Classifications for Michigan High School Athletic Association seasons and postseason tournaments for the 2020-21 school year have been announced – including football divisions determined preseason for the first time since 1998.
In football, reigning state champion Grand Rapids Catholic Central will move from division four down to division five. The Cougars won the division four state title four times in the last decade, including three in the past four years.
Also, 2019 Division 2 runner-up Detroit Martin Luther King will play in Division 3 this fall, joining local powers like Muskegon, East Grand Rapids and Cedar Springs.
Football will undergo a significant classification change for the 2020 season, with teams in both 11 and 8-player assigned their divisions before the season for the first time since 1998; from 1999-2019, divisions for the 256-team 11-player field (and later the 8-player tournament) were determined after the regular season. A hard enrollment limit also will take effect this fall for teams to be eligible for the 8-player tournament – all schools with 215 or fewer students are eligible for the 8-player playoffs if they play that format during the regular season.
In boys' soccer, Forest Hills Northern, also a reigning state champion, will move from division two to division one. This move comes after the Huskies played for the division two state title in three of the past five years.
Effective with the 2020-21 school year, schools with 831 or more students are in Class A. The enrollment limits for Class B are 392-830, Class C is 182-391, and schools with enrollments of 181 and fewer are Class D. The break between Classes A and B decreased 32 students from 2019-20, the break between Classes B and C decreased three students, and the break between Classes C and D is seven students fewer than the 2019-20 school year.
Moving Up from Class B to Class A
Fowlerville
Harper Woods
Ionia
Moving Down from Class B to Class C
Adrian Madison
Detroit Jalen Rose Leadership Academy
Grand Rapids Wellspring Prep
Menominee
Otisville-LakeVille Memorial
Perry
Pinconning
For a complete breakdown of all the changes across all sports visit the respective sport pages on the MHSAA Website.
