Tigers, Hurons ready for playoff matchups

ALPENA -- A pair of area eight-player teams will turn their attention to upcoming playoff matchups after a successful regular season.

Both Hillman and Rogers City will open postseason play this week as Hillman will host Mio and Rogers City will travel to Indian River Inland Lakes on Friday.

For the 16th year in a row, the Tigers are in the playoffs after finishing the regular season on a five-game winning streak. They started the season 1-3, but will host another 6-3 team in the Thunderbolts.

The two North Star League rivals will meet for the second time this season, with Mio getting the better of the Tigers, 12-0, back in Week 2.

Despite that win, the Thunderbolts have only played once in the last three weeks.

Mio's last victory came via forfeit in Week 7 and the Thunderbolts lost to Rogers City in Week 8 before forfeiting their regular season finale.

This will be the first time since 2010 that Hillman and Mio will meet in the playoffs and first time since making the switch to eight-player football.

Rogers City enjoyed its first eight-player season and went 8-1 in the regular season. The Hurons won their first eight games before coming up short against Newberry.

The Hurons face a tall task in an opening round playoff matchup as Rogers City travels to take on undefeated Inland Lakes Friday.

The 9-0 Bulldogs smashed a school record for points in a single season with 487 points on their way to an unbeaten regular season.

Rogers City is on the brink of making history of its own. The Hurons have scored 313 points this season and are 37 points away from matching that record set in the 1997 season, but may need a win to do so.

This will be the first time that Rogers City and Inland Lakes meet since 2017 and first time ever that the two teams will meet in the playoffs.