Five Sturgis area teams qualify for MHSAA football playoffs
ST. JOSEPH COUNTY — The MHSAA football playoffs are finally here.
The annual football playoff selection show was held on Sunday evening and locally there are five teams who will be playing in the postseason. And, at least locally, it's more of the same for football programs in the playoffs.
Centreville, Constantine, Marcellus, Mendon and White Pigeon have each qualified for the playoffs.
Of the five teams, only Marcellus did not qualify for the postseason a year ago.
Edwardsburg beats Sturgis in season finale
There will be a full preview of each of the five later this week. But on Sunday, here are the results of each of the five teams from the selection show.
Division 6, Region 3, District 1 — Olivet at Constantine
Constantine drew Olivet for the opening round of this year's playoffs. The Falcons and Eagles will meet up in a battle of birds as a pair of schools which have been no strangers to the postseason. Constantine will be making its sixth consecutive appearance in the playoffs and has qualified in 24 of the past 25 seasons.
This game has a confirmed kickoff time of 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Olivet won just three games this season, but finished with 33.111 playoff points. Constantine finished the regular season at 8-1 and 50.889 playoff points.
Centreville, Marcellus win big on Friday night
Division 8, Region 3, District 1 — Centreville at White Pigeon
Centreville and White Pigeon obviously know each other. They've played 73 times and the Chiefs hold a 53-19-1 overall record in those games, which includes a 24-8 win this season. The Chiefs have confirmed this game will be played on Friday night at 7 p.m. Both Centreville and White Pigeon have now qualified for the playoffs six seasons in a row.
Centreville finished the regular season at 5-4 with 27.556 playoff points, White Pigeon finished 9-0 with 35.556 playoff points.
White Pigeon caps off unbeaten regular season
Division 8-player, Region 4 — Mendon at Gobles
Mendon will travel to Gobles to play its opening-round playoff game. The Hornets have now qualified for the playoffs in 17 straight seasons and match Constantine with 24 appearances in the last 25 years. For what its worth, this will be the second year in a row as a playoff team for Gobles. Prior to that, the COVID year in 2020 was the Tigers only appearance dating back to 2016.
Both teams finished with 7-2 records this season. Gobles had 32.111 playoff points, Mendon finished with 31.111 playoff points.
Division 8-player, Region 4 — Marcellus at Martin
Marcellus qualified for the playoffs for the first time since the COVID season in 2020. It's only the second appearance in the playoffs for the Wildcats dating back to 2004. Martin is in the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season and last year the Clippers won the state championship in the Division 1, 8-player finals.
Both teams finished with identical 7-2 records this year. Martin did beat Marcellus, 28-14, just a couple of weeks ago. The Clippers finished with 33.111 playoff points while Marcellus posted 31.111 playoff points this year.
A more in-depth preview of the local playoff games will appear later this week.
Contact Sports Editor Brandon Watson at bwatson@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as twitter, @BwatsonSJ.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Five Sturgis area teams qualify for MHSAA football playoffs
