rouge over King.
Sleeper: There are a few. Zeeland West, Riverview, Mason.
Champion: Dewitt over River Rouge.
Division 4
This is a three team race for me and they are all in the same region. Although after regionals it won't be easy, of course.
Final Four: Whitehall over Ludington, Edwardsburg over Unity Christian, Milan over Williamston, Detroit Country Day over North Branch.
Sleeper: North Branch, Pontiac ND Prep.
Champion: Edwardsburg. The Eddies will be challenged by having to start with a bye week, then Plainwell will be a good challenge. Then the winner of South/Unity/GRC will be the state title game IMO, then a good Whitehall squad. And then over Country Day for the title. Yet another runner-up finish for the jackets.
Was hoping Airport would play Milan for the district title instead of the second round, that's ok they would've had to play them anyway. First game was back and forth with Milan prevailing 35-30 on a late defensive stand. Just curious why Redford Union is seeded higher when Milan had the tougher schedule?
Union played bigger schools. Thus more points.
I think Riverview is being slept on here, I’d say hands down no one can run the T like them. This will be their main factor of success, they play hard, in your face, fight for every yard football. I don’t know about you but I’d hate to face a team that is looking to bruise you up in this cold Michigan weather.
anonymoose,
Define slept on.
Does that mean you would or we should pick Riverview to beat Rouge and then King?
Do you know that MANY teams have won state titles in the past X amount of years running the T. Including last year.
Riverview isnt one of them. Zeeland West runs it better than anyone(and have won state titles) and they are in Riverviews division.
Does Riverview run the T well, sure, but hands down better than anyone as you say, that is crazy talk.
Zeeland ....my personal opinion is that Edwardsburg runs the wing T better than anyone in the state. Zeeland taught us the offense and we have perfected it.
You dont run the wing T, you run the Full house T. Big difference :)
And yes Shillito at ZW taught us down here at SMCC as well in 1999.
43 playoff wins, 9 regional crowns, 5 trips to Ford Field and 2 state titles as a result.
However,I wouldnt say we run it better than ZW with 4 state titles.
Gary get it right, down here we call it the POWER T
Define slept on.
Does that mean you would or we should pick Riverview to beat Rouge and then King?
Heres my predictions.
D1- Cass Tech; Coach Wilcher has the team firing on all cylinders and I don't see anyone in D1 except maybe Rockford who could slow them down
D2- Mona Shores; back to back baby!
D3- Zeeland West; my upset prediction is Riverview beats River Rouge in the districts.
D4- This was a tough one. I am going to go with Edwardsburg or Unity Christian. Both of those programs are solid and I think HUC is having the better year. I would be thrilled to see Milan win a regional championship! You never know!
South Christian beat unity Christian on Thursday?
Edwardsburg a sleeper.......seriously???? That’s a good one😂😂😂😂
I shook my head on that a bit because they are my favorite, but whatever. Leave Frank alone. Let's see all your picks including a sleeper. I bet we could shred a couple.
I don’t see Edwardsburg getting past Unity Christian.
neutral field
[2020] Edwardsburg (MI) 42, [2020] Unity Christian (Hudsonville, MI) 22
Calpreps sees it differently.
I don't think people realize how good the Eddies actually are.
View Comments
Great discussion everyone! I love it! Here are my picks.
Division 1
I think about 6 teams could win division 1 and I would not be shocked.
Final Four: Saline over Rockford, Clarkston over Detroit Catholic Central, Belleville over Cass Tech, West Bloomfield over Macomb Dakota. All those regional final games would be pretty awesome! That's even leaving out the defending champ.
Sleeper: I don't really have a good sleeper. Guess I will go with Grandville. Although I don't think they will get by Rockford.
Champion: I will go with the physical up front Clarkston team over Belleville 24-21.
Division 2
Final Four: Muskegon Mona Shores over East Lansing, Midland over Fenton, Grosse Point South over Dexter, Birmingham Groves over Warren De La Salle.
Man, I did not realize how weak regions 3 and 4 are in D2. I think the state title game will be the regional final between Mona Shores and East Lansing.
Sleeper: Is East Lansing a sleeper at #2 in the state?
Champion: Would be really surprised if it wasn't Mona Shores repeating.
Division 3
I thought at the beginning of the year that division 3 was loaded, and I guess it still is.
Final Four: Muskegon over Zeeland West, Dewitt over Stevensville Lakeshore, Brother Rice over Bay City Western (what a terrible district), River Rouge over King.
Sleeper: There are a few. Zeeland West, Riverview, Mason.
Champion: Dewitt over River Rouge.
Division 4
This is a three team race for me and they are all in the same region. Although after regionals it won't be easy, of course.
Final Four: Whitehall over Ludington, Edwardsburg over Unity Christian, Milan over Williamston, Detroit Country Day over North Branch.
Sleeper: North Branch, Pontiac ND Prep.
Champion: Edwardsburg. The Eddies will be challenged by having to start with a bye week, then Plainwell will be a good challenge. Then the winner of South/Unity/GRC will be the state title game IMO, then a good Whitehall squad. And then over Country Day for the title. Yet another runner-up finish for the jackets.
Was hoping Airport would play Milan for the district title instead of the second round, that's ok they would've had to play them anyway. First game was back and forth with Milan prevailing 35-30 on a late defensive stand. Just curious why Redford Union is seeded higher when Milan had the tougher schedule?
Union played bigger schools. Thus more points.
I think Riverview is being slept on here, I’d say hands down no one can run the T like them. This will be their main factor of success, they play hard, in your face, fight for every yard football. I don’t know about you but I’d hate to face a team that is looking to bruise you up in this cold Michigan weather.
anonymoose,
Define slept on.
Does that mean you would or we should pick Riverview to beat Rouge and then King?
Do you know that MANY teams have won state titles in the past X amount of years running the T. Including last year.
Riverview isnt one of them. Zeeland West runs it better than anyone(and have won state titles) and they are in Riverviews division.
Does Riverview run the T well, sure, but hands down better than anyone as you say, that is crazy talk.
Zeeland ....my personal opinion is that Edwardsburg runs the wing T better than anyone in the state. Zeeland taught us the offense and we have perfected it.
You dont run the wing T, you run the Full house T. Big difference :)
And yes Shillito at ZW taught us down here at SMCC as well in 1999.
43 playoff wins, 9 regional crowns, 5 trips to Ford Field and 2 state titles as a result.
However,I wouldnt say we run it better than ZW with 4 state titles.
Gary get it right, down here we call it the POWER T
Define slept on.
Does that mean you would or we should pick Riverview to beat Rouge and then King?
Heres my predictions.
D1- Cass Tech; Coach Wilcher has the team firing on all cylinders and I don't see anyone in D1 except maybe Rockford who could slow them down
D2- Mona Shores; back to back baby!
D3- Zeeland West; my upset prediction is Riverview beats River Rouge in the districts.
D4- This was a tough one. I am going to go with Edwardsburg or Unity Christian. Both of those programs are solid and I think HUC is having the better year. I would be thrilled to see Milan win a regional championship! You never know!
South Christian beat unity Christian on Thursday?
Edwardsburg a sleeper.......seriously???? That’s a good one😂😂😂😂
I shook my head on that a bit because they are my favorite, but whatever. Leave Frank alone. Let's see all your picks including a sleeper. I bet we could shred a couple.
I don’t see Edwardsburg getting past Unity Christian.
neutral field
[2020] Edwardsburg (MI) 42, [2020] Unity Christian (Hudsonville, MI) 22
Calpreps sees it differently.
I don't think people realize how good the Eddies actually are.