St. Ignace beats Rudyard 20-12 in a meeting of 5-1 teams whose only losses came to Pickford

ST. IGNACE, Mich. — St. Ignace and Rudyard have each lost one football game this fall, and both lost to the same team, Pickford. They met Friday, Oct. 9, in St. Ignace, with the winner moving to 3-1 in league play, one game behind the Panthers in the standings kept by MaxPreps.

St. Ignace was 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the league and had outscored opponents 240-80, according to its MaxPreps schedule. The Saints opened with a 55-0 win over Cedarville and a 60-12 win over Rapid River, won 41-16 at Newberry and 24-8 at Inland Lakes, and shut out Bellaire 46-0 last Friday. Four of their wins have come by 25 points or more.

Their only loss was a 44-14 home defeat to Pickford on Sept. 18.

Rudyard was also 5-1 and 2-1 and had won four straight since a 55-6 loss to Pickford on Sept. 4. The Bulldogs beat Inland Lakes 42-36 on the road, then won three home games by lopsided scores: 26-6 over Central Lake, 54-6 over Stephenson and 32-6 over Brimley. They had outscored opponents 182-115, and the Inland Lakes game was their only road game to that point.

The common opponents favored St. Ignace. The Saints beat Inland Lakes by 16 points; Rudyard beat them by six. Pickford beat St. Ignace by 30 and Rudyard by 49.

Pickford led the league at 4-0 and was 5-1 overall. Its loss came last week, 28-18 to St. Patrick in a nonleague game. The Panthers played at Inland Lakes the same night.

St. Ignace plays at Brimley on Oct. 16 and closes the regular season at Central Lake on Oct. 23. Rudyard hosts Newberry on Oct. 16 and plays at Cedarville on Oct. 23.

Updated Oct. 12, 2026: St. Ignace won 20-12, MaxPreps results show, and is 6-1 and 3-1 in league play. Pickford won 36-30 at Inland Lakes to stay unbeaten in the league at 5-0. Rudyard is 5-2. Records above are as of the week of the games.

Updated Oct. 13, 2026: The headline and summary were changed to report the result of the game this story previewed.

Sources:
MaxPreps, St. Ignace Saints 2026 football schedule and results, https://www.maxpreps.com/mi/st-ignace/st-ignace-saints/football/schedule/
MaxPreps, Rudyard Bulldogs 2026 football schedule and results, https://www.maxpreps.com/mi/rudyard/rudyard-bulldogs/football/schedule/
MaxPreps, Pickford Panthers 2026 football schedule and results, https://www.maxpreps.com/mi/pickford/pickford-panthers/football/schedule/
MaxPreps, “Football Recap: St. Ignace Skates Past Bellaire with Ease,” Oct. 2, 2026, https://www.maxpreps.com/news/e4FzOjXr6Eq-Zqz0xevJxA/football-recap-st-ignace-skates-past-bellaire-with-ease--how-to-watch.htm
Photo: Michael Barera, “North Lamar vs. Commerce football 2015 13 (Commerce on offense),” Aug. 28, 2015, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), cropped and color-corrected; derivative under the same ShareAlike license, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:North_Lamar_vs._Commerce_football_2015_13_(Commerce_on_offense).jpg

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Tags: The Straits · Sports · St. Ignace · Rudyard · High School Football