Today in the MHSAA: 10/13/16

October 13, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Melvindale won its first boys soccer league title ever Wednesday night and Saline won its first volleyball title in what’s believed to be “a long time,” highlighting action from across the state.

Each weekday during the school year, we’ll gather and post media links covering the most significant and intriguing high school events from all over the state.

Cross Country

From Wednesday, Marquette’s top-ranked girls won their 17th straight Great Northern Conference championship, while the boys, No. 3 in Upper Peninsula Division 1, won their fourth straight league title – Escanaba Daily Press

Boys Soccer

Melvindale clinched its first boys soccer league championship, taking the Downriver League title with a 2-1 win over Brownstown Woodhaven, which entered the night tied for first – Southgate News-Herald

Division 1 No. 11 Detroit Catholic Central claimed the Detroit Catholic League A-B championship with a 4-2 win over Division 2 No. 7 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood – Oakland Press

Division 1 No. 17 East Kentwood downed No. 16 Grand Haven 2-0 – Grand Haven Tribune

St. Clair downed Marysville 1-0 to avenge last month’s loss to the rival Vikings – Port Huron Times Herald

Volleyball

Reigning Class C champion Bronson, ranked No. 2 this fall, continued another strong run with sweeps of Parchment and Class B No. 3 Buchanan, while Buchanan beat Class D No. 2 Mendon and Mendon swept Parchment – Sturgis Journal

Class A No. 8 Saline clinched a long-awaited Southeastern Conference Red championship with a four-set win over Monroe, moving to 30-4 overall – Saline Post

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.