Today in the MHSAA: 11/15/17

November 15, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Each weekday of the school year, we break down the top headlines courtesy of Michigan’s sports media.

Today's Top 10 

1. Volleyball: Reigning champion and top-ranked Bronson will return to the Class C Semifinals after downing No. 2 Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central in four sets in the Quarterfinal – Coldwater Daily Reporter

2. Volleyball: Class B No. 3 Lake Odessa Lakewood went to five sets with No. 4 Niles before emerging with a 15-13 win in the decider and another trip to the Semifinals – Ionia Sentinel-Standard

3. Volleyball: Class A No. 4 DeWitt swept No. 3 Grand Rapids Christian to earn a trip to the Semifinals and matchup with reigning champion Novi – MLive-Lansing

4. Volleyball: Class C No. 10 Wixom St. Catherine earned its first Semifinal berth with a sweep of No. 6 Unionville-Sebewaing – Oakland Press

5. Volleyball: Class D No. 8 Rogers City knocked off yet another ranked opponent, this time No. 10 Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart to earn a Quarterfinal win in five sets – Alpena News

6. Volleyball: Honorable mention Munising earned its first Semifinal trip with a four-set win over No. 7 Rudyard in Class D – Marquette Mining Journal

7. Volleyball: Fruitport won the first two sets close and held on to get past Cadillac in four in a matchup of Class B honorable mentions – Grand Haven Tribune

8. Volleyball: After splitting the first two sets, No. 6 Farmington Hills Mercy won the next two to down honorable mention New Baltimore Anchor Bay in four in Class A Oakland Press

9. Volleyball: Class A No. 2 and reigning champion Novi earned a fourth straight trip to the Semifinals with a sweep of honorable mention Temperance Bedford – Observer & Eccentric

10. Volleyball: No. 7 Bloomfield Hills Marian swept honorable mention Midland to make it back to the Class A Semifinals for the first time since 2013 – Oakland Press

Also of note …

Volleyball: No. 6 Fowler swept honorable mention Southfield Christian to move on in Class D – Oakland Press

Volleyball: Laingsburg downed Shelby 3-0 in a Quarterfinal matchup of Class C honorable mentions – Lansing State Journal

Volleyball: Class C No. 8 Calumet also is headed back to the Semifinals, thanks to a sweep of unranked Houghton Lake – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette     

Volleyball: Livonia Ladywood won a Quarterfinal matchup of unranked teams, sweeping Livonia Clarenceville in Class B – Observer & Eccentric

Volleyball: Top-ranked Pontiac Notre Dame Prep swept Corunna to move to 62-2-2 and into the Semifinals – NorthOaklandSports.com

Volleyball: Top-ranked and reigning champion Plymouth Christian downed annual power Battle Creek St. Philip 3-1 in Class D – WWMT

Today in the MHSAA: 10/19/16

October 19, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

District soccer continued Tuesday and league champions were crowned in volleyball and cross country all over the Lower Peninsula – but the must-see stories are a pair of “good reads” coming out of the Jackson and Alpena areas.

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

The Caro boys – No. 4 in Lower Peninsula Division 3 – and the No. 6 Shepherd girls won championships at the Tri-Valley Conference all-division final – Saginaw News

The Ubly girls and boys teams repeated as East champions at the Greater Thumb Conference championship race (Ubly's girls are No. 9 in LPD4), and the Reese girls and LPD4 honorable mention Cass City boys repeated as West winners – Huron Daily Tribune

Traverse City West swept the final Big North Conference jamborees, the West boys earning the league title and the Central girls finishing as overall league champion for the 14th straight season. The Central girls are No. 4 in LPD1 and the West girls are an honorable mention – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Harbor Springs’ boys (No. 2 LPD4) kept their undefeated season going with a third straight Lake Michigan Conference final championship, and Traverse City St. Francis (No. 2 LPD3) clinched the girls title – Petoskey News-Review

Boys Soccer

Division 1 No. 2 Portage Northern moved on with a 4-1 District win over Lansing Everett thanks to three goals by Ryan Melgar – Kalamazoo Gazette

Adrian Lenawee Christian freshman Zach Riordan set his school’s scoring record of 36 goals in an 8-0 Division 4 win over Clinton – Adrian Daily Telegram

Girls Swimming & Diving

LPD1 No. 2 Saline got past No. 10 Brighton 112-74 in a matchup of top Division 1 teams – Saline Post

Volleyball

Walled Lake Central repeated as Lakes champion in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association with a five-set win over Brighton – Livingston Daily Argus & Press

Class A top-ranked Novi swept Canton to win its fourth straight KLAA Kensington championship – Oakland Press

Marine City improved to 8-1 in the Macomb Area Conference Gold and clinched a share of the league title with a three-set win over Warren Mott – Port Huron Times Herald

Good Reads

The story of Brooklyn Columbia Central standout running back Micah Raby is captivating, if not from this passage alone about how his adopted parents found him: “Inside the missionary’s hut, on an ordinary table lay an ordinary bible box containing an extraordinary sight, and it caught Doug and Sandy Raby’s eyes and hearts immediately. Inside that bible box – no bigger than a size 10 shoebox – was a 1-month-old boy named Joseph, one of two surviving triplets. His brother did not survive the birth and the birth parents decided to keep the other one, believed to be a girl, because it was the biggest and had the greatest chance of surviving.” – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

Lincoln Alcona announcer Don Franklin first gave voice to the school’s athletic events in 1967, and will retire at the end of this school year with 50 years on the microphone announcing football and a number of other sports over a half century – Alpena News