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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.

MHSA(Q&)A: Football Coaches Jim Ahern and Brad Weber

August 31, 2012

Pewamo-Westphalia football coach Brad Weber and Lansing Catholic's Jim Ahern had experienced plenty of success long before the end of last season.

But this month marked the first time either had returned to the sideline after a trip to the MHSAA Finals.

Their teams faced off on opening night at Holt Junior High, the Cougars' home field. Gone were Lansing Catholic's all-state quarterback-receiver tandem that helped the Cougars finish Division 5 runner-up last fall, as well as the large group of standout seniors who guided the Pirates to the Division 7 Final.

But the coaches are back for more, and we caught up briefly with both after Lansing Catholic's 45-21 win. (Lansing Catholic fell to 1-1 this week with a loss at Saginaw Nouvel, while P-W improved to 1-1 with a win over Potterville.)

This has to be the most unfamiliar group you've had at Lansing Catholic?

Ahern: They're a good group from the standpoint that they have a lot of team chemistry. They're a close-knit group, and they've worked extremely hard in the offseason. I know every coach says that. But this, probably of all the groups I've had, has really worked hard. We were a little nervous. We had a lot of kids playing in spots where they hadn't been there, but they settled down a little bit.

Have the players approached things differently because of how you ended up last year?

Weber: A little bit. But it's still football, and they've been playing football since sixth grade. It shouldn't be too different. 

Are you (as a coach) approaching some things differently?

Weber: Yes and no. We're still getting down to business. Practices are the same. We still have a lot of energy at practice. But you do. You're looking for a little bit of the senior leadership to step up because it was so good last year. These guys kinda took it for granted, and they rode on their coat tails, and it's time for them to step up and be leaders of this team. It's 2012 now. 

Ahern: Not really. Every year I tell everyone the same thing. Our goal is to win the league. If we do that, good things will happen. That's our goal -- to win the conference. ... We're still running the same stuff pretty much. We haven't changed a whole lot.

Do you have to say things to certain guys who are replacing (all-staters), like 'Do you know what you're stepping into?'"

Ahern: You don't have to remind them about it. They know it. They don't need to hear it. I think that's why they work so hard in the offseason. The bar's set pretty high for them, so they want to continue that.