Highlight Reel: Division 1-2 Baseball Semifinals

June 12, 2015

By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director

The first sessions of MHSAA Baseball Semifinals were played Thursday at McLane Stadium at Michigan State University. Hartland and Portage Northern in Division 1 and Mount Pleasant and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in Division 2 advanced to Saturday’s championship games.

Click the headings below for highlights from all four Semifinals broadcasts on MHSAA.tv.

Division 1 

Hartland 5, Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills 0

Hartland Scores Twice In First The Eagles got two runs in the first inning against Kenowa Hills when Gary Turnbull singled to drive in Zach Behnke and Alex Vydick scored on an error.

Hendricks RBI Single Hartland added its final run in the fifth against Kenowa Hills when Max Hendricks singled down the third base line to plate John Baker.

Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.

Portage Northern 8, Grosse Pointe South 0

Hall's RBI Single Portage Northern scored six runs in the first two innings, with this RBI single by Collin Hall the lone hit.

Henry Safe At Home Tommy Henry scores for Portage Northern in the fourth inning on a close play at the plate. 

Young's Second Scoring Hit Brady Young paced Portage Northern with two hits and two RBI against Grosse Pointe South. Here's his second run-scoring hit in the sixth inning. 

Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.

Division 2

Mount Pleasant 9, Adrian 0

Keep On Trucksin' A based-loaded single through the box by Max Trucks delivers Mount Pleasant's first run against Adrian. Trucks had two hits in the game for the Oilers. 

Suicide Squeeze Is Painless With the bases loaded in the fourth inning, Mount Pleasant tries a suicide squeeze bunt. Dan Keller pushes the run home, is safe at first and a second run scores on an error. 

Sixth Inning Oiler Score Kalebb Perry drops a single into right field to score the final run of the game for Mount Pleasant against Adrian. 

Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.

Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 9, Mattawan 1

Boyd Plates Two Drew Boyd gets things started for Orchard Lake St. Mary's against Vicksburg with this two-run single in the first inning. The Eaglets scored five times in the first frame. 

Two More Eaglet Runs Orchard Lake St. Mary's got two more runs in the third inning when Drake Titus had an RBI single, and a throwing error brought home one more.

Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.

Hoops on Film: 1954 Class A Boys Final

July 2, 2015

By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director

This week's installment of MHSAA.tv's Hoops on Film series features the first championship victory for one of Michigan's most accomplished boys basketball programs. 

This is the second of 10 games being brought back to MHSAA.tv this summer. From the late 1940’s to the mid 1970’s the Michigan High School Athletic Association shot portions of the action at its basketball finals on 16mm film. The films were loaned out, primarily to the participating schools, to help them relive the moments of playing in a championship game.

While many of the old films have wandered astray over time, about 60 games still exist in the MHSAA archives. Anyone in possession of such a film is encouraged to contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office ([email protected]) to discuss having the film converted to a digital format.

Some of the films only have portions of the second half and the postgame awards; some have most of the action. None of the films have sound. They range in length from 10 minutes to about an hour. A new film will be posted online each Monday through the week of August 17.

The game recap below is courtesy of MHSAA Historian Ron Pesch of Muskegon.

Muskegon Heights 43, Flint Northern 41 (OT) – 1954 Class A Boys Final - After three visits to the MHSAA Semifinals, Muskegon Heights grabbed its first-ever title with a 43-41 overtime win over Flint Northern at Jenison Field House in East Lansing. Tied at 41-41 at the end of regulation, the Vikings opted to hold the ball for nearly three minutes of the extra period, after the Tigers missed two shots following the opening tip-off. But as Vikings guard Bob Failing drove in for the final shot, he was called for a charging foul. Under the rules of the time, Murt Johnson of the Heights stepped to the line, and calmly sank two free throws for the only points of OT. Future University of Michigan star M.C. Burton scored 22 points to pace the Heights.

Previous releases:
1973 Class C Boys Final: Detroit East Catholic 50, Saginaw St. Stephen 49 - Watch