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: 3/2/18

March 2, 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.

Today's Top 10

1. Girls Basketball: Fowlerville won its first District title in girls basketball since 2002 with a 48-33 win over Williamston – Lansing State Journal

2. Hockey: Unranked Lake Orion scored three goals during the first period in upsetting No. 6 Utica Eisenhower 3-2 in a Division 1 Pre-Regional – Macomb Daily

3. Boys Basketball: Clarkston finished an outright Oakland Activities Association Red title with a 48-38 win over Hazel Park despite not having injured star guard Foster Loyer – Oakland Press

4. Hockey: Traverse City West scored with 7.5 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, and then added the game winner in a 5-4 Division 1 Pre-Regional win over the Traverse City Bay Reps co-op – MI Sports Now

5. Hockey: No. 5 Trenton got past No. 6 Saline 4-0 in a Division 2 Pre-Regional game – Southgate News Herald

6. Hockey: No. 8 Grand Rapids Catholic Central got past East Grand Rapids 4-2 in a Division 3 Pre-Regional – FOX 17

7. Boys Basketball: Maple City Glen Lake, Buckley and Frankfort all won to finish a three-way share of the Northwest Conference title – Traverse City Record-Eagle

8. Boys Basketball: Bear Lake claimed a share of the West Michigan D League title with a 93-51 win over Walkerville – Manistee News Advocate

9. Boys Basketball: Calumet downed Hancock 67-42 to guarantee a shared Western Peninsula Athletic Conference title with Iron River West Iron County – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

10. Boys Basketball: Class A contender Holland West Ottawa downed Class B contender Grand Rapids Catholic Central 59-49 – Holland Sentinel

Also of note …

Boys Basketball: Ishpeming’s Hart Holmgren became his school’s al-time leading scorer, breaking a record that had stood since 1965 in a 66-60 win over Escanaba – Marquette Mining Journal

Boys Basketball: Norway edged Rapid River 58-56 as the Knights’ Connor Ortman scored his 1,000th career point – Iron Mountain Daily News

Boys Basketball: West Michigan Conference champion North Muskegon downed Lakes 8 Conference title winner Ludington 55-43 – Local Sports Journal