Best Week 7 Michigan high school football games around Hometown Life's coverage area

Sports reporter Brandon Folsom breaks down the five biggest matchups taking place during Week 7 of the MHSAA football season. 

All games kick off at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7.

Detroit Catholic Central (4-2, 1-1) at Orchard Lake St. Mary's (2-4, 1-1) (CHSL-Central)

The crowd showed up.

The Shamrocks' offense did not.

While hundreds and hundreds of cars littered the fields adjacent to the auxiliary parking lots at Detroit Catholic Central, the alumni didn't get the type of performance they were expecting from the Shamrocks in the 78th annual Boys Bowl on Sunday.

Defending Division 2 state champion Warren De La Salle beat them 28-0 points and made it a two-way tie atop of the Catholic League-Central standings.

The Shamrocks entered the matchup with a chance to take a 2-0 division record to Orchard Lake St. Mary's this week. Instead, they lost to the Pilots, and now CC must beat the Eaglets to ensure it shares the league title with DLS, as both teams would finish the league slate at 2-1 overall.

This week's trip to northwest Orchard Lake was going to be a special one, but that loss to the Pilots has taken away some of its sheen. Still, it's important that CC takes care of business in this one.

Salem (0-6, 0-5) at Canton (1-5, 1-4) (KLAA-West)

The Rocks have an opportunity to close out the 2022 season on a three-game winning streak and give first-year coach Brendan Murphy something to build on entering the off-season.

Up next are back-to-back Park rivalry matchups against Plymouth and Canton, which are both winnable games as the Wildcats and Chiefs have won just two games between the two of them.

And then Salem will close out the slate with a Kensington Lakes Activities Association crossover game. How well they do in the next two weeks will determine how tough of a matchup that game will be. If they drop both rivalry games, they'll get Wayne Memorial. If they steal a game against either Canton or Plymouth, it'll likely face Livonia Churchill to end the season. Or maybe Dearborn Fordson or Westland John Glenn.

While the rebuilding Rocks have played an incredibly tough schedule early on, they have a chance to have some fun and win some games down the final stretch.

Howell (3-3, 2-3) at Novi (4-2, 4-1) (KLAA-West)

The Wildcats cannot get caught looking ahead.

They're one week away from facing Northville to wrap up the KLAA-West calendar. On the line are rivalry bragging rights, much-needed playoffs points and a potential KLAA second-place crossover matchup against either Belleville or Livonia Franklin.

So Novi cannot take Howell lightly.

This matchup is the definition of a trap game. The Highlanders are having an OK year, but they haven't been world-beaters by any means. It'd be easy for the Wildcats to overlook them in practice throughout the week and end up getting punched in the mouth come kickoff Friday night.

It's imperative that Novi stays focused on beating Howell. Northville can wait another week.

South Lyon East (5-1, 4-1) at White Lake Lakeland (3-3, 3-3) (LVC)

The Eagles snapped a three-game losing streak with an impressive win over rival Walled Lake Northern during the Battle of Bogie Lake Road last week.

But all eyes are on the Cougars in this matchup.

South Lyon East has a chance to win its sixth game, which would be just the second time in program history it has won that many games in a single season. And there's still plenty of football left to be played.

Not only are the Cougars looking to earn their fifth playoff berth ever but they're on pace to be the all-time winningest team since the school started playing the sport in 2008.

They should be favored to beat the Eagles this week. But if they get upset, they have games left against Milford and South Lyon to close out the regular season. Plus, they'll be getting a playoff game. This could be a 7- or 8-win team by the beginning of November.

Romulus (1-5, 1-4) at Redford Thurston (0-6, 0-5) (WWAC)

This is likely Redford Thurston's last chance to win a game this season, as it has two tough matchups with Redford Union (6-0) and Swartz Creek (5-1) to close out 2022.

Despite experiencing winning woes the past two years, the Eagles haven't finished a season 0-9 since 1988. So they must take care of Romulus in Week 7 to ensure that 34-year streak isn't snapped.

Romulus stole a victory against Dearborn Heights Robichaud in Week 3, but it's been struggling to produce points ever since. It has scored six points or fewer in each of its last three games. It has scored only 67 points all season. Even winless Thurston has produced more points than that (89).

Hopefully, Thurston enters this week hungry for its first win.

Brandon Folsom covers high school sports in metro Detroit for Hometown Life. Follow him on Twitter @folsombrandonj.