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.

MHSAA TV Marches On The Mats

February 27, 2018

By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties   

Another big weekend of MHSAA Championships take place on Friday and Saturday (March 2-3) on MHSAA.tv, as March Magic marches onto the Individual Wrestling and Girls Competitive Cheer mats.

Live Finals streaming this week begins at noon Friday from Ford Field in Detroit at the Individual Wrestling Finals. Manned cameras will be on each of 20 mats on the floor, and broadcasts will include full graphics to indicate the participants in each match, plus full in-progress scoring information via Trackwrestling.

The Girls Competitive Cheer Finals at the DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids begin Friday evening with Division 1, followed by the other three divisions Saturday.

Here’s the complete wrestling coverage schedule:

  • Friday – Rounds 1-2-3-4 – Noon
  • Friday – Semifinal Round – 7:30 p.m.
  • Saturday – Rounds 6-7-8 – 8:30 a.m. - Round 6 at 8:30 a.m. is the third Consolation round. Round 7 at about 9:45 a.m. is the fourth Consolation Round. Round 8 at about 11 a.m. is the final round in the Consolation bracket.
  • Saturday Finals – 3 p.m.
  • Saturday – Awards – 6 p.m. (TENTATIVE - Time approximate following conclusion of wrestling)

You can get to all of the wrestling action on a single landing page on the NFHS Network – Click Here.

Here’s the complete cheer coverage schedule:

  • Friday – Division 1 – 6 p.m. (East Kentwood, Grand Blanc, Grandville, Lake Orion, Rochester, Rochester Adams, Rochester Hills Stoney Creek, Sterling Heights Stevenson)
  • Saturday – Division 2 – 10 a.m. (Allen Park, Dearborn Divine Child, DeWitt, Gibraltar Carlson, Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills, Muskegon Mona Shores, Muskegon Reeths-Puffer,
    Southgate Anderson)
  • Saturday - Division 4 – 2 p.m.  (Addison, Adrian Madison, Farwell, Houghton Lake, Hudson, Merrill, Pewamo-Westphalia, Sanford Meridian)
  • Saturday - Division 3 – 6 p.m. (Charlotte, Comstock Park, Escanaba, Flat Rock, Lake Odessa Lakewood, Monroe Jefferson, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Richmond)

The continued Wrestling and full Cheer coverage is part of six straight weekends of live MHSAA Championship coverage on MHSAA.tv, and online viewers can catch every weekend of action for one low cost of $9.95. Over the next three weeks of live Winter championship coverage, the following events will be featured: 

  • March 8-10 – Ice Hockey Semifinals & Finals
  • March 13 – Girls Basketball Quarterfinals
  • March 15-16 – Girls Basketball Semifinals
  • March 20 – Boys Basketball Quarterfinals
  • March 22-23 – Boys Basketball Semifinals

In addition to all of the tournament action, regular-season coverage of contests by participants in the MHSAA’s School Broadcast Program will bring more than 45 contests into homes over the coming week – including a number of District contests in Girls Basketball.

Here’s this week’s MHSAA.tv schedule of video streams being produced by SBP members:

Tuesday, Feb. 27

Wednesday, Feb. 28

Thursday, March 1

Friday, March 2

Monday, March 5

Be sure to check “Upcoming Events” on the MHSAA.tv home page daily for last-minute additions.

In its ninth 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. 

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

Highlights of games produced in the past week by MHSAA School Broadcast Program members

feature a girls basketball game, Powers North Central at Norway, and a boys basketball game, Fowlerville at Lansing Catholic.

Highlights can be found each week on the MHSAA.tv website, the home page of the MHSAA Website, and the MHSAASports Channel on YouTube.