Today in the MHSAA: 10/30/15

October 30, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Thursday’s Boys Soccer Regionals saw another reigning champion and one more top-ranked team fall, and two of the top small-school volleyball teams in the state matched up as that regular-season for that sport rolled toward a close.

Boys Soccer

Division 1 No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central shut out No. 10 Portage Northern to move to 21-0-3 – Grand Rapids Press

Division 2 No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern downed No. 5 and reigning champion East Lansing in a shootout – Grand Rapids Press

Williamston, No. 3 in Division 3, eliminated top-ranked Flint Powers Catholic from the MHSAA Tournament for the second straight season – Lansing State Journal

No. 2 Grand Rapids South Christian earned a trip to the Division 3 Semifinals with a 1-0 win over No. 7 Paw Paw – Grand Rapids Press

No. 4 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood reached the Division 2 Semifinals with a 1-0 win over No. 18 Ortonville-Brandon – Oakland Press

Division 4 No. 7 Kalamazoo Hackett scored twice during the second half to get past No. 10 Hartford – Kalamazoo Gazette

Volleyball

Class C No. 1 Bronson closed the regular season with three-set wins over Class D No. 2 Battle Creek St. Philip and Sturgis – Sturgis Journal

Whitehall finished 3-0 at the West Michigan Conference tournament to claim its eighth straight league title, with a little help from Shelby, which eliminated Class C No. 4 Montague – Muskegon Chronicle

Today in the MHSAA: 6/6/16

June 6, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Another busiest week – and busiest day – in MHSAA sports is in the books. So too are Finals champions in track & field and girls tennis, and hundreds of District champions in baseball, softball and girls soccer and Regional champions in girls and boys lacrosse.

We touch on the statewide media coverage of just some of the highlights below.

Baseball

Top-ranked Coldwater won its fifth straight District title, downing No. 10 Marshall 8-4 in the championship game in Division 2 – Battle Creek Enquirer

Unranked Beaverton emerged from a Division 3 District that included No. 2 Sanford Meridian and No. 3 Clare – Midland Daily News

Birmingham Groves got past Birmingham Brother Rice 8-6 in Division 1 to win its first District championship since 2005 – Oakland Press

Boys Lacrosse

Birmingham Brother Rice received a rare scare before downing Clarkston 9-6 in Division 1 – Observer & Eccentric

Okemos won its second straight Division 2 Regional title by surviving Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, 9-8 – Lansing State Journal

Girls Lacrosse

Reigning Division 2 champion East Grand Rapids needed overtime to survive, 11-9, against Grand Rapids Catholic Central – Fox17

Rockford just edged Grand Rapids Forest Hills United 9-8 to move on in Division 1 – Grand Rapids Press

Girls Soccer

Division 3 No. 6 Freeland won its seventh straight District title, this time with a 4-1 championship game clincher over Alma – Midland Daily News

Division 4 No. 2 Elk Rapids moved to 21-0 this season with an 8-0 championship game win over No. 14 Leland – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Softball

Blissfield downed No. 6 Dundee to start Saturday, but top-ranked Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central beat Blissfield 4-1 in 10 innings in the Division 3 championship game – Adrian Daily Telegram

After seeing a 10-year District streak snapped in 2015, New Baltimore Anchor Bay made it 11 in 12 seasons with a 2-1 avenging of last year’s loss to Harrison Township L’Anse Creuse in Division 1 – Macomb Daily

Fulton won its first District title in this sport, downing rival Fowler 8-3 in the Division 4 championship game – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Girls Tennis

Four MHSAA Lower Peninsula tennis teams won championships: Midland Dow in Division 1 after finishing runner-up in 2015, Bloomfield Hills Marian in Division 2 for the first time since 2013, Detroit County Day in Division 3 breaking a five-year hold on the title by Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, and Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart in a repeat in Division 4 – Second Half

Girls Track & Field

We covered all seven championship meets across both peninsulas, with the following teams winning titles: Oak Park, Lansing Waverly, Ithaca, Fowler, Marquette, Ishpeming and Ontonagon. Ithaca and Lansing Waverly's titles were their first, and Ontonagon’s its first since 1974 – Second Half

Boys Track & Field

We also covered all seven boys meets, with the following champions: Oak Park, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, Sanford Meridian, Saugatuck, Marquette, Ishpeming and Rapid River. Oak Park’s title was its first in the sport – Second Half