'We don't like each other': Hartland, Howell set to renew M-59 football rivalry

HARTLAND — There’s nothing like some good old-fashioned animosity — within limits, of course — to put some bite into a football rivalry game.

There are friendly rivalries in Livingston County, matchups in which players on both teams have become close while playing with and against one another from the youth level all the way through high school.

And then there’s the M-59 football rivalry between Hartland and Howell.

Describe it any way you wish, but the word “friendly” won’t cut it.

For the Eagles and Highlanders, this is their closest experience to Michigan vs. Ohio State.

“We have feelings against them,” Howell senior right tackle Ethan Ogden said. “They have feelings against us.”

And to make sure there’s no misunderstanding about the nature of those feelings, Ogden continued, “They’re not good. We don’t like each other, so it’s going to be a fight.”

Taking the field at 7 p.m. Friday at Hartland won’t be for the faint of heart.

“Coach (Brian) Lewis always says, ‘Bring them in the cage and lock the doors, because we want a cage fight,’” Howell junior running back Justin Jones said. “So, that’s what we’re gonna do.”

Howell has established an identity as a smash-mouth team that relies on brute force in the trenches to power its ground attack. The Highlanders have run the ball 268 times and thrown only 19 passes through five games. They didn’t throw a pass during a 28-21 victory over Plymouth, other than on a failed 2-point conversion.

Junior Aiden Horvath leads Livingston County in rushing with 491 yards and five touchdowns on 95 carries. Jones ranks second with 475 yards and three touchdowns on 66 carries, despite missing one game.

Hartland senior linebacker Jacob Ross, who leads the county with 66 tackles, is excited to play a game in which he’ll be coming downhill toward the ball carrier on nearly every snap.

“I like hitting, so it’s going to be a pretty fun game,” Ross said. “It’s going to be physical. We’re going to be on defense a lot. It’s going to be a blast.”

The Eagles are playing their two biggest rivals, Brighton and Howell, in consecutive regular-season weeks for the first time since 1980. In the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Hartland played Brighton to conclude the regular season, then met Howell in the first round of the playoffs.

Hartland is coming off a 41-18 loss at Brighton in which the Eagles led 9-0 after one quarter. In the postgame huddle following a loss that dropped Hartland to 1-4, coach Thomas Stevenson asked his players once, then asked one more time for emphasis, if everyone was still “all in,” the team motto that’s emblazoned on the front of the Eagles’ helmets.

Players responded in the affirmative, of course, but in a subdued tone reflective of the moment. By the time players met for film study Sunday and had a spirited full-contact practice Tuesday, there were no indications that this was a team on the verge of ending a three-year playoff streak.

“We got last Friday out of our mind Sunday at our film session,” Hartland senior quarterback James Butzier said. “We watched film of the game. After that, we knew who we had this week; we had Howell. So, we put all our focus on Howell as soon as Sunday was over.”

At 2-3, Howell will almost certainly be in a playoff position with a victory.

“That’s definitely something that’s a goal of ours,” Lewis said. “At the same time, I don’t think playing a rival has anything extra attached to it, other than playing the rival, until you get in the playoffs and you play a rival. It’s a big thing. We’re playing a rival, playing Hartland, kids that we know across town. M-59 — that’s enough for us.”

Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Hartland, Howell set to renew M-59 football rivalry