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: 1/18/18
January 18, 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: Gaylord St. Mary won a matchup of Ski Valley Conference favorites and top Class D teams statewide, traveling to defeat Bellaire 41-39 – Gaylord Herald Times
2. Hockey: Detroit Catholic Central, top-ranked in Division 1, needed overtime but got past rival and Division 2 No. 5 Birmingham Brother Rice 3-2 – Oakland Press
3. Girls Basketball: Detroit Mumford held on after seeing a 15-point lead nearly dissolve, getting past Ypsilanti Arbor Prep 44-35 – Detroit News
4. Girls Basketball: Gladstone improved to 5-5 this season with a 42-33 upset of Marquette, which fell to 9-2 – Escanaba Daily Press
5. Hockey: Holland West Ottawa downed Grand Haven 4-2 for its ninth win over the last 10 games – Holland Sentinel
6. Bowling: Hudsonville swept Grand Haven in key Ottawa-Kent Conference Red matches, the boys narrowly 16-14 – Grand Haven Tribune
7. Wrestling: Division 2 No. 7 Stevensville Lakeshore ran its winning streak to 11 with a big victory over St. Joseph – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium
8. Hockey: Division 2 No. 2 Hartland and Division 3 No. 7 Livonia Churchill tied 3-3, but the Eagles’ Jake Behnke made a tremendous statement with his play – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
9. Hockey: Riverview Gabriel Richard celebrated a 4-3 win over Dearborn Divine Child coming off some recent struggles against the Falcons – Southgate News Herald
10. Football: Battle Creek Harper Creek coach Mike Seedorff stepped down after leading his team to a 12-1 record in his 30th season in the program and third as head coach – Battle Creek Enquirer
Also of note …
Boys Basketball: From Tuesday, Gladstone came back from a two-point halftime deficit to beat Gwinn by 36, with junior Reece Castor scoring 26 points including the 1,000th of his career – Escanaba Daily Press