BLISSFIELD, Mich. — After two stints totaling 16 seasons, Ron Estes announced this week he is stepping down as football head coach at Blissfield High School.

In his first run as Royals head coach (2002 to 2012), Estes inherited a team that had a 1-35 record from 1998 to 2001 and was riding a 33-game losing streak. The 2002 Blissfield team won its first two games in a 3-6 season and then reached the Michigan state playoffs in eight of the next 10 years.

Included in that span was a 13-1 Division 6 state runner-up finish in 2007, when the Royals were edged 12-7 by Saginaw Nouvel Catholic in the state final at Ford Field in Detroit.

“There was no major reason other than it’s time to move on and let someone else take over,” Estes said of his decision. He had retired from teaching six years ago. “I was actually an interim [coach] this time, and that ended up lasting five years the second time around.

“The highlight was probably playing in the state finals in 2007.”

Estes, a 1979 Blissfield graduate, had stepped away the first time after a 6-5 finish in 2012, and returned as head coach from 2019-23.

He closed his Blissfield career with a 102-61 overall record, 11 playoff appearances, and three Lenawee County Athletic Association titles (2005, 2007, 2020).

Before he took over in 2002, Blissfield had never qualified for the state playoffs, and its only LCAA football championship came in 1977, the Royals’ first year in the league.

First Published October 31, 2023, 7:00 p.m.