Ford Field hopefuls are spread across multiple divisions when it comes to this year’s crop of Oakland County football teams that learned their first-round postseason matchups from Sunday afternoon’s MHSAA Selection Show.

Sprinkle in some short bus rides for teams against familiar opponents and there’s a litany of fun pairings scheduled for the opening weekend of playoffs.

Leading the way in Division 1, unbeaten Detroit Catholic Central welcomes in Hartland to get its playoff march started.

“We kind of anticipated it being Hartland,” said Shamrocks head coach Justin Cessante, whose team comes off short rest following Saturday night’s 26-14 victory against King in the Prep Bowl. “We obviously have to do our homework on them and make sure we prepare.”

If Catholic Central’s homework leads to a win, it’ll play either Brighton or host West Bloomfield (7-2) the following week.

A battle-tested team will await whoever emerges from that aforementioned quartet as far as the other district from that region. Clarkston (8-1), whose only defeat this year was at the hands of Harper Woods, come in having outscored their last three opponents (all playoff teams) 129-17. In a rematch of a district title game from 2022, the Wolves will host one-loss Davison. Oxford, who surpassed the expectation’s of most and enter the playoffs at 7-2, travels to play undefeated Grand Blanc in the other semifinal of that same district.

Rivals will do battle in Region 4 of D1 as top-seeded Adams (7-2) plays host to Rochester (5-4), who got into the field with a 42-6 home win Friday over Monroe. There could be a rivalry matchup in the district final as well if Stoney Creek (6-3) takes care of business on its home field against Utica Eisenhower.

Rounding out the D1 locals included, Farmington (7-2) brings in Dearborn Fordson to open the playoffs. The winner of that game will take on either defending state champs Cass Tech or Northville.

In Division 2, another defending state champion in Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (6-2) will travel to North Farmington (6-3) to open its march back to the apex. On the opposite side of that loaded district, Walled Lake Western (7-2) is hosting Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice (5-4). Western, winner of its last four games, and North Farmington will be looking to thwart a potential rematch of Brother Rice’s 43-31 win over the Eaglets from Week 8 of the regular season.

As for the county’s other unbeaten, South Lyon has an immediate rematch of its 28-6 win when it hosts SL East (4-5) in the opening round. The Cougars squeezed in as the last team into the D2 picture.

“I’m not a fan, never have been when you play the same opponent the week after, but I wasn’t surprised by it,” South Lyon head coach Jeff Henson said. “It’s happened in the past where we’ve played them Week 9 then turned around and played them again. Obviously, the number of D2 teams in the area makes it easy to pair it up.”

In one of the more spread out districts of the division, Waterford Mott (5-4) heads to take on Midland Dow, and in the other semifinal, another LVC qualifier, Lakeland (7-2), will play host to East Lansing.

Elsewhere in D2, Groves (6-3) landed its district’s No. 1 seed and the Falcons will battle Warren Mott. It could set up for a city rivalry in the final of that district depending on the outcome of Seaholm (5-4) at Warren Cousino.

In another showdown of teams with little distance between one another, Holly (6-3) will head down Grange Hall Road to tackle Fenton in a Division 3 district semifinal. The Tigers shutout Holly 20-0 on the road back when the teams played on Sept. 13. The Bronchos tied for second in the Flint Metro League Stripes Division and won four games in a row to close out the regular season, completing a big turnaround after a 1-8 campaign last fall.

Madison Heights Lamphere (6-3) opens the Division 4 playoffs hosting Redford Union, with the victor of that game meeting either Tecumseh or Dearborn Divine Child in that district final.

Harper Woods, who went unbeaten in the OAA as part of its altogether unblemished regular season, takes on Macomb Lutheran North to open the playoffs.

Hazel Park (6-3) qualified for its second year in a row and travels to face defending D5 champion Pontiac Notre Dame Prep in the first round. The Irish finished the regular season with wins over Traverse City St. Francis, Marine City and Hudsonville Unity Christian. The winner of the game between the Vikings and Irish will play either Detroit Denby or Southeastern in the final.

Moving along, Clawson travels to play Marine City in a battle of 6-3 teams after the Trojans were the second team out of D6’s field in 2024 when they had an identical record. A 10-7 win over Royal Oak last week has Clawson entering the playoffs on a five-game winning streak.

In Division 7, Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest (5-4) is traveling to play Detroit Community, with the winner taking on Burton Bendle or Millington in the district final. The Crusaders will be looking for a playoff win for the second year in a row.

It’s an all-Oakland district down in D8 where top-seeded Madison Heights Madison (8-1), who finished with the second-most playoff points in the division, opens hosting Auburn Hills Oakland Christian (5-4). The other semifinal in the district sees Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes (5-4) hosting Clarkston Everest Collegiate (5-4) at Wisner Stadium. The Mountaineers beat the Lakers in CHSL Intersectional 2 Division play 21-14 on Oct. 10.

In the opposite district within that region of D8, Southfield Bradford Academy (6-3) hits the road to Allen Park to face Cabrini.

This year’s finals for Division’s 2, 4, 6 and 8 will be held on Nov. 28, with the other four divisions to be decided two days later at Ford Field.