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: 5/12/21

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

May 12, 2021

1. Baseball: Blissfield coach Larry Tuttle became the state’s winningest all-time at 1,317 victories with the Division 3 No. 5 Royals’  sweep of Hillsdale – Adrian Daily Telegram

2. Track & Field: The Marion girls and Manistee Catholic Central boys clinched West Michigan D League championships – Cadillac News (Girls) | Manistee News Advocate (Boys)

3. Girls Tennis: Utica outpaced the rest of the Macomb Area Conference Blue to claim the league tournament championship – Macomb Daily

4. Girls Soccer: Top-ranked Troy Athens downed No. 3 Rochester 5-1 in a matchup of statewide contenders in Division 1 – Oakland Press

5. Track & Field: Escanaba swept Gladstone and Iron Mountain in girls and boys meets, with Ethan Milam breaking the boys school high jump record set in 1994 – Escanaba Daily Press

6. Baseball: Division 4 No. 16 Muskegon Catholic Central earned coach Steve Schuitema his 300th career win with a 6-2 victory over Muskegon Western Michigan Christian – Muskegon Chronicle

7. Girls Soccer: Division 2 top-ranked DeWitt remained undefeated with a 5-0 win over Division 3 No. 8 Lansing Catholic – Lansing State Journal

8. Baseball: Division 1 No. 20 Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice edged Division 3 No. 3 Detroit Edison 9-8 – Detroit News

9. Baseball: Division 2 No. 14 Essexville Garber downed Saginaw Swan Valley 3-0 as future University of Michigan pitchers faced off – WJRT

10. Girls Soccer: Division 3 No. 9 Boyne City held on to a share of first in the Lake Michigan Conference with a shutout of former co-leader and Division 4 No. 18 Charlevoix – MI Sports Now

Also of note …

Officials: Longtime northern Michigan official Terry Wakeley, an MHSAA Norris Award honoree in 2007, died Sunday at the age of 77 – Up North Live

Boys Golf: Longtime coach Chris Fedewa plans to retire at the end of this spring after 39 years of teaching and coaching a variety of teams at Clare – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun