POWERS — It’s been a long road for most local teams since the pandemic began, and it’s been especially tough for the North Central football team.

When the Jets finally step onto the field Saturday to play against Marion for the chance to make it to the state finals, nearly two months will have passed since they won their regional final against Cedarville (55-8).

“After the first shut down, it was devastating to these kids, and then we started up again — for one day,” Jets coach Leo Gorzinski said. “When that got canceled, that was kinda the final straw. We were very skeptical coming back out of this last shutdown, but we’re hungry. We want to finish, and everything’s back on track now.”

With the uncertainty over the last weeks and lack of in-person and team practice, training has been a major issue for the Jets.

“(Training) was our biggest hurdle,” Gorzinski said. “When the season ended, we were at a pretty good pace and had a pretty good stride going. You take six weeks off with just limited training and individual stuff (and it breaks the stride). We took, basically, most of last week just to focus on conditioning. So, that was the thing. You didn’t get a full two weeks of practice — you got a week of conditioning, and now this week is game prep.”

“The key for us — obviously what we’ve been doing is working — but the hardest thing to do is (regain momentum),” Gorzinski said. “After our last playoff game (Nov. 14), we were at full stride, everything was clicking and we were playing great on both sides of the ball. We’re obviously not at that stage again, but that’s our goal right now — to see how quickly we can find our rhythm again, get our timing plays and we’ve been focused a lot on that. We want to be able to do what we do best and concentrate on that.”

A real help in regaining some of that momentum and semblance of normalcy has been practices on turf at the Wells Sports Complex in Escanaba as opposed to the frigid conditions the Jets would face on their home field.

“I’ve got to give a huge shout out to everyone over at the Wells Sports Complex,” Gorzinski said. “They opened the turf room for us, so we’ve been able to practice in there. It’s been a huge benefit for our team to play on that carpet and do that. I just want to give a huge thank you to everyone involved over there.

“With being able to get indoors and having some space to be able to open up and run, I think we’re really close to (regaining the timing we had in November). We’ve actually been able to hold a practice at the Superior Dome to work on our spacing and time, and we’re close to where we need to be.”

When only one game stands between a team and a state final, it can be easy to look past what’s in front of them and imagine that final game, but Gorzinski is determined to focus on their first hurdle — an 8-1 Marion — before considering the finals.

“At this point, when you’re in the playoffs and it’s a lose or go home game, your mind wants to wander (ahead),” he said. “But, right now, the team we’re playing is also in the semifinals, and they had to do a lot of work to get there. So, it’s let’s maintain focus and get through this one to get to the big prize.”

Marion — situated about 20 miles from Cadillac — moved to eight-player football in 2015, the same year as North Central, but hasn’t been able to boast the same level of success as the Jets and then-coach Kevin Bellefeuil, who earned back-to-back state championships in 2015 and 2016.

Marion competes in the West Michigan Football League-8 Conference; their first ever playoff appearance in school history was in 1984. Avenged an Oct. 12 loss to Beal City 24-14, in round one of the Class D playoffs, 7-0.

The Eagles eventually lost to eventual state runner-up Forest Park 46-0 in a semifinal game at Petoskey on Nov. 16.

Marion captured the Class DD state championship in 1990, defeating Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes 33-7 at the Pontiac Silverdome. Marion defeated Lake Linden-Hubbell 15-14 in the semifinals at Newberry the week prior.

In 1992, an undefeated and eventual Class DD state champion Lake Linden-Hubbell defeated Marion 22-0 in the semifinals at the Superior Dome at NMU, 22-0.

Marion’s only ever regular season game versus a U.P. team was on Sept. 5, 1986, versus Stephenson. The U.P Eagles defeated the downstate Eagles 26-17.