For nine months, Ford Field has been empty of high school football.

The bands have been quiet. Student sections have been waiting. Practice fields across Michigan have spent the summer filled with conditioning, installation and optimism.

This week, all of that gives way to the real thing.

High school football is back in Michigan.

The 2026 season officially kicks off this week, beginning a three-month journey that will eventually whittle hundreds of teams down to 16 finalists and, ultimately, eight 11-player state champions at Ford Field.

As always, predicting who will still be standing in late November is largely an exercise in humility.

Players emerge. Injuries happen. Teams that look unbeatable in August can look very different by October. And every year, at least one program comes seemingly out of nowhere to wreck everyone’s preseason predictions.

But that’s part of the fun.

So before the first full Friday night of the season arrives, here’s an early look at all eight divisions — and one pick in each to win it all.

DIVISION 1

The Pick: Detroit Catholic Central

There may not be a more straightforward place to begin.

Detroit Catholic Central went 14-0 last season and defeated Cass Tech 42-19 at Ford Field to capture the Division 1 championship.

The Shamrocks enter 2026 ranked No. 1 in MaxPreps’ statewide preseason rankings, and there is enough returning talent to believe another run through November is entirely realistic.

Senior Gideon Gash gives Catholic Central an impact player on both sides of the football after recording 74 tackles and scoring eight offensive touchdowns last season.

But repeating in Division 1 is rarely simple.

Cass Tech is back after reaching the championship game. Clarkston enters the season with significant expectations, while Rockford, Hudsonville and East Kentwood give West Michigan three legitimate threats.

Hudsonville is particularly interesting after an 11-win season in 2025, and few programs are more comfortable playing meaningful November football than Rockford.

Still, until someone knocks the Shamrocks off, the defending champions deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Prediction: Detroit Catholic Central over Hudsonville

DIVISION 2

The Pick: Orchard Lake St. Mary’s

Orchard Lake St. Mary’s enters the season as the defending Division 2 champion after defeating Dexter at Ford Field last November.

There are plenty of reasons to believe the Eaglets can get back.

St. Mary’s is among the highest-rated teams in Michigan entering the season and combines high-level talent with a program that has spent decades playing against some of the state’s best competition.

The most interesting challenger may be Warren De La Salle.

A 6-7 record last season looks strange attached to one of Michigan’s traditional powers, but De La Salle played an extremely demanding schedule and still made a postseason run.

Then there’s Muskegon, a program that never stays away from championship conversations for long.

Division 2 feels deeper than simply picking the defending champion and moving on, but St. Mary’s begins the season with the fewest questions.

Prediction: Orchard Lake St. Mary’s over Warren De La Salle

DIVISION 3

The Pick: DeWitt

This might be the strongest pick on the board.

DeWitt wasn’t merely good last season.

The Panthers were dominant.

They finished 14-0 and capped the season by beating previously unbeaten Mount Pleasant 54-20 in the Division 3 championship game.

DeWitt’s performance at Ford Field was historic, setting championship-game records for rushing yards and total offense.

And now the Panthers enter 2026 ranked among the top teams in the state regardless of division.

There will be challengers.

Zeeland West knows a little something about winning Division 3 championships, having captured the title in 2024, and Muskegon has enough pedigree to make virtually any playoff bracket uncomfortable.

But DeWitt has lost just once over the previous two seasons.

Picking anyone else right now would require ignoring what the Panthers have shown us.

Prediction: DeWitt over Zeeland West

DIVISION 4

The Pick: Goodrich

Here’s where things get interesting.

Dearborn Divine Child is the defending champion after surviving Unity Christian 23-22 in one of the best championship games of 2025.

Unity is back and again looks dangerous.

So why Goodrich?

Because the Martians have spent the past several years demonstrating that they belong in this conversation.

Goodrich won the Division 4 championship in 2024 and followed it with a 12-1 season last fall. That means this is no longer a program hoping to break through. The expectation is to contend.

Unity Christian may have the most explosive ceiling in the division, and Divine Child has earned the respect that comes with being the defending champion.

But if we’re picking one team to survive the bracket, Goodrich feels like the safest combination of talent, experience and recent championship pedigree.

Prediction: Goodrich over Unity Christian

DIVISION 5

The Pick: Grand Rapids West Catholic

Few programs in Michigan have a championship history quite like West Catholic.

The Falcons added another trophy last November, defeating Pontiac Notre Dame Prep 42-14 to finish 13-1 and claim the Division 5 championship.

And there is little reason to believe they’re disappearing.

West Catholic has become one of those programs where graduation changes the names more often than it changes the expectations.

Notre Dame Prep deserves another look after reaching Ford Field last season, while Frankenmuth remains one of the most consistent programs in the state.

But November football is different.

West Catholic understands that better than most.

Prediction: Grand Rapids West Catholic over Frankenmuth

DIVISION 6

The Pick: Jackson Lumen Christi

At some point, picking against Lumen Christi starts to feel unnecessarily complicated.

The Titans have won four consecutive state championships.

Four.

They won Division 7 titles before moving up and winning the past two Division 6 championships. Last year, Lumen Christi entered the playoffs with three losses and still found its way through the bracket before defeating Kingsley at Ford Field.

That tells you almost everything you need to know about the program.

Lumen Christi plays a difficult schedule, doesn’t panic when losses happen and tends to be considerably more dangerous in November than its regular-season record might suggest.

Kingsley has already proven capable of winning this division. Almont went 12-1 last season. Traverse City St. Francis is another program nobody enjoys seeing on the opposite side of a playoff bracket.

But until someone actually prevents Lumen Christi from finishing the season with a trophy, there’s little reason to pick against the Titans.

Prediction: Jackson Lumen Christi over Kingsley

DIVISION 7

The Pick: Menominee

Menominee waited a long time to get back to the top.

Then the Maroons left little doubt once they arrived.

Menominee completed a perfect 14-0 season in 2025 by defeating Schoolcraft 34-6 in the Division 7 championship game, capturing its first state title since 2007.

The question now becomes whether the Maroons can do it again.

Schoolcraft certainly deserves consideration after reaching Ford Field last season, and Division 7 has historically produced some of the state’s most unpredictable playoff brackets.

But Menominee didn’t simply survive its way to a championship.

The Maroons were undefeated and convincing.

That’s enough to make them the preseason choice.

Prediction: Menominee over Schoolcraft

DIVISION 8

The Pick: Hudson

Yes, Harbor Beach is the defending champion.

And yes, picking against an undefeated defending champion immediately after it won at Ford Field feels dangerous.

But this is the upset pick.

Hudson entered last year’s championship game 13-0 and had spent much of the season overwhelming opponents with one of the most productive rushing attacks in Division 8.

The Tigers came up short against Harbor Beach, 31-20.

What makes Hudson particularly intriguing in 2026 is what comes back.

Running back Beckett Campbell rushed for more than 2,300 yards and 37 touchdowns last season — as a sophomore.

That means one of the most productive players in the state wasn’t finishing his career at Ford Field.

He was introducing himself.

Harbor Beach deserves to enter the season as the standard in Division 8. Beal City is seemingly always somewhere nearby. Fowler and New Lothrop are programs worth watching as the season develops.

But Hudson has unfinished business and a centerpiece capable of changing games.

I’ll take the Tigers to finish the job this time.

Prediction: Hudson over Harbor Beach

And Now We Play

That’s the beauty of Week 1.

Every prediction still looks reasonable.

Every team is undefeated.

Every community can look at its schedule and find a path to November.

By Friday night, some of those expectations will already have changed.

By October, we’ll have discovered teams nobody was talking about in August. Some preseason favorites will stumble. Others will become even more imposing than expected.

And when the playoffs begin Oct. 30, they’ll look a little different this year.

The MHSAA has changed the early-round seeding process for 2026. Instead of organizing the playoff field directly into four-team districts, teams will first be placed into eight-team regions and seeded according to playoff-point average. Seeds 1, 4, 5 and 8 will form one district, while 2, 3, 6 and 7 will form the other.

That could produce some fascinating postseason matchups.

But we’re a long way from worrying about playoff points.

Right now, there are freshly painted fields across Michigan. There are marching bands preparing their first halftime shows. There are seniors getting ready to run onto their home field knowing they only have a handful of Friday nights left.

There are sophomores who will become household names in their communities by October and freshmen nobody outside their own locker rooms knows yet who will make plays that change seasons.

There will be rivalry games decided on fourth down, overtime finishes, packed student sections and cold November nights when the season comes down to one possession.

Eventually, everyone will be chasing the same destination.

Ford Field.

My picks to get there are Detroit Catholic Central, Hudsonville, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, Warren De La Salle, DeWitt, Zeeland West, Goodrich, Unity Christian, West Catholic, Frankenmuth, Lumen Christi, Kingsley, Menominee, Schoolcraft, Hudson and Harbor Beach.

Eight of them leave as champions.

At least, that’s the prediction in August.

Now we get to find out.

High school football is back.