Lower Peninsula Cross Country, Boys Soccer Finals Make for Big Broadcast Saturday

By Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

November 3, 2021

All eight Lower Peninsula Girls & Boys Cross Country Finals and all four Boys Soccer Finals will be broadcast Saturday on MHSAA.tv and the NFHS Network, capping a viewing schedule that also will include Soccer Semifinals, Volleyball District Semifinals and Finals and Football District and Regional Finals.

Nearly 2,000 Lower Peninsula runners will take to the course at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday (Nov. 6), with races beginning at 9:30 a.m. Coverage will include views from cameras at starting line, the 1- and 2-mile marks, the finish line and throughout the race from the lead cart.

The Division 4 and 3 races begin at 9:30 a.m. and can viewed at this link: https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/mhsaa-mi/gam0fa8764d8b

Division 2 and 1 races begin at 1:30 p.m. and can viewed here:
https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/mhsaa-mi/gam81321985cc

Saturday’s Division 1 and 4 Boys Soccer Finals will be played at Novi High School, with Divisions 2 and 3 at Comstock Park High School. The larger schools at each site will play at noon, followed by the smaller-school divisions at 3 p.m.

Division 1 – https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/mhsaa-mi/gam2b096b5062
Division 2 – https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/mhsaa-mi/gam8aea573f91
Division 3 – https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/mhsaa-mi/gam8b0ab1143e
Division 4 – https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/mhsaa-mi/gam5ad1cdfa45
Audio of all four Boys Soccer Finals will be available at http://mhsaanetwork.com/.

Five of eight Wednesday (Nov. 3) Semifinals also will be broadcast. See schedule with links below:

Division 1 – 6 p.m. – Grosse Pointe South vs. New Baltimore Anchor Bay
Division 1 – 7 p.m. – Northville vs. Okemos
Division 2 – 6 p.m. – DeWitt vs. Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice
Division 3 – 7 p.m. – Allen Park Inter-City Baptist vs. Clarkston Everest Collegiate
Division 3 – 7 p.m. – Grand Rapids South Christian vs. Elk Rapids

The MHSAA Volleyball Tournament continues Wednesday (Nov. 3) and Thursday with District Semifinals, with District Finals also to be played at some sites Thursday and most Friday and Saturday – more than 30 District Finals are on the broadcast schedule.

More than 50 of this weekend’s 11-Player Football District Finals and 8-Player Regional Finals will be broadcast this weekend as well on MHSAA.tv. Links to coverage of both are below:  

Volleyball | Football

MHSAA media partner Bally Sports Detroit will continue its weekly live cable TV broadcasts with Friday’s Division 3 District Final of River Rouge (7-2) at Detroit Martin Luther King (9-1). Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on BSD’s PLUS channel, and the game also may be watched on the BSD website and app.

NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $10.99 per month. Subscribers have access to all live video and streaming statistics across the country. School Broadcast Program participants benefit as a portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program.

More than 400 MHSAA member schools are participants in the School Broadcast Program, now in its 13th year, producing games using traditional hands-on student crews or via Pixellot cameras installed at stadiums and gymnasiums across the state. A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA Website. 

Montrose Wins Top MHSAA/SBP Award

May 11, 2016

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director

Make it three in row for Montrose High School, which was selected as the “Program of the Year” in the third annual MHSAA School Broadcast Program Excellence Awards for 2015-16.

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.

Montrose took first place in Best Student Play-By-Play and the top two spots for Best Produced Commercial/Feature. The program also took a second place for Best Use of PlayOn! Sports Graphics.

Montrose also demonstrated during the year a good blend of productions in a variety of sports covered, the ability to cover home and away events and an overall command of the PlayOn! Sports software used for graphics and inserting commercials/features during the course of productions.

Other category winners were:  Cedar Springs High School for Best Multicamera Production and Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Graphics and Haslett High School for Best Use of PlayOn! Graphics. 

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

Best Multicamera Production

First Place – Cedar Springs – Ethan Lewis, John Grigsby, Leah Carter, Kelly Salmon – Football game v. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern.

Second Place – Haslett – Conor Clifford, Torsten Holland, Alex Riley, Dylan Wolschleger, Brennan Simzak, Altair Boonraksa, Jacob Johnston, Nathan Glaza, Thomas Ashley – Girls Basketball game v. Mason.

Third Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, Conner Pyrc, Jared Adams, Mandy Ramsey, John Blackford – Boys Basketball game v. Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy.

Best Play-By-Play

First Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer and Conner Pyrc – Boys Basketball game v. Goodrich.

Second Place – Haslett – Conor Clifford and Torsten Holland – Girls Basketball game v. Mason.

Third Place – Cedar Springs - Jonathan Wolfarth and Jalen Jackson – Football game v. Wyoming.

Best Produced Commercial/Feature

First Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, Conner Pyrc, Jared Adams, Mandy Rasmey, John Blackford – Ford Field Trip Feature.

Second Place – Montrose – Amanda Ramsey, Jared Adams, Alyssa Bernard, –  RAINN Sexual Assault PSA.

Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Graphics

First Place – Cedar Springs - Alex Tanis, Alex Robinson, Jonathan Wolfarth, Ethan Lewis – MHSAA Football Playoff – Muskegon at Muskegon Mona Shores.

Second Place – Haslett – Tyler Goldberg and Jonah Brown – MHSAA Football Playoff – Romeo v. Grand Ledge.

Third Place – Cedar Springs – Alex Tanis, Alex Robinson, Jonathan Wolfarth, Ethan Lewis – MHSAA Football Playoff – Lansing Catholic v. Grand Rapids West Catholic.

Best Use of PlayOn! Graphics/Software

First Place – Haslett – Dylan Wolschleger, Brennan Simzak, Jacob Johnston, Conor Clifford, Reece Huberts, Henrik Holland, David Weston – Girls Basketball game v. St. Johns.

Second Place – Montrose – Eric Vadnefifer, Conner Pyrc, Jared Adams, Mandy Ramsey, John Blackford – Boys Basketball game v. Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy.

Third Place – Montrose - Peyton Hobson, John Blackford, Conner Pyrc – Boys Basketball game v. Corunna.

Michigan schools were represented recently when the NFHS Network announced its SBP awards for the 2015-16 school year on April 28. Jamie Kitts of Montrose High School was one of three finalists for the Best Teacher honor, and Rockford High School had a finalist for Highlight of the Year, a 65-yard touchdown run by quarterback Tyler Bradfield against Grandville.

The School Broadcast Program, powered by PlayOn! Sports, is a platform which schools can utilize to reach members of their communities about activities taking place in their buildings, providing recognition for students while at the same time giving them hands-on opportunities to gain broadcasting experience and providing schools an opportunity to realize additional revenues for their programs. Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.