Hanover-Horton defends its Cascades football title Saturday at Manchester, a first-time finalist

MANCHESTER, Mich. — Hanover-Horton will try to keep its Cascades Conference football crown at noon Saturday at Manchester Jr./Sr. High School, where the host Dutchmen play for the league title for the first time.

Both teams are 6-1. The game matches the winners of the conference’s two divisions. Hanover-Horton swept the South Division for the third year in a row, going 4-0, and Manchester won the North, MLive reported.

The Comets are making their third straight trip to the title game and beat Michigan Center for last year’s championship. Manchester is the fourth different team in four years to win the conference’s northern division, following Napoleon in 2023, Leslie in 2024 and Michigan Center in 2025, according to MLive.

Manchester coach Joshua Lindeman knows the setting. He took Addison to the first Cascades title game, and Addison beat Napoleon for the crown. Saturday will be the first meeting between Manchester and Hanover-Horton since 2022.

Expect a lot of running. Hanover-Horton piled up 491 rushing yards on 51 carries in a 52-28 win over Leslie last week, MLive reported. Austyn Hocter carried 13 times for 225 yards and four touchdowns, three of them in the second quarter, and Carl Maynard added two touchdowns after halftime.

Manchester beat the same Leslie team 80-35 on Oct. 2, then clinched the North by beating Vandercook Lake 46-9 last week. MLive’s Week 8 picks named Hocter and Manchester’s Jayden Johnson as the rushers to watch and took Hanover-Horton, pointing to its title-game experience.

Both teams are also playing for playoff position. Through seven weeks, Hanover-Horton ranked No. 8 in its division’s playoff-point standings with 39.143 points, and Manchester was No. 11 in its own division with 32.714, according to MLive.

The rest of the conference plays crossover games at 7 p.m. Friday, with North teams at home, MLive reported:

• Napoleon (6-1) at Leslie (4-3). The two shared a division for three seasons, and Napoleon won last year’s meeting 30-26.
• Columbia Central (5-2) at Michigan Center (3-4), a rematch of Columbia Central’s 34-14 win earlier this fall.
• Jonesville (3-4) at Grass Lake (1-6). Jonesville won last year’s meeting 38-34.
• Addison (1-6) at Vandercook Lake (2-5). Addison’s lone win this season came against Vandercook Lake, 36-27, on Sept. 18.

Also Friday, Lumen Christi (6-1), second in the Division 6 playoff-point standings, plays at Detroit Country Day at 7 p.m.

Sources:
MLive, “Matchups set for Cascades Crossovers,” October 2026 (Friday and Saturday times, crossover matchups, series history, Lindeman’s Addison title), https://www.mlive.com/highschoolsports/2026/10/matchups-set-for-cascades-crossovers.html
MLive, “Check out the Jackson-area Week 8 football picks,” October 2026, https://www.mlive.com/highschoolsports/2026/10/check-out-the-jackson-area-week-8-football-picks.html
MLive, “Nine takeaways from Week 7 football games in the Jackson area,” October 2026 (Hanover-Horton and Manchester results and statistics), https://www.mlive.com/highschoolsports/2026/10/nine-takeaways-from-week-7-football-games-in-the-jackson-area.html
MLive, “How are Jackson-area football teams faring in the quest for playoff points?” Oct. 14, 2026 (records and playoff points), https://www.mlive.com/highschoolsports/2026/10/how-are-jackson-area-football-teams-faring-in-the-quest-for-playoff-points.html
Hanover-Horton Athletics, “Cascades Crossover” football event listing, Oct. 17, 2026, noon, at Manchester Jr/Sr High School, https://websites.eventlink.com/s/hanover-horton-high-school/Event/906f5a2e-2a0e-4565-9cad-479b97667008
MaxPreps, Lumen Christi Catholic football schedule (Oct. 16 at Detroit Country Day, 7 p.m.), https://www.maxpreps.com/mi/jackson/lumen-christi-catholic-titans/football/
Photo: Michael Barera, “Highland Park vs. Royse City football 2017 25 (Highland Park 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_25_(Highland_Park_on_offense).jpg

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Tags: Jackson · Sports · High School Football · Hanover-Horton · Manchester · Cascades Conference · Lumen Christi