In the soccer playoffs from the Hometown Life coverage area, only four teams are still alive.
Sports reporter Brandon Folsom is here to ask four questions ahead of this week’s Round 3.
Detroit Country Day in Chelsea: Who Have You?
There are tons of games not to be missed this weekend.
In Division 1 we have three rematches with Fordson-Belleville, Dakota-Sterling Heights Stevenson and West Bloomfield-Adams, and D-2 has Warren De La Salle-Roseville.
But perhaps the best game of the weekend is Detroit Country Day (7-3) at Chelsea (11-0) in D-4.
Why?
It is the defending champion who attends the media election to win this year’s state title.
Chelsea is the real deal. The Bulldogs have only lost two games in the last three seasons, both made it to the semi-finals of the D-3 countries. And beating the Yellowjackets would bring them back to the last four next week.
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Only this time, Chelsea is a D-4 team. Will Country Day give them a fight or does it make their way to the State Finals easier? Chelsea hasn’t been there since 2015.
Country Day benefits from playing a stacked schedule. Half of the teams that played the Yellowjackets in the regular season are still alive in the postseason and will fight for regional championships in Round 3. These include South Lyon in D-2, Brother Rice in D-3, Warren Michigan Collegiate in D-6, and Detroit Loyola in D-7.
How much will this schedule prepare the Yellowjackets for a powerhouse like Chelsea?
Are the Patriots the next Detroit Edison?
It’s a long shot. Especially how difficult it is to get into the D-2 playoffs.
But could Livonia Franklin make history?
In 2018, Detroit Edison became the first Michigan boys basketball team to finish a regular season with a 500-record and win a state championship.
The Class C Pioneers played a tough schedule against some of the best A schools in Metro Detroit. So it’s not that they took 10 losses to Nobody in the regular season.
But when they got into the postseason, they picked up seven straight wins, including beating Glen Lake, 53-38 for the state title.
More:“We’re not done yet:” Franklin angered Churchill for winning the 1st district title since 2018
Franklin is in a similar situation. Thanks to all the playoff points it earned in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association, one of the most competitive leagues in the state, it went into the postseason with a 4-5 record.
The Patriots (6-5) won consecutive victories against Temperance Bedford and Livonia Churchill and took a district title. They are visiting Waterford Mott for the regional championship this week. This is a win game.
You could be the first team to make the playoffs with a losing record and qualify for the state semifinals.
How Much Will Brother Rice Win?
Don’t let Mason’s playoff points fool you. The Bulldogs didn’t play against anyone.
Seven of their nine wins are against teams that ended the year with a record of .500 or worse. These include wins over Okemos with no win, Eaton Rapids with one win, St. Johns and Fowlerville with two wins, Lansing Eastern and South Lyon East with three wins, and 5-5 Jackson.
Meanwhile, Brother Rice, who runs the Bulldogs at Lawrence Tech on Friday at 7 p.m., was just playing a damn schedule. Detroit Catholic Central is the only team the Warriors lost to that is not currently in the playoffs. Her other losses were D-2 favorites Warren De La Salle and Traverse City Central.
More:2021 MHSAA Football Playoff Schedule: Round 3 around Hometown Life’s coverage area
So how big is this game going to be?
Is South Lyon Ford Field Tied?
Portage Central moves into the D-2 regional final on Friday in South Lyon with two defeats.
One of them was a 20-15 loss in Week 4 to East Lansing, the team the Lions (11-0) just blew out to win their district finals.
The Mustangs (9-2) are good story, they won their first county championship since 2013 and set a record over .500 for the first time in three years.
But the question is not whether South Lyon will beat Portage Central. It is this: Can the Lions beat either Traverse City Central (10-1) or Caledonia (10-1) next week to win a trip to Ford Field?
Brandon Folsom reports on high school sports in Metro Detroit for Hometown Life. Follow him on Twitter @folsombrandonj.
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