BOYNE CITY — If there’s one area team you’d expect to not struggle with numbers, it’s Boyne City’s football program.
But, over the last handful of seasons, that has not been the case.
The Ramblers have still managed to fight through it, returning to their winning ways with back to back playoff campaigns, including a 9-2 season a year ago.
In 2022, Boyne will fight through low numbers at the varsity level once again, though they won’t have quite the gauntlet opening stretch to get through they had a year ago.
Below are a few areas of Boyne City’s 2022 schedule that stand out upon initial glance:
CHEBOYGAN BACK
It’s great to see Cheboygan back on as a non-conference game.
These two were once Legends Division conference mates and had some competitive games between them, including a 28-22 Rambler win in 2019, their last matchup.
These are two programs with a rich football history that pride themselves on playing tough football, so it would be great if it becomes a regular non-conference rivalry, similar to the one Petoskey and Cheboygan had for many years.
The Ramblers will welcome in Cheboygan in week two, sandwiched between a Benzie Central opener on the road and Grayling in week three, also on the road.
Cheboygan hasn’t earned a playoff berth since 2013, as they’ll head into 2022 off a 3-6 campaign, though they’ve played the likes of Traverse City St. Francis, Sault Ste. Marie, Petoskey and Kingsley regularly over recent years.
Boyne City might be the better team, but this one should be a good one to watch.
CONFERENCE CLUSTER
After having conference games spread out a bit over recent years, the Ramblers will get a cluster of Leaders Division matchups beginning in week four and play league foes for five straight weeks.
Better yet during that stretch, Boyne will begin a three-game home stretch against Mancelona, Kalkaska and Charlevoix.
They’ll then cap the conference stretch with road trips to Elk Rapids and Tawas, the newest member of the Leaders Division.
The Ramblers earned a Leaders Division conference title a year ago by going 5-0 and they’ve got a strong chance to do so once again, with that Charlevoix game again being the key.
The Rayders previously took two straight from Boyne before last season’s 27-8 Rambler win. No other conference game even came close after that, with Boyne scoring 44 or more points in the next four.
It’s hard to say if teams like Elk Rapids, Kalkaska or even newcomer Tawas, who has gone winless the previous two years, will make a jump, but it’s looking like a two-horse race within the Leaders Division again.
QUESTIONABLE CLOSER
By week nine of the season, you pretty much know who teams are.
But on paper, in preseason, that week nine visit from Roscommon is kind of a head scratcher.
It was a matchup that was forfeited last season due to COVID issues and you might be looking at Roscommon’s recent years and a 1-7 campaign a year ago and be thinking, ‘How is this a tossup?’.
Well, Roscommon’s recent history has shown quite a few years of turning an ugly season into something good.
Just in the last decade they’ve got a 6-4 playoff season off a 3-6 season the year prior, a 9-2 campaign came after a 4-5 season and when they went 10-2 in 2018, it came off a 3-6 season as well.
That’s all not common, but it’s been Roscommon.
By week nine, teams will know who each other are, but looking at this one now, it’s hard to say what Bucks team will show up this year.
COMPLETE SCHEDULE:
Aug. 26 at Benzie Central
Sept 2 vs Cheboygan
Sept 9 at Grayling
Sept 16 vs Mancelona
Sept 23 vs Kalkaska
Sept 30 vs Charlevoix
october 7 at Elk Rapids
october 14 at Tawas
october 21 vs Roscommon
Contact Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny
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