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.

Akron-Fairgrove and Owendale-Gagetown eager for long-awaited playoff games in first season of eight-man football bracket (Bay City Times)

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: 10/4/19

October 4, 2019

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

As the weather dipped toward what we expect every fall, teams in a variety of sports continued locking down league titles Thursday with MHSAA Tournaments beginning in boys soccer, Lower Peninsula girls golf and boys tennis next week.  

1. Boys Tennis: Midland Dow — No. 6 in Lower Peninsula Division 2 – clinched its 14th straight Saginaw Valley League championship, emerging first from a close race at the league tournament – Midland Daily News

2. Boys Soccer: Division 1 No. 2 Okemos finished its run to a Capital Area Activities Conference Gold Cup title with a 4-0 win over Division 3 No. 6 Lansing Catholic – Lansing State Journal

3. Boys Soccer: Traverse City West downed Alpena to lock up its 10th straight Big North Conference title in this sport – Up North Live

4. Boys Soccer: Birmingham Seaholm got past Lake Orion 2-0 to clinch the Oakland Activities Association White title – Oakland Press

5. Boys Soccer: Dexter downed Chelsea 1-0 to clinch the Southeastern Conference White Tournament championship – Chelsea Sun Times News

6. Girls Golf: Plainwell shot a 381 and won a tie-breaker with Dowagiac to claim the Wolverine Conference Tournament title – Sturgis Journal

7. Boys Soccer: Fremont prevailed in a shootout to get past Newaygo 3-2 in the Central State Activities Association Gold Tournament final – Local Sports Journal

8. Boys Soccer: Division 3 No. 12 Elk Rapids downed Harbor Springs 4-1 to earn a share of the Lake Michigan Conference championship – Traverse City Record-Eagle

9. Girls Golf: The Mid-Michigan Golf Conference Tournament was canceled, and Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart was awarded the league title based on its overall scores from MMGC jamborees – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

10. Volleyball: No. 2 Hudsonville won a matchup of ranked teams in Division 1, getting past No. 9 Grand Haven 3-1 – Grand Rapids Press

Also of note …

Boys Soccer: From Wednesday, Dearborn Heights Crestwood clinched the Western Wayne Athletic Conference title with a 5-3 victory over Melvindale – Southgate News-Herald