Linked Up: 10/28/11
October 28, 2011
Each week I'll post links to stories that interest me most during my travels in online sports land. I was going to wait for next week for this first installment, but these seemed worthy of telling you about now.
See something high school sports-related that you think others would find valuable? Send me a link.
These two teams provide multiple reasons why 8-player football has been such a strong addition -- most notably, it is providing our smallest schools with an opportunity to still play football despite fewer players, and succeed. The sport took off in this state in 2009, and this weekend mark the start of the first MHSAA 8-player Tournament. Akron-Fairgrove will play its first postseason game since 1992, while Owendale-Gagetown will play its first since 1979.
Olivet's Peters coaching his heart out (Battle Creek Enquirer)
I covered Olivet and coach Dean Peters for more than a decade, including during last season's first-ever Eagles run to the MHSAA football finals. One of the great people in high school coaching, he needed emergency double-bypass surgery earlier this month but is back in the coaching booth. Olivet faces Lansing Catholic in a Pre-District game.
Megan Hubbard a standout for Hanover-Horton cross country (Jackson Citizen-Patriot)
This is a neat story about a runner who is second-best on her team and has never won a race -- but also is likely the second-best to ever run at her school. Usually, we hear only about who finishes first.
Standley Lake football player Rhett Gutierrez overcomes eye disease (The Denver Post)
Almost always, links I post will be Michigan-related. But this story is just incredible. We've seen athletes with different degrees of vision impairment do incredible things in high school athletics. But this is the first time I've heard of someone overcoming that obstacle to play quarterback for his football team.
Today in the MHSAA: 10/31/19
October 31, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The MHSAA Boys Soccer Finals field is set, with a pair of unranked contenders leading today’s list of Wednesday’s headliners.
1. Boys Soccer: Unranked Traverse City West came back from a two-goal deficit to get past No. 3 Novi 3-2 in a Division 1 Semifinal – Traverse City Record-Eagle
2. Boys Soccer: Unranked Melvindale will play in its first Final in this sport thanks to a 4-1 win over also-unranked Fenton in Division 2 – Southgate News-Herald
3. Boys Soccer: No. 3 Grosse Ile will return to the Division 3 championship game after a 1-0 win over No. 8 Macomb Lutheran North – Southgate News-Herald
4. Boys Soccer: No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern hung on for a 1-0 win over No. 4 Mattawan in a Division 2 Semifinal – WZZM
5. Boys Soccer: No. 4 Grand Rapids South Christian got past unranked Ludington in a shootout in a Division 3 Semifinal – WOOD TV
6. Boys Soccer: No. 4 Muskegon Western Michigan Christian earned another postseason shutout, this time 2-0 over No. 5 Dansville in a Division 4 Semifinal – Local Sports Journal
7. Boys Soccer: No. 2 Troy Athens will play for the Division 1 title after a 5-2 Semifinal win over unranked Salem – C&G Newspapers
8. Boys Soccer: No. 2 Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett advanced with a 5-0 Division 4 Semifinal win over unranked Clarkston Everest Collegiate – Oakland Press
9. Volleyball: Division 2 honorable mention Cadillac swept Traverse City West to lock up the outright Big North Conference championship, its fifth straight league title – Cadillac News
10. Volleyball: Division 1 No. 8 Grand Haven swept East Kentwood to clinch the Ottawa-Kent Conference Red championship – Grand Haven Tribune
Also of note …
Volleyball: Division 3 No. 7 Beaverton finished a perfect run through the Jack Pine Conference with wins over Shepherd, Farwell and Sanford Meridian – Midland Daily News