Highlight Reel: Division 4 Semifinals
November 26, 2014
The Grand Rapids South Christian football team defeated Edwardsburg 50-48 in a Division 4 Semifinal on Saturday, and Lansing Sexton downed Detroit Country Day 28-14. Click the headings below for highlights:
VANVOORST FIRST TD CATCH - Eric VanVoorst had two touchdown catches for Grand Rapids South Christian against Edwardsburg. Here's the first - a 32-yard reception in the second quarter.
EDDIES BOUNCE BACK - After Grand Rapids South Christian scored on its first possession, Edwardsburg responded with a 66-yard TD run by Isiah Miller.
FAULKNER GOES THE DISTANCE - With less than a second left in the first period, Karey Faulkner goes 76 yards for Lansing Sexton for a score.
PENSON TIGHTENS IT UP - Detroit Country Day got back in the game midway through the fourth quarter on this 8-yard run by Larry Penson.
Watch the South Christian/Edwardsburg game in its entirety and order DVDs by Clicking Here, or Sexton/Country Day by Clicking Here.
Balancing Football Playoffs
April 18, 2017
Every time the Michigan High School Athletic Association Football Playoffs have been expanded, two voices have been heard – one complaining that too many teams or divisions have watered down the tournament; the other advocating that every school should qualify for the tournament regardless of its regular-season performance.
The playoffs have expanded from 32 to 64 to 128 to 256 to 272 teams; and for 2017, with the addition of 16 more 8-player teams, to 288 of the 626 MHSAA member schools’ football teams in Michigan.
We have reached the point where 46 percent of the schools which sponsor football qualify for the Football Playoffs, and we are approaching closely the point of qualifying every team with winning records during the regular season.
Those stats sound about right for a collision sport conducted mostly outdoors in a cold climate for teenagers. A longer tournament is unwise; a larger tournament is unneeded.
What is needed and wise is more attention to the regular season, and especially to practices which occur at least five times more frequently than games. That’s where the teaching and learning of football skills and life lessons can be everyday occurrences for every team in Michigan.