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: 9/26/18

September 26, 2018

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Each weekday of the school year, we break down the top headlines courtesy of Michigan’s sports media.

1. Volleyball: Division 2 top-ranked Grand Rapids Christian came back from a two-set deficit to defeat Division 1 No. 6 Hudsonville in five games – FOX 17

2. Cross Country: The New Baltimore Anchor Bay cross country teams clinched Macomb Area Conference White championships; the boys shared with Port Huron Northern, winning their first title since 2008 – Macomb Daily

3. Volleyball: Division 1 No. 9 Rochester Hills Stoney Creek swept honorable mention Clarkston in Oakland Activities Association Red play – Oakland Press

4. Girls Swimming & Diving: Unranked Zeeland earned an impressive 104-74 win over Holland Christian, the No. 4 team in Lower Peninsula Division 3 – Holland Sentinel

5. Boys Soccer: Division 4 No. 9 North Muskegon and Muskegon Oakridge tied 1-1 in a key West Michigan Conference matchup – Local Sports Journal

6. Cross Country: Hart’s LPD3 ranked teams (girls No. 1, boys No. 4) dominated in sweeping the West Michigan Conference’s second jamboree – Ludington Daily News

7. Volleyball: Traverse City St. Francis came back after losing the first set to defeat Kalkaska in four – Traverse City Record-Eagle

8. Volleyball: Lakes Valley Conference leader South Lyon downed Walled Lake Central in four sets – Oakland Press

9. Volleyball: Division 2 No. 10 Kingsley continued to surge with a sweep of Frankfort – WPBN

10. Volleyball: Division 3 No. 3 Schoolcraft remains atop the Southwestern Athletic Conference Valley after a sweep of Constantine – JoeInsider.com

Also of note:

Volleyball: From Thursday, then-No. 5 Southfield Christian upset Division 4 top-ranked Plymouth Christian Academy – MLive-Detroit

Girls Golf: From Monday, LPD1 top-ranked Northville claimed its eighth tournament championship this fall – Observer & Eccentric

Boys Soccer: From Monday, Division 4 No. 8 Hartford clinched the Southwest 10 Conference title with a 2-1 win over Bloomingdale – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium