By DOUG DONNELLY

OTTAWA LAKE – Division 7 football in Michigan got a little stronger last week.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association released its 2024-25 school year classifications for all sports, setting the enrollment breaks for postseason tournaments in the next school year.

The only notable local change is that the Whiteford Bobcats will compete in Division 7 in football next season.

“Division 7 is going to be a gauntlet,” Whiteford coach Todd Thieken said.

The Bobcats have been Division 8 for most of the past 12 seasons that they have been in the playoffs, winning state titles in 2017 and 2022 and finishing as runners-up in 2016 and 2023. They also reached the final four in 2015 and 2021 – all in Division 8.

Whiteford’s 2024-25 enrolment is 268. Schools with an enrollment of 262 and below are in Division 8.

Another area team moving up from Division 8 to Division 7 is Hudson, who won the 2021 state title in Division 8.

Classifications for the upcoming school year are based on a second semester count date, which for MHSAA purposes was Feb. 14. The enrollment figure submitted for athletic classification purposes may be different from the count submitted for school aid purposes, as it does not include students ineligible for athletic competition because they reached their 19th birthday prior to Sept. 1 of the current school year and will not include alternative education students if none are allowed athletic eligibility by the local school district.

All sports’ tournaments are conducted with schools assigned to equal or nearly equal divisions, with lines dependent on how many schools participate in those respective sports.

For 2024-25, there are 753 tournament-qualified member schools.

A pair of MHSAA Finals champions crowned during the first two seasons of this 2023-24 school year are set to move to new divisions for 2024-25. The Ishpeming girls basketball team will shift to Division 3 coming off its Division 4 title last month, while the Hudsonville Unity Christian boys soccer team is moving to Division 2 after winning Division 3 in the fall. The Detroit Old Redford boys basketball team finished Division 3 runner-up last month and will play in Division 2 next season, while this year’s Division 2 boys bowling runner-up Grand Rapids Northview is moving to Division 1 and the fall’s 11-player Division 8 football runner-up Whiteford will play in Division 7.

Whiteford has made the state football playoffs 24 times – five times in Division 7 and 14 times in Division 8:

Class D: 1998
Class DD: 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995
Division 7: 2001, 2002, 2005, 2009, 2012
Division 8: 2000, 2003, 2006, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023