2024 High School Football Preview – Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference – SMAC
After 4 years the SMAC is back together at 10 teams with the return of Gull Lake and Kalamazoo Loy Norrix for football. The two schools left and wanted to take time away to rebuild
their football programs, but remained in the league for other sports.
With the return to 10 teams, the league is also back to an East and West Division. The league has made one change, that it is no longer locked in a full season of conference play. The first two weeks of the season are open to schools to play outside the league, which restores some old rivalries and opens up new ones. Each team will play the other four teams in their division, while only playing three teams in the opposite division. This also brings in a new schedule rotation that will have some teams playing at the same location for two years in a row. An example would be St. Joe plays at Mattawan for a second season in a row and Battle Creek Central will play at St. Joe for two straight season.
On to the rest of the preview.
2024 SMAC Conference Preview
Battle Creek Central Bearcats
2023 Record: 0-9 (0-7 SMAC)
Head Coach: Lorin Granger (24th season, 38-71)
2024 Schedule:
08/30 – Byron Center – 7:00 p.m.
09/06 – at Battle Creek Harper Creek – 7:00 p.m.
09/13 – at Battle Creek Lakeview – 7:00 p.m.
09/20 – at Portage Central – 7:00 p.m.
09/27 – Kalamazoo Loy Norrix – 7:00 p.m.
10/04 – Gull Lake – 7:00 p.m.
10/11 – at Kalamazoo Central – 7:00 p.m.
10/18 – at St. Joseph – 7:00 p.m.
10/25 – Mattawan – 7:00 p.m.
Battle Creek Central did not reply to our preview questionnaire.
Battle Creek Lakeview Spartans
2022 Record: 3-6 (3-4 SMAC)
Head Coach: Brett Vernon (2nd season, 3-6)
2024 Schedule:
08/30 – Grand Ledge – 7:00 p.m.
09/06 – Bye Week
09/13 – Battle Creek Central – 7:00 p.m.
09/20 – at Portage Northern – 7:00 p.m.
09/27 – Kalamazoo Central – 7:00 p.m.
10/04 – at Kalamazoo Loy Norrix – 7:00 p.m.
10/11 – Lakeshore – 7:00 p.m.
10/18 – Portage Central – 7:00 p.m.
10/25 –at Gull Lake
Battle Creek Lakeview did not reply to our preview questionnaire.
Gull Lake Blue Devils
2023 Record: 6-3 (Independent)
Head Coach: Jalon Simpson (1st season)
2024 Schedule:
08/29 – at Marshall – 7:00 p.m.
09/06 – at Vicksburg – 7:00 p.m.
09/13 – Kalamazoo Central – 7:00 p.m.
09/20 – St. Joseph – 7:00 p.m.
09/27 – at Portage Northern – 7:00 p.m.
10/04 – at Battle Creek Central – 7:00 p.m.
10/11 – Kalamazoo Loy Norrix – 7:00 p.m.
10/18 – at Lakeshore – 7:00 p.m.
10/25 – Battle Creek Lakeview – 7:00 p.m.
When SMAC football fans last saw Gull Lake. They had just completed an 0-7 COVID shortened season with a 41-14 loss at St. Joseph in the first round of the playoffs that everyone was eligible for. This came two weeks after St. Joe defeated Gull Lake 54-14. That’s when Gull Lake decided to step away from the SMAC and played an independent schedule for three years to try to get their program back on track. Since Gull Lake joined the SMAC in the 2012 season, they hadn’t finished a season above .500. And it’s not like they were successful prior to that. Gull Lake’s last winning season before exiting the SMAC was in 2009 when they went 6-4. Which also ended with a 1st round playoff loss at St. Joe. The Blue Devils were 14-14 over the three season away from the SMAC and finished at 6-3 last year. However since Gull Lake played weaker and sometimes smaller sized opponents, they did not qualify for the playoffs.
After the SMAC mandated that Gull Lake AND Loy Norrix rejoin the league full time. Gull Lake went and hired a new coach to make sure that Gull Lake would be able to not only try to compete, but also win in the restored SMAC Conference. Jalon Simpson was the Blue Devils defensive coordinator the year before, so he has been with the team during their rebuild and hope to continue that as the head coach.
Simpson only has a total of six starters back from the 2023 campaign. Four on offense, and just two on defense. Gull Lake also only has 8 seniors on the 33 man roster.
Simpson, who will still be calling the defense, will use a hybrid 3-4 defense. The two returning starters are also junior defensive backs, Carson Grant (6’1, 175) and Blake Strickler (6’0, 180). Two new players come in at linebacker, senior Emmanuel Lusimba (6’3, 215) and junior Ja’Mare Davis (6’0, 205).
Gull Lake’s offense is described as a Gun T, with the run/pass option, and is directed by offensive coordinator Corey Luma. Simpson has not named a starting quarterback, but he hints at the Blue Devils starting a freshman in the opener. Whoever is named the quarterback will have Senior Andrew McCloud (5’10, 250) and junior Blake Thomas (5’10, 200) up front protecting. Senior Tailback Tracen Marinson (5’10, 210) and junior WR Blake Stricklin will get most of the carries and catches.
On special teams, place kicking duties will be done by Lucas Hutchinson, and punting by Taytum Goerbig. Strickler and Donnell Brooks will serve in the return game.
On the upcoming season, Simpson tells us, “We are very young team and that is exciting to me. We are installing a new offense, and the kids have been grinding this entire offseason. We set 20+ new records on the top 30 ALL TIME list for Bench, Squat, and Clean and a lot of them are from underclassmen. The kids definitely do not see this as a rebuilding year because that is not in our vocabulary. Why can’t a team that is potentially led by a Freshman QB and Sophomore WRs make run to go 1-0 each week and make the playoffs in a tough SMAC conference? Our Motto this season is #BeTheFirst because Gull Lake has been absent from its first playoff win in school history and we believe we have the team to change the tides.”
When talking about the rest of the SMAC, Simpson says, “I think the Portage Schools are always making noise in the playoffs. Central returns a lot of players but Northern has multiple kids with large offers. But, this SMAC conference is no joke and you can’t even overlook a team like St. Joseph or Lakeshore as they are also always playoff teams. This is a deep conference with a lot of talent.”
Gull Lake opens the season on Thursday, August 29 at Marshall, their return to SMAC Conference play is two weeks later on September 13th against Kalamazoo Central.
You can hear Gull Lake’s home game against St. Joseph on September 20th on News/Talk/Sports 94.9 WSJM and their game on October 18th at Lakeshore on 97.5 Y-Country WYTZ.
Kalamazoo Central Maroon Giants
2023 Record: 2-6 (1-6 SMAC)
Head Coach: Mike Stanger (4th season, 4-22)
2024 Schedule:
08/29 – Jenison – 7:00 p.m.
09/06 – Sturgis – 7:00 p.m.
09/13 – at Gull Lake – 7:00 p.m.
09/20 – Lakeshore – 7:00 p.m.
09/27 – at Battle Creek Lakeview – 7:00 p.m.
10/04 – at Portage Central – 7:00 p.m.
10/11 – Battle Creek Central – 7:00 p.m.
10/18 – at Mattawan – 7:00 p.m.
10/25 – Kalamazoo Loy Norrix – 7:00 p.m.
Kalamazoo Central did not reply to our preview questionnaire.
Kalamazoo Loy Norrix Knights
2023 Record: 1-7 (Independent)
Head Coach: Lorenzon Robertson (4th season, 3-23)
2024 Schedule:
08/29 – Quincy – 7:00 p.m.
09/06 – Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills – 7:00 p.m.
09/13 – at St. Joseph – 7:00 p.m.
09/20 – Mattawan – 7:00 p.m.
09/27 – at Battle Creek Central – 7:00 p.m.
10/04 – Battle Creek Lakeview – 7:00 p.m.
10/11 – at Gull Lake – 7:00 p.m.
10/18 – Portage Northern – 7:00 p.m.
10/25 – at Kalamazoo Central – 7:00 p.m.
Kalamazoo Loy Norrix did not reply to our preview questionnaire.
Lakeshore Lancers
2023 Record: 6-5 (4-3 SMAC)
Head Coach: Danny Thompson (4th season, 16-15)
2024 Schedule:
08/30 – Grand Haven – 7:00 p.m.
09/06 – at Niles – 7:00 p.m.
09/13 – Portage Central – 7:00 p.m.
09/20 – at Kalamazoo Central – 7:00 p.m.
09/27 – St. Joseph – 7:00 p.m.
10/04 – Mattawan – 7:00 p.m.
10/11 – at Battle Creek Lakeview – 7:00 p.m.
10/18 – Gull Lake – 7:00 p.m.
10/25 –at Portage Northern – 7:00 p.m.
You can’t really blame Lakeshore fans to have felt uneasy after losing the opening game at Zeeland East last season, which took two days to play. The Lancers lost to the Dux 66-15 in the opener of the 2022 season, before falling to East 56-8 to open 2023. Fans thought the same scenario was about to repeat itself, when the 2022 Lancers went 3-6. The fear was only heightened by facing Niles next, when the Vikings came in off of a 55-0 win over St. Joe.
Niles who came into that game, never having won a game in Stevensville, were about to pull of their biggest win since the week before. But a late touchdown and defensive stand by the Lancers turned those fears into cheers and a new hope.
Lakeshore would go on to win their next 5 games before that winning streak ended with a 35-0 loss at St. Joe. But against St. Joe in the playoffs, the Lancers again got the stops they needed on defense for the 20-15 win.
Advance to 2024. Danny Thompson is back for season number 4, and leads one of the largest rosters in the area with 58 players donning the blood red helmets.
Lakeshore’s offense and defensive schemes really don’t change from year to year again the Lancers will operate from the Spread formation, with Jarrett Burgess calling the plays. Burgess returns 5 starters on the X’s side of the play sheet. Sophomore Landon Hall, (6’0, 180) or Jake Dendooven (6’4, 245) are in a battle for the starting quarterback position. Protecting them up front will be Offensive Linemen, Senior Jordan Miller (6’5, 285) who has committed to Grand Valley. Senior Alex Toothman (6-4, 265), and Senior Logan Boyle (6-1, 286). Sophomore Kaden Griffiths (5’11, 160) will be the primary wide out in the Lancers offense.
As for the defense, a familiar 4-3 alignment with John Vroon and Lancer Alum Trace Schewe sharing the defensive coordinator position, and with only 2 returning starters, the Lancers will be looking for a little more direction from the sidelines at the start of the season. Griffiths and Dendooven will also play both sides of the ball with Griffiths playing as a defensive back and Dendooven as a Linebacker. Along side will be DB’s, Sr. Caleb Steinke (5’11), and Jr. Ryley Danapilis (5’10). Up front, Leeland Marcon (5’11-205), Jared Curtis (6’1, 245) and Avery Kyncl (6’1, 255) on the D-Line.
Thompson is in a great position with his kicking game as well. He has two kickers and two punters and Thompson it should be a great competition.
Lakeshore will have a very busy senior night as well, as the Lancer have a total of 31 seniors on the team.
Thompson that his is “Looking forward with blending big senior class with talent with young gifted athletes. Deep on the O and D line with a lot of speed.”
As for the rest of the newly restored SMAC, Thompson says. “SMAC is tough every year. PC will be loaded and St. Joe has some nice pieces and PN always has athletes. I believe that it will come down to the last couple weeks to see who becomes conference champions. I like our chances against anyone, but it’s not going to be easy.”
The Lancers opening game will be on Friday August 30th at home against Grand Haven. The Lancers haven’t played the Buccaneers since 1983, and are 0-2 against them. The War By The Shore against St. Joe is a little earlier than normal this season with the Red and White, taking on the Maize and Blue in week 5. The September 27th matchup is at Lakeshore this season.
You can listen to every Lancer game on 97.5 Y-Country and on 975ycountry.com.
Mattawan Wildcats
2023 Record: 3-6 (2-5 SMAC)
Head Coach: Jerry Schultz (1st season)
2024 Schedule:
08/29 – Vicksburg – 7:00 p.m.
09/06 – at Lowell – 7:00 p.m.
09/13 – Portage Northern – 7:00 p.m.
09/20 – at Kalamazoo Loy Norrix – 7:00 p.m.
09/27 – Portage Central – 7:00 p.m.
10/04 – at Lakeshore – 7:00 p.m.
10/11 – St. Joseph – 7:00 p.m.
10/18 – Kalamazoo Central – 7:00 p.m.
10/25 – at Battle Creek Central – 7:00 p.m.
Mattawan is certainly building for the future; after hiring new head coach Jerry Schultz in late April, Mattawan voters approved a bond proposal that will also help in building up Mattawan’s program.
Schultz comes to Mattawan after serving as head coach at Centreville taking the team to the playoffs all four seasons, including winning a Division 8 state championship in 2020 season, going 11-0.
However, the SMAC is not the SAC and he lands himself into the roughest of situations in his first year. Mattawan went 3-6 a year ago, and of their 6 losses, Mattawan lost to the other 5 members of the newly restored SMAC-West Division of Lakeshore, St. Joseph, Portage Central and Portage Northern by a total of 73 points. Plus Mattawan hasn’t clinched a playoff berth since 2021. Something that Schultz will try to reverse this season, and every season to come.
Mattawan has 37 players on the roster this season with 17 seniors. The offense returns 7 starters from last year and 6 on defense.
Under offensive coordinator Ryan Casey, the Wildcats will be running a Flexbone offense, with Preston Shackelford at quarterback. Wide Receivers, Connor O’Rourke, Brody Hergott, and Connor Vernon. They will line up with a pair of tight ends, Spencer Stiles and Kellan Wilder, with Troy Scott at half back and Jake Tungate at fullback. Max Lawson and Jaydon Barker will be up front on the offensive line.
Schultz himself will be calling the defense in their 3-4 alignment. O’Rourke also playing defense at safety, Lawson on the defensive line. Stiles and Wilder at defensive end, Barker and Tungate at middle linebacker, Vernon at DB, and Hergott and Scraff at outside linebacker.
Mattawan’s Sam Jacob will be handling all three phases of kicking.
Schultz tells us, “The Wildcats look to get back in the winning tradition in the 2024 season. With a heavy competition each week, changes in the strength and conditioning summer program has been important to the success of the season. Attendance is at its highest in years and total number for the program is up 20+ kids.” As for the rest of the SMAC, Schultz says, “Portage Northern and Portage Central are always going to be the favorites. However, this conference, all teams are competitive.”
Mattawan opens the season at home on Thursday, August 29 against Vicksburg before heading to Lowell the following week. Mattawan visits Lakeshore on October 4th, which you can hear on 97.5 Y-Country and they will host St. Joseph the following week, which you can hear on News/Talk/Sports 94.9 WSJM.
Portage Central Mustangs
2023 Record: 8-2 (7-0 SMAC)
Head Coach: Mick Enders (15th season, 98-45)
2024 Schedule:
08/29 – at East Lansing – 7:00 p.m.
09/06 – Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central – 7:00 p.m.
09/13 – at Lakeshore – 7:00 p.m.
09/20 – Battle Creek Central – 7:00 p.m.
09/27 – at Mattawan – 7:00 p.m.
10/04 – Kalamazoo Central – 7:00 p.m.
10/11 – at Portage Northern – 7:00 p.m.
10/18 – at Battle Creek Lakeview – 7:00 p.m.
10/25 – St. Joseph – 7:00 p.m.
Portage Central did not reply to our preview questionnaire.
Portage Northern Huskies
2023 Record: 8-2 (5-2 SMAC)
Head Coach: Kurt Twichell (4th season, 18-12)
2024 Schedule:
08/29 – at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s – 7:00 p.m.
09/06 – Midland – 7:00 p.m.
09/13 – at Mattawan – 7:00 p.m.
09/20 – Battle Creek Lakeview – 7:00 p.m.
09/27 – Gull Lake – 7:00 p.m.
10/04 – at St. Joseph – 7:00 p.m.
10/11 – Portage Central – 7:00 p.m.
10/18 – at Kalamazoo Loy Norrix – 7:00 p.m.
10/25 – Lakeshore – 7:00 p.m.
For the history of the SMAC Conference in the 80’s and 90’s. St. Joe and Portage Central were the two teams that you could always count on to be one of the teams standing on top of the proverbial mountain as conference champions. Through the expansion of the league in 2001. You could add Lakeshore and Marshall to that list. But still, Portage Northern was thought of as an afterthought. After all, they didn’t even have their own home field. However advance 20 years later. Not only did Northern get a new stadium, a new coach, and those Huskies are not only were in the running for a conference championship, they started winning them.
It wasn’t that hard for Huskies Coach Kurt Twichell to know what they were up against, after all, he was part of the opposition when he was an assistant at Portage Central. Having that familiarity meant he could focus all of his efforts on his program, and he did. Northern’s rosters were transformed into an almost feeder system for college programs. Northern has graduated players to Big Ten, MAC, GLIAC, and other Division 1 programs. But he is still focused on the players suiting up in brown and orange.
Twichell returns for his 4th year on the sidelines for the Huskies, and the team is just as strong as it was when he took over.
The Huskies return 5 players on offense from last year, and 3 on defense. Portage Northern will have 32 players on the varsity team this season. With exactly half of them (16) seniors.
Northern will continue to run their spread formation offense, and still have a top signal caller to run it on the field. Offensive coordinator Mike McGruire will junior QB Joe Thole (5’10, 190). Senior running back Vaughnzell Tyus (5’11, 195) hopes to follow in his older brother’s footsteps. There are three critical and big blockers up front. Seniors Braeden Hembree (6’1, 275) and Zack French (6’3, 300), joined by junior OL Gregory Patrick (6’5, 275). Tyus gained over 1,000 yards last year in the running back position. French and Hembree are three-year starters.
Coach Chris Prom will direct the Huskies 4-3 base defense and will depend on seniors and brothers, DB Cameron Bates-McCullough (5’11, 190), and LB Jordan Bates-McCullough (6’1, 195). On the D-Line are junior Day’vion Branson (5’9, 250) and Cody Haworth (6’4, 220). Junior Keniel Ortiz (5’8, 175) will be a defensive back. Twichell said Gregory Patrick and sophomore Lucas Pinder will have expanded roles as Pinder has already drawn interest from college programs.
To take over in one of Portage Northern’s big strength’s from last year, the Huskies will turn over their kicking and punting duties to senior Tony Flanders (5’11, 180).
With the SMAC now split back into two divisions, the SMAC West will once again be hard fought with battles with Portage Central, St. Joe, and Lakeshore. According to Twichell, “We expect the games with St Joe and Portage Central to be dogfights. St. Joe returns the most of anyone in the league, is always well-coached and disciplined, and has the talent and depth to platoon their players on both sides of the ball. Portage Central graduates perhaps the most of anybody, but their defensive scheme is consistently great against the run and limiting the big play, which complements their clock-chewing flexbone offense very well.”
Portage Northern opens the season on Thursday, August 29 on the red colored turf at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s.
You can hear the Huskies game at St. Joseph on October 4th on News/Talk/Sports 94.9 WSJM, and the regular season finale at home against Lakeshore on October 25th on 97.5 Y-Country
St. Joseph Bears
2023 Record: 6-4 (5-2 SMAC)
Head Coach: Andrew Pratley (6th season, 36-17)
2024 Schedule:
08/30 – Niles – 7:00 p.m.
09/06 – at Edwardsburg – 7:00 p.m.
09/13 – Kalamazoo Loy Norrix – 7:00 p.m.
09/20 – at Gull Lake – 7:00 p.m.
09/27 – at Lakeshore – 7:00 p.m.
10/04 – Portage Northern – 7:00 p.m.
10/11 – at Mattawan – 7:00 p.m.
10/18 – Battle Creek Central – 7:00 p.m.
10/25 – at Portage Central – 7:00 p.m.
It may be an overused word, but experienced is an understatement when describing the 2024 St. Joe Bears. Experience and depth are in abundance to be more accurate. St. Joe has a total of 71 players on the varsity roster this season, with well over 120 players in the program this season. In fact, St. Joe’s varsity roster this season forced the team to make some changes to the home team locker room at Dickinson Stadium to add more lockers, and not just a few, but a lot of lockers.
Andrew Pratley is back for his 6th season with the Bears, and his 21st as a head coach across the state of Michigan. It’s probably safe to say that Pratley has never had to deal with a roster this deep, not that he’s complaining.
St. Joe returns 11 starters on offense this season, so yes, the Bears return a wealth of players with plenty of playing time from last season. Those players did have a rough start to last year. St. Joe graduated 26 players from the 2022 season, including most of the Bears offense, which led to a young and raw group of players to a 55-0 loss to Niles in the opener last year, followed by a last-minute cancellation when Detroit Henry Ford was not going to make the trip across the state to face St. Joe. It wasn’t until week 3 against Kalamazoo Central that the Bears scored their first points of the season.
The Bears are primed to win games with that depth and by the skill of what they bring back from last year.
Pratley will be calling the plays this season, running from a split back veer option, taking advantage of the offensive line, another strength of the St. Joe team this season. Quarterback Davis Crossman (6’1, 185) will again lead the offense, the returning senior was 21 of 57 a year ago, with 2 interceptions, and 4 touchdowns. But his job will be to hand the ball to his two senior running backs, Dylan Chapman (5’10, 190) and Charles Halsted (5’10, 195). St. Joe’s main threat in the passing game will be senior wide receiver Blayke Sicurello (5’9, 165). The speedy senior was tied for the team lead in scoring last year with Halsted. St. Joe will line up a sophomore at tight end Eli Kragt (6’1, 245) who was on the varsity as a freshman last year. Up front, four of the five Bears offensive lineman are over 260 pounds, with senior Jackson Milnickel (5’9, 235) and junior Camden Richards (6’0, 290) at guard. At tackle, senior Rusty Klaer (6’3, 285) and junior Maddux Murphy (6’6, 305), and senior Camden King (6’1, 260) at center.
One thing the Bears offense has to do is cut down on the turnovers, the Bears fumbled the ball 18 times last season, losing 12 of them. With the Bear defense forcing 14 fumbles, but only coming up with 7 of them.
On defense, St. Joe will set up in a 4-3 alignment under defensive coordinator Steve Graziano. Coach Graz doesn’t have the luxury of returning 11 starters on defense this year, he’ll have to make do with just 8 starters back.
On the D-Line are senior NG Even Wilkes (5’6, 150), a pair of seniors at defensive tackle, Elvin Vu (5’9, 245), and Ayden Archer (6’0, 240). Seniors Dontranae Miller (5’10, 250), and Jones Rapette (6’3, 195) at defensive end. St. Joe’s three linebackers are junior Isaac Codde (6’0, 215), and seniors Aiden Johnson (5’10, 215), and Isaac Ebrecht (6’0, 175). In the secondary, the Bears have senior Maguire Lange (5’9, 175) at free safety, senior Sam Zarotney (5’10, 160) at cornerback and sophomore Nate Schmidt (6’2, 190) at strong safety.
Rusty Klaer, will be kicking and punting for St. Joe, Klaer’s father Ryan is a former St. Joe player who went on to kick at the University of Toledo. St. Joe will have Sicurello, Lange and junior Jace Hopkins line up to return kicks.
Pratley says, “We have a great mix of veteran returning starters and young players pushing them for their spots. We expect to compete for a conference championship and to make a run in the playoffs.” He also says Portage Central and Portage Northern as other favorites in the newly reformed SMAC-West.
St. Joe opens the season at home on Friday night, August 30th against Niles. You can hear every St. Joe game live on News/Talk/Sports 94.9 WSJM, also online at WSJM.com, with Joel Cordes and Bret Witkowski