Whitmore Lake finished the 2025 regular season with a 7-2 record.

But it is on the outside looking in for the Michigan high school football playoffs on Selection Sunday.

The Trojans won the final seven games of the season after opening with a pair of losses to Ecorse and Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard, but the streak was not enough to make it into the 32-team field in Division 5.

Whitmore Lake finished with 36.429 total playoff points, ranking as the 33rd team in Division 5, and was the first team outside of the playoff field.

Detroit Voyageur College Prep, the 32nd and final team in the Division 5 bracket, finished with a 4-5 record and 36.889 total playoff points.

Whitmore Lake did not play a Week 9 game following a forfeit from Division 8 Flint Beecher.

Originally, Whitmore Lake was scheduled to play Dearborn Advanced Tech Academy, a Division 6 school, but Advanced Tech shut down its team in the summer.

Rather than taking the forfeit, Whitmore Lake rescheduled with Beecher, who on Monday forfeited the Week 9 game.

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The difference in taking a forfeit from a Division 6 team versus a Division 8 team played a factor in Whitmore Lake missing the playoffs by four-tenths of a playoff point, along with strength of schedule and opponent win percentage.

“We had a lot of unfortunate situations with our schedule this year and we certainly made the best of it,” Whitmore Lake athletic director Brad McCormack told the Free Press on Saturday, Oct. 25. “I think we are a top 32 Division 5 football team going into the playoffs. I think our kids, after losing their Week 9, deserve an opportunity to get a shot.”

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The difference in playoff points from the forfeits doesn’t sit well with Whitmore Lake coach Brian Boron. (A win against Beecher would have left Whitmore Lake with the same playoff points.) The school tried to do the right thing and schedule an opponent rather than just taking the win from Advanced Tech, but it hurt them in the playoff picture.

“When Advanced Tech dropped and we took Beecher, we figured our goal is to play games, so that’s what we’ve got to do,” Boron said. “We scheduled them and now they forfeit. And instead of getting the higher division’s forfeit points, we get a lower division’s forfeit points. In this case, that’s probably what’s going to keep us out.”

Whitmore Lake’s schedule consisted primarily of Division 7 and Division 8 schools as a part of the Michigan Independent Athletic Conference. The school played in the Tri-County Conference until 2019, but moved conferences due to roster constraints from Whitmore Lake’s enrollment.

The Trojans have 172 students enrolled, according to the MHSAA, which would put them in Division 8. They are a co-op team with Brighton Charyl Stockwell Prep, which has an enrollment of 328 students, bringing the collective number to 500 and bumping Whitmore Lake from Division 8 to Division 5.

Despite the combined enrollment, Whitmore Lake’s varsity roster has 17 players. Boron elevates nine players from junior varsity, bringing the gameday roster to 26, but typically does not play the J.V. players unless necessary.

The roster size pushed Whitmore Lake to a conference with smaller schools and to pursue nonconference games against specific bigger schools that are not as football-centric.

“We look for matchups (with bigger schools) where we can physically survive and protect the kids’ safety a little bit,” Boron said.

Whitmore Lake decided to run a co-op football program to keep the 11-player football program alive, rather than dropping down to 8-man football.

“If I didn’t co-op, I’m certain I wouldn’t be able to maintain 11-man football,” Boron said.

McCormack scoured the state looking for a last-minute replacement game this past week, and reached out to Toledo athletic directors and the Ohio High School Athletic Association. But, they could not find an opponent willing to play, leading to accepting the forfeit.

Rather than abruptly canceling senior night, Whitmore Lake scheduled a scrimmage with Detroit Community, which also did not have a Week 9 game due to a forfeit. McCormack said MHSAA cleared it as a scrimmage that would not count. The game was free to attend and did not have 12-minute quarters.

Whitmore Lake still had the chance to celebrate its seniors during the scrimmage.

“It did give us the opportunity to recognize our kids, which was important,” McCormack said. “So, I guess at the end of a rough week, we got to have that.”

Community first-year coach Marlon Nabors was open to scheduling the game, but the staff collectively decided to pass because of the playoff implications.

At 6-3, Community has a chance to earn a No. 1 district seed in Division 7 for the first time in school history, leading to it taking the forfeit against its opponent. Still, it gave a Community team with no playoff experience another chance to prepare.

Whitmore Lake did enough despite the playoff points reflecting differently. And it hurts.

“We did our job, we went 7-2,” McCormack said.

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Jared Ramsey covers high school sports for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at jramsey@freepress.com; Follow Jared on X or Bluesky.