We have reached the end of the road, as far as the regular season goes, for 2025. Week nine is here and much of the intrigue in terms of playoff and conference title races have died down a bit after many conferences across the area were clinched in week 8, with many leagues now moving to non-con games in week 9.

We are going to mix up the column a bit this week, and with each down, we’re going to focus on a notable conference champion from last week – review a bit about how they got here and take a quick peek at what their playoff path is about to be…

 

FIRST DOWN: OK-Red | Hudsonville

The Eagles gained the top spot in our Power Poll from the start this year and never relinquished the crown, and are now just a road win at scrambling Grandville from a perfect season overall and 2nd-straight perfect OK-Red season. The Eagles had to plug in a lot of new pieces from last year’s state runner up team, and boy did they plug it in well… A fearsome defense  and some added explosiveness on offense, in a year that the OK-Red was supposed to be up-in-the-air and most would have picked 1-2 losses for all of the top teams, Hudsy stood above the rest.

The playoffs are going to, in all likelihood, possess a much more difficult path than the, frankly, fortuitous one that the Eagles had last season (something that can be true to say for Rockford, Grandville, etc all here as well). A peek at Snooze2You.com can begin to tell a bit of the story of how the MHSAA will seed things based on where things stand. And it appears exceedingly likely that it will be a home game against Jenison before another home contest against the winner of Rockford/Grandville.

If the Eagles survive the district, there are a whole host of very good teams waiting in the region, including the chance for a region rematch against Howell, or even another contest with East Kentwood. The state semis matchup would be an absolute bear as well, some options there: Detroit CC, Grand Blanc, Davison, Clarkston, & more… A ton of top-10 (and maybe all top 5) in the state power houses.

 

SECOND DOWN: OK-Black, GR Catholic Central

A perfect conference season led by one of the state’s most stout defenses, even while playing schools 1-3 divisions larger than themselves for much of the year plowed GRCC to the top all year in another one of the more crowded-at-the-top conferences in the OK. A 35-7 win over D2 Northview was the icing on the cake last weekend, as the offense is starting to hum – along with a defense that is giving up single digits per game on the year.

The playoffs for the ‘Cougs will revolve around the likely district title game we touched a bit on here last week… As the top 2 teams in the state in D5 with West Catholic and Catholic Central poised to meet again in a postseason clash.

There will be plenty of other tough matchups, but if you want to know how heavy of a favorite for the title CC can be considered… West Catholic currently sits at 58.625 playoff points as the #2 team in D5, the Cougars have 72.725…

 

THIRD DOWN: OK-Green, Muskegon

In 2023 the Muskegon Big Reds started 0-2. They did not lose the rest of the way all the way to a D2 state championship. The 2025 Big Reds so far might be on the path to do the exact same after missing the playoffs for the first time in around a quarter-century last year. A 5-0 run through the league gave them the solo conference championship, and now a trip down to Cincinnati Moeller (one of Ohio’s true power houses)  could be the ultimate spark of momentum before a tough playoff run.

As things currently sit in D2, There is a chance that we get Muskegon vs Mona Shores right away in round one, before a battle with the winner of Traverse City East vs West. Portage Central, maybe the state’s overall best defense , who have given up a total of TEN (10!) points through 8 games will likely be waiting there. And a semis matchup to get to Ford Field could include battles against the likes of Midland Dow, South Lyon, or Dexter.

 

FOURTH DOWN: OK-Gold, Unity Christian

Craig Tibbe’s Unity Christian Crusaders won a perfect OK-Gold title for a second-straight season this year, after winning games in a variety of ways. They took down Zeeland West in a grinding 14-6 Power T vs Power T affair, while then also scoring 5 or more touchdowns in every other game they played during the year, including clinching the conference crown with a 42-14 runaway win over South Christian in week 8.

Last year the Sailors stunned the also-then-perfect Crusaders in the second round of the postseason, As of right now, we could see that matchup right away again in week one of the playoffs this time around. Paw Paw and Godwin heights serve as the other combatants in that district, with a regional title matchup likely setting up against 7-1 Battle Creek Harper Creek  or 6-2 Edwardsburg, with a long list of tough teams that could draw into the state semis matchup, like Portland, Escanaba, and Freeland.

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The final week of the 2025 regular season is already here, be sure to enjoy all the live coverage on Friday night, and be sure to tune in to the MSR Football Show podcast with Nick Tuori for previews and recaps each week – along with all of the written and social media content before and after all the matchups!