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 Returns to the Mats

March 2, 2016

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director

Most of the MHSAA Championship action on MHSAA.tv in the coming week can be found on the mat, with nearly 300 hours of live streaming video in Girls Competitive Cheer and Individual Wrestling, plus Student Broadcast Program-produced coverage of Basketball Districts.

Live streaming this week begins at 2 p.m. on Thursday (March 3) from The Palace of Auburn Hills at the Individual Wrestling Finals.  A dedicated camera will be on each of 12 mats on the floor, and include full graphics to indicate the participants on each match, plus full in-progress scoring information via Trackwrestling.

Here’s the complete wrestling coverage schedule:

·  Thursday – First Round – 2 p.m.

·  Friday – Rounds 2-3-4 – 8:30 a.m. - Round 2 at 8:30 a.m. is the first Consolation round. Round 3 at about 10:30 a.m. is the second round in the Championship bracket. Round 4 at about 1:30 p.m. is the second round in the Consolation bracket.

·  Friday – Semifinal Round – 7 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 – Final Round & Awards Presentations – 4:45 p.m.

Girls Competitive Cheer coverage begins Friday (March 4) from The DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids. Here’s the complete schedule

·  Friday – Division 1 – 6 p.m. (East Kentwood, Grandville, Hudsonville, Lake Orion, Livonia Stevenson, Rochester, Southgate Anderson, Sterling Heights Stevenson, Troy Athens)

·  Saturday – Division 2 – 10 a.m. (Allen Park, Dearborn Divine Child, DeWitt, Gibraltar Carlson, Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills, Muskegon Mona Shores, Richland Gull Lake, Trenton)

·  Saturday - Division 4 – 2 p.m.  (Breckenridge, Farwell, Houghton Lake, Hudson, Merrill, Michigan Center, Pewamo-Westphalia, Sanford Meridian)

·  Saturday - Division 3 – 6 p.m. (Comstock Park, Escanaba, Lake Odessa Lakewood, Monroe Jefferson, Paw Paw, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Ovid-Elsie, Richmond)

The continued Wrestling and full Cheer coverage is part of six straight weekends of live MHSAA Championship coverage on MHSAA.tv. Online viewers can catch every weekend of action for one low cost of $14.95. 

A Month Pass on MHSAA.tv for $14.95 will give a viewer access to events over a 30-day period from the time it is purchased.  Over the next three weekends of live Winter championship coverage, the following events will be featured: 

  • Girls Basketball Districts – March 2-4
  • Boys Basketball Districts – March 7-9-11
  • Girls Basketball Regionals – March 8-10
  • Ice Hockey Semifinals & Finals – March 10-12
  • Girls Gymnastics Finals – March 11-12
  • Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming & Diving Finals – March 12
  • Boys Basketball Regionals – March 14-16
  • Girls Basketball Quarterfinals – March 15
  • Girls Basketball Semifinals – March 17-18
  • Boys Basketball Semifinals – March 22
  • Boys Basketball Semifinals – March 24-25 

A Day Pass is available for $9.95.  All events become available for free, on-demand viewing approximately 72 hours following their completion.

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. The program also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions.

Upcoming MHSAA Tournament coverage by SBP members includes a Girls Basketball District at Mt. Pleasant which could have a rubber match in its Final on Friday between Saginaw Heritage and Midland Dow, two top five teams in Class A which split their regular-season meetings.  At Laingsburg, the three teams that tied for the regular-season title in the Central Michigan Athletic Conference are in the Semifinals, with Bath and Laingsburg squaring off, and Pewamo-Westphalia on the other side of the bracket.

Here’s the schedule of events School Broadcast Program members plan to cover this week for broadcast on MHSAA.tv  (As of March 1): 

March 2

  • Class C Girls Basketball District Semifinals at Laingsburg

·         Saranac v. Pewamo-Westphalia – 5:30 p.m. - LIVE

·         Laingsburg v. Bath – 7 p.m. - LIVE

  • Class A Girls Basketball District Semifinals at Mt. Pleasant

·         Saginaw Heritage v. Bay City Western – 5:30 p.m. - LIVE

·         Midland v. Midland Dow winner – 7:30 p.m. - LIVE

  • Class D Girls Basketball District at Rogers City

·         Onaway at Rogers City – 6 p.m. – LIVE

  • Class A Girls Basketball District Semifinals at Lake Orion

·         Waterford Mott at Lake Orion – 7 p.m. – LIVE

  • Division 3 Ice Hockey Regional at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood

·         Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood v. Madison Heights Bishop Foley – 7:45 p.m. – LIVE

March 3

  • Tawas Area at Alpena – JV Boys Basketball – 5:30 p.m. – LIVDE
  • Whittemore-Prescott at Rogers City – JV Boys Basketball – 6 p.m. - On-Demand
  • OAA Crossover at Lake Orion – Boys Basketball – 7 p.m. – LIVE
  • Lansing Waverly at East Lansing – Boys Basketball – 7 p.m. – On-Demand
  • Escanaba at Calumet – Boys Basketball – 7:20 p.m. – LIVE
  • Whittemore-Prescott at Rogers City – Boys Basketball – 7:30 p.m. - LIVE 

 

March 4

  • Class A Girls Basketball Finals at Mt. Pleasant – 6:30 p.m. - LIVE
  • Class C Girls Basketball District Finals at Laingsburg – 7 p.m. - LIVE

 

March 5 

  • Division 3 Ice Hockey Regional at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood

·         Teams TBA – 3:15 p.m. – LIVE

 

March 7

  • Class A Boys Basketball District First Round at East Lansing

·         East Lansing v. Lansing Waverly – 5 p.m. - LIVE

·         Haslett v. Grand Ledge – 7:30 p.m. – LIVE 

March 8

  • Class A Girls Basketball Regional Semifinals at Mason - 6 & 7:30 p.m. - LIVE
  • Class A Girls Basketball Regional Semifinals at Hudsonville - 6 & 8 p.m.  - LIVE

Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.