Montrose Wins Top SBP Award Again

April 18, 2017

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director

Montrose High School maintained its spot as the “Program of the Year” in the MHSAA’s School Broadcast Program Excellence Awards in 2016-17, claiming the top honor for the fourth straight year.

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 Multicamera Production, Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Sports Graphics, Best Use of PlayOn! Sports Graphics and swept the top three spots in the Best Produced Commercial/Feature category.

Montrose became the first SBP school to produce live coverage of its entire regular-season football schedule during the 2016 season, continued to demonstrate good blend of productions in a variety of sports covered 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 Negaunee High School for Best Highlight and Lake Orion High School for Best Play-by-Play.

Other criteria used in selecting the top program awards were sporting events produced, where East Lansing High School headed the list followed by Comstock Park High School and Montrose, and subscriptions sold, which was led by Calumet High School followed by Negaunee, Lake Orion and Marquette High School.

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

Best Highlight

First Place – Negaunee – Evan Hassell, Keegan McGonigle, Hannah Skewis – Football game vs. Charlevoix.

Best Multicamera Production

First Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, David Sackrider, Elyssa Climie, Ben Dennings, Sam Wade, Jared Adams, Noah Rowe – Football game vs. Birch Run.

Second Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, David Sackrider, Peyton Hobson, Noah Rowe, Cameron Tupper, Sam Wade, Randal Smith, Amanda Conrad – Football game vs. Corunna.

Third Place – Lake Orion – Micah Williams, Ben Wellman, Brad Daenzer, Brandon Morrow, Gracen Zotter, Jack LaBounty, Rachele Pozzo – Boys Basketball game vs. Birmingham Seaholm.

Best Play-By-Play

First Place – Lake Orion – Brad Daenzer and Ben Wellman – Boys Basketball game vs. Oxford.

Second Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer and David Sackrider – Football game vs. Birch Run.

Third Place – Lake Orion – Brad Daenzer and Ben Wellman – Boys Basketball game vs. Birmingham Seaholm.

Best Produced Commercial/Feature

First Place – Montrose – Jared Adams, Elyssa Climie, Eric Vandefifer – Mike Young Buick/GMC Commercial.

Second Place – Montrose – Elyssa Climie, Jared Adams, Camryn Blair, Molly Dunton, Sarah Jones –  Ford Field Trip Feature.

Third Place – Montrose - Eric Vandefifer, David Sackrider, Jared Adams – Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association MSU-U of M Tailgate Luncheon Feature.

Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Graphics

First Place Montrose – David Sackrider, Elyssa Climie, Sarah Jones – Boys Basketball game vs. Flint Kearsley.

Second Place – Cedar Springs – Noah VanKampen – Boys Soccer game vs. Greenville.

Third Place – Negaunee - Evan Hassell, Hannah Skewis – Football game vs. Calumet.

Best Use of PlayOn! Graphics/Software

First Place – Montrose – David Sackrider, Elyssa Climie, Sarah Jones – Boys Basketball game vs. Flint Kearsley.

Second Place – Negaunee – Robby Williams, Travis Nelson – Girls Basketball game vs. Iron Mountain.

Third Place – Montrose - Carter Inman, Reco Delacruz, Camryn Blair, Jared Adams, John Blackford – Boys Basketball game vs. Burton Bendle.

Spring sporting events are beginning to populate the MHSAA.tv website, with this week’s schedule featuring action on the track and the baseball, lacrosse and soccer fields.

In its eighth 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 delayed – 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 this week’s MHSAA.tv schedule of live video streams being produced by SBP members (All times Eastern):

Tuesday, April 18

Wednesday, April 19

Thursday, April 20

Saturday, April 22

Tuesday, April 25

Be sure to check the Upcoming Events page at MHSAA.tv for schedule additions every day.

The NFHS Network has announced new pricing for 2016-17, eliminating the Day Pass and lowering the cost of a Month Pass to $9.95. Subscribers will have access to all live video and streaming statistics across the country. All content becomes available for free, on-demand viewing 72 hours after being shown live. A portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program.

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

Pixellot Games Dominate MHSAA TV

September 12, 2017

By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties 

The beauty of MHSAA member schools utilizing Pixellot to live stream video of home athletic events really shows this week, as two-thirds of the events scheduled for the MHSAA.tv website will be automatically produced.

Pixellot was introduced to schools by the NFHS Network earlier this year to provide those schools which wished to live stream video of their events, but lacked the equipment or personnel to do so.

To date, a half-dozen schools are streaming events using Pixellot, and this week those schools will put 30 events online, primarily Volleyball and Soccer doubleheaders and tripleheaders. Additional schools will be coming online with their Pixellot units as the school year progresses.

Pixellot is part of the School Broadcast Program, which also will feature this week the battle for the Rocket-Rebel Trophy in Football on Friday (Sept. 15) when Wyoming Lee hosts Wyoming Kelloggsville at 7 p.m. The rivalry has been ongoing since the 1950s, with the trophy becoming the prize in 2010, and Kelloggsville has won all six games since then.

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

All sporting events – live or delayed - 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 this week’s MHSAA.tv schedule of video streams being produced by SBP members:

Tuesday, Sept. 12

Wednesday, Sept. 13

Thursday, Sept. 14

Friday, Sept. 15

Monday, Sept. 18

Tuesday, Sept. 19

Wednesday, Sept. 20

NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $9.95 per month. Subscribers will have access to all live video and streaming statistics across the country. All content becomes available for free, on- demand viewing 72 hours after being shown live. School Broadcast Program participants will also be selling Season and Annual Passes at a discounted rate. A portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program.

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

are in their third week.  Featured games are in football with Shepherd at Freeland and West Bloomfield at Lake Orion, and a volleyball match Fennville at Wyoming Lee.

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

More than 15 football games are featured each week on the State Champs! Sports Network Extra Point – powered by the Michigan High School Athletic Association – Saturday at 10 a.m. on FOX Sports Detroit.

The half-hour program features highlights from more than a dozen games each week, including clips from games produced by MHSAA School Broadcast Program members. The program airs multiple times each weekend on FOX Sports Detroit and on Comcast Channel 900, and will be archived on the State Champs YouTube Channel. Consult your local listings for additional playback times.

Here is the projected list of games to be featured on this week’s edition of MHSAA Extra Point:

  • Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood at Dearborn Divine Child
  • Detroit Henry Ford at Detroit Mumford
  • Wyoming Kelloggsville at Wyoming Lee
  • Linden at Fenton
  • Oak Park at Birmingham Groves
  • Marysville at Marine City
    Plus additional games from the Grand Rapids, Lansing, Northern Lower Peninsula and Upper Peninsula.

The MHSAA also has a presence on other State Champs! Network programs throughout each weekend. The MHSAA Minute is a weekly part of the State Champs! High School Sports Show on FOX Sports Detroit at 9 a.m. every Sunday – with multiple replays on FOX Sports Detroit and Comcast Channel 900 throughout the week. That program also is archived on the State Champs YouTube Channel. Consult your local listings for additional playback times.

This week’s MHSAA Minute is the third of a three-part series on football rules changes for 2017, with this edition talking primarily about face guarding and defensive pass interference.

The MHSAA also has content on the State Champs Scoreboard! High School Football Radio Show on Friday nights during the football and basketball seasons, originating on WXYT-FM (97.1) in Detroit and carried on more than 10 radio stations across the state. This Week In High School Sports and Be the Referee are weekly features on the program.