The Dexter Dreadnaughts ride into the Division 2 state playoffs officially 9-0 on the season and will open postseason play at home against South Lyon East at 7 p.m. on Friday night at Al Ritt Stadium. The Dreadnaughts are perfect on the season following an impressive 35-6 win over Chelsea on Friday night.
The winner of the Dexter-South Lyon East game will play the winner of Milford (7-2) at East Lansing (6-3). Dexter (81.222) had the second highest point total in D-2 and will host playoff games all the way to Ford Field – if they keep winning. Grosse Pointe South (9-0) is in the other bracket and has a D-2 best 81.444 points.
South Lyon East enters the postseason on a three-game winning streak including a 31-20 win over South Lyon on Friday in the team’s final regular season game. The Cougars’ three losses have all come against playoff teams – Lakeland, Milford and Walled Lake Western.
South Lyon East and Dexter have met only once with the Cougars winning 42-13 in 2017.
Teams were divided into divisions before the start of play this fall. The top 32 teams in each division in 11-player and top 16 per division in 8-player, based on playoff-point average, were selected to the field. For 11-player, qualifiers were then divided into four regions with eight teams apiece, and for 8-player qualifiers were divided into four regions with four teams in each.
Pairings for the first three weeks of the tournament are based on regular-season playoff point averages, with the highest-ranked team hosting, regardless of the distance between the two schools. For 11-Player District Semifinal and 8-Player Regional Semifinal play, the top-seeded team in each bracket will host the fourth-seeded team, and the second-seeded team will host the third-seeded team.
District Finals for 11-player and Regional Finals for 8-player will follow during the weekend of Nov. 8-9, and the weekend of Nov. 15-16 will have Regional Finals in the 11-Player Playoffs and Semifinals in the 8-Player Playoffs. The 8-Player Semifinals will pair the winners of Region 1 vs. Region 2 and the winners of Region 3 vs. Region 4, at the sites of the highest-ranked team.
Semifinal games in the 11-Player Playoffs will take place Nov. 22-23, pairing the winners of Region 1 vs. Region 2 and the winners of Region 3 vs. Region 4. The MHSAA will assign 11-Player Semifinals at neutral sites.
All playoff tickets except for Finals (both 11 and 8-player) will be sold online only via GoFan at gofan.co/.
