If you haven’t taken notice of what the Gaylord football team has done so far in 2025, it’s time to. High school football fans around the state certainly have.
First, you need the context: Just two seasons ago, Gaylord was one of the most feared programs within the Northern Lower Peninsula. Then-head coach DJ Szymoniak had taken GHS from a bottom-dweller in the Big North Conference to a powerhouse in just three years at the helm, helping the Blue Devils to a historic season in 2023 that included a 9-0 regular season record, the team’s first Big North Conference championship in 20 years and the program’s second district championship in a playoff win over their rivals from Petoskey.
Everything was great. Then it wasn’t.
The smooth sailing of 2023 was followed by rough waters in 2024. Coming off an 11-1 season, GHS started the next year 0-5 with four straight scoreless losses. They went from the hunters to the hunted, only picking up wins over Alpena, Sault Ste. Marie and Escanaba while watching their rivals match their efforts from 2023 as Petoskey went 9-0, won the BNC and a district title. In the offseason, GHS and Szymoniak parted ways, and the future of the football program was thrust into uncharted territory.
So, what could reasonable expectations be for the 2025 GHS team and head coach Matt Silsbury, who took over late in the spring? Whatever those expectations were, the Blue Devils have blasted through them just five weeks into the season.
Gaylord (5-0, 3-0 BNC), ranked in the top ten of nearly every Division 3 poll, is a near lock to make the playoffs and in the hunt for a BNC title. It’s a start that almost no one expected (outside of the players) and has raised some eyebrows; not just in Northern Michigan, but across the state.
The Blue Devils were ranked No. 10 in Division 3 in the latest poll released by the Michigan Sports Writers on September 23. The Detroit Free Press’s latest rankings, released on Sept. 28, moved Gaylord up two spots from No. 10 to No. 8. They are one of 53 teams left unbeaten through five weeks and could be playing in a de facto conference title game in two weeks vs. Escanaba (5-0, 3-0 BNC).
It’s a far cry from where they were at this point last season: 0-5, searching for answers on offense and feeling the impacts of not living up to the expectations left by the class before them. Senior Kaven Cole talked about it after the Week 1 win this year.
“We’re just going to keep going, nonstop,” said Cole, following the victory over North Branch. “Last year (made us angry), we’re just going crazy this year.”
The impact Cole has had during 2025 is a sign of the improvements GHS has had under coach Silsbury in Year 1. Mostly a receiver in 2024, Cole moved back to his primary running back position this season and has flourished, rushing for 540 yards and 11 touchdowns in five games. Senior QB Kelsen Snyder, one of four QBs to take snaps for GHS’s offense last season, is now a bona fide star as the Blue Devils’ QB1 with a 69% completion percentage, 547 yards and two TDs.
While things have changed, coach Silsbury has also kept the parts of the program’s identity that were effective. The defense has been stout, helping GHS outscore its opponents 126-77 in five weeks and has only allowed more than 14 points once, an OT win over Marquette in Week 3. That OT win was one of four one-score victories to start the season and now one of 10 victories in 13 games decided by seven points or less since 2022.
“At the end of the day, we had to execute again, and I keep saying this, we’re getting better every week. Nothing’s perfect, but we’re getting better,” coach Silsbury said after that OT win.
Did anyone expect Gaylord to stay down for long? Maybe not. But tell me, after Week 5 of last season, could anyone have predicted where this program would be just one year later, 5-0 and eyeing a conference title and playoff berth? I’d also assume no. It’s a testament to the GHS football staff, coach Silsbury and athletic director Dale Cowper to put this group of athletes in the right hands and give them the best opportunity to succeed right away.
But more than anything, it’s a testament to a group of seniors who never want to experience a season like 2024 ever again.
“We are coming back this year better than ever,” said Cole. “We’re going to make history this year.”
Contact GHT Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at Djespersen@gaylordheraldtimes.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Gaylord football turnaround is turning heads across the state – Jespersen
Reporting by Dylan Jespersen, The Petoskey News-Review / The Petoskey News-Review
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