Lake Orion Named SBP Best for 2018-19

Highlights

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director emeritus

May 7, 2019

Lake Orion High School has been named the “Program of the Year” to headline the MHSAA’s School Broadcast Program Excellence Awards for 2018-19.

The SBP Excellence Awards will award certificates and plaques to the schools which took individual honors, with the presentation dates and times to be announced.

Lake Orion claimed the top spot in three of the five award categories and placed in all five categories, capturing seven individual awards. The program demonstrated a good blend in a variety of sports covered – at home and on the road – and an overall command of the PlayOn! Sports software used for graphics and inserting commercials/features during the course of productions.

Here is the complete list by category of the schools and students being honored with this year’s SBP Excellence Awards:

Best Multicamera Production

First Place – Cedar Springs – Nathan Draper, Max VanderMeulen, Macie Huntoon, Katia Corwin, Mason Francis, Josh Allen, Jacob Meredith, Jacob Swinehart, Dylan Patterson, Austin Kibby, Tayvon Gardner, Rylee Kinzinger, Riley Smith – Football game v. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern.

Second Place – Lake Orion – Sienna Gibson, Kevin McCormick Jr., Teddy Hirschfield, Jacob Johr, Becca Hamilton, Derek Dungan, Amanda Pordon, Eric Maxwell, Hunter Chambers – Boys Basketball game v. Rochester Adams.

TIE - Third Place – Cedar Springs – Nathan Draper, Max VanderMeulen, Macie Huntoon, Katia Corwin, Mason Francis, Josh Allen, Jacob Meredith, Jacob Swinehart, Dylan Patterson, Austin Kibby, Tayvon Gardner, Rylee Kinzinger, Riley Smith – Football game v. Gaylord.

TIE – Third Place – Lake Orion – Sienna Gibson, Teddy Hirschfield, Kevin McCormick Jr., Isabella Larsen, Derek Dungan, Alexandra Hill, Jenna Gaylord, Becca Hamilton, Eric Maxwell, Amanda Pordon, Alex Gustanski – Boys Basketball game v. Clarkston.

Best Student Play-By-Play

First Place – Lake Orion – Kevin McCormick Jr. & Teddy Hirschfield – Boys Basketball game v. Rochester Adams.

Second Place – Lake Orion – Kevin McCormick Jr. & Teddy Hirschfield – Boys Basketball game v. Oxford.

Third Place – Montrose – Daniel Sackrider & Chase Hobson – Boys Basketball game v. Mt. Morris.

Best Produced Commercial/Feature

First Place – Lake Orion – Kalee Kniess & Ryan Hammond – Feature: Beyond The Lights-Kyle Loken

Second Place – Montrose - Molly Dunton, Chase Hobson, Gabe Patterson, Joe Wade, Tansy Cook – Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth Commercial.

Third Place – Montrose – David Sackrider – Unsportsmanlike Conduct Podcast Promo.

Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Graphics

First Place – Lake Orion – Hunter Chambers, Kevin McCormick Jr., Emily Penrose, Holden Dholakia, Josh McCaffrey – MHSAA Boys Basketball Quarterfinal game – Detroit U-D Jesuit v. Roseville.

Second Place – Cedar Springs – Clyde Dykhouse, Nathan Draper, Graham Bayink – Football game - Zeeland East v. East Grand Rapids.

Third Place – Montrose - David Sackrider, Daniel Sackrider, Alex Morrow, Libby Scott - Girls Basketball game v. Mt. Morris.

Best Use of PlayOn! Graphics/Software

First Place - Montrose - David Sackrider, Daniel Sackrider, Alex Morrow, Libby Scott - Girls Basketball game v. Mt. Morris.

Second Place – Lake Orion - Kevin McCormick Jr., Teddy Hirschfield, Kalee Kniess, Marc Studier – Boys Basketball game v. Clarkston.

PHOTOS: (Top) From left, Lake Orion's Kaleena Kniess, Jenna Gaylord, Becca Hamilton, Josh McCaffrey, and Derek Dungan broadcast a volleyball match this past fall. (Middle) The football crew of Delaney Rogers, Ryan Hammond and Kniess hit the road for a game. (Photos courtesy of the Lake Orion School Broadcast Program.)

Highlights

Network Loaded with Playoff Action

November 3, 2020

By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

To say there’s a lot of great high school action in the coming week on the MHSAA.tv, MHSAANetwork.com and FOXSportsDetroit.com websites is an understatement.

More Girls Volleyball Tournament action than ever before runs throughout a week culminating with more than 50 Football Playoff games, the Boys Soccer Finals and two days of Cross Country Finals.

The Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals will take place Friday and Saturday (Nov. 6-7) at Michigan International Speedway, with a modified format. There will be two heats in each division for each gender. The first race will include third-place Regional team finishers and individual qualifiers, with the second race made up of teams that finished first or second at Regionals.

The Cross Country coverage is enhanced this year with an additional camera on the back of the course to better capture the first 800 meters, and the 1.5-mile and 2.25-mile marks of the race. The traditional Finish Line camera also will cover the action, with commentary from a crew of announcers.

Here’s the schedule:

Friday – Nov. 6
Division 1 Finals - Boys at 9:30 and 10 a.m. - Girls at 11 and 11:30 a.m.
Division 2 Finals - Boys at 1:30 and 2 p.m. - Girls at 3 and 3:30 p.m.

Saturday – Nov. 7
Division 3 Finals - Boys at 9:30 and 10 a.m. - Girls at 11 and 11:30 a.m.
Division 4 Finals - Boys at 1:30 and 2 p.m. - Girls at 3 and 3:30 p.m.

On Saturday the Boys Soccer Finals will have live audio and video streaming of its championship games from Novi and Comstock Park High Schools. Two games will be played at each site with the game times set for Noon and 3 p.m. The finalists will be determined following Semifinal play on Wednesday (Nov. 4), with all four of those games being streaming live video on MHSAA.tv and live audio on MHSAANetwork.com.

Lots of Football Playoff games will take place beginning Friday evening with three featured games as part of the FOX Sports Detroit “Game of the Week” and the FOX Sports Prep Zone. All of these games can be seen on FoxSportsDetroit.com and on FOX Sports Go! for handheld and streaming devices like Roku. Here are this weekend games:

Hudsonville at Rockford – Prep Zone – Friday, 7 p.m.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central at Muskegon Mona Shores – Prep Zone – Friday, 7 p.m.
Clinton Twp. Chippewa Valley at Rochester Hills Stoney Creek – FOX Sports Detroit “Game of the Week” – Friday, 7:30 p.m.

MHSAA.tv will play host to more than 50 District Semifinal Football Playoff games over the weekend, most produced by participants in the School Broadcast Program with traditional student crews or Pixellot units. The NFHS Network is providing bonus coverage of one additional game on Friday – Bath at Laingsburg. Here’s the complete schedule:

Friday - Nov. 6
Suttons Bay vs. Whittemore-Prescott   - 6 PM
Whitehall vs. Coopersville   - 6 PM
Montrose vs. Chesaning   - 6:40 PM
Adrian Lenawee Christian vs. Mayville   - 6:50 PM
DeWitt vs. Lansing Waverly   - 6:50 PM
Lowell vs. Caledonia   - 6:55 PM
Belleville vs. Northville   - 7 PM
Birmingham Seaholm vs. Birmingham Groves   - 7 PM
Brownstown Woodhaven vs. Dearborn   - 7 PM
Cadillac vs. Alma   - 7 PM
Cass City vs. Sandusky   - 7 PM
Charlevoix vs. Mancelona   - 7 PM
Corunna vs. Richmond   - 7 PM
Detroit Catholic Central vs. Novi   - 7 PM
East Grand Rapids vs. Holland   - 7 PM
East Lansing vs. Portage Central   - 7 PM
Fenton vs. North Farmington   - 7 PM
Frankenmuth vs. Almont   - 7 PM
Freeland vs. Midland Bullock Creek   - 7 PM
Grand Rapids Catholic Central vs. Belding - 7 PM
Ithaca vs. Ravenna   - 7 PM
Laingsburg vs. Bath   - 7 PM
Madison Heights Lamphere vs. Sterling Heights Chandler Park - 7 PM
Manistee vs. Grayling   - 7 PM
Maple City Glen Lake vs. Boyne City   - 7 PM
Mason vs. Fowlerville   - 7 PM
Millington vs. Mt Morris   - 7 PM
Muskegon Mona Shores vs. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central   - 7 PM – FOX Sports Prep Zone
New Lothrop vs. Burton Bendle   - 7 PM
Ortonville Brandon vs. Goodrich   - 7 PM
Pontiac Notre Dame Prep vs. Detroit Country Day   - 7 PM
Portage Northern vs. Battle Creek Lakeview - 7 PM
Redford Union vs. Livonia Clarenceville   - 7 PM
Riverview Gabriel Richard vs. Jackson Lumen Christi - 7 PM
Rockford vs. Hudsonville   - 7 PM – FOX Sports Prep Zone
Romulus Summit Academy North vs. Dearborn Heights Robichaud   - 7 PM
Saline vs. Ann Arbor Huron - 7 PM
South Lyon vs. Walled Lake Western   - 7 PM
St. Joseph vs. Battle Creek Harper Creek   - 7 PM
Traverse City Central vs. Swartz Creek   - 7 PM
West Bloomfield vs. Troy   - 7 PM
White Lake Lakeland vs. Howell   - 7 PM
Zeeland West vs. Middleville Thornapple Kellogg   - 7 PM
Rochester Hills Stoney Creek vs. Clinton Twp. Chippewa Valley - 7:30 PM – FOX Sports Detroit Game of Week

Saturday - Nov. 7
Traverse City St. Francis vs. Harbor Springs   - 12 PM
Hemlock vs. Bad Axe   - 1 PM
Kinde North Huron vs. Peck - 1 PM
Kingsley vs. Gladwin   - 1 PM
Midland vs. Midland Dow   - 1 PM
Pewamo-Westphalia vs. North Muskegon   - 1 PM
Reed City vs. Kingsford   - 1 PM
Stevensville Lakeshore vs. Coldwater   - 1 PM
Mount Pleasant vs. Marquette - 2 PM

Girls Volleyball District Semifinals and Finals take place Wednesday through Saturday (Nov. 3-7). Separate releases will be issued with detailed Semifinal and Final coverage.

This week, more 250 events at all levels in a variety of sports will be available on the NFHS Network/MHSAA.TV. Monthly subscriptions are $10.99. Click for a complete list of upcoming games, and for a complete list of on-demand games.

Fans also can type their school name into the search field on the MHSAA.tv page to search for events. Varsity games being streamed also have links from the MHSAA Website’s Score Center, and from the schedules on individual school pages. Clicking on the green TV set icon listed next to an event will take you directly to a game. You can also watch on Roku enabled devices.

Now in its 12th year, the School Broadcast Program gives members an opportunity to showcase excellence in their schools by creating video programming of athletic and non-athletic events with students gaining skills in announcing, camera operation, directing/producing and graphics. Pixellot – The NFHS Network’s automated streaming solution – is used by schools wishing to live stream games, but lacking the ability to staff the events. The program also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions.

NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $10.99 a month. Subscribers will have access to all live video and streaming statistics across the country. All content becomes available for free, on-demand viewing 72 hours after being shown live. A portion of every subscription sold by an SBP school goes to benefit its program.

A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA Website.