Massey predicts Mason win over Northwest

For what it's worth, the Massey Ratings computer predicts Mason (4-1) will beat Northwest (0-5) by a score of 39-12.

Here's the link.

Kickoff is 7 p.m. Friday at Mountie Stadium.

Northwest to face Mason for 21st time

Friday's contest between Northwest and Mason will be the 21st meeting of the two teams.

The Mounties have only played Western, Eaton Rapids and Lumen Christi more times.

See The Rivals here.

Northwest last beat Mason in 2007.

Although the Bulldogs have had the upper hand in recent years, the series started out extremely competitive.

Each of the first seven contests was decided by a touchdown or less. Four of those seven games was decided by 1 point.

Mason heads to Northwest for Week 6 contest

Mason lost its first game of the year Friday, 32-30, to St. Johns.

Here's the Lansing State Journal story.

The Bulldogs (4-1) will obviously be looking to bounce back when they head to Northwest (0-5) on Friday night.

On paper, Mason is the toughest opponent left on the Mounties' schedule.

In Week 7, Northwest will travel to Lansing Waverly, which is 1-4 (its only win is over Owosso).

In Week 8, they host their final home game of the year -- against Jackson High, which won its first game Friday, beating Lansing Everett 20-6. Read the Jackson Citizen Patriot story here.

For the season finale, the Mounties head to Western (2-3), which lost Friday to Columbia Central, 26-16. Read the Jackson Citizen Patriot story here.

Heading for Gold

In August, I noted the Jackson Citizen Patriot story about the Capital Area Activities Conference realignment that will move Northwest to the Gold Division.

Last night's score against Lansing Sexton re-enforces what a good idea that is.

Sexton has now won four in a row over Northwest by a combined score of 135-21.

Mason is also moving to the Gold, so the Mounties won't be without difficult games.

But opponents such as Eaton Rapids and Charlotte ought to make for more competitive contests than Sexton and St. Johns, against whom the Mounties have now lost six in a row.

When Duane Kaiser took back charge of the Northwest program in 1986, one of the first things he did was get Lumen Christi off the schedule.

Some people scoffed at that and said we were avoiding a natural crosstown rival simply because they were too tough.

The other school of thought was why schedule games you have no chance of winning (Northwest is 0-23 against Lumen Christi).

I'm not saying Northwest could never beat Sexton or St. Johns. But clearly the program is at a point where the players could use opponents who are more their speed.

In my senior year in 1989, the toughest team we played was Charlotte (we lost 14-0). They're looking like a softy compared to some of the teams the Mounties have faced this year.

Last time Northwest was shutout was 2007 -- also by Sexton

Tonight's 45-0 loss to Lansing Sexton (5-0) was the first time the Mounties have been shutout since 2007 when Sexton beat Northwest 26-0.

It is the Mounties' worst defeat since 2005 when Ionia topped Northwest 49-0. (If you click the link you'll see that the Mounties gave up 40 points or more in six games that year).

But even in tonight's difficult contest, Grant Wedgwood still managed to gain 89 yards on 25 carries, according to MLive's High School Sports page.

Wedgwood has now rushed for 544 yards on the season, according to MLive, putting him within striking distance of 1,000 yards.

After next week's home game against an extremely tough Mason squad, the Mounties' schedule lightens up, closing out the season with Lansing Waverly, Jackson High and Western.

By the way, the Mounties did complete one pass tonight, according to MLive. It was a 34-yarder -- caught by Wedgwood.

Lansing Sexton beats Jackson Northwest, 45-0

Lansing Sexton improved to 5-0 and Jackson Northwest fell to 0-5 Friday night as the Big Reds beat the Mounties 45-0, according to MLive's High School Sports page.

Read the story here.

See the box score here.

MLive stats: Northwest has passed for 123 yards

Four games into the season, Northwest has passed for a total of 123 yards, according to the MLive's High School Sports page.

Meanwhile, Grant Wedgwood has rushed for a solid 455 yards.

Great stats for Wedgwood and congratulations to him.

I may be stating the obvious but it seems like good teams such as Lansing Sexton and Mason are going to simply stack up on Wedgwood and force the Mounties to move the ball some other way.

Time will tell if they can.

Massey Ratings predicts Lansing Sexton will cruise past Jackson Northwest

Massey Ratings computer prediction is out for this week's matchup between Lansing Sexton and Jackson Northwest.

Sexton 39, Northwest 7.

See it here.

The computer has the Mounties ranked 325th in the state; Sexton (4-0) is 23rd.

Northwest's Week 5 opponent, Lansing Sexton, is 4-0

Lansing Sexton handed St. Johns its first loss of the season Friday, 12-10, and remained undefeated itself, according to michigan-football.com.

The Big Reds are now 4-0 as the Jackson Northwest Mounties head there for the Week 5 match up.

The upside for Northwest: Sexton may have a little let down after its big game against St. Johns.

The obvious downside: Sexton is one tough football team this year.

Meanwhile, Northwest's Week 6 opponent, Mason, is also 4-0 and has been rolling up huge numbers on its way to that record.

Grant Wedgwood has third 100-yard rushing game in Northwest loss to Belleville

Northwest pulled the score to 12-6 early in the 4th quarter on a 1-yard run by Grant Wedgwood, according to the Jackson Citizen Patriot.

Read the story here.

Wedgwood finished with 112 yards, the third time this season he has rushed for 100 yards or more.

Belleville pulled away in the 4th quarter, however, and won 24-6.

Game stats from the Cit Pat and MLive are available here.

Belleville beats Jackson Northwest, 24-6

Belleville beat Jackson Northwest Friday, 24-6, according to the MLive high school sports page.

No details are in yet.

The Mounties fall to 0-4 on the season.

According to the box score, Northwest trailed 12-0 at the half. The Mounties' lone touchdown came in the 4th quarter.

Next week, Northwest travels to Lansing to play Sexton.

Belleville could be just what Northwest needs

A year ago, the Northwest Mounties opened the season 0-3.

Then they took a trip to Belleville, where they captured a two-touchdown victory.

This year, the Mounties are again 0-3. This time, the Tigers are coming to Mountie Stadium.

The Belleville squad, on paper away, is a little tougher than the team Northwest played a year ago.

And, again on paper, the Mountie squad this year is struggling a bit more than last year's team. It is giving up more points and scoring fewer of them. (To be fair, fielding a competitive football team with only 22 players is no easy matter, especially with Northwest's schedule).

All of that said, it is homecoming for Northwest, which gives the team an added motivation.

I'm not going to predict the score every week but I'll give this one a whirl.

It's going to be close, no doubt. But if the Mounties can score early and play better defense, they've got a shot.

Here goes: Northwest 27, Belleville 22.

Belleville has a lot riding on Jackson Northwest game, reporter says

Dave Merchant of Heritage Newspapers reported this week that Belleville has "a lot to either gain or lose" in its game Friday against Northwest.

"Belleville has a lot of speed and is coming off some very good games," he writes.

Merchant says this could a "breakout game" for the Tigers, noting the Mounties are 0-3.

Massey predicts Belleville will beat Northwest

The Massey Ratings computer is predicting Belleville will beat Jackson Northwest by a score of 25-22.

Here's the link, which includes how the computer fared on its other predictions involving Northwest this season.

MLive link added

I added a permanent link (on the right) to Northwest's football page on MLive.

This link will also get you there.

This site is the best place to look for scores and stats immediately after a game. (The Jackson Citizen Patriot is part of MLive).

It also includes a roster and player stats.

For example, here's the direct link to Grand Wedgwood's player profile. It shows that he has rushed for 343 yards on 90 carries after three games.

Looking ahead

After this week's homecoming match up against Belleville (1-2), the Mounties have back-to-back games against teams that are off to 3-0 starts: Lansing Sexton and Mason.

Sexton will need to get past St. Johns (3-0) on Friday if it's going to be unbeaten when it hosts Northwest on Sept. 24. The Big Reds lost to St. Johns by 7 points last year and by 3 points in 2008.

Mason, which won its first seven games last season, is off to another strong start. The Mounties host the Bulldogs on Oct. 1.

Northwest's final home game of the season will be in Week 8 against Jackson High.

The Vikings are off to an 0-3 start and have been beaten badly in all three games.

The Mounties' season finale is Oct. 22 at Western, which was shut out in the opener but has posted solid wins the past two weeks.

Week 4: Belleville Tigers visit Jackson Northwest

The Belleville Tigers (1-2) are headed to Mountie Stadium on Friday.

It is homecoming for Jackson Northwest and the Mounties are hoping to make it their first win of the season.

Northwest beat Belleville last year, 35-20, in the first-ever meeting between the schools.

Belleville opened the 2010 season with a 17-14 loss to Saline. The Tigers crushed Redford Union in Week 2, 54-14, and fell this past Friday to Dearborn Fordson, 36-26.

Jackson Citizen Patriot story: Grant Wedgwood rushes for 119 yards

The Jackson Citizen Patriot has a short game story on Friday's loss to Owosso.

Read it here.

MLive's game stats and scoring breakdown are here.

Jackson Northwest loses to Owosso, 30-14

Owosso threw the ball for 276 yards in beating Jackson Northwest at home, 30-14, according to MLive's High School Sports page.

The Mounties trailed 17-6 at halftime.

Northwest's Grant Wedgwood rushed for 119 yards on 29 carries.

The Mounties fall to 0-3 on the season. They will host Belleville next Friday for homecoming.

Here's a brief story from the Flint Journal.

Massey alters predicted scores, calls for slim Jackson Northwest win over Owosso

Massey Ratings has updated its website and plugged in the scores of the first two games for Jackson Northwest and Owosso.

As expected, that data has changed the computer's predicted score of Friday night's matchup.

It still calls for a Northwest win, but only by a 2-point margin: 27-25.

Here's the link.

I haven't seen either team play but based on stories I've read and scores I've seen, the game is shaping up to be a tight one.

I think a lot will ride on how well the Northwest players can shake off the long bus ride and get pumped up to play.

My prediction: Northwest 20, Owosso 16.

Feel free to post your own prediction in the comment spot below.

Owosso has a senior quarterback, veteran receivers

Owosso's quarterback, Garrett Barnes, is a senior who threw for more than 1,200 yards last season, according to the 2010 season preview in the Lansing State Journal.

Read it here.

The Trojans also return a pair of receivers who earned all-league selections a year ago, according to the LSJ.

But Owosso has a new coach and planned to switch from the spread offense to an I-formation set up, according to a preview in the Flint Journal.

Read it here.

The Jackson Northwest Mounties (0-2) visit Owosso (1-1) at 7 p.m. Friday.

New Owosso coach hopes to turn around football program

Owosso has finished 1-8 in each of its past four seasons.

Unfortunately for the Jackson Northwest Mounties, the Trojans' lone win last season was against them.

Owosso won its first game of 2010 and is currently 1-1 as Northwest heads to town Friday.

Owosso coach Tom Harkema is in his first season with the team. It is his second stint, though.

He previously coached Owosso for 11 seasons (1988-98), going 50-49 in that span.

Here's a Flint Journal story on him from August.

Massey Ratings predicts Jackson Northwest will beat Owosso

The Massey Ratings computer is predicting that the Jackson Northwest Mounties will beat Owosso on Friday by a score of 25-16.

Here's the website.

However, it looks like the scores of the Mounties' first two games have not yet been entered into the season. So it's possible the computer is simply going off of last year's information.

I'll be checking it again later in the week to see if the prediction changes.

Owosso, the Mounties' next opponent, is 1-1

A tough Mason squad beat Owosso 49-17 on Thursday night.

Owosso won its season opener, 24-21, over Corunna, leaving the Trojans 1-1 going into next week's game hosting the Jackson Northwest Mounties.

As the Jackson Citizen Patriot has previously reported, Northwest is undermanned this year.

But Owosso is a very beatable team and represents one of the Mounties' better chances to post a "W" this season.

Northwest slipped to Owosso by a point last year, 21-20, after beating them in the two previous outings.

Looking ahead, if Northwest could beat Owosso, the following week the team will face an improved-but-still-beatable Belleville squad for homecoming.

After that, they'll have tough games against Lansing Sexton and Mason in weeks 5 and 6.

But the final three games -- Lansing Waverly, Jackson High and Western -- are all winnable.

As odd as it may sound, after the Mounties started the season 0-2 (and losing those games by a combine score of 27-83) it's not just happy-talk to say that it's conceivable the team could eek out a winning record.

Grant Wedgwood rushes for 90 yards in loss to St. Johns

Northwest's Grant Wedgwood rushed for 90 yards in Thursday night's loss to St. John's, according to the Jackson Citizen Patriot and MLive's High School Sports site.

Read the story here.

And here is the Lansing State Journal's game story.

Thanks, Mike

Mike Pryson of the Jackson Citizen Patriot was kind enough to plug this blog today.

Read his blog entry here.

I started this blog in 2008 after attending a journalism conference where the instructor urged the attendees to blog. It didn't matter about what, she said, just blog.

So, for one reason or another, I chose this. In truth, it's become as much of an archive as a blog. And it's not loaded with opinion as many blogs are. But I hope some folks find it interesting and useful.

As I've written before, I played varsity football for Northwest in 1988 and 1989. However, I can hardly stake claim to being the school's No. 1 fan.

Truth is, I haven't attended a Northwest football game since I walked off the field as a player after an overtime loss to Williamston in the last game of my senior year (details such as these are not easily forgotten).

As a player, the team and the game meant a tremendous amount to me. And even though we weren't highly successful (5-4 both years) the effort that I and my teammates put into the game -- and the things that I learned in practice and on the playing field -- still mean something to me.

We seem to put so much emphasis on winning and losing in our culture.

But I think there's meaning and some measure of honor for those who suit up and give their all -- win or lose.

And that goes for the Mounties who played the game tonight.

St. Johns beats Northwest as Mounties fall to 0-2

St. Johns beat Jackson Northwest on Thursday, 34-7, according to MLive's high school sports' website and the Jackson Citizen Patriot.

Next week, the Mounties take on Owosso on the road.