Jackson visits Northwest Friday in a crosstown football finale, a week after the Mounties lost 47-45 to Harper Creek in overtime

JACKSON, Mich. — The Jackson Vikings and the Northwest Mounties close their regular seasons against each other Friday, Oct. 23, in a crosstown game at Northwest High School, 4200 Van Horn Road. Kickoff is 7 p.m., according to both teams’ schedules on MaxPreps.

Northwest (1-7) comes in off its toughest loss of the fall. The Mounties scored a season-high 45 points last Friday but fell 47-45 in overtime to Harper Creek, according to a recap published by the Detroit Free Press. Northwest trailed 39-31 in the fourth quarter, tied the game late and lined up for a field goal to win it at the end of regulation, but Harper Creek blocked the kick.

In overtime, Harper Creek’s Nolan Oaks scored a touchdown and ran in the two-point conversion for a 47-39 lead. Northwest answered with a touchdown of its own, but the Beavers stopped the tying two-point try. Oaks ran for 328 yards and four touchdowns, and Harper Creek’s coach said in the recap that his defense had trouble getting off the field all night.

The Mounties’ offense has come alive late. They scored 44 points in a 64-44 loss at Hastings on Oct. 9 before the 45 against Harper Creek, MaxPreps shows. But Northwest has lost four straight and five of its last six home games, and its only win came Sept. 18, 26-14 over Western. The Mounties are 1-5 in the Interstate 8 Conference.

Jackson (3-5, 3-3 in league play) is coming off a 43-13 home loss to Adrian last Friday. The Vikings have beaten Pinckney 30-23, Ypsilanti 27-8 and Lincoln 43-21, and lost to Western, Chelsea, Tecumseh, Monroe and Adrian, according to their MaxPreps schedule.

The two teams share two opponents. Adrian beat Northwest 53-25 on Sept. 3 and beat Jackson by 30 points last week. Western beat Jackson 20-12 in the Aug. 28 season opener, and Northwest beat Western by 12 three weeks later.

Friday is the last regular-season game for both teams, and neither can finish above .500.

Sources:
MaxPreps, “Jackson Vikings Football Schedule,” 2026, https://www.maxpreps.com/mi/jackson/jackson-vikings/football/schedule/
MaxPreps, “Northwest Mounties Football Schedule,” 2026, https://www.maxpreps.com/mi/jackson/northwest-mounties/football/schedule/
MaxPreps, “Football Recap: Northwest Falls to Harper Creek Despite Season-High Score,” Oct. 17, 2026, https://www.maxpreps.com/news/q5IpGgllJEehwe8YOhdZDQ/football-recap-northwest-falls-to-harper-creek-despite-season-high-score--how-to-watch.htm
Detroit Free Press, “Harper Creek wins in OT in Week 8 high school football action,” Oct. 17, 2026, https://www.freep.com/story/sports/high-school/2026/10/17/battle-creek-area-high-school-football-results-from-week-8/92168408007/
Photo: JacksonViking, “Jackson 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:Jackson_High_School.jpg

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