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The football district tournament officially got underway last week, with three area teams receiving first-round byes and competing in the semifinals on Tuesday, with the district finals to be played on Friday or Saturday.
Division 1 (Bedford)
Saline (13-1-3) will participate in the Bedford Regional and face the host Mules (8-9-2) Tuesday at 5 p.m.. In the other semifinal, No. 2 Ann Arbor Skyline (13-1-2) will face Pioneer (12-4-2).
The Hornets should beat the Mules on Tuesday, but the other semifinal will be a battle between Skyline and Pioneer, who split their two regular season games. Whoever Saline faces in the final will be a tough matchup. Saline is 0-1-1 in their two games against Skyline and 1-0-1 in their two games against Pioneer. Friday night's final will be a tough battle no matter who the opponent is.
If Skyline and Saline advance to the finals, it will be a matchup between the No. 2 and No. 4 teams in the state's D1 rankings for the district title.
Prediction – Skyline above Saleen
Division 2 (Chelsea)
Dexter (7-8-2) returns to D2 after several seasons in D1 and will face a tough matchup in the first round against a Pinckney (11-3-2) team that enters with the district’s best overall record on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Dexter’s record is unreliable, with four losses to Saline and Skyline, both of which are ranked in the top four in D1.
Chelsea (10-6) will host Adrian (13-4-3) at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the other semifinal. This should be a matchup between teams that split their wins and losses in two regular season games. Maples won the SEC White title after the Bulldogs lost to Pinckney on a Pirates goal in the final minute in the final week of the season. If Chelsea beats Adrian, they'll play Dexter or Pinckney at noon Saturday, both teams the Bulldogs split wins and losses with during the season.
The division is a 50-50 split. Adrian is the best performing of the four teams, with 12 wins, 0 losses and 2 ties since losing to Chelsea in early April. In a division with a tougher Division I regular season schedule, you'd have to say Dexter has the edge.
Prediction – Dexter will beat Adrian
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