St. Ignace at Central Lake: Saints and Trojans close the regular season Friday, each riding a four-game win streak

ST. IGNACE, Mich. — St. Ignace closes its regular season Friday night south of the Mackinac Bridge at Central Lake, where two teams on four-game winning streaks meet two days before the state playoff pairings come out.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, at Central Lake High School, 8190 W. State St., according to MaxPreps schedules for both schools. It is a nonleague game for both teams.

St. Ignace (7-1) is coming off its highest-scoring night of the season, a 73-22 win at Stephenson last Friday, WLUC-TV reported. The Saints had been scheduled to play at Brimley that night, but that game was canceled, as The Mitten Daily reported.

The Saints have outscored opponents 333-114, an average of 41.6 points a game, MaxPreps shows. Their only loss was 44-14 at home to Pickford on Sept. 18. Since then they have won 24-8 at Inland Lakes, beaten Bellaire 46-0 and Rudyard 20-12 at home, and routed Stephenson.

Central Lake (6-2, 3-1 league) wins with defense. The Trojans have allowed 94 points in eight games, posted three shutouts and held three other opponents to single digits, according to their MaxPreps schedule. They have scored 371 points, about 46 a game.

Central Lake’s two losses came on the road, 54-0 to Gaylord St. Mary, which MaxPreps lists as St. Mary Cathedral, on Sept. 3 and 26-6 at Rudyard on Sept. 18. The Trojans have won every game since: 54-0 over Engadine, 75-0 at Forest Area, 52-0 over Bellaire and 60-6 at Cedarville-DeTour last Friday.

The common opponents offer mixed signals. Both teams shut out Bellaire, and both beat Cedarville by more than 50 points; St. Ignace won 55-0 in its Aug. 28 opener. But Rudyard, which beat Central Lake by 20, lost to St. Ignace by 8. Rudyard rolled past Newberry 34-6 last week, WLUC’s scoreboard shows.

Pickford, the one team to beat St. Ignace, lost 42-0 to Gaylord St. Mary last Friday, according to WLUC.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association announces its football playoff pairings on Selection Sunday, Oct. 25, at 5 p.m., the association’s football page says.

Sources:
MaxPreps, St. Ignace Saints football schedule, accessed Oct. 19, 2026, https://www.maxpreps.com/mi/st-ignace/st-ignace-saints/football/schedule/
MaxPreps, Central Lake Trojans football schedule, accessed Oct. 19, 2026, https://www.maxpreps.com/mi/central-lake/central-lake-trojans/football/schedule/
MaxPreps, “Football Recap: St. Ignace Piles Up the Points Against Stephenson,” Oct. 18, 2026, https://www.maxpreps.com/news/ZXbZUkCsx0Ws1Le80hUadw/football-recap-st-ignace-piles-up-the-points-against-stephenson.htm
WLUC-TV, “Friday Night Fever Week Eight Highlights and Scores,” Oct. 17, 2026, https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/2026/10/17/friday-night-fever-week-eight-highlights-scores/
Michigan High School Athletic Association, Football, accessed Oct. 19, 2026, https://www.mhsaa.com/sports/football
Photo: Michael Barera, “Bradley Tech vs. Pulaski football 2025 20 (Bradley Tech on offense).jpg,” Oct. 17, 2025, 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:Bradley_Tech_vs._Pulaski_football_2025_20_(Bradley_Tech_on_offense).jpg

The Straits

Tags: High School Football · St. Ignace · Central Lake · Stephenson · MHSAA Playoffs