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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.

Football Finals Re-Air Christmas Eve, Day

December 16, 2015

By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director

Eight presents await high school football fans on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, as FOX Sports Detroit will re-air the championship games from the 2015 MHSAA 11-Player Football Playoffs – presented by the Michigan Army National Guard.

The action begins at 4 p.m. each day, with the odd-numbered divisions being shown on Christmas Eve and the even-numbered title games on Christmas Day in the order they were played at Ford Field in Detroit.

Here’s the complete schedule:

Dec. 24

4 p.m. – Division 8 – Muskegon Catholic Central 7, Waterford Our Lady 0 – In a matchup dominated by defense, Muskegon Catholic’s Christian Martinez scored on a 45-yard run early in the fourth quarter for the game’s only points.

Watch on MHSAA.TV – Buy Video DVD – Listen on MHSAANetwork.com – Buy Audio CD

6 p.m. – Division 2 – Detroit Martin Luther King 40, Lowell 38 – No one will ever forget King’s 95-yard drive in the last 37 seconds, and Armani Posey’s 40-yard TD pass to Donnie Corley on the game’s final play.

Watch on MHSAA.TV – Buy Video DVD – Listen on MHSAANetwork.com – Buy Audio CD

8 p.m. – Division 6 – Ithaca 27, Clinton 20 – Yellowjackets quarterback Jake Smith ran for 126 yards and three touchdowns, and passed for another 180 yards and a fourth score to lead his team to the win.

Watch on MHSAA.TV – Buy Video DVD – Listen on MHSAANetwork.com – Buy Audio CD

10 p.m. – Division 4 - Zeeland West 40, Flint Powers Catholic 14 – These Dux were indeed mighty on this day, as quarterback Casey Brinks directed West for the second time in three seasons to a title.

Watch on MHSAA.TV – Buy Video DVD – Listen on MHSAANetwork.com – Buy Audio CD

Dec. 25

4 p.m. – Division 7 – Ishpeming 22, Pewamo-Westphalia 16 – Ozzy Corp does it all in this one, scoring all three of his team’s touchdowns and batting away a last-minute pass into the end zone to give the Hematites their third crown in four years.

Watch on MHSAA.TV – Buy Video DVD – Listen on MHSAANetwork.com – Buy Audio CD

6 p.m. – Division 1 – Romeo 41, Detroit Cass Tech 27 – Bradley Tanner rushed for 103 yards and three touchdowns, and Paul Hurley threw for 203 yards and one score to lead the Bulldogs.

Watch on MHSAA.TV – Buy Video DVD – Listen on MHSAANetwork.com – Buy Audio CD

8 p.m. – Division 5 – Grand Rapids West Catholic 40, River Rouge 34 – Gaetano Vallone and David Fox shared the quarterback duties and combined for 288 yards rushing and 106 passing to lead the Falcons to a third straight championship.

Watch on MHSAA.TV – Buy Video DVD – Listen on MHSAANetwork.com – Buy Audio CD

10 p.m. – Division 3 – Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 40, Chelsea 12 – The Eaglets got two scoring passes from the combination of Brendan Tabone to K.J. Hamler, and pounded the rock for 293 yards rushing to win their second straight championship.

Watch on MHSAA.TV – Buy Video DVD – Listen on MHSAANetwork.com – Buy Audio CD

Things are winding down for the holidays on MHSAA.tv with School Broadcast Program members heading into a break.

In its seventh 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. 

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

All sporting events – Live or On-Demand – are available on a subscription basis only for their first 72 hours online.  They become available for free, on-demand viewing approximately 72 hours following their completion.

Here’s the schedule of events that School Broadcast Program members plan to stream the rest of the month for broadcast at MHSAA.tv. On-Demand listings may be available as soon as one hour following an event’s completion.  (List as of Dec. 15):

Wednesday – Dec. 16

Thursday – Dec. 17

Friday – Dec. 18

Saturday – Dec. 19

Monday – Dec. 21

Tuesday – Dec. 22

Monday – Jan. 4, 2016

Tuesday – Jan. 5

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

This week's SBP highlights package includes clips from the Portage Northern/Plainwell girls basketball and Cheboygan/Alpena ice hockey games, plus buzzer-beating shots from around the state.