The North Central Jets football team won two state championships within the calendar year 2021.

The COVID-19 delays and postponements pushed the end of the 2020 MHSAA football season into the month of January. The Jets and head coach Leo Gorzinski defeated Portland St. Patrick, 70-48, at the Legacy Center in Brighton on Jan. 16 to capture the 2020 Division 2 8-player crown.

On Saturday, the Jets manhandled 2019 MHSAA Division 1 8-player state champion Colon, 63-0, in the 2021 D2 8-player title game at NMU’s Superior Dome in Marquette. This season’s title marks the fourth 8-player football championship since 2015 for North Central.

The Magi made the 8-hour plus trip to Marquette from near the Indiana state line in the southwestern Lower Peninsula.

In 2015 and 2016, North Central captured consecutive 8-player state championships under unanimous 2010 U.P. Class D Coach of the Year Kevin Bellefeuil of Hermansville. Those ’15 and ’16 Jets squads were led by all-state quarterback and current Michigan State men’s basketball team redshirt-senior Jason Whitens.

After Saturday’s win, Gorzinski was very complimentary and appreciative of the Bellefeuil-led teams.

“Our community can never thank those guys enough. When I was a kid, even when I was playing for North Central myself, winning a state championship was a pipe dream.

“When those guys broke that barrier in 2015 and then won again the next year, everyone in our town believed it was possible,” Gorzinski said. “And once you believe in something, it is possible.

“Our current group of kids is working hard, and making the most of the opportunity in front of them. If they keep working hard, we can very well get back here (in the state championship game) again next year,” Gorzinski added.

With the level of hard work and the positive attitude that Gorzinski, his players and coaching staff have, I certainly believe it’s possible that they will be in the mix for a third straight state championship in 2022. …

Throughout the course of the 2021 U.P. high school football season, I was asked on a handful of occasions if I felt whether North Central could compete against any of the upper tier 11-player U.P. teams.

In comparison to all the 11-player teams I covered this fall, the only team that I feel could slow down the Jets offense, or score on their defense more than once, isn’t even a U.P. team: Luxemburg-Casco, who rolled past Kingsford on Oct. 1 — I’d buy a ticket to see them play against the Jets 2021 team. The Westwood Patriots were very athletic on both sides of the ball and also had a very strong offensive line in comparison to the 11-player teams I saw this fall. But I feel that Westwood would struggle with the Jets’ depth in a head-to-head match up, even in an 11-player setting.

“We saw this group of talented kids coming, especially the current junior class,” Gorzinski said. “With the talent that we end up keeping off the field, with our eight starters out there — that’s the hand that we’re dealt — so we roll with it. But I truly believe that we could compete with any U.P. team in 11-man with the group of kids we currently have. There’s a lot of players on our sidelines that should be out there on the field.”

I would have to concur with Leo’s assessment. …

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday weekend. Eat too much ladies and gentlemen, because I know I will. …