Today in the MHSAA: 10/16/15
October 16, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
First-time champions are always worth noting, and we found a few in checking out today’s media reports of Thursday action statewide.
Cross Country
The Calumet girls, ranked No. 4 in Upper Peninsula Division 1, and the unranked Houghton boys won the Western Peninsula Athletic Conference finals at Chassell – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette
Boys Soccer
Grand Rapids Union clinched its first league title since moving from the Grand Rapids City League to the Ottawa-Kent Conference, downing Muskegon 3-0 – Grand Rapids Press
Manchester edged Hillsdale Academy 2-1 to claim its first Independent Soccer League championship after winning only one league game in 2014 – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
Volleyball
Class B honorable mention Buchanan downed Class C’s top-ranked team, Bronson, in five sets, and also Class D No. 6 Mendon in five – Niles Daily Star
Class B No. 6 Mount Morris avenged a five-set loss to No. 5 Goodrich in September by sweeping the Martians to improve to 55-5-1 – Flint Journal
Zeeland West claimed its first conference title in this sport, defeating Holland Christian in five sets to claim a share of the O-K Green championship – Holland Sentinel
Good Reads
Longtime Burton Atherton leader Mary Down will become the third volleyball coach inducted into the Greater Flint Area Hall of Fame, having impacted a generation of players and more as a number of former players went on to coach as well – Flint Journal
Today in the MHSAA: 3/9/17
March 9, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
High winds and power outages couldn’t down Wednesday’s eight MHSAA Hockey Quarterfinals and a number of boys basketball District games all over 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.
Boys Basketball
Detroit Public School League champion Cass Tech got past rival Detroit East English 72-67 in a Class A District Semifinal – MLive-Detroit
Freeland edged Sanford Meridian Early College 46-42 in a Class B matchup of teams that entered the night a combined 36-3 – Saginaw News
Newberry clinched its first District title since 1998, downing St. Ignace 67-55 in Class C – Marquette Mining Journal
Rapid River won its first District title also in more than a decade by downing Rock Mid Peninsula 60-50 in Class D – Escanaba Daily Press
Walled Lake Western and Walled Lake Northern met for the fourth time, with this last matchup going to Western 49-45 in Class A – Oakland Press
Onsted, which had fallen twice to Hillsdale this season, handed the Hornets their first and only loss in a Class B District Semifinal – Hillsdale Daily News
St. Joseph similarly had fallen twice to Portage Central, but came back to win their third matchup 50-47 in Class A – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium
Hockey
No. 3 Brighton returned to the Division 1 Semifinals with a 7-0 win over Lowell – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
Division 1 No. 4 Northville continued its run toward a possible first championship game berth with a 6-2 win over Macomb Dakota – Macomb Daily
Top-ranked Detroit Catholic Central booked a return to the Semifinals with a 6-2 win over Bay City Central/Western in Division 1 – Observer & Eccentric
Grandville also is becoming a regular in the Semifinals and will return after an 8-4 Division 1 win over Rockford – Grand Rapids Press
In a matchup of the top two ranked teams in Division 3, No. 1 Flint Powers Catholic came away with a 3-2 overtime win over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central – Flint Journal
Calumet will play in the Division 3 Semifinals for the first time in six seasons after a 7-3 win over Big Rapids – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette
Warren DeLaSalle got past Detroit Country Day 4-0 in Division 3 – Macomb Daily
Dearborn Divine Child continued its surprise Division 3 run with a 4-3 win over Chelsea – Dearborn Press & Guide
Volleyball
Buchanan coach Lisa Holok resigned after 13 seasons and more than 500 victories, plus a trip this past fall to the Class B Semifinals – South Bend Tribune
Good Read
Only a few weeks before Mark Blentlinger was to take over the Schoolcraft bowling program in 2010, his daughter Kyleigh – who helped start the girls team – died suddenly. He thought of her much during the girls team’s run to the Division 4 Semifinals on Friday – Kalamazoo Gazette