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: 5/24/22

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

May 24, 2022

1. GIRLS SOCCER Division 1 top-ranked Northville downed No. 8 Livonia Stevenson 2-1 to win the overall Kensington Lakes Activities Association championship – Observer & Eccentric

2. GIRLS SOCCER Division 1 No. 2 Hudsonville clinched the outright O-K Red title with a 3-0 win over No. 11 Rockford – FOX 17

3. SOFTBALL Millington won a matchup of the top-ranked teams in Divisions 3 and 4, respectively, 3-1 and 5-3 over Unionville-Sebewaing – Saginaw News

4. BOYS GOLF Ovid-Elise secured its first league title since 2005 with a win at the Mid-Michigan Activities Conference Tournament – Owosso Argus-Press

5. GIRLS SOCCER Muskegon Mona Shores defeated Zeeland East 3-2 to finish a fifth-straight Ottawa-Kent Conference Green title run – Local Sports Journal

6. SOFTBALL Division 2 honorable mention Hamilton and Division 1 honorable mention Zeeland West clinched their division championships in the O-K Conference – Holland Sentinel

7. SOFTBALL Division 2 honorable mention Milan clinched the Huron League title outright with a 9-0 win over New Boston Huron – Ann Arbor News

8. BASEBALL Division 2 No. 7 Essexville Garber clinched the outright Tri-Valley Conference 8 title with a sweep of Birch Run – Saginaw News

9. BASEBALL Division 2 No. 2 New Boston Huron clinched a share of the Huron League title with a 2-0 win over Milan – Monroe News

10. GIRLS SOCCER Division 1 No. 10 Rochester Adams delivered No. 6 Midland Dow its first defeat of the season, 1-0 – Midland Daily News

Also of note …

BOYS BASKETBALL Andrea Cabana, who coached Grass Lake’s girls to the 2021 Division 3 championship, was hired to take over Chelsea’s boys program – Ann Arbor News

GOLF The Kingsford girls and Marquette boys won Great Northern Conference Tournament titles – Iron Mountain Daily News

SOFTBALL/BASEBALL Rochester Adams and Birmingham Seaholm softball and Division 1 No. 9 Adams baseball clinched division titles in the Oakland Activities Association – Oakland Press

GIRLS TENNIS/GIRLS SOCCER Traverse City St. Francis – No. 9 in Lower Peninsula Division 4 – won the Lake Michigan Conference Tournament by a point, and Traverse City West clinched a share of the Big North Conference title with a 2-1 win over Petoskey – Traverse City Record-Eagle