Sports · Up North
Traverse City West hands unbeaten Mount Pleasant its first loss, 31-29
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Mount Pleasant put the only perfect record in the Saginaw Valley League North on the line Friday night, Oct. 9, at Traverse City West.
The Oilers are 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the division, according to MaxPreps. West is 3-3 and 2-1, in third place behind Midland Dow. The game was played at West Senior High on North Long Lake Road.
Mount Pleasant has scored 222 points and allowed 100. It opened with wins over Saginaw Heritage and Saginaw United, then beat Dow 28-7 on the road and Traverse City Central 35-20 at home. Last week the Oilers handled Bay City Western 42-20.
West has been harder to read. The Titans beat Central 56-18 and won 36-7 at Midland, but they lost 52-24 at Dow last Friday and 54-22 at home to Grand Blanc in September. They have scored 195 points and given up 200.
The Dow game is the clearest yardstick. Mount Pleasant won at Dow by three touchdowns. West lost there by four.
The Titans lean on junior quarterback Brayden Tillman, who has thrown for 1,334 yards and leads the team with 1,639 total yards, according to MaxPreps statistics.
Two weeks remain after the West game. Mount Pleasant hosts Midland on Oct. 16 and closes the regular season on the road Oct. 23. West hosts Bay City Western on Oct. 16, then plays its crosstown game at Central on Oct. 23.
Updated Oct. 12, 2026: Traverse City West handed Mount Pleasant its first loss, 31-29, MaxPreps results show. The Oilers are 6-1 and 4-1 in the SVL North, still listed first in the division; West is 4-3 and 3-1. Records above are as of the week of the game.
Updated Oct. 13, 2026: The headline and summary were changed to report the result of the game this story previewed.
Sources:
MaxPreps, Mt. Pleasant Oilers varsity football schedule and results, 2026, accessed Oct. 8, 2026, https://www.maxpreps.com/mi/mt-pleasant/mt-pleasant-oilers/football/schedule/
MaxPreps, Traverse City West Titans varsity football schedule and results, 2026, accessed Oct. 8, 2026, https://www.maxpreps.com/mi/traverse-city/traverse-city-west-titans/football/schedule/
MaxPreps, Traverse City West Titans football standings and stat leaders, Saginaw Valley North, accessed Oct. 8, 2026, https://www.maxpreps.com/mi/traverse-city/traverse-city-west-titans/football/standings/
Photo: Phoenix-Five, “West Senior High Entrance,” May 20, 2019, 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:West_Senior_High_Entrance.jpg
More from Up North
News · October 8, 2026
Grand Traverse commissioners ask how to remove an elected official as the treasurer again comes up short on records
Treasurer Jamie Callahan testified under oath Wednesday without the IRS pages the board had ordered. He must return Oct. 21.
Sports · October 7, 2026
Traverse City Central, winless on the road, falls 27-21 at Bay City Western
Western picked up its first league win on Oct. 9. Both teams are 3-4 and 1-3 in the Saginaw Valley League North.
News · October 7, 2026
Traverse City moves toward a prowling ban and three-day park removals after trouble at Hull Park
Commissioners voted 5-1 to send both ordinances to an Oct. 19 enactment vote after a heated meeting. If approved, they would take effect Oct. 29.
Michigan Travel · October 7, 2026
A cross-country race through farm fields, a craft show on the old asylum lawn and country tunes at NMC filled Traverse City’s Saturday
The Traverse City Track Club held its Farmland 5K and new 10K on Oct. 10, after a free morning of shopping at Grand Traverse Commons and a guided walk at Mitchell Creek Meadows.