Editor’s note: This article will be published in the 2026 Playbook football preview magazine, included in the Wednesday, Aug. 26 edition of the Record-Eagle. The Playbook previews 14 area football teams and includes several feature stories and rosters for band and cheerleading teams.
BELLAIRE — Bellaire was banged up last season.
“That set us back a little bit,” said Bellaire head coach Jeff Hebden. “With those injuries, we had to rely on quite a few of our younger kids, but now that these guys are back and they’re healthy, we’re looking to be more competitive this year and hopefully that’ll lead to some more wins.”
Bellaire finished last season 1-8.
The Eagles open this season on the road against Bear Lake on Aug. 28 and return home the following week against Engadine.
This season the Ski Valley Conference has combined with the Bridge Alliance League. The Eagles will face four teams from the Upper Peninsula, but it is nothing new, said the coach.
“Back in 2010 Ron Bindi was coaching then and we were part of the Bridge Alliance League,” Hebden said. “We traveled all over the UP to play football. So, we are familiar with some of the UP schools.”
However, the coach said he has never faced St. Ignace or Newberry, which are on the schedule this season.
“It’ll be a challenge,” said Hebden. “We know those schools play a physical brand of football, along with Gaylord St. Mary and Central Lake. We’re going to have a challenging schedule. I like our chances to be competitive in most of these games. We welcome it and we’re going to embrace it and do the best we can. Hopefully, we’ll have some success.”
The Eagles have five returning seniors, including first-team All-Conference Corperryale Somers, who will play both offense and defense.
Aidan Balko, who missed part of last season due to an injury, is expected to contribute significantly from the offensive and defensive end positions, the coach said.
“He’s fully healthy now,” said Hebden. “We’re looking for big things from him this year.”
Another returning senior is Tyler Shoemaker, who will be the starting fullback and linebacker.
Senior Owen Lambert will start on both the offensive and defensive line.
“We’ve got some good people that we can throw to,” Hebden said. “Junior Brady Aldrich will be our starting quarterback. He has been working hard in the off-season at developing his throwing skills, and he’s also fleet of foot. Having Corp Somers and Aidan Balko to throw to, and good strong running from Tyler Shoemaker and Wyatt Tuthill, I think we should be able to get the ball up and down the field. Our offense will be our strength.”
Hebden said Bellaire is still developing players and growing its football program. This year, middle school football is being held at Bellaire, instead of with Central Lake and Ellsworth. Eight junior varsity games are also scheduled.
“The last couple years we’ve only had one team here, so we’ve had to slowly incorporate our freshmen into our program,” the coach said. “We certainly don’t want to have to play those kids against juniors and seniors if we can help it, but some of them over the past few years have stepped up and helped us out tremendously.”
The coach plans to take advantage of the fifth-quarter rule, which allows teams to play JV players in a varsity game for a combined five quarters between the JV and varsity contest.
Bellaire’s co-op with North Central Academy has been a big factor with recruiting new players for the Eagles. The school has five returning varsity players, including senior Landen Schroeder, and several other new players.
“We now have enough kids between North Central and ourselves to field our own middle school team, which I think will help down the road as we get those kids developed and taught,” Hebden said. “As freshmen, they won’t be quite as inexperienced as what we have been in the last few years.”
All told, Hebden expects about 23 players on the high school teams.
“Keeping everybody healthy — that’s going to be the key for us,” said Hebden. “Depth will be a question mark for us, but I like the first eight to 10 kids that we’ll put on the field. After that, we drop off and get quite young. But you know, if we stay healthy we can be pretty competitive.”