By: Nate Dreyer

We made it… Monday afternoon teams across Michigan and locally in West Michigan will begin their quest to become one of the 10 teams that get to call themselves champions at season’s-end. West Michigan is loaded with stories across the region, as the formation of the new Rivers Cities Alliance Conference plus a complete reshuffling and the addition of football-only divisions in the OK Conference should bring even more competitive conference races all across the area.

Four Big Stories for 2024

New-Look Returning State Champions

West Michigan saw three teams capture state championships in 2023, and all three perennial contenders return in 2024 with very new looks: As they welcome in new players, new systems, and even new coaches.

Muskegon captured another state title in division two last season, winning in dominant second half fashion over De La Salle – and winning the program’s 900th game in the process (the first Michigan team to that mark). The Big Reds will have to retool their roster in 2024, as they lose all three of the dynamic trio in from their backfield last season in M’Khi Guy, Destin Piggee, and Jakob Price. Coach Fairfield has gone to one of the most intriguing moves of the offseason to try to fill some of those shoes, as former North Muskegon QB James Young has come over to the Big Reds for his senior season, the all-state ‘air-it-out’ QB will now look to mesh into the traditional run-heavy ski-gun option of the Big Reds.

Forest Hills Central rode elite defense and a physical offensive attack all the way to the division three title in 2023 and they have the biggest of shoes to fill, as long-time head coach Tim Rogers retired after the season, going out in the ultimate fashion. His longtime assistant and offensive line coach, Dave Fortino now takes over the reigns as the sideline boss of the Rangers. Part of the goal here will be to keep the established system and culture in place, and the Rangers will be a big story to watch this season.

Last, but not least, from the group of champions are GR Catholic Central – The Cougars once again lost key pieces across the field – including backfield duo QB Connor Wolf and RB Kellen Russell-Dixon. The Cougars always seem to find a way to retool, and this year will likely be no different, as they settle several position battles in camp and will set their sites on another title.

 

The Rivers Cities Alliance Begins Play

No story has shaken up the look of West Michigan in a long time, like the founding of the new Rivers Cities Alliance Conference. The new conference spread across the area will feature Allendale, Cedar Springs, Coopersville, Greenville, Kenowa Hills, Lowell, and Sparta. The league will right off the jump be highly competitive with several returning playoff teams being a part of this group, and others looking to build on some momentum in a. new conference of other competitive teams.

Coopersville returns many key pieces, including D1 lineman J.J. Hirdes, and will be one of the leasing favorites to capture the first-ever league title. But, Cedar Springs and their always-potent Power-T attack, a reloaded and an old-school looking Lowell will be immediately in the mix. But new coaches like Don Fellows at Kenowa Hills and Joel Brose at Allendale, and Scott McDougall at Greenville – plus a strong roster at Sparta will make this a fun league to watch all season.

 

The OK Shakes it Up

On the heels of the seven schools splitting into the new league, the OK Conference radically shook things up for their new realignment that was already set for this season. Along with making changes to every single league in all other sports, the creation of new football-only divisions also will seek for higher competitiveness on Friday nights all season long. The OK-Red (in football, it’s changed for all other sports) will be the only league that remains the same – and will maybe be tougher than ever this season with a lot of loaded rosters and new coaches at places like East Kentwood and Jenison set to shake things up.

Some other interesting conferences to watch will be led by the new OK-Green – which before was primarily a lakeshore-area conference in the past, but now changes that up a bit with the likes of Zeeland East/West moving out and teams like Byron Center and FHN moving in. But, that realignment creates a bear of a league with Muskegon, Mona Shores, and Reeths Puffer staying and now being joined by Byron Center, a regional finalist in 2023 that is expected to be even better in ’24.

The OK-Gold will also be tough as the Zeeland schools will join Unity Christian and a pair of teams that played at Ford Field last year: FHC and South Christian. The OK-Black returns this season as well and will be the new home of GR Catholic Central, as the cougars will move out from their traditional conference rivalry with South Christian. The Sailors are now in the White, and they pick up another rival there, as West Catholic will be a part of that league as well. And lastly, the OK-Silver will feature a vast selection of schools across divisions and area from Belding and Fruitport to Holland and Hopkins.

 

Michigan Sports Radio Covers it ALL

There’s a lot to keep up with across West Michigan in 2024, and MSR is proud to be a one-stop-shop for helping you keep up with it all.

Here’s some of what you can expect from MSR this season:

  • LIVE Games: Every Friday night, tune in to MSR for 15+ live games (many of which will have video coverage as well). And that coverage will continue all year long, as we’ll have your favorites covered all the way through the post season as they go on the road to Ford Field.
  • Game Recaps and Other Articles: Next-day recaps from games and big stories you missed on Friday night, and feature and preview articles throughout the week to help you get ready for the game. MSR is also home to a ton of written coverage all across the area.
  • Updated Standings, Schedules, and Scores: It’s going to be tough to keep up with where everyone is now playing and what the conference races look like – So, MSR will again have standings, schedules, and scores for all area teams and conferences – to help keep track of it all in one spot!
  • Area Season Previews: Be sure to check in on Monday August 25: As well have have pages for each team across the OK-Conference and other major teams from all across the area previewing some of the key players, system changes, and general outlook for each team.
  • GAME NIGHT Podcasts and more: Our GAME NIGHT on Michigan Sports Radio broadcast team of Nate Dreyer and Chandler Timmer will also have a ton of additional coverage (along with live Grandville Bulldogs and other ‘West-Shore Game of the Week’ featured games) with multiple podcasts and social media & written coverage. You can find it posted here and through GAME NIGHT’s social channels at @MIgamenight.
  • MORE: There’s even so much more great content to be announced and shared with you during the season – And we can’t wait to bring it all to you all year long.

 

Want More… Here’s a video from our GAME NIGHT crew, as they hung out at media day at West Ottawa last week and got several interviews with coaches and players from a few area favorites!