Rangers, Eddies set for district championship games

Published 8:16 am Thursday, November 2, 2017

Cassopolis and Edwardsburg will host district championship games Friday night.

The Eddies (9-1) will host Three Rivers (8-2) for the Division 4, Region 3, District 1 championship game at Leo Hoffman Field.

The Rangers (9-1) will host Reading (8-2) for the Division 7, Region 3, District 2 title game at William F. Scott Field.

Both games are scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m.

Reading at Cassopolis

Cassopolis is making its fifth consecutive appearance in the district championship game.

The Rangers are 2-2 over that stretch, including a 42-21 victory over Gobles last year in a game played at Decatur High School as the Cassopolis home field was under construction.

Reading is making its first district championship game appearance since 2009 when it lost to Hudson 40-0.

Reading, also known as the Rangers, lost its season opener to Sand Creek a crossover game to Michigan Center to end the regular season.

Reading edged Union City 21-20 in last week’s district semifinal. It was the second victory of the season for Reading over Union City.

Cassopolis’ only loss of the season came at the hands of Mendon, which is playing in the Division 8 district championship game Saturday.

Cassopolis rebounded with big wins over Centreville (38-0) to end the regular season and 50-14 over Homer last Friday night in the district semifinals.

Cassopolis head coach Dan Purlee said it was good to play at home in the playoffs for the first time in more than a year.

“Finally,” he said. “Unfortunately last year we did not have a home field so we hosted our three playoff games at Decatur. They were great hosts, but it is nice to be here playing at home.”

Three Rivers @ Edwardsburg

The Eddies are playing in their fourth consecutive district championship game.

Edwardsburg is 2-1 in the previous three finals.

The Eddies are facing the only team that defeated them this past season.

The Wildcats ended Edwardsburg’s 34-game Wolverine Conference winning streak with a 21-18 victory on Oct. 6.

The win also snapped a five-game losing streak during the regular season to Edwardsburg.

The Eddies rebounded to final two games of the regular season, outscoring Vicksburg and Sturgis 102-33.

Edwardsburg then blew out Benton Harbor 41-0 in last Friday night’s playoff opener.

Three Rivers defeated Allegan and split back-to-back games against arch rival Vicksburg, the second game coming last week in the first round of the playoffs.

“Three Rivers played us very, very well the last time we played. We’ve been planning on possibly seeing them in the playoffs, so we’ll be ready,” Edwardsburg coach Kevin Bartz said.