Highlight Reel: Girls Lacrosse Semifinals
June 5, 2015
By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director
East Grand Rapids and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood earned berths in Saturday’s Division 2 Girls Lacrosse Final with Semifinal victories Wednesday.
Below are highlights from their victories taken from broadcasts on MHSAA.tv. Click the headings for each to watch.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood 24, Farmington Hills Mercy 6
Mercy Goes Top Shelf Chandler Pincheck gets Farmington Hills Mercy on the board against Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, going up high with this shot.
Barnes With Late First Half Goal Cranbrook Kingswood was cruising by halftime, a late goal coming here from Abby Barnes.
Vespa Second Half Goal Ari Vespa makes a nice run here to score Cranbrook Kingswood's first goal of the second half.
At-a-way Ottaway Here's a nice run off a restart by Farmington Hills Mercy's Brooke Ottaway for a second half goal.
Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here
East Grand Rapids 9, Okemos 5
East's Elder's Early Goal Liza Elder gets East Grand Rapids on the board right off the opening draw, driving in from the wing to score.
Vanhoven Goes Low Cydney Vanhoven picks up a first half goal for East Grand Rapids with a low shot.
Chiefs Convert Turnover Okemos tightened things up near the end of the first half, converting an East Grand Rapids turnover into a goal by Melaina Grewal.
Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
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.)