Mounties lose opener to Lansing Catholic; face tough Week 2 foe in St. Johns

Jackson Northwest lost its opener Friday to Lansing Catholic Central, 49-20, at home, according to the Jackson Citizen Patriot and MLive's high school sports site.

Read the game story here.

In Week 2, the Mounties play at St. Johns, which beat Charlotte, 54-21, on the road in its season opener.

Northwest lost to St. Johns 35-20 a year ago. The Mounties are 0-5 against the Redwings.

"We have very little depth," Northwest coach Eddie Cobb says on video posted by Jackson Citizen Patriot

"An injury here or there could really ... hurt us bad," Northwest coach Eddie Cobb told the Jackson Citizen Patriot in this story video clip made before the first game of the season.

Here's the clip:

VIDEO: Northwest High School football coach Eddie Cobb discusses upcoming high school football season

Only 22 players suiting up this year for Northwest

The Jackson Citizen Patriot has an excellent pdf previewing the 2010 Northwest Mounties.

View it here.

In short, the paper says it could be a "challenging year" for the team.

The Mounties kick off their season on Friday at home against Lansing Catholic Central.

Enrollment of Jackson County football schools; other Northwest rivals

The MHSAA shows there are 631 football schools in the state in 2010-11.

Northwest ranks 202nd with 931 students.

The largest football school in the state is Utica Eisenhower, with 2,774 students. The smallest is Flint Michigan School for the Deaf, with 50 students.

Below are the enrollments for Jackson County schools. Below that is a miscellaneous list of some of Northwest's past opponents.

I posted the enrollment of Northwest's 2010 opponents in a previous entry.

JACKSON COUNTY
Jackson High ... 1,627
Northwest ... 931
Western ... 809
Columbia Central ... 530
Lumen Christi ... 503
Napolean ... 444
Hanover-Horton ... 443
Michigan Center ... 415
East Jackson ... 409
Vanderbook ... 373
Grass Lake ... 372
Springport ... 318
Concord ... 282

Misc. past opponents of Northwest
Sturgis ... 955
Battle Creek Harper Creek ... 916
Haslett ... 907
Tecumseh ... 886
Charlotte ... 878
Leslie ... 440

Renewed rivalry with Eaton Rapids in 2011?

I'm a bit behind on this one, but after reading the high school enrollment figures on the MSHAA website, I started Googling around about Eaton Rapids.

You see, according to the MHSAA, Northwest and Eaton Rapids have nearly identical enrollments (945 for ER, 931 for NW).

Other than Western, Northwest has played Eaton Rapids the most through the years (24 times, with the Greyhounds holding a 14-10 advantage).

And Eaton Rapids is only 14 miles from Northwest, compared to, say, St. Johns, which is 56 miles, or Owosso, which is 70 miles away.

Well, it turns out that earlier this year, the 26-team Capital Area Activities Conference did some realigning and, starting in 2011, Northwest and Eaton Rapids will both compete in the Gold Division. Read the Jackson Citizen Patriot story.

Lumen Christi is also in the division for all sports but football. Here's the CAAC's website with the breakdown.

The Mounties last played in Eaton Rapids in 2006. And although Northwest won the last four games, three of them were by one touchdown.

In fact, 14 of the 24 games these two teams have played have been decided by 8 points or fewer.

Bringing back this rivalry ought to be good for both schools.

Playing bigger schools

The MHSAA has a list posted with the enrollment of every high school in the state that plays football.

It has Northwest's 2010 enrollment as 931, which is smaller than I was expecting.

In the upcoming season, six of the school's nine opponents will be larger.

Here they are by size:

SCHOOL ... ENROLLMENT
Belleville ...... 1,636
Jackson ......... 1,627
St. Johns ....... 1,081
Owosso .......... 1,043
Lansing Waverly ... 1,039
Mason ........... 990
NORTHWEST ....... 931
Western ......... 809
Lansing Sexton ... 754
Lansing Catholic Central ...704