Northern Michigan Football League
Founded2014
DivisionMHSAA
No. of teams17
RegionNorthern Michigan
Locations
Location of teams in {{{title}}}

The Northern Michigan Football League is an interscholastic athletic conference affiliated with the Michigan High School Athletic Association. It is located in Northern Michigan and contains seveenteen teams that encompasses fourteen counties: Antrim, Benzie, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Chippewa, Crawford, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Iosco, Kalkaska, Leelanau, Mackinac, Ogemaw and Otsego.

History

The League formed from the merger of the Lake Michigan Conference and the Northwest Conference, for football only. The schools were then split up based on enrollment and competitiveness, with the larger schools forming the Legends Division, and the smaller ones forming the Legacy Division. Mesick, who was a member of the Northwest Conference, declined to join the league, leaving the Legacy Division with one school less than the Legend Division.[1] Before the 2015 season, it was announced that the six members of the Ski Valley Conference not dropping to Eight-man Football as well as Cheboygan, Onekema and Traverse City Christian High Schools would join the league during the 2016 season, causing the league to expand to three divisions; the Leaders, Legends, and Legacy divisions.[2][3] The league is also considering the applications of several other schools, and the possibility of further divisions to help with travel costs. On October 6, 2015, Traverse City Christian announced that it would not be joining the NMFL and that Mesick would be replacing them in the conference on a two-year trial basis.

For the 2017 season, more changes will be happening, as four schools will be making the move to eight-man football. In the last few months of 2016, Central Lake,[4][5] Mesick,[4][5] Onekama,[6] and Suttons Bay[5] all announced moves to the eight-man game. However, for the 2018 season, Newberry, from the former Mid Eastern Football Conference, was brought into the league.[7] This did not last long, however, as for the 2019 season, Newberry, along with Gaylord St. Mary announced their own move to the 8 man game as well. Starting in 2020, the league will welcome Sault Ste. Marie and West Branch-Ogemaw Heights, who both previously were independent. In corresponding moved Kalkaska and Boyne city will move from the Legends Division to the Leaders Division, and Frankfort will move from the Leaders Division to the Legacy Division. This aligns the league, with the exception of Traverse City St. Francis, to divisions based on enrollment sizes, with the Legends being the largest, Leaders being the middle, and Legacy being the smallest schools.[8]

Effective 2021, the NMFL added 2 new schools, Tawas & Oscoda. Tawas was added to the largest division, Legends, while Oscoda was added to the smallest division, Legacy. Former North Star League foes Rogers City & Lincoln-Alcona were both originally set the join the Legacy Division, but opted instead to drop to 8-Man Football.[9]

In September 2021, following the departure of the two Traverse City high schools to the Saginaw Valley League, the four remaining Big North Conference high schools: Alpena, Gaylord, Cadillac, and Petoskey, were denied entry into the league, despite approval of the conferences athletic directors. The eight superintendents of the then Legends Division declined the addition of the four schools, Citing how the league has grown fast and changed so much in the last six years it might be best to slow down before overhauling the league. The addition of the four schools would have seen the creation of a new 4th division, the Liberty Division and would have included the 6 biggest schools, Alpena, Petoskey, Gaylord, Cadillac, Sault Ste. Marie, and Cheboygan. The following 18 teams would have been divided into 3 equal divisions of 6 teams based on size and success. Instead, the conference kept its 3 division format, but saw Tawas moved to the middle Leaders division and Glen Lake moved to the smaller Legacy Division.[10]

In September 2022 it was announced that effective Fall 2023, the Big North Conference would add Marquette, Escanaba and NMFL member, Sault Ste. Marie, as football members only.[11] Also in 2023, St. Ignace left the conference and moved to 8-man football, while Kalkaska left as well to become an 11-man football independent. With these changes, Benzie Central and Oscoda moved to the middle Leaders division from the larger Legends and smaller Legacy divisions respectively, while Mancelona moved from the Leaders division to the Legacy division

Member schools

Current members

Team School Location County Joined Type Enrollment All-Sports Conference
Legends Division
Cheboygan Chiefs Cheboygan Cheboygan Cheboygan 2016 Public 602 Straits Area Conference
Grayling Vikings Grayling Frederic Township Crawford 2014 Public 439 Lake Michigan Conference
Kingsley Stags Kingsley Kingsley Grand Traverse 2014 Public 486 Northwest Conference
Ogemaw Heights Falcons West Branch–Ogemaw Heights West Branch Township Ogemaw 2020 Public 556 Independent
St. Francis Gladiators Traverse City–St. Francis Traverse City Grand Traverse 2014 Private 356 Lake Michigan Conference
Leaders Division
Benzie Central Huskies Benzie Central Benzonia Township Benzie 2014 Public 337 Northwest Conference
Boyne City Ramblers Boyne City Boyne City Charlevoix 2014 Public 432 Lake Michigan Conference
Charlevoix Rayders Charlevoix Marion Township Charlevoix 2014 Public 281 Lake Michigan Conference
Elk Rapids Elks Elk Rapids Elk Rapids Antrim 2014 Public 392 Lake Michigan Conference
Oscoda Owls Oscoda Au Sable Township Iosco 2021 Public 311 North Star League
Tawas Braves Tawas Area Tawas Township Iosco 2021 Public 373 Independent
Legacy Division
East Jordan Red Devils East Jordan East Jordan Charlevoix 2014 Public 239 Lake Michigan Conference
Frankfort Panthers Frankfort Frankfort Benzie 2014 Public 155 Northwest Conference
Glen Lake Lakers Maple City–Glen Lake Kasson Township Leelanau 2014 Public 200 Northwest Conference
Harbor Springs Rams Harbor Springs Harbor Springs Emmet 2014 Public 325[lower-alpha 1] Lake Michigan Conference
Johannesburg-Lewiston Cardinals Johannesburg-Lewiston Charlton Township Otsego 2016 Public 209 Ski Valley Conference
Mancelona Ironmen Mancelona Mancelona Township Antrim 2016 Public 269 Ski Valley Conference
  1. ↑ Co-Op with Harbor Light Christian (50 Students) & St. Michael Academy (31 Students)

Future members

Former members

Team School Location County Joined Departed Enrollment Type Current Conference
Central Lake Trojans Central Lake Central Lake Antrim 2016 2017 84 Public Ski Valley Conference (8-Man)
Gaylord St. Mary Snowbirds Gaylord St. Mary Gaylord Otsego 2016 2019 69 Private Ski Valley Conference (8-Man)
Indian River Inland Lakes Bulldogs Inland Lakes Tuscarora Township Cheboygan 2016 2020 177 Public Ski Valley Conference (8-Man)
Kalkaska Blazers Kalkaska Kalkaska Kalkaska 2014 2023 447 Public Independent (11-Man)
Mesick Bulldogs Mesick Mesick Wexford 2016 2017 197 Public West Michigan 8-Man Football League
Newberry Indians Newberry Newberry Luce 2018 2019 171 Public Great Lakes 8-Man Conference - East
Onekama Portagers Onekama Onekama Manistee 2016 2017 99 Public Independent (8-Man)
Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils Sault Area Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa 2020 2023 884 Public Big North Conference
St. Ignace Saints Saint Ignace St. Ignace Township Mackinac 2016 2023 201 Public Independent (8-Man)
Suttons Bay Norsemen Suttons Bay Suttons Bay Leelanau 2014 2017 132 Public Independent (8-Man)

Football Champions

Year NMFL I NMFL II
2014 Boyne City 12-1 (6-0) Suttons Bay 9-2 (5-0)
Year Legends Leaders
2015 St. Francis 12-1 (6-0) Frankfort 9-3 (5-0)
Year Legends Leaders Legacy
2016 St. Francis 11-1 (6-0) Frankfort 11-1 (5-0) St. Ignace 11-2 (6-0)
2017 Boyne City 9-1 (7-0) Maple City Glen Lake 7-3 (5-0) Gaylord St. Mary 10-1 (5-0)
2018 St. Francis 12-1 (6-0) Maple City Glen Lake 5-5 (4-0) Johannesburg-Lewiston 9-2 (6-0)
2019 Kingsley 12-1 (6-0) Maple City Glen Lake 12-2 (4-0) Johannesburg-Lewiston 10-1 (4-0)
2020 Kingsley 8-1 (6-0) Charlevoix 8-1 (5-0) Johannesburg-Lewiston 10-1 (4-0)
2021 St. Francis 12-1 (7-0) Boyne City 9-2 (5-0) East Jordan 6-3 (5-0)
2022 St. Francis 13-1 (6-0) Boyne City 9-1 (5-0) St. Ignace 7-3 (6-0)
2023 Ogemaw Heights 9-2 (4-0) Charlevoix 8-2 (5-0) East Jordan 8-2 (5-0)

State Championship Appearances

Season NMFL Non-NMFL Site Division
2016 Maple City Glen Lake (12-2) 14 Jackson Lumen Christi (11-3) 26 Ford Field • Detroit, MI 6 [12]
2019 Maple City Glen Lake (12-2) 0 Monroe Saint Mary Catholic (12-1) 7 Ford Field • Detroit, MI 6 [13]
2020 St. Francis (9-3) 35 New Lothrop (11-0) 42 Ford Field • Detroit, MI 7 [14]
2022 St. Francis (13-1) 12 Jackson Lumen Christi (11-3) 15 Ford Field • Detroit, MI 7
2023 Kingsley (12-2) 38 Almont (12-2) 24 Ford Field • Detroit, MI 6

Membership Timeline

Legends Leaders Legacy

References

  1. ↑ "New League to begin play". Record-Eagle.
  2. ↑ COOK, JAMES. "Onekama, Cheboygan join NMFL; more on the way?". Traverse City Record-Eagle.
  3. ↑ DOBROWOLSKI, CHRIS. "Conference up to 22 teams, 3 divisions". Traverse City Record-Eagle.
  4. 1 2 "Mesick Football Drops to 8-man". November 23, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Beeby, Harrison (December 12, 2016). "Suttons Bay football program moving to 8-man division". WPBN.
  6. ↑ Yoshonis, Scott (December 13, 2016). "Onekama makes the switch to 8-player football". Manistee News Advocate.
  7. ↑ "West PAC to add three football teams in 2018, Newberry to join NMFL".
  8. ↑ dkochanny@petoskeynews.com, Drew Kochanny (231) 439-9345. "Northern Michigan Football League changes coming at start of 2020 season". Petoskey News-Review.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ "3 Join NMFL". Record-Eagle.com.
  10. ↑ "Northern Michigan Football Conference superintendents reject 4 Big North schools' application". Record-Eagle.
  11. ↑ "Change coming to Big North in 2023 with addition of three U.P. programs".
  12. ↑ "GL-JLC". MHSAA.
  13. ↑ "2019 Class 6 Championship" (PDF).
  14. ↑ "TCSF-NL". MHSAA.
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