Brandywine’s Mike Nate has been named the Region 7 Coach of the Year by the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association.

Nate will be presented the award at the annual coaches clinic Jan. 7 in Lansing.

“It is a team award,” Nate said. “The coaching staff and the players deserve a lot of the credit. We had great talent on this year’s team.

“It was a great group of kids to work with for the last four years. It is the end of an era. We were 23-5 the last three years in the regular season. This was just a great run by these seniors.”

Nate, who is in his sixth year at Brandywine, guided the Bobcats to an 8-1 record and a spot in the state playoffs for a third consecutive season.

Previously to that, Brandywine had not reached the postseason since 2002.

Nate is 36-21 at Brandywine.

The Bobcats won the Lakeland Conference championship in 2013 and finished runner-up to Mendon in the newly formed BCS Athletic Conference Red Division.

“The efforts of your coach, his staff and team have brought a great amount of pride to your school and community,” Kelly Luplow, president of the Michigan High School Football Coaches association said. “We know that to reach this level of excellence requires numerous hours of work throughout the year.”