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Division 1's Group of Death has 3 - Top 20 Teams in it
If you want to win the Division 1 State Championship it is no cake walk. In the past 6 years, Division 1 has been comparable to the SEC of the NCAA in a lot of ways.
On Sunday the MHSAA released pairings and a lot of districts appear very challenging but one district contains three teams in the Top 20 of the state of Michigan.
#17 Canton will host #16 Saline, while #5 Belleville hosts Salem who reached the playoffs for the first time since 1991.
Both; Belleville, Canton, and Saline have the talent and are prepared to embark on a 5-week journey to the state finals, unfortunately the MHSAA has dropped 3 of the best teams in the state in the same district.
Belleville and Salem met to kickoff the season in 2015 and 2016, where they split their games. Saline and Canton have met in the 3 previous playoffs, Saline holds a 2-1 edge in the series.
Just how crazy is this District? If Belleville, Canton, or Saline wins the District, there's no question they are guaranteed to host whoever wins the district of Catholic Central, Lakeland, Livonia Stevenson, or Walled Lake Central in the Regionals because of Playoff Points.
There's another district that rivals the "Group of Death" that includes #5 Belleville, #16 Saline & #17 Canton. And that's the district which includes #4 Utica Eisenhower, #11 Rochester Adams and #32 Romeo. The other teams in these districts for the purposes of deciding which is better are throw aways, Utica and Salem (ironically, my alma mater). #32 Romeo finished the season 7-2 with loses to #4 Utica Eisenhower and #10 Chippewa Valley. Ike did route Romeo 34-0, but they bounced back the next 3 weeks to defeat playoff participants #87 GP South, #41 Warren Mott and #40 Macomb Dakota. Chances are pretty good your State Champ comes out of one of these two districts.