Sports · Battle Creek
Harper Creek at Jackson Northwest: Beavers look to bounce back before an Interstate Eight finale with Hastings
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Harper Creek goes to Jackson Northwest on Friday night looking to get back on track after its most lopsided loss of the season, with an Interstate Eight home finale against Hastings waiting a week later.
Kickoff is 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, at Northwest High School, according to MaxPreps schedules for both teams.
The Beavers (5-2 overall, 3-1 in the league) lost 63-7 at Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills on Oct. 9 in a nonleague game. A week earlier they beat Coldwater 38-19 at home. Their only league loss was 28-26 at Marshall on Sept. 18, MaxPreps shows.
Harper Creek opened the season with shutouts of Battle Creek Lakeview, 38-0, and Cedar Springs, 19-0. It has allowed 70 points in four league games, according to conference standings kept by michigan-football.com.
Northwest (1-6, 1-4) has lost three straight, all in league play: 47-27 at Coldwater, 51-22 at home to Marshall and 64-44 at Hastings. The Mounties’ win came Sept. 18, 26-14 over Parma Western. They have allowed 292 points in seven games.
The same night, Marshall (6-1, 4-0) hosts Coldwater (5-2, 2-2). A Marshall win would clinch at least a share of the league title, because Hastings (4-1) and Harper Creek can each finish no better than 5-1. Marshall closes Oct. 23 at Pennfield.
Hastings plays a nonleague game at Mason on Friday, then visits Harper Creek on Oct. 23. Northwest ends its regular season Oct. 23 against Jackson High in a nonleague game.
Sources:
MaxPreps, Harper Creek Beavers football schedule, accessed Oct. 15, 2026, https://www.maxpreps.com/mi/battle-creek/harper-creek-beavers/football/schedule/
MaxPreps, Jackson Northwest Mounties football schedule, accessed Oct. 15, 2026, https://www.maxpreps.com/mi/jackson/northwest-mounties/football/schedule/
MaxPreps, Marshall Redhawks football schedule, accessed Oct. 15, 2026, https://www.maxpreps.com/mi/marshall/marshall-redhawks/football/schedule/
michigan-football.com, 2026 Interstate Eight Athletic Conference standings, accessed Oct. 15, 2026, https://michigan-football.com/s/2026/interst8.htm
Photo: Michael Barera, “Highland Park vs. Royse City football 2017 15 (Royse City on offense).jpg,” Nov. 3, 2017, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Highland_Park_vs._Royse_City_football_2017_15_(Royse_City_on_offense).jpg
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