Mayville will join the Big Thumb Blue Division in football this season. Photo by Mike Gallagher
This fall marks the inaugural season of the new Big Thumb Conference. The mega athletics and recreation conference combines the 25 schools that formed the Greater Thumb Conference and the North Central Thumb League, with 14 coming from the GTC and 11 from the NCTL. The new conference was announced last year.
Dryden will be a member of the Big Thumb Blue Division this fall. Photo by Kylee Rankin
The Big Thumb Conference is divided into four divisions consisting of red, blue, black and white for all non-football sports. Red includes Akron-Fairgrove, Bay City All-Saints, Carsonville-Port Sanilac, Caseville and Owen-Gage. Blue includes Deckerville, Kingston, Mayville, Dryden, Peck and North Huron. Black includes Harbor Beach, Ubly, Sandusky, Marlette, Brown City, Memphis and Capac. White includes Reese, Unionville-Sebewaing-Area, Cass City, Vassar, Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port, Caro and Bad Axe.
The football divisions vary and are based on enrollment. They also include some football-only schools that were part of the NCTL. According to last year’s press release, the White Division includes Bad Axe, Caro, Cass City, EPBP Lakers, Sandusky and Vassar. The Black Division includes Harbor Beach, Marlette, Memphis, Reese, Ubly and USA. The Blue Division consists of Atherton, Brown City, Capac, Deckerville, Dryden, Kingston, Mayville and Oakland Christian and the Red Division includes Akron-Fairgrove, Ashley, Bay City All-Saints, CPS, Caseville, North Huron, Merritt Academy and Peck.
The new composition of the league will be seen for the first time in the coming weeks when fall sports begin competition on August 16 and the football season begins on August 29.
— Kylee Rankin
