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: 10/23/19
October 23, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Boys Soccer Regional Semifinals began in full force Tuesday across the state, and today’s list of achievers is filled with those results – with some volleyball and swimming & diving mixed in.
1. Boys Soccer: Top-ranked Grandville Calvin Christian edged reigning Division 4 champion and current No. 6 Leland 2-1 in a Regional Semifinal – MI Sports Now
2. Boys Soccer: No. 4 Muskegon Western Michigan Christian’s fourth straight postseason shutout came over No. 3 North Muskegon in another high-powered Division 4 Regional Semifinal – Local Sports Journal
3. Boys Soccer: No. 3 Grosse Ile won another of the biggest matchups in Regional Semifinal play, downing No. 7 Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard 6-0 – Southgate News-Herald
4. Boys Soccer: No. 4 Mattawan moved on in Division 2 with a 4-1 win over No. 10 DeWitt – Lansing State Journal
5. Boys Soccer: No. 5 Dansville got past No. 14 Hartford 2-0 in a Division 4 Regional Semifinal – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium
6. Volleyball: Midland Dow finished a perfect run to the Saginaw Valley League North title with a sweep of rival Midland – Midland Daily News
7. Boys Soccer: No. 7 Detroit Catholic Central came back from an early 1-0 deficit to get past Clarkston 2-1 in a Division 1 Regional Semifinal – Observer & Eccentric
8. Girls Swimming & Diving: Zeeland, an honorable mention in Lower Peninsula Division 1, downed LPD2 No. 9 Byron Center 105-73 – Holland Sentinel
9. Boys Soccer: No. 2 Troy Athens advanced to a Division 1 Regional Final with a 4-0 win over Warren De La Salle Collegiate – Oakland Press
10. Boys Soccer: Clinton Township Chippewa Valley went to overtime to get past Rochester Adams 2-1 in Division 1 – Oakland Press
Also of note …
Football: The southwestern football community is mourning the death of longtime Galesburg-Augusta football coach Bill Maskill, who when he retied after the 1991 season was the all-time winningest coach in the sport in Michigan high school history – WWMT
Volleyball: From Monday, Bellaire swept Johannesburg-Lewiston to claim a share of the Ski Valley Conference championship, its first league title in this sport – Traverse City Record-Eagle