Mendon football team wins playoff game by forfeit due to scheduling conflict

The undefeated Hornets are the top-ranked team in their division

Senior tailback Owen Gorham (20) runs the ball for the Mendon varsity football team in Michigan. The Hornets won their playoff opener after Grand Rapids Sacred Heart forfeited due to a scheduling conflict. / Brandon Watson/Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

A high school football team in Michigan won a playoff game by forfeit, but not in the way as traditionally expected.

Mendon, the top-ranked 8-man Division II squad, will now have a spontaneous bye week after Grand Rapids Sacred Heart conceded the game due to a scheduling conflict, MLive.com reported on Thursday.

“It’s absolutely unfortunate,” Mendon superintendent Leasa Griffith said via MLive. “Our kids wanted to play, and our coaches wanted to play, as I would think theirs (Sacred Heart’s) would as well. This may have been our last home game for our seniors, depending on how the playoffs pan out.”

The playoff game between Mendon and Sacred Heart was tentatively scheduled for Saturday. However, Griffith stated that Sacred Heart requested to play on Halloween due to Saturday being All Saints’ Day – a Christian holy day.

Mendon, on the other hand, wanted to keep its Saturday afternoon home game. The Hornets consider it a playoff tradition having a game on that day, and the village that Mendon High School is in has obligations to ensure safety on Halloween, MLive reported.

“We have a routine for our team, for our kids, for our families and for our community,” Griffith told MLive. “Friday night is Halloween and in this village, the streets are pretty packed and there are kids back and forth on the streets. Our police chief preferred that we not play on Friday night because they use all of their officers to help with festivities in town and they would have had to close streets down. That probably wasn’t going to be very feasible, so we stuck to Saturday.”

Mendon and Sacred Heart couldn’t come to an agreement after continuous discussions, which ultimately forced the forfeiture.

“We even thought about things from our community aspect in what if we did play on Friday?” Griffith said via MLive. “We spoke to our police chief, we spoke to our catholic church here in town and knowing the tradition that we have and that our coaches and kids have and the routines they have in place, all of those things came into play for our decision.”

Mendon, who is currently 10-0 on the season, will face either Marion or Portland St. Patrick in a regional final next Friday. 

Sacred Heart capped its 2025 season with an 8-2 record.

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