Playoff pairings revealed: Gaylord to host Bay City Western, could see Petoskey in finals
GAYLORD ― This Gaylord football season had the makings of being special for a long time.
Expectations were high after returning almost all the major players from a 2022 team that went 6-3 and made its first playoff appearance since 2018. Now, off the heels of a 9-0 regular season and first outright Big North Championship since 2002, the Blue Devils are eyeing their first postseason victory since 2003.
The team met at the Pine Squirrel in Gaylord on Sunday, Oct. 22 to watch the MHSAA Playoff Selection show together as a team, finding out who it would play in this season's Division 3 district bracket.
See how Gaylord's bracket stacks up:
Division 3, Region 1, District 1
Bay City Western (5-4) 47.222 at Gaylord (9-0) 66.569
Petoskey (5-4) 47.389 at Marquette (5-3) 49.667
This was not the scenario that many had mapped out entering Friday evening. However, high school football is anything but predictable.
Rather than Mount Pleasant joining the Northern Michigan teams as the top seed, Gaylord will host Bay City Western in the first round of the district bracket. While a revenge matchup with the Oilers had been in the minds of the Blue Devils after last season's first-round matchup, these pairings give Gaylord the potential to host both games en route to its first district title since 2002.
"We're excited," head coach DJ Szymoniak said. "This is a team that, you know, they didn't really care who they played. They just know we're going to go work this week. But absolutely, we're happy with the way the pairing came out."
MHSAA football playoffs: Check where Northern Michigan teams landed
Regular season: Gaylord finishes 9-0, wins outright BNC title for first time since 2002
In a district made up of 75% Big North teams, Gaylord will face the only team in the bracket it has not seen this season, Bay City Western. The Warriors, a 5-4 team out of the Saginaw Valley League, have made the playoffs in three of the last four seasons after missing the postseason last year.
Gaylord and BCW have never met on the football field. This year, they shared two opponents; both beat Petoskey (Gaylord 10-0, BCW 27-7), and Gaylord beat TC West (13-7) in week one while BCW fell to the Titans (8-7) in week three.
With a first-round victory, the Blue Devils will then host the winner of Petoskey and Marquette, two teams that fell to Gaylord during the team's march to 9-0. Marquette will be trying to fix some mistakes after three blocked punts and a pick-six essentially took the Redmen out of the game. Meanwhile, a rematch with the Northmen for a district title would add an epic new chapter to the storied rivalry battle.
Contact GHT Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at Djespersen@gaylordheraldtimes.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Gaylord Blue Devils host Bay City Western in MHSAA D3 district playoff
