On The Line – HS Football-Week 8

In the last several years, Week 8 of the High School Football season has given us a preview of the conference titles up for grabs in Week 9. With the new Interstate 8 Conference, their conference season concludes this week with positioning in the final standings and the preparation of one final non-conference game.

It's a tale of different seasons for each of the local members of the I-8, as the Harper Creek Beavers return home to host the Marshall Redhawks in our featured game. The Beavers will look to stay close to second place in the I-8, where they could finish in a three-way tie with a win this week (Coldwater is 5-1 and play 4-2 Charlotte this week). The Beavers will look to win their final two games this season to lock up a postseason spot with six wins.

For Marshall, they look to play spoiler after a season that saw injuries slow them down mid-season, losing senior quarterback Alex Walton to a broken leg in Week 4. They earned their second win of the season last week over Jackson Northwest and hope to maintain the momentum. This will be the 58th meeting between the two schools, with the Redhawks holding a 31-26 advantage heading in. The Beavers have won the last four meetings, including last season's 14-6 score in Week 3.

Also this week, the Battle Creek Central Bearcats will look to knock off Portage Northern at home and set up a potential postseason shot in Week 9. The playoff-bound Lakeview Spartans host a scrappy St. Joseph squad that is just two wins away from a "Six and In" bid. The Pennfield Panthers have the daunting task of challenging I-8 leader Jackson Lumen Christi in their conference finale. Finally, the undefeated St. Philip Tigers host Portland St. Patrick Saturday in a battle to two 8-Man powerhouses. Here's this week's schedule!

Friday, October 17th
Game of the Night
Marshall vs. Harper Creek
Marshall 2-5 (2-4 Interstate 8) - Harper Creek 4-3 (4-2 Interstate 8)
Catch the action at 6:35pm on WBCK!

Portage Northern vs. Battle Creek Central (BC Central 4-3)
St. Joseph vs. Lakeview (Lakeview 5-1)
Pennfield vs. Jackson Lumen Christi (Pennfield 2-5)

Reading vs. Athens (Athens 1-6)
Pittsford vs. Bellevue (Bellevue 1-6)
Bronson vs. Buchanan (Bronson 0-7)
Spring Lake vs. Climax-Scotts (Climax-Scotts 7-0)
Schoolcraft vs. Delton (Delton 4-3)
Maple Valley vs. Galesburg-Augusta (Maple Valley 2-5, Galesburg-Augusta 3-4)
Gull Lake vs. Niles (Gull Lake 3-4)
Hastings vs. Wayland (Hastings 0-7)
Homer vs. Union City (Homer 6-1, Union City 7-0)
Olivet vs. Constantine (Olivet 6-1)
Quincy vs. Concord (Quincy 5-2)

Saturday, October 18th
8-Man Football - Portland St. Patrick vs. St. Philip (St. Philip 7-0)

8-Man Football - Tekonsha vs. St. Joseph Michigan Lutheran @ New Buffalo (Tekonsha 1-6)