Rivals DeWitt & Haslett Face Off In The Big House To Open 2022 Football Season

Longtime rivals DeWitt and Haslett will open their 2022 football seasons against each other in Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor this coming August 25th, it was announced on Thursday.

It'll be a part of "The Battle at the Big House" jamboree on the opening weekend of the season.  The DeWitt-Haslett game will kick off at 3:30pm on that day.

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The Panthers and Vikings were big rivals in the old Ingham County League (up through 2002).  And then they both played each other in the Capital Area Activities Conference (CAAC) Division 3 (III) from 2003-2006, the CAAC Gold division from 2007-2010, and finally the CAAC Red division from 2011-2017.  DeWitt moved from the CAAC Red to the CAAC Blue division for the 2018 season.

DeWitt dominated the series in recent years.  But a vast majority of the games were close, with the exception of the last two contests in 2016 & 2017.  DeWitt won those games 45-0 and 28-0, respectively.

DeWitt won the Division 3 state title in the COVID-influenced 2020 season (by beating River Rouge 40-30), and were Division 3 runners-up in 2021 (after losing to Detroit Martin Luther King 25-21.  Haslett last made the state finals in 2005, when they lost the Division 3 title tilt to Caledonia 27-6.

DeWitt head coach Rob Zimmerman commented to the Lansing State Journal (LSJ):

"We're super excited, any school that gets to play there — it's obviously just an unbelievable venue and it's just a great experience for not only the players, but coaches and the community. We're super excited to have a chance to go play there again because last year was just a great experience for everybody involved."

Haslett head coach Brad Thomas also commented to the LSJ:

"You get a chance to go play in one of the most historic stadiums in all of college football and everything, most of our players are not going to be playing beyond high school so the opportunity to walk through the tunnel there and step out onto that field is just amazing and something they'll remember for the rest of their lives."