Prep Zone Returns for Football Playoffs

October 28, 2015

By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director

For the fifth straight season, FOX Sports Detroit will provide live streaming video coverage of four games from each of the first four rounds of the MHSAA Football Playoffs – presented by the Michigan Army National Guard – on the PrepZone on FoxSportsDetroit.com.

Pre-District games on the PrepZone this Friday (Oct. 30) are:

  • Clarkston at Romeo
  • Farmington Hills Harrison at Birmingham Groves
  • Mason at St. Johns
  • Flint Powers Catholic at Goodrich

All PrepZone games will be live at 7 p.m. Fridays the first three weekends of tournament play, and the Semifinal games Nov. 21 starting at 1 p.m. will be part of a package with MHSAA.tv where all 16 games will be live on the Internet.

Fans can watch PrepZone games on their computer or handheld devices and follow these instructions:

On Your Desktop/Laptop Computer

  • Go to FOXSportsGo.com
  • Click on the “All Chs” menu at the bottom left of the page
  • Select “FOX Sports Go Extras”

On Your Handheld Device

  • Download the free FOX Sports Go app from your store
  • Click on the “All Channels” menu at the top of the app
  • Select “FOX Sports Go Extras”

All PrepZone games will be archived on MHSAA.tv.

A number of Football Playoff games will be covered by MHSAA members participating in the School Broadcast Program this week, including three Saturday (Oct. 31) games which will be available live on a subscription basis.  SBP produced games being shown live this week at 1 p.m. Saturday are:

  • Gaylord at Mt. Pleasant
  • Crystal Falls Forest Park at Lake Linden-Hubbell

A Day Pass to watch live on MHSAA.tv is $9.95.  A Month Pass is $14.95, and would also allow access to the full schedule of MHSAA Tournaments during the month of November:

  • Nov. 4 – Selected Boys Soccer Semifinals
  • Nov. 7 – Boys Soccer Finals
  • Nov. 7 – Selected Football Playoff District Finals
  • Nov. 14 – Selected Football Playoff Regional Finals
  • Nov. 19-20 – Girls Volleyball Semifinals & Finals
  • Nov. 21 – Lower Peninsula Girls Swimming & Diving Finals
  • Nov. 21 – Football Playoff Semifinals (12 games)

Other Football Playoff games available on an On Demand basis being produced by SBP schools this week are:

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.

Launching at Midnight every Friday throughout the season is MHSAA Football Friday Overtime on FOX Sports Detroit.  Mickey York and Rob Rubick host the weekly 30-minute highlights show.  The show will re-air most Saturday and Sunday mornings – and will be archived on the FOX Detroit Website.  This week, FFOT will re-air at 6 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. Sunday on FOX Sports Detroit. 

The following games are scheduled to be highlighted this week on Football Friday Overtime:

  • Detroit Denby at Detroit Collegiate Prep
  • Marysville at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep
  • Bay City John Glenn at Orchard Lake St. Mary's
  • Riverview at Allen Park
  • Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett at Riverview Gabriel Richard
  • PLUS – Highlights from this week’s PrepZone games.

This week's School Broadcast Program highlights (see below) include football games with Otsego at Plainwell and Hudsonville at Rockford and a volleyball match, Bay City John Glenn at Pinconning.     

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

Montrose To Receive Excellence Awards

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director emeritus

September 16, 2015

Montrose High School, the MHSAA School Broadcast Program of the Year for the 2014-15 school year, will be honored at halftime of the Durand at Montrose football game on Friday. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Montrose has won the Program of the Year honor in each of the first two years the MHSAA, in partnership with Herff Jones, has sponsored the School Broadcast Program Excellence Awards. In addition to repeating as the top school in the program, Montrose captured first place honors in three of the five individual categories.

Montrose took first place in Best Play-By-Play (Eric Vandefifer, Trey Schmitz  – Boys Basketball game vs. Lake Fenton), Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Sports graphics (Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley, Eric Vandefifer – Girls Soccer match vs. Hemlock), and the top two spots for Best Use of PlayOn! Sports Graphics (Eric Vandefifer, Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley, Griffin Powell, Bradley Payne – Boys Basketball game vs. Goodrich; and Eric Vandefifer, Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley – Girls Basketball game vs. Lake Fenton). The program also took a second place for Best Produced Commercial/Feature (Alyssa Bernard, Amanda Ramsey, Alicia Town, Allia Town – Sexual Assault PSA) and a third for Best Multicamera Production (Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley, Amanda Ramsey, Nathan Brown, Eric Vandefifer, Brandon Smith – Genesee Area Conference Girls Competitive Cheer Finals). 

The presentation will be shown live on MHSAA.tv as one of a number of live events being streamed online this year by School Broadcast Program members.

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 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 the schedule of School Broadcast Program members planning to stream competition this week for broadcast at MHSAA.tv  (As of Sept. 14):

The SBP programming schedule is expected to expand now that school is in session across the state. A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA website.

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

This week's MHSAA.tv highlights package includes clips from the South Haven/Plainwell and Lake Fenton/Montrose football games and Chassell/Calumet volleyball match.