
Ford Field Trip Gives Students Taste of Football Finals Broadcasting
By
Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
December 7, 2021
Four levels above them, in the press box, a group of prospective broadcasters were touring the facilities. The high school students had spent the Fall sports season streaming games to the NFHS Network and now were learning about a career in broadcasting from Eric Vandefifer, a Montrose High grad currently serving as the radio voice of Saginaw Valley State University basketball and as a contributor to a variety of high school broadcast channels including the MHSAA Network.
Seven years ago, Vandefifer was in a similar situation. He was part of a field trip to Ford Field for the Finals that helped him realize sports broadcasting was a career he wanted to pursue. Those field trips were headed by Tom Skinner and Thom Lengyel, who became mentors to Vandefifer. As a high school junior in 2017, Vandefifer was named Best Student Broadcaster nationally by the NFHS Network.
“With Tom Skinner now deceased and Thom Lengyel retired from the broadcast business, I just felt like I had to continue this and their legacy,” Vandefifer said. “It was important to me to keep it going because when I was in school, it was something I looked forward to.”
Nearly 50 students from Lowell, Montrose, Lake Orion, Mount Pleasant and Ann Arbor Greenhills high schools made the Nov. 26-27 trip to Ford Field. They were able to film highlights, interview players, practice announcing the games, meet other members of the press and more. For Vandefifer, giving back to students who are in the position he once was is very rewarding.
“We had the ability to feel like real media members for a day. I wanted to be able to give other students that same opportunity,” Vandefifer said. “Seeing kids who have a love for sportscasting and that drive to get better gives me real hope for the next generation in this business.”
And after the field trips were done each day, Vandefifer put his headphones on, got behind the microphone and called the two afternoon games for the MHSAA Championship Network.
PHOTOS (Top) Eighth grader Sam Belill, left, and freshman Owen Leitelt from Montrose practice calling a game from the Ford Field press box. (Middle) Mount Pleasant make a stop at the press conference room. (Photos provided by the Montrose and Mount Pleasant School Broadcast Programs.)

Today in the MHSAA: 2/12/25
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 12, 2025
1. BOYS BASKETBALL Macari Moore became Ann Arbor Huron’s all-time leading scorer during a 79-54 win over Skyline that gave Huron the outright Southeastern Conference Red title – Ann Arbor News
2. GIRLS BASKETBALL Rockford clinched a share of a third-straight Ottawa-Kent Conference Red title with a 57-45 win over Hudsonville – Grand Rapids Press
3. BOYS SWIMMING & DIVING Trenton – No. 9 in Lower Peninsula Division 3 – finished the dual meet season undefeated in the Downriver League while handing Allen Park its only league loss, 103-83 – Southgate News-Herald
4. BOYS BASKETBALL Bay City John Glenn clinched a share of the Tri-Valley Conference Red title with a 66-55 win over second-place Freeland – Bay City Times
5. GIRLS BASKETBALL Clare Conzelmann scored her 1,000th career point in Frankenmuth’s 45-39 win over Goodrich – Saginaw News
6. BOYS BASKETBALL Trey McKenney paced Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in a 72-41 win over Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice in a Catholic High School League Bishop semifinal – Oakland Press
7. GIRLS BASKETBALL White Lake Lakeland moved into a tie in the Lakes Valley Conference with a 35-32 win over co-leader South Lyon – Oakland Press
8. BOYS BASKETBALL Hudsonville defeated O-K Red leader Rockford 75-69 – FOX 17
9. GIRLS BASKETBALL Midland maintained its lead in the Saginaw Valley League with a 62-46 win over Flint Powers Catholic – Midland Daily News
10. HOCKEY Division 3 top-ranked Orchard Lake St. Mary’s downed Division 1 No. 2 Hartland 4-2 – Livingston Daily Press & Argus