Travel Football
July 15, 2016
The University of Michigan will host a high school football game on Sept. 2, 2016. That would not make news, except that the game is between two out-of-state high school teams.
The teams are from New Jersey and Maryland, likely chosen to assist the Wolverines’ recruiting efforts in those states, and to help them make more waves in the college football world. Both high school teams are private schools, and each comes with heavy baggage.
Some public schools in New Jersey have boycotted playing the New Jersey school in football; the Maryland school is not a member of the MHSAA’s counterpart association in that state. One school is flaunting the rules; the other school has no rules to follow.
That major college football has been in an uncontrolled spiral of excess is not news; but its insidious damage to high school sports is finally making headlines.
NCAA rules have recently been robbing schools of winter and spring sports athletes as college coaches entice high school seniors to graduate at the end of their seventh semester and start practicing football with their future college teammates several months early. We are grateful to see Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby question the practice of enrolling players before their scheduled high school graduation.
Now, NCAA rules appear to invite universities to select high school football teams from anywhere there’s a great prospect or two, and transport the teams across the U.S. to compete in a nearly empty stadium, save for recruiting “gurus,” athletic apparel reps and a few media. We are hoping to see some college sports leaders step up to question this practice.
All of this leads to the rich getting richer – on both the college and school levels. All of which induces another updraft to the spiral of excess in what are supposed to be education-based programs.
Watch Regionals Live on MHSAA.tv, FSN
November 11, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Regional play in two MHSAA tournaments will be featured this week on MHSAA.tv and FoxSportsDetroit.com with 10 games in volleyball and football.
Volleyball
Regional Semifinal coverage takes place today at two locations (coverage available with subscription):
Class A at Mason
DeWitt v. Ann Arbor Huron, 5 p.m.
Mason v. Portage Central, 7 p.m.
Class C at Morley-Stanwood
Shelby v. Morley-Stanwood, 6 p.m.
Ravenna v. Laingsburg, 8 p.m.
Football
MHSAA.tv also will cover two football playoff games live Saturday in advance of covering 12 Semifinal games on Nov. 22.
Here’s this week’s Regional Final schedule (with subscription):
- Division 1 – Clinton Township Chippewa Valley at Detroit Cass Tech, 1 p.m.
- Division 6 – Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central v. Jackson Lumen Christi at Withington Stadium, 7 p.m.
A Day Pass subscription to MHSAA.tv is $9.95. A Month Pass subscription is $14.95, enabling purchasers to watch all of this week’s action plus two more weeks of coverage of the Girls Volleyball Tournament, weekly Football Playoff coverage, and the Preliminaries and Finals of the Lower Peninsula Girls Swimming & Diving Finals.
All events become available for free on demand viewing three days after the date of the contest.
NEW: Subscribers can clip highlights from on-demand events and share them with friends and fans through Facebook, Twitter or via email.
Click the box at right to learn how to capture favorite moments and share the excitement.
Prep Zone
It’s the fourth season for the popular PrepZone on FoxSportsDetroit.com, which will provide free live coverage of four football playoff games again Friday:
- Division 1 – Canton at Saline
- Division 3 – Lowell at Zeeland West
- Division 4 – Whitehall v. Grand Rapids South Christian at Byron Center High School
- Division 8 – Baldwin at Beal City
All games kick off at 7 p.m., with short-term archives available on FoxSportsDetroit.com and long-term archives and DVDs available through MHSAA.tv.
Also, catch highlights of the following games on Football Friday Overtime at midnight Friday and again at 7 a.m. Saturday and Sunday on Fox Sports Detroit:
- Flint Powers at Lansing Catholic
- Redford Thurston at New Boston Huron
- Detroit Country Day at Chelsea
- PLUS – Prep Zone Games
MHSAA Highlights: This week's package includes five highlights from MHSAA postseason events that took place from Nov. 1-8 including the Cross Country and Boys Soccer Finals and Volleyball and Football Districts.
PHOTO: St. Louis sets up at the net on the way to winning its Class C District last week. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)