Network Loaded with Playoff Action
November 3, 2020
By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
To say there’s a lot of great high school action in the coming week on the MHSAA.tv, MHSAANetwork.com and FOXSportsDetroit.com websites is an understatement.
More Girls Volleyball Tournament action than ever before runs throughout a week culminating with more than 50 Football Playoff games, the Boys Soccer Finals and two days of Cross Country Finals.
The Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals will take place Friday and Saturday (Nov. 6-7) at Michigan International Speedway, with a modified format. There will be two heats in each division for each gender. The first race will include third-place Regional team finishers and individual qualifiers, with the second race made up of teams that finished first or second at Regionals.
The Cross Country coverage is enhanced this year with an additional camera on the back of the course to better capture the first 800 meters, and the 1.5-mile and 2.25-mile marks of the race. The traditional Finish Line camera also will cover the action, with commentary from a crew of announcers.
Here’s the schedule:
Friday – Nov. 6
Division 1 Finals - Boys at 9:30 and 10 a.m. - Girls at 11 and 11:30 a.m.
Division 2 Finals - Boys at 1:30 and 2 p.m. - Girls at 3 and 3:30 p.m.
Saturday – Nov. 7
Division 3 Finals - Boys at 9:30 and 10 a.m. - Girls at 11 and 11:30 a.m.
Division 4 Finals - Boys at 1:30 and 2 p.m. - Girls at 3 and 3:30 p.m.
On Saturday the Boys Soccer Finals will have live audio and video streaming of its championship games from Novi and Comstock Park High Schools. Two games will be played at each site with the game times set for Noon and 3 p.m. The finalists will be determined following Semifinal play on Wednesday (Nov. 4), with all four of those games being streaming live video on MHSAA.tv and live audio on MHSAANetwork.com.
Lots of Football Playoff games will take place beginning Friday evening with three featured games as part of the FOX Sports Detroit “Game of the Week” and the FOX Sports Prep Zone. All of these games can be seen on FoxSportsDetroit.com and on FOX Sports Go! for handheld and streaming devices like Roku. Here are this weekend games:
- Hudsonville at Rockford – Prep Zone – Friday, 7 p.m.
- Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central at Muskegon Mona Shores – Prep Zone – Friday, 7 p.m.
- Clinton Twp. Chippewa Valley at Rochester Hills Stoney Creek – FOX Sports Detroit “Game of the Week” – Friday, 7:30 p.m.
MHSAA.tv will play host to more than 50 District Semifinal Football Playoff games over the weekend, most produced by participants in the School Broadcast Program with traditional student crews or Pixellot units. The NFHS Network is providing bonus coverage of one additional game on Friday – Bath at Laingsburg. Here’s the complete schedule:
Friday - Nov. 6
Suttons Bay vs. Whittemore-Prescott - 6 PM
Whitehall vs. Coopersville - 6 PM
Montrose vs. Chesaning - 6:40 PM
Adrian Lenawee Christian vs. Mayville - 6:50 PM
DeWitt vs. Lansing Waverly - 6:50 PM
Lowell vs. Caledonia - 6:55 PM
Belleville vs. Northville - 7 PM
Birmingham Seaholm vs. Birmingham Groves - 7 PM
Brownstown Woodhaven vs. Dearborn - 7 PM
Cadillac vs. Alma - 7 PM
Cass City vs. Sandusky - 7 PM
Charlevoix vs. Mancelona - 7 PM
Corunna vs. Richmond - 7 PM
Detroit Catholic Central vs. Novi - 7 PM
East Grand Rapids vs. Holland - 7 PM
East Lansing vs. Portage Central - 7 PM
Fenton vs. North Farmington - 7 PM
Frankenmuth vs. Almont - 7 PM
Freeland vs. Midland Bullock Creek - 7 PM
Grand Rapids Catholic Central vs. Belding - 7 PM
Ithaca vs. Ravenna - 7 PM
Laingsburg vs. Bath - 7 PM
Madison Heights Lamphere vs. Sterling Heights Chandler Park - 7 PM
Manistee vs. Grayling - 7 PM
Maple City Glen Lake vs. Boyne City - 7 PM
Mason vs. Fowlerville - 7 PM
Millington vs. Mt Morris - 7 PM
Muskegon Mona Shores vs. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central - 7 PM – FOX Sports Prep Zone
New Lothrop vs. Burton Bendle - 7 PM
Ortonville Brandon vs. Goodrich - 7 PM
Pontiac Notre Dame Prep vs. Detroit Country Day - 7 PM
Portage Northern vs. Battle Creek Lakeview - 7 PM
Redford Union vs. Livonia Clarenceville - 7 PM
Riverview Gabriel Richard vs. Jackson Lumen Christi - 7 PM
Rockford vs. Hudsonville - 7 PM – FOX Sports Prep Zone
Romulus Summit Academy North vs. Dearborn Heights Robichaud - 7 PM
Saline vs. Ann Arbor Huron - 7 PM
South Lyon vs. Walled Lake Western - 7 PM
St. Joseph vs. Battle Creek Harper Creek - 7 PM
Traverse City Central vs. Swartz Creek - 7 PM
West Bloomfield vs. Troy - 7 PM
White Lake Lakeland vs. Howell - 7 PM
Zeeland West vs. Middleville Thornapple Kellogg - 7 PM
Rochester Hills Stoney Creek vs. Clinton Twp. Chippewa Valley - 7:30 PM – FOX Sports Detroit Game of Week
Saturday - Nov. 7
Traverse City St. Francis vs. Harbor Springs - 12 PM
Hemlock vs. Bad Axe - 1 PM
Kinde North Huron vs. Peck - 1 PM
Kingsley vs. Gladwin - 1 PM
Midland vs. Midland Dow - 1 PM
Pewamo-Westphalia vs. North Muskegon - 1 PM
Reed City vs. Kingsford - 1 PM
Stevensville Lakeshore vs. Coldwater - 1 PM
Mount Pleasant vs. Marquette - 2 PM
Girls Volleyball District Semifinals and Finals take place Wednesday through Saturday (Nov. 3-7). Separate releases will be issued with detailed Semifinal and Final coverage.
This week, more 250 events at all levels in a variety of sports will be available on the NFHS Network/MHSAA.TV. Monthly subscriptions are $10.99. Click for a complete list of upcoming games, and for a complete list of on-demand games.
Fans also can type their school name into the search field on the MHSAA.tv page to search for events. Varsity games being streamed also have links from the MHSAA Website’s Score Center, and from the schedules on individual school pages. Clicking on the green TV set icon listed next to an event will take you directly to a game. You can also watch on Roku enabled devices.
Now in its 12th 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.
NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $10.99 a 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. A portion of every subscription sold by an SBP 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.
Montrose Earns SBP Awards 5-Peat
By
John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director emeritus
May 11, 2018
Make it five in row for Montrose High School, which again claimed the top spot as the “Program of the Year” in the MHSAA’s School Broadcast Program Excellence Awards for 2017-18.
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 every category: Best Highlight, Best Multicamera Production, Best Student Play-by-Play, Best Produced Commercial/Feature, Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Sports Graphics and Best Use of PlayOn! Sports Graphics. It also placed a second entry in five of the six categories.
Montrose 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 criteria used in selecting the top program awards were sporting events produced and live page views for those events. The events category was dominated by schools using Pixellot, the NFHS Network’s automated coverage solution, but still topped by a traditional SBP member. Comstock Park has produced 89 events to date this year, followed by three Pixellot schools – Freeland (76), Plainwell (76) and Macomb Lutheran North (71).
For live page views, the top four schools were Dollar Bay, Lake Orion, Norway and Calumet. Dollar Bay and Norway are dedicated Pixellot schools, while Calumet produces games with traditional crews and Pixellot.
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 – Montrose - Eric Vandefifer, David Sackrider, Peyton Hobson, Tanner Sims – Football game v. Birch Run.
Second Place – Negaunee - Thomas Bagley, Chaz Bluse, Alec Johnson – Gymnastics meet v. Super Seven co-op.
Third Place – Montrose - Danny Sackrider, Steven Folsom, Taylor Burke Pennington, Randall Smith – Boys Basketball game v. Genesee Christian.
Best Multicamera Production
First Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, John Blackford, Kenzie Bishop – MHSAA District Wrestling Finals.
Second Place – Lake Orion – WDBC Staff – Boys Basketball game v. Oxford.
Third Place – Lake Orion – WDBC Staff – Boys Basketball game v. Rochester.
Best Student Play-By-Play
First Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer and David Sackrider – Football game v. Birch Run.
Second Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer and David Sackrider – JV Boys Basketball game v. Genesee Christian.
Third Place – Lake Orion – Ben Wellman and Ted Hirschfield – Boys Basketball game v. Rochester.
Best Produced Commercial/Feature
First Place – Montrose – Jared Adams, Maddie Pyrc, John Blackford – Conlee Oil Company Commercial.
Second Place – Montrose – Jared Adams, Molly Dunton, David Sackrider – Hamilton’s RV Commercial.
Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Graphics
First Place - Montrose – David Sackrider, Eric Vandefifer, Tanner Sims, Peyton Hobson, Taylor Burke-Pennington – Football game v. Birch Run.
Second Place – Negaunee – Colton Yesney, Carter Richardson, Robby Williams, Peyton Anderson – Girls Volleyball match v. Gwinn.
Third Place – Montrose - David Sackrider, Eric Vandefifer, Tanner Sims, Peyton Hobson, Taylor Burke-Pennington - JV Boys Basketball game v. Genesee Christian.
Best Use of PlayOn! Graphics/Software
First Place - Montrose – David Sackrider, Eric Vandefifer, Tanner Sims, Peyton Hobson, Taylor Burke-Pennington – Football Game v. Birch Run.
Second Place – Lake Orion - Ben Wellman, Isabella Larsen, Micah Williams, Samuel Jenkins – Boys Basketball game v. Clarkston.
Third Place – Montrose - David Sackrider, Eric Vandefifer, Tanner Sims, Peyton Hobson,Taylor Burke-Pennington - JV Boys Basketball game v. Genesee Christian.
Montrose also was honored this spring by the NFHS Network with the Best Live Sports Broadcast of the 2017-18 school year. Its production of a regular-season football game with Birch Run, won by Montrose in overtime, took top honors.
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.
A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA website.
PHOTOS: (Top) Montrose’s Eric Vandefifer interviews three of his school’s wrestlers who qualified for the MHSAA Individual Finals, during a basketball telecast in March. (Middle) Montrose SBP students take in Tigers Student Media Day this spring.