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

• Track & Field – Marquette Invitational at Superior Dome, 2:30 p.m.
• Boys Lacrosse – Detroit U-D Jesuit at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 6:15 p.m.

Wednesday, April 19

• Softball – Indian River Inland Lakes at Rogers City, 6 p.m.

Thursday, April 20

• Baseball – Oscoda at Rogers City, 4 p.m.
• Girls Soccer – Durand at Montrose, 4:30 p.m.
• Baseball – Oscoda at Rogers City, 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 22

• Baseball – Ubly at Montrose, noon
• Boys Lacrosse – Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 1 p.m.

Tuesday, April 25

• Basketball – Millington at Montrose, 4 p.m.
• Boys Lacrosse – Orchard Lake St. Mary’s at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 6:30 p.m.
• Boys Lacrosse – Clarkston at Lake Orion, 7 p.m.

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.