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.
TRAVERSE CITY — Changes are aplenty for Traverse City St. Francis this year.
Not only are there a bunch of new faces, but the schedule is quite a bit different and the Gladiators don’t have a conference for the first time since 2013.
“It’s one less goal we can dangle out there,” head coach Josh Sellers said. “It’s a shift. It’ll be a different focus without the conference piece.”
With the Northern Shores Conference starting up its own football league this year, the Northern Michigan Football Conference changed drastically, becoming a one-division alignment instead of three divisions of varying sized schools. That left St. Francis out in the autumn cold, the last TCSF athletic program that still had a league to play in after the Lake Michigan Conference disbanded three years ago, with most of the teams joining the NSC.
The Gladiators’ series with Kingsley is at least paused for the first time since 2013, as the two don’t meet up this season as the Stags shift league schedules from the NMFC to the Northern Shores.
That comes after the Glads lost 57-6 to Kingsley in the district final, something the team uses as motivation to get back into the playoffs for another shot at the Stags.
“That’s played a big role in the off season,” senior running back Cooper Sellers said. “Every time there may not be energy in the weight room or anything, I remind the guys, ‘Remember that feeling at Kingsley last year.’ That wasn’t us in that game. We didn’t go in with the right mentality. That’s been the fuel to the whole offseason, and I think you’ll see that product on the field this year. We beat people by 50. We don’t get beat by 50.”
Kingsley ran for 402 yards on the way to a 50-6 halftime lead.
St. Francis opted up to Division 6 for another shot at the Stags.
The Gladiators have 30 players on varsity, with five starters back on offense and three returning on defense.
Sophomore John St. Peter is in the early running to start at quarterback, giving the Gladiators a dual threat under center.
Colton Peterson and Cooper Sellers will see action at running back, with Beau Classens at fullback and Levi Muma moving from tight end to add depth at both halfback and fullback.
“We lost a lot of seniors, but I think we’re returning a lot of key guys back to the team,” Cooper Sellers said. “I’m just excited about running behind that (O-line). I’m not huge, so I kind of get to hide behind them and then pop out.”
Jacob Kraska will play tight end, and senior Doug Gallagher joined the team and could provide help there after the team graduated starting ends Alex Jetter and Sam Wildfong.
“We seem to be either running back heavy or line heavy,” Josh Sellers said. “This year we have plenty of depth at both.”
Ben Eckler, Garrett Russell and J.D. Carlson return as starters on the offensive line. Declan Gallagher started later in the season as well.
“We’ve got some tall and strong guys,” Carlson said. “They’re pretty big. We can definitely throw the ball, but the old-fashioned run the ball down their throats is kind of our thing.”
On defense, Muma steps into the middle linebacker role, with Kraska also at linebacker and Peterson at safety.
“We look really promising,” Carlson said. “I know coach has been putting in a lot of work for us, and we’ve been getting a lot faster. Everybody on the team is is looking really fast and really strong. So we’re looking good this year.”
Those new faces also won’t see Thirlby Field all that much, with just three home games — Ogemaw Heights (Sept. 4), Pontiac Notre Dame Prep (Oct. 3) and Manistee (Oct. 17) — and Ogemaw the only home Friday contest.
The schedule also features three teams that were in last year’s state finals — Jackson Lumen Christi, Notre Dame Prep and Grand Rapids West Catholic. Notre Dame and West Catholic played each other in the D7 final, while Lumen topped Kingsley 28-14 in D6.
St. Francis plays Elk Rapids for the first time since their 2018 playoff meeting.
“The chemistry and the work ethic we have, it’ll just be good for us,” Carlson said. “We’re all like best friends on the team. We could do anything together, and they push each other so hard, and we’re just making each other better every day.”