Today in the MHSAA: 10/23/2018

October 23, 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.

A pair of Detroit Catholic League Tournament championship celebrations lead a list filled with Monday volleyball winners and a pair of cross country invitational pacesetters.

1. Volleyball: Division 1 top-ranked Farmington Hills Mercy swept No. 7 Bloomfield Hills Marian to win the Detroit Catholic League A-B championship for the second straight season – Observer & Eccentric

2. Volleyball: Division 2 No. 6 Wixom St. Catherine claimed its second straight Catholic League C-D title with a sweep of Division 3 No. 4 Riverview Gabriel Richard – Oakland Press

3. Volleyball: Division 2 honorable mention Kingsley and Traverse City St. Francis both went 2-1 at the ABCD quad with Division 4 top-ranked Leland with Traverse City Central also playing – Traverse City Record-Eagle

4. Cross Country: The Hanover-Horton boys and Pittsford girls won Sand Creek Invitational championships; Pittsford’s girls are ranked No. 4 in Lower Peninsula Division 4 and Hanover-Horton’s boys are No. 3 in LPD3 – Adrian Daily Telegram

5. Volleyball: Midland came out on top in a matchup of second-place finishers in the Saginaw Valley League with a crossover sweep of Flint Powers Catholic – Midland Daily News

6. Volleyball: Pellston earned wins over Gaylord and Harbor Springs – Petoskey News-Review

7. Volleyball: L’Anse took the season’s second “Battle of the Bay” meeting with Baraga with a three-set sweep – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

8. Volleyball: Kalamazoo Central swept Climax-Scotts on the Maroon Giants’ senior night – JoeInsider.com

9. Volleyball: Petoskey swept Cheboygan in nonleague play to improve to 33-4-1 – Petoskey News-Review

10. Volleyball: Chassell continued to make strides with a sweep of Dollar Bay – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

Also of note …

Cross Country: From last week, Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills girls won the Ottawa-Kent Conference White championship, believed to be the first in program history – Grand Rapids Press

Cross Country: From Saturday, Portage Northern’s boys won their first Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference meet championship in a decade – Kalamazoo Gazette

Cross Country: From Saturday, Parma Western held on at the Interstate 8 Athletic Conference meet to sweep the overall league championships – Coldwater Daily Reporter

Cross Country: From Saturday, Brownstown Woodhaven swept Downriver League meet titles and the boys won the league outright; Allen Park’s girls held on to their overall league championship – Southgate News-Herald girls | boys

Did you see that? (June 3-9)

June 10, 2013

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The second of three weeks of spring MHSAA Finals came to a close with four more champions from lacrosse – plus 16 teams still alive in both baseball and softball, eight in girls soccer and 60 in Lower Peninsula boys golf.

See below for some of the biggest headlines from the week that was June 3-9.

Girls lacrosse

Champions of the west: A pair of Grand Rapids-area teams claimed the girls championships Saturday. Rockford defeated Bloomfield Hills United 16-7 in Division 1, while East Grand Rapids repeated in Division 2 with a 16-6 victory over Livonia Ladywood. (Second Half D1) (Second Half D2)

Boys Lacrosse

East-side excellence: Birmingham Brother Rice came back from an early deficit in the Division 1 Final to win its ninth-straight title by beating Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern 14-10. In Division 2, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood scored with 20.2 seconds to play to edge reigning champion Forest Hills Central 10-9. (Second Half D1) (Second Half D2)

Girls Soccer

Defensive standoff: Top-ranked Plymouth and No. 3 Novi needed a shootout to decide Friday’s Division 1 Regional Final. But Novi won that final round 2-1 to earn a 1-0 win and hand Plymouth its first and only loss this season. (MLive Detroit)

Powers survives comeback: Up 3-0 at halftime, reigning Division 3 runner-up Flint Powers Catholic advanced to within one win of returning to the Finals with a 3-2 Regional Final win over Lake Fenton. (Flint Journal)

Baseball

Oilers upend No. 1: Mount Pleasant, ranked No. 4 in Division 2, beat top-ranked Bay City John Glenn on the way to winning their Regional on Saturday. (Mount Pleasant Morning Sun)

MCC wins big: Muskegon Catholic Central moved on in Division 4 with a 9-0 Regional win over No. 2 Gobles in another of the weekend’s biggest baseball matchups. MCC entered the postseason ranked No. 5. (Muskegon Chronicle)

Softball

Dundee gets its chance: The Vikings won their first Regional championship and defeated two-time reigning Division 3 champion Clinton in the process Saturday at Blissfield. Dundee entered the postseason ranked No. 1 in the division. (Monroe Evening News)

Romeo prevails in pair of nail-biters: The No. 10-ranked Bulldogs were down to their final out before defeating Troy in a Regional Semifinal and then beat Hartland 3-0 in the championship game. Both Troy and Hartland were honorable mentions in the final Division 1 coaches poll. (Oakland Press)

Escanaba headed downstate: The Eskymos will face reigning MHSAA Division 2 runner-up Saginaw Swan Valley in a Quarterfinal for the second straight season thanks to a walk-off home run by sophomore Michelle LaFave in a 5-4 Regional Final win over Remus Chippewa Hills. (Escanaba Daily Press)

Boys Golf

SMAC East dominates: Top-ranked Battle Creek Lakeview in Division 1 and Marshall and Battle Creek Harper Creek in Division 2 all qualified for LP Finals, giving the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference East three teams in this weekend’s championship tournaments. (Battle Creek Enquirer)

DeWitt outshoots No. 1: Previously unranked DeWitt shot a 313 to edge top-ranked East Lansing by a stroke at their Division 2 Regional at Gull Lake View. (Lansing State Journal)

Boys Basketball

CMU star takes over GRCC: Former Central Michigan University captain T.J. Meerman has taken over the Grand Rapids Catholic Central program after serving as an assistant coach last season at Grand Valley State University. Previously, Meerman coached the varsity at Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills. (Grand Rapids Press)