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     The pairings show is at 7pm Sunday on Fox Sports Detroit for the 256 teams in the state high school football tournament.  There will be some 5-4 teams in the field-- Haslett and Eastern hope to win tonight and finish 5-4 with a playoff berth as a reward-- same for Charlotte.

     There are ten 1-7 teams in the area asnd a pair of 0-8s and for those kids the season cannot end fast enough, especially in this weather.  A lot of pratices produced little.  It's been a brutal season for Waverly, Okemos and East Lansing.  All will be optimistic about next year and maybe that's the case for East Lansing with validity-- but Waverly and Okemos could still struggle again.

     Haslett has been in disarray like never before.  Numerous players suspended through the season.  The playoff streak may end at 12.  Williamston is a playoff sleeper at 7-1.  So is Sexton, 6-2 and favored to make it eight straight wins over rival Eastern on Friday night.  East Lansing hopes to win at Owosso and finish 3-6.

     Catholic fired coach Tony Costello after another 2-7 season and is 5-3 and a playoff entrant with an expected win over 2-6 Albion.  Jim Ahern was a good hire as head coach and he has a sophomore quarterback in Cooper Rush to rely upon for the next two seasons.  Eastern is 4-4 under new coach Richard Woods and he looks finally like a guy who fits and it may be a long term arrangement.  Everett hopes to finish 2-7 with a win at Waverly and while the final record is awful, the last two games would have produced wins.

     Can the three unbeatens-- DeWitt, Ovid-Elsie and Potterville-- all finish 9-0 as expected and who makes the longest playoff run?  DeWitt is no lock to be the favorite in division three because of East Grand Rapids.

     And what about 8-1 Mason and 8-1 Stockbridge?  Any big future hopes for those two?  Mason will clobber Eaton Rapids and only a poor decision to run for a PAT against Sexton in overtime blemished an otherwise perfect regular season.