Watch Volleyball, Football LIVE

November 4, 2014

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

District and Regional Volleyball action will be featured over the next two weeks on MHSAA.tv, while Football Playoff coverage moves into its second round and will be available live via multiple online channels this weekend.

Coverage of Girls Volleyball includes District Quarterfinal/Semifinal Matches each evening for four straight. Football this weekend can be viewed Friday from Fox Sports Detroit and Saturday from MHSAA.tv.

Volleyball

Here’s the complete District schedule, with links to each game's page on the MHSAA.tv site (all coverage available with subscription):

Monday – Class C Quarterfinals at Hanover-Horton
East Jackson vs. Michigan Center, 5:30 p.m.

Napoleon vs. Vandercook Lake, 7 p.m.

Tuesday – Class C Semifinals at Calumet
Ironwood vs. L’Anse, 6 p.m.
Calumet vs. Hancock, 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday – Class B Semifinals at Frankenmuth
Frankenmuth vs. North Branch, 6 p.m.
Caro vs. Mt. Morris, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday – Class A Semifinals at Hudsonville
Jenison vs. Grandville/Holland West Ottawa winner, 5 p.m.
Hudsonville/Holland winner vs. Wyoming/Zeeland East winner, 7 p.m.

Regional Semifinal coverage takes place next Tuesday (Nov. 11) at two locations:

Class A at Mason
Okemos District winner vs. Dexter District winner, 5 p.m.
Holt District winner vs. Portage Central District winner, 7 p.m.

Class C at Morley-Stanwood
Shelby District winner vs. White Cloud District winner, 6 p.m.
Muskegon Western Michigan Christian District winner vs. Pewamo-Westphalia District winner, 8 p.m.

Football

It’s the fourth season for the popular PrepZone on FoxSportsDetroit.com, which will provide free live coverage of four Football Playoff games each week for the first four weekends of the tournament. Games to be covered this week are:

Division 1 – Lapeer at Clarkston
Division 4 – Saginaw Swan Valley at Lansing Sexton
Division 5 – Clare at Freeland
Division 5 – Almont at Marine City

All games will take place Friday at 7 p.m., with short-term archives available on FoxSportsDetroit.com and long-term archives and DVDs available through MHSAA.tv.

Football Friday Overtime is in its fourth season on FOX Sports Detroit, airing at Midnight each Friday and running for 13 weeks. Mickey York and Rob Rubick host this 30-minute highlights show. The show re-airs Saturdays at 11 a.m. and Sunday mornings – check your local listings (this week at 7 a.m.).

The following games are scheduled to be highlighted this week:

  • Wyandotte Roosevelt at Brownstown Woodhaven
  • Trenton at New Boston Huron
  • Southfield at Oak Park
  • Walled Lake Central at West Bloomfield
  • Detroit East English at Warren DeLaSalle
  • Detroit Cass Tech at Dearborn Fordson
  • Plus coverage from the Prep Zone games

MHSAA.tv also will cover two Football Playoff games live each Saturday the first three weeks of the tournament, and 12 Semifinal games on Nov. 22.  Here’s this week’s District Final schedule (all coverage with subscription):

Division 1 – Grand Ledge at East Kentwood, 1 p.m.

Division 7 – Pewamo-Westphalia at Hudson, 1 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.

MHSAA Highlights: This week's package includes clips from the Okemos/East Lansing volleyball match and the Plainwell/Battle Creek Harper Creek and Watervliet/Niles Brandywine football games.

#TBT: End of an Era in Saginaw

October 23, 2014

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Michigan will wave farewell this weekend to one of its longest-running high school football rivalries as Saginaw High and Arthur Hill play one last time before one of the schools is closed in December.

The 120-year-old rivalry is tied for second-oldest in Michigan history, ranks third with 128 games played and first among rivalries between Lower Peninsula schools.  

The Saginaw News reported last month that the district’s Board of Education will vote on which to close in December after voting in July to shut down one of the two.

The schools – first called simply West Side and East Side – have met annually dating to 1894, save for four years – including in 1897 when it was deemed too large a mismatch and 1910 because of a smallpox outbreak. That fall marked the last the two didn’t play at least once – they played each other twice in 1895 and 1974.

Arthur Hill owns a 58-49 advantage in the series, and the teams tied 11 times. The Lumberjacks won last season’s Week 9 tilt, 43-22, but Saginaw holds a 12-8 edge over the last two decades.

Saginaw won the 1999 MHSAA Division 2 championship under coach Donald Durrett, while Arthur Hill claimed the Class AA title in 1991 under coach Jim Eurick and finished runner-up in 1992 – winning the 1991 game over Detroit Catholic Central 13-12 before losing to DCC in the following year's championship game rematch 21-20.

Sadly, both are finishing on softer notes; Saginaw has lost 16 straight games since winning on opening night 2013, while Arthur Hill has lost 13 of its last 14 with that lone win in between coming against the Trojans last fall.

Click to read select pages from the 1994 game program, itself a history book recalling a proud era in Saginaw history.

PHOTO: Arthur Hill defeated Saginaw 43-22 in last season's meeting between the longtime rivals. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)