Meet the 2020 Michigan high school football all-state team for Divisions 3-4

The nearly two-month wait was worth the wait as far as Saturday’s regional winners are concerned.

High school football finally returned this weekend with the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s state regional round for all eight divisions. Check out MLive’s coverage below, including highlights from each region, as well as photographs and more.

It's taken a while, but the the Michigan high school football playoffs have reach the Final Four in its 11-man divisions, and the finals of the two 8-man fields. Beginning in September, the season was suspended in November in an effort to help control the rise in COVID-19 cases.

Now, it's the race to the finish line with 20 games this Friday and Saturday.

In Division 1, Davison and Rockford, the state's top two teams in the MaxPreps Michigan rankings, square of in one semifinal while Belleville and West Bloomfield tangle in the other game. The winners meet Jan. 23 at Ford Field in Detroit to compete for the long-delayed title.

Davison is led by senior quarterback Brendan Sullivan, whose thrown for more than 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns for the Cardinals. Rockford counters with QB Zak Ahern, who accounted for five scored and 300 yards offense in last week's 40-17 win over Saline. The Rams look to derail Davison's repeat quest while Rockford is looking for its first title since 2008.

In the other semifinal, 9-1 West Bloomfield looks to end Belleville's perfect season behind four-star Michigan commit Donovan Edwards who ran for 193 yards and four scores in last week's quarterfinals victory. The Tigers counter with quarterback Christian Dhue-Reid, who led his squad with nearly 200 yards in the air and three scores.

UFC 257 is merely hours away and Conor McGregor is back! After fighting just once last year -- mainly as a result of COVID-19 -- McGregor will enter the Octagon at UFC 257, against elite lightweight contender Dustin Poirier. The fighters have made weight. Now all that's left is for both McGregor and Poirier to make the walk.With current UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov all but officially retired, this contest is seen by many as a title eliminator. Most likely the winner will fight for the belt later down the track in 2021, potentially against Charles Oliveira or the winner of Dan Hooker vs. Michael Chandler.

Also looming in the wings is Nurmagomedov who, according to Dana White, will be watching UFC 257. If someone does something spectacular, reports say, he may come back for one more defence of his UFC lightweight title.

The fight takes place on the UFC's Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.

This isn't the first time this fight has taken place. McGregor defeated Poirier comfortably the last time they fought over six years ago at UFC 178, but Poirier has improved dramatically since then. He defeated Max Holloway for the UFC interim lightweight championship, and put up a decent showing against Nurmagomedov, the current lightweight king. The undefeated Nurmagomedov also defeated McGregor in 2018.

McGregor has fought just twice since 2016, losing the lightweight championship to Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018 and scoring a first round knockout against welterweight Donald Cerrone in January 2020. The UFC star has flirted with retirement but said he was "grateful" for his latest UFC booking.McGregor beat Poirier with a first round knockout in their last meeting at UFC 178 in 2014, when both fighters were in the lighter featherweight class. Poirier has posted an impressive 8-2 record since that match, including a short reign as UFC's interim lightweight champion.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association announced on Wednesday that the 11-player high school football state championships will stay at Ford Field in Detroit.

Ford Field will host the 11-player finals across two days from Jan. 22-23 to conclude the long fall season. Also, the two eight-player division finals will be held at the Legacy Center in Brighton for the first time on Jan. 16.

The Michigan high school football season began 22 weeks ago, but the finish is now in sight.

The state semifinals were played Saturday, with only next week’s championship games remaining.

MLive reporters and photographers were out and about Saturday, detailing who has advanced to the big games as well as this weekend’s 8-man finals in Brighton. Check out their reports below.