MAPLE CITY – The Northern Michigan Football League Leaders championship is up for grabs Friday as Glen Lake welcomes in Charlevoix for our Sports Overtime Game of the Week.
After going 1-8 just two years ago, Charlevoix has turned its program around under second-year coach Don Jess. The Rayders have gone 12-4 over the last one-plus seasons and can win their first conference championship since 2000 on Friday.
“Our kids from day one have just worked hard,” Jess says. “That’s what’s made the difference this season. They continue to work every single day and it seems to work out for us on Fridays.”
The Rayders (5-0, 4-0 NMFL Leaders) have pitched shutouts in their last two conference matchups, handing both Kalkaska (40-0) and Elk Rapids (55-0) losses. Charlevoix’s fast start to this year’s campaign was built off its historic 2019 season that saw the Rayders record the program’s first playoff win.
A win Friday would not only secure a league championship but would cap off Charlevoix’s first undefeated regular-season campaign since 1977 when the Rayders went 9-0 en route to a Michigan Huron Shores Conference title.
“We’re trying to put Charlevoix back on the map for football,” Charlevoix senior Luke Snyder said. “I think the current senior class, the current junior class, the current sophomore class, and even the freshman class have contributed to that happening.”
Glen Lake (4-1, 3-0 NMFL Leaders) can win its fourth straight league championship with a victory Friday. Last year’s Division 6 state runners-up, the Lakers are 7-3 all-time against Charlevoix and suffered their only loss of the season to Clarkston Everest Collegiate (19-14), a team ranked fifth in Division 8 and playing in its fourth straight CHSL Prep Bowl Saturday.
“These guys play for each other and they love each other,” Glen Lake coach Nate Sneed said. “I think that takes care of a lot of the X’s and O’s and the schematics of things a little bit. When guys really care about the person they’re playing next to.”
“It’s going to take knowing all our assignments, getting all the right gaps, just knowing your responsibilities and no silly mistakes, no penalties no nothing,” added Glen Lake senior Jacob Pleva. “It’s just another game. It doesn’t matter if we’ve beat them ten years in the past, a new game, a new team.”
Friday’s kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
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