Battle Creek Central sits out Week 8 after Gull Lake dropped varsity football, with Lakeview next

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Battle Creek Central will spend Friday night off the field.

The Bearcats were scheduled to play Gull Lake in Week 8 on Oct. 16. Gull Lake is not fielding a varsity football team this season, and Central could not find a suitable replacement opponent, according to a Detroit Free Press report published Monday on Battle Creek-area teams.

Gull Lake Superintendent Drew Bordner told families in an Aug. 12 letter that the high school would not have a varsity team in 2026 because of insufficient participation at the varsity level, and that the district could not safely sustain a season with its roster numbers. The junior varsity team kept its schedule, the letter said. MHSAA.com later reported that the cancellation followed a preseason camp incident that led to school and law enforcement investigations.

Nineteen Gull Lake players have since found a home in a cooperative program with Parchment, approved by the Southwestern Athletic Conference and the Michigan High School Athletic Association, according to MHSAA.com.

For Central, the open date comes at 3-4 on an eight-game schedule, the Free Press reported. Every Battle Creek-area team lost in Week 7, and the report noted that a week away could help a Bearcats roster dealing with several injuries.

That leaves one regular-season game: crosstown rival Lakeview on Oct. 23. A win would put Central at 4-4, and the Free Press said the Bearcats’ strength of schedule as a Division 3 team could be enough to slip into the playoffs from there.

Sources:
Detroit Free Press, “All five Battle Creek teams lost in Week 7 in high school football; can they bounce back?” Oct. 12, 2026, https://www.freep.com/story/sports/high-school/2026/10/12/assessing-battle-creek-area-high-school-football-after-week-7/92162520007/
Gull Lake Community Schools, letter to families on varsity football, Aug. 12, 2026 (as posted by WOOD-TV), https://www.woodtv.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/51/2026/08/Gull-Lake-Community-Schools-District-Communication-Football-Update-8_12_2026.docx.pdf
MHSAA.com, “Gull Lake Players Find Opportunities to Play, New Friendships as Part of ‘Parchment Pride,’” Sept. 22, 2026, https://www.mhsaa.com/node/29223/print
Photo: Gpwitteveen, “Battle Creek Central High School.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/), cropped and color-adjusted; derivative under the same ShareAlike license, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_Creek_Central_High_School.jpg

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