DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – The Ford Field in Detroit, until this year, has been the site of limited victory by the Detroit Lions football team. Michigan football wins on the field over the years were mostly limited to high school teams who play on the field over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend each year in the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) state high school football championships.

This year, Ford Field will once again host the state’s high school football championships and will hold the hopes and dreams of high school football players from across the state. With their traveling friends and family members cheering them on, it’ll be another weekend full of memories, both in victory and defeat.

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The football championships will be played on Saturday, November 25th and Sunday, November 26th which is an altered schedule from most years when the games are played on the Friday and Saturday following Thanksgiving. With the Michigan State football team having its regular-season finale against Penn State shifted to Friday and played at Ford Field, the MHSAA had to push their finals back a day. The MSU game is part of a four-day football fest at Ford Field that includes the Lions playing on Thanksgiving day, MSU playing on Friday and the high school championships being on the Detroit field over the weekend.

The high school football championship games can be watched on Bally Sports or listened to on the links below. For those wanting to attend the games in person, parking is available in Ford Field facilities for $6 and tickets for the games are $20 – that gives you access to see all four games during the day. Tickets are available at the door (cash or credit), from participating schools or online at the Ford Field or Ticketmaster sites.

Championship games below are listed by date and time.

Saturday, Nov 25

Division 8 – 10 am  Watch | Listen

Ubly (13-0) vs Ottawa Lake Whiteford (13-0)

Division 4 – 1 pm  Watch | Listen

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Grand Rapids South Christian (10-3) vs Harper Woods (10-3)

Division 6- 4:30 pm  Watch | Listen

Kingsley (11-2) vs  Almont (12-1)

Division 2 – 7:30 pm  Watch | Listen

Muskegon (11-2) vs Warren DeLaSalle (11-2)

Sunday, Nov 26

Division 7 – 9:30 am  Watch | Listen

Menominee (11-2) vs Jackson Lumen Christi (12-1)

Division 3 – 12:30 pm  Watch | Listen

Forest Hills Central (12-1) vs Mason (13-0)

Division 5- 4 pm  Watch | Listen

Grand Rapids Catholic Central (12-1) vs Corunna (13-0)

Division 1 – 7  pm  Watch | Listen

Belleville (13-0) vs Southfield Arts & Technology (12-1)

The Kingsley Stags, one of the teams going to the championships, solidified their trip to Ford Field by defeating the Reed City Coyotes on November 18th in a Division 6 regional semi-final game by a score of 37-7 at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cadillac.

Just going to the game in Cadillac was a big deal with the team being escorted out Kingsley with fire trucks, ambulances flashing lights and blaring sirens, and fans lining up the streets wearing the school’s colors of orange and black and holding signs of support.

Kingsley senior Eli Graves spoke to Traverse City Record-Eagle about his hometown saying, “This community means everything to us. We strive to go out and play for our community every week.”

Now, they have the state championship in their crosshairs.

Graves says, “You can’t really put it into words. This is everything we’ve been working for, everything this team has been working for. A chance to win it all – and that’s what we’ve got…. I’ve wanted to go to Ford Field my whole life. We’ve been playing together since we were 9 years old, and all we’ve wanted is to win states together. Now we have that chance, and it just feels crazy.”

The Stags’ head coach, Tim Wooer, says about his players, “When you see kids invest so much and then see them smile and their eyes light up, that’s a special moment.” Wooer led his team to a state championship in 2005 and is hoping for another one this weekend, 18 years later. Wooer said about the second chance for victory coming up, “I’m driving down the road the other day, and I got teary-eyed because the last time we were there my daughter was in diapers and my youngest daughter wasn’t even born. “So, for me, that’s a special moment to have my kids watch their dad at Ford Field.”

Wooer says about his team, “Not only do we have good players – great players – but we have kids who are coachable and do what they are asked to do. … I’m just super excited for our kids and our community.”

Another team that’s very happy to be going to Ford Field for a championship game is the Mason Bulldogs, who will be participating in their very first high school football championship game. The Bulldogs, who are 13-0, have had a very special season, having never been in a semifinals game until two years ago and having never won a semifinal game until this year.

Mason Bulldogs coach Gary Houghton told the Detroit Free Press, “The word ‘cathartic’ comes to mind. It just felt that good to finally get over the hump (semifinals). This community has been waiting for a team to go to the finals for as long and to be able to give that to them is an amazing feeling.”

The Corunna Cavaliers are also on their way to the football championships for the first time in their school’s history. They made the playoffs by defeating Flat Rock 49-0 in the Division 5 semi-finals. On the way to the game against Flat Rock, Head Coach Steve Herrick told WNEM-5 that the most important play is the next one. He said, “It’s just a matter of us coming out being physical and hitting like we talked about and doing our job. And things are going to go up and down at times, but we tell our guys, next play is the most important play and that’s what we live by.”