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.
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.)