Sports · Up North
TC West at TC Central: Titans and Trojans close the regular season Friday in the Patriot Game at Thirlby Field
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Traverse City West visits Traverse City Central on Friday for the Patriot Game, the crosstown rivalry that closes the regular season for both Saginaw Valley League North teams before the MHSAA playoffs begin the following week.
Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Thirlby Field, Central’s home stadium, according to both schools’ schedules. Central lists all varsity home games there. West’s site labels the Oct. 23 game as the Patriot Game and shows it as an away date at TC Central.
How they enter. West is 5-3 overall and 4-1 in league play, third in the Saginaw Valley North, MaxPreps reported as of midweek. The Titans have won two straight, including a 27-26 league win over Bay City Western on Oct. 16. Central is 4-4 and 2-3 in the league after a 45-18 win at Bay City Central on Oct. 16, snapping a skid and moving into fourth in MaxPreps’ league standing.
Recent form. West’s only league loss was 52-24 at Midland Dow on Oct. 2. The Titans also beat Mount Pleasant 31-29 at home on Oct. 9. Central’s league record includes losses at Mount Pleasant and Bay City Western and a one-point home loss to Dow, then the road win at Bay City Central.
The series. Central leads the all-time series 12-11 across 23 completed meetings, Michigan Prep Football’s series page shows. West has won the last three Patriot Games: 17-8 in 2023, 23-7 in 2024 and 21-20 in 2025.
What comes next. Both programs list MHSAA playoffs beginning the week of Oct. 30. Friday’s result will set seeding context for each, but neither school’s public schedule yet names a first-round opponent.
Sources:
MaxPreps, Traverse City West Titans football schedule 2026-27, accessed Oct. 19, 2026, https://www.maxpreps.com/mi/traverse-city/traverse-city-west-titans/football/schedule/
MaxPreps, Traverse City Central Trojans football schedule 2026-27, accessed Oct. 19, 2026, https://www.maxpreps.com/mi/traverse-city/traverse-city-central-trojans/football/schedule/
MaxPreps, Traverse City West at Traverse City Central game page, Oct. 23, 2026, https://www.maxpreps.com/mi/football/game/traverse-city-central-vs-traverse-city-west/10-23-2026/?c=6761212c-cd28-4235-8173-f98b45fde759
TCC Football, game schedules, accessed Oct. 19, 2026, https://www.tccfootball.com/games-and-events/game-schedules.html
TC West Titan Football, varsity schedule, accessed Oct. 19, 2026, https://tcwesttitanfootball.com/en-US/varsity-a449c66c
Michigan Prep Football, Traverse City Central vs Traverse City West all-time series, accessed Oct. 19, 2026, https://michiganprepfootball.com/series/traverse-city-central-trojans-vs-traverse-city-west-titans/
Photo: Phoenix-Five, “Traverse City Central High School.jpg,” 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:Traverse_City_Central_High_School.jpg
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