Gameday, Kalamazoo! All you need to know ahead of Week 4 football kickoff

KALAMAZOO, MI – It's quite hard to believe we're almost at the midway point of Michigan's high school football regular season.

Football is fun – and it flies by.

Week 4 is upon us, and that means another action-packed Friday night in Southwest Michigan, where teams prepare to make statements toward conference titles and postseason berths.

Tonight features several big-time showdowns including a Wolverine Conference clash between Paw Paw and Vicksburg, along with a Southwest 10 Conference collision between Division 8 state-ranked Decatur and White Pigeon.

Be sure to check out all the games that'll kickoff in the Kalamazoo-area for Week 4 below, along with the third MLive Player of the Week winner, links to this week's predictions and power rankings, conference standings and playoff points for all teams.

Kalamazoo-area Week 4 predictions

Kalamazoo-area power rankings entering Week 4

Player of the Week

Jonah Ranes may not have been expected to receive any notoriety or make a large impact for Galesburg-Augusta's football team entering 2024.

But he certainly has.

The junior three-sport athlete needed just nine touches to strut his talents last Friday, carving up Allegan's defense for 79 yards – that's 8.77 yards per carry – en route to lifting the Rams to a big-time 17-14 win.

Ranes was hard to handle for the Tigers, also notching three receptions for 36 yards, which was good for 100-plus all-purpose yards on the night.

Rams fans applauded him accordingly.

Ranes won MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette Player of the Week honors, outlasting Kalamazoo Central's Maurice Streeter by earning 425 votes – that's 30 percent of the poll – as Streeter finished runner-up with 214 votes (15 percent).

Streeter's teammate, Keyontae Gibson, finished third with 166 votes (12 percent).

Ranes, who is also a wrestler and a baseball player, has been a huge complimentary piece to Galesburg-Augusta's offense through three games.

His steady production has been a vital part to why the Rams are 2-1 to start the season, winning back-to-back games over the Tigers and Cassopolis.

Galesburg-Augusta hosts Schoolcraft tonight.

WEEK 4 SCHEDULE

Stevensville Lakeshore at Kalamazoo Central, 7 p.m.

Mattawan at Loy Norrix, 7 p.m.

Battle Creek Central at Portage Central, 7 p.m.

Battle Creek Lakeview at Portage Northern, 7 p.m.

St. Joseph at Gull Lake, 7 p.m.

Three Rivers at Edwardsburg, 7 p.m.

Otsego at Niles, 7 p.m.

Plainwell at Sturgis, 7 p.m.

Paw Paw at Vicksburg, 7 p.m.

South Haven at Constantine, 7 p.m.

Schoolcraft at Galesburg-Augusta, 7 p.m.

Allegan at Kalamazoo United, 7 p.m.

Delton Kellogg at Lawton, 7 p.m.

Watervliet at Parchment, 7 p.m.

Hartford at Cassopolis, 7 p.m.

Centreville at Mason County Central, 7 p.m.

Decatur at White Pigeon, 7 p.m.

Climax-Scotts at Colon, 7 p.m.

Athens at Mendon, 7 p.m.

Eau Claire at Martin, 7 p.m.

New Buffalo at Marcellus, 7 p.m.

Bangor at Gobles, 7 p.m.

CONFERENCE STANDINGS

St. Joseph 1-0, 3-0

Kalamazoo Central 1-0, 2-1

Portage Northern 1-0, 2-1

Battle Creek Lakeview 1-0, 1-2

Portage Central 1-0, 1-2

Loy Norrix 0-1, 2-1

Mattawan 0-1, 1-2

Battle Creek Central 0-1, 0-3

Gull Lake 0-1, 0-3

Stevensville Lakeshore 0-1, 0-3

Paw Paw 1-0, 3-0

Edwardsburg 1-0, 2-1

Niles 1-0, 2-1

Vicksburg 1-0, 2-1

Three Rivers 0-1, 1-2

Otsego 0-1, 0-3

Plainwell 0-1, 0-3

Sturgis 0-1, 0-3

SAC-LAKESHORE

Constantine 0-0, 3-0

Allegan 0-0, 2-1

Kalamazoo United 0-0, 2-1

Parchment 0-0, 2-1

South Haven 0-0, 2-1

Watervliet 0-0, 1-2

SAC-VALLEY

Delton Kellogg 0-0, 2-1

Galesburg-Augusta 0-0, 2-1

Lawton 0-0, 2-1

Saugatuck 0-0, 2-1

Schoolcraft 0-0, 2-1

Coloma 0-0, 1-2

SOUTHWEST 10

Decatur 1-0, 3-0

White Pigeon 1-0, 3-0

Centreville 1-0, 1-2

Hartford 0-1, 1-2

Cassopolis 0-1, 0-3

Comstock 0-1, 0-3

SCAA-RED

Battle Creek St. Philip 0-0, 3-0

Mendon 0-0, 3-0

Bellevue 0-0, 2-1

Climax-Scotts 0-0, 2-1

Athens 0-0, 0-3

Colon 0-0, 0-3

Gobles 1-0, 3-0

Martin 0-0, 3-0

Marcellus 0-1, 2-1

Eau Claire 0-0, 1-2

Bangor 0-0, 0-3

(Top 32 qualify for playoffs)

Division 1

Division 2

Division 3

Division 4

Division 5

Division 6

Division 7

Division 8