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: 2/27/18

February 27, 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. Boys Skiing: Petoskey tied an MHSAA boys skiing record with its eighth straight Finals championship, in Division 2, and Marquette won its sixth straight in Division 1 – Second Half

2. Girls Skiing: Marquette claimed its third straight Division 1 title, while Houghton-Hancock made it an Upper Peninsula sweep with a comeback win in Division 2 – Second Half

3. Girls Basketball: Bethany Baldwin went over 2,000 career points with 41 total in Watersmeet’s 64-46 win over Bessemer in a Class D District opener – Ironwood Daily Globe

4. Girls Basketball: Port Huron upset rival Port Huron Northern 52-49 in overtime to kick off their Class A District – Port Huron Times Herald

5. Girls Basketball: Maple City Glen Lake downed Traverse City St. Francis 52-47 in Class C in a matchup of teams that entered a combined 35-5 – Traverse City Record-Eagle

6. Girls Basketball: Detroit Catholic League Central co-champ Farmington Hills Mercy hung on for a 51-48 Class A win over Birmingham Groves, the co-champ of the Oakland Activities Association White – Oakland Press

7. Hockey: Byron Center took Holland West Ottawa to double overtime before West Ottawa emerged with a 3-2 win in a Division 1 Pre-Regional – Holland Sentinel

8. Girls Basketball: Alycia Patterson’s last second shot got Niles past Buchanan 44-42 in a Class B opener – South Bend Tribune

9. Hockey: Division 1 No. 6 Utica Eisenhower opened its Pre-Regional with a 5-0 win over previously-ranked Rochester United – Macomb Daily

10. Girls Basketball: Big Rapids opened with a 50-28 win over Alma in Class B to set up another matchup with rival Stanton Central Montcalm – Big Rapids News

Also of note ...

Girls Basketball: Wayne Memorial's Camree' Clegg, East Lansing's Jaida Hampton, Ypsilanti Arbor Prep's Lasha Petree and Detroit Country Day's Kaela Webb are candidates for this season's Miss Basketball Award – Detroit Free Press