Selection Sunday Show Returns to FSD

October 12, 2016

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director

It’s become a ritual of the fall sports season – hundreds of high school football teams across the state of Michigan gathering for watch parties, hoping to hear their names and match-ups called for the MHSAA Football Playoffs during the Selection Sunday Show on FOX Sports Detroit.

This year’s show is set for 7 p.m. (EDT) on Oct. 23, originating from the FOX Sports Detroit studios in Southfield. In addition to the cable television broadcast, the show will be available via a live video stream on the FoxSportsDetroit.com website, and for mobile users on FOX Sports GO!

But to get to Selection Sunday, there’s still two weekends of regular-season football games to be played, and there are several games with playoff implications Friday night with livestreaming video on MHSAA.tv being produced by members of the School Broadcast Program.

At Clare, the 6-0 Pioneers are looking to clinch a share of the Jack Pine Conference championship, facing a 5-2 Beaverton squad looking to lock up a playoff berth. The winner of the Clarkston at Lake Orion game will not only send one of those 5-2 teams to the postseason party, but the winner also will secure at least a piece of the crown in the Oakland Activities Association Red. Traverse City West (5-2) can become playoff eligible by beating Gaylord (3-4) at Thirlby Field, and Saginaw Nouvel (5-2) can qualify if it beats a Montrose (4-3) team looking to keep its playoff hopes alive.

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 video streams available being produced by SBP members.

Thursday, Oct. 13

Friday, Oct. 14

Tuesday, Oct. 18

Here’s this week’s list of Football games streaming live statistics on the MHSAA.tv Website using Digital Scout. All games are Friday at 7 p.m.:

  • Addison v. Hanover-Horton
  • Bath v. Laingsburg
  • Carney-Nadeau v. Stephenson
  • Charlotte v. Lakewood Lake Odessa
  • Clinton v. Britton-Macon
  • Coldwater v. Hastings
  • Flint Carman-Ainsworth v. Midland Dow
  • Flint Kearsley v. Flushing
  • Fowlerville v. Corunna
  • Goodrich v. Westland John Glenn
  • Grand Ledge v. East Lansing
  • Grand Rapids South Christian v. Middleville Thornapple Kellogg
  • Grand Traverse Academy v. Brethren
  • Grandville Calvin Christian v. Leroy Pine River
  • Grosse Pointe South v. Macomb L’Anse Creuse North
  • Harrison v. Sanford Meridian
  • Hart v. North Muskegon
  • Hemlock v. Ithaca
  • Hopkins v. Wyoming Lee
  • Jenison v. Holland West Ottawa
  • Lake Fenton v. Lansing Waverly
  • Lansing Everett v. Lansing Sexton
  • Manchester v. Vandercook Lake
  • Marlette v. Memphis
  • Marshall v. Battle Creek Harper Creek
  • Marysville v. St. Clair
  • Mayville v. Dryden
  • Monroe Jefferson v. Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central
  • North Adams-Jerome v. Adrian Lenawee Christian
  • Norway v. Gwinn
  • Onekama v. Mesick
  • Reed City v. Stanton Central Montcalm
  • Rudyard v. Onaway
  • Saginaw Arthur Hill v. Mt. Pleasant
  • Saginaw Heritage v. Bay City Central
  • Saline v. Tecumseh
  • Saranac v. Potterville
  • Unionville-Sebewaing v. Vassar
  • Warren Fitzgerald v. St. Clair Shores Lakeview
  • Wyoming v. Greenville 

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. Some schools also will be selling 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. Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office. 

Fans can also access scores of games in-progress on the NFHS Network website via ScoreStream.  Click on the Scores button in the upper right corner.

A weekly staple on the MHSAA.tv website and the MHSAASports Channel on YouTube is back for another year with highlights of selected games last week produced by members of the Association’s School Broadcast Program. 

This week’s highlights package consists of clips from football games Merrill at BreckenridgeIshpeming at Negaunee and Whittemore-Prescott at Rogers City.

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.