Grandville football upsets Howell after surviving brutal schedule
Taking some beatings early this fall is finally paying dividends. Grandville (5-5) barely snuck into the playoffs after playing the second-hardest strength of schedule among Michigan’s 493 teams. That included facing state powers Muskegon, Detroit Cass Tech, East Kentwood and Hudsonville in consecutive games to open the season. Considering Cass Tech (10-0) and East Kentwood (10-0) are the two best teams in the state right now, that’s impressive. Especially playing them in back-to-back weeks. But iron sharpens iron, as they say in the high school football business. And that brutal schedule prepared Grandville for the Division 1 postseason. More: Subscribe to our high school football newsletter DJ Hardiman rushed 15 times for 143 yards and two touchdowns, Jayce Hopewell added 21 carries for 114 yards and three TDs and Grandville upset Howell, 38-30, in the district opener Friday, Oct. 30. Grandville not only earned the right to face Portage Central (9-1) in this week’s district championship, but also claimed bragging rights as the first eighth seed to beat a No. 1 seed under the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s new playoff format, which seeds the entire region instead of just individual districts. “There were times we looked at our schedule,
