Today in the MHSAA: 11/29/17
November 29, 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. Girls Basketball: Walled Lake Western broke away late for a 56-51 win over Southfield Arts & Technology, which made the Class A Semifinals last season – Oakland Press
2. Hockey: Division 3 No. 3 Hancock came back from a two-goal deficit in the first period to get past neighbor and No. 7 Houghton 4-2 – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette
3. Girls Basketball: Two-time reigning Class D champion Pittsford opened something of a new chapter with a 50-37 win over Hudson led by a couple of last year’s contributors in bigger roles – Hillsdale Daily News
4. Girls Basketball: Benzonia Benzie Central opened with a 68-33 win over a Cadillac team coming off a Quarterfinal appearance last season – Traverse City Record-Eagle
5. Girls Basketball: Cedarville came back from a five-point deficit with 90 seconds to play to beat Hillman 44-41 in overtime – Sault Ste. Marie Evening News
6. Girls Basketball: After suffering its only regular season loss last winter to Constantine on opening night, Centreville started 1-0 with a 45-31 win over the Falcons – Sturgis Journal
7. Girls Basketball: Reed City outscored Leroy Pine River 16-2 in the third quarter to come back from a halftime deficit and win 37-35 – Manistee News Advocate
8. Hockey: Division 2 No. 8 Marquette put up an impressive 4-0 win over rival Escanaba – Marquette Mining Journal
9. Football: The official formation of a 16-team Western Peninsula Athletic Conference will lead to the end of the Iron Mountain/Kingsford football rivalry after 93 years, two weeks after it was announced that the league schedule wouldn’t leave an opportunity for the 123-year Marquette/Negaunee rivalry to continue; the teams reportedly are forming the league to ensure they have full schedules – Iron Mountain Daily News
10. Football: We always applaud teams that schedule tough, and reigning Division 3 champion Muskegon will do so again in 2018 with Division 2 champion Warren DeLaSalle and semifinalist Detroit Martin Luther King added to the schedule for the first two weeks, respectively – 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