Today in the MHSAA: 11/5/15

November 5, 2015

Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Finalists for this season’s four MHSAA boys soccer championships were determined Wednesday, while a number of intriguing Volleyball District Finals were set up as well.

Boys Soccer

In a rematch of last season’s Division 1 Final, Canton won again over Rochester Adams, this time in an overtime shootout – Oakland Press

No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central held off No. 5 Detroit Catholic Central 3-1 in their Division 1 Semifinal – Grand Rapids Press

Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern earned its first trip to the MHSAA Finals with a 4-2 win over Mattawan in Division 2 – Grand Rapids Press

Mason’s penalty kick score with two minutes to play gave the No. 8 Bulldogs a 1-0 win over No. 4 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood in Division 2 – Lansing State Journal

No. 3 Williamston eliminated another top-five team, this time No. 5 Grosse Ile, to advance in Division 3 – Lansing State Journal

No. 2 Grand Rapids South Christian earned its fourth trip to the MHSAA Finals in six seasons with a 4-1 win over No. 10 Gladwin in Division 3 – Grand Rapids Press

Undefeated Burton Genesee Christian eliminated top-ranked Lansing Christian in a shootout in their Division 4 Semifinal – Lansing State Journal

Kalamazoo Hackett advanced to the Division 4 Final also by shootout, over Muskegon Western Michigan Christian – Kalamazoo Gazette

Volleyball

Flushing will play in its 11th straight District Final after downing St. Johns in Class A – Flint Journal

Class A No. 3 Grand Rapids Christian earned a rematch with East Grand Rapids by sweeping honorable mention East Kentwood – Grand Rapids Press

Temperance Bedford edged Saline 3-2 in a matchup of two more Class A honorable mentions – AnnArbor.com

Class B No. 7 North Branch faced league rival Frankenmuth one more time, sweeping the Eagles to earn a District Final match against No. 2 Mount Morris – Flint Journal

Class B honorable mention Buchanan set a school record with 46 wins in downing Dowagiac – Niles Daily Star

Class B honorable mention Marysville advanced by sweeping Marine City, a league champion this fall – Port Huron Times-Herald

Ithaca rightly made headlines early this fall by ending a 52-match losing streak to St. Louis, but the Sharks, an honorable mention in Class C, came away with the victory Wednesday – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Montague, No. 3 in Class C, kept building on its strong season by earning its first District Final berth since 2011 with a sweep of Hesperia – Muskegon Chronicle

From Tuesday, Manistique remained undefeated with a Class C victory over Ishpeming – Escanaba Daily Press

Today in the MHSAA: 10/20/15

October 20, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

MHSAA Boys Soccer District play kicked off Monday across the Lower Peninsula, and we also catch up with a pair of big Saturday events, one from each side of the bridge.

Cross Country

From Saturday, the East Lansing girls and Corunna boys won the annual Greater Lansing Invitational against fields loaded with ranked teams; Corunna’s boys were No. 3 in Lower Peninsula Division 2 last week and East Lansing’s girls were unranked – Lansing State Journal

Boys Soccer

Detroit Catholic Central, No. 5 in Division 1, opened district play with a 1-0 win over No. 14 Novi – Oakland Press

Muskegon Orchard View continued a five-game winning streak that’s pushed it past .500 by downing Grant 2-1 in a Division 3 opener – Muskegon Chronicle

Hartland scored to tie Howell with less than two minutes to play in regulation, then won their Division 1 opener in overtime – Livingston Daily

Midland scored just more than a minute into its Division 1 game against Bay City Western and hung on for the 1-0 district victory – Bay City Times

Volleyball

Also from Saturday: Host Houghton defeated Class C honorable mention Calumet in three sets to win the Houghton Invitational, which featured 10 teams from the western half of the Upper Peninsula – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

Girls Basketball

Ann Arbor Pioneer is mourning the loss of girls coach Crystal Westfield, who died Monday after a fight with cancer and only four months after her father, legendary cross country and track and field coach Bryan Westfield, died after fighting another form of the disease. Westfield had coached the basketball team at her alma mater since 1994 and also coached field events under her dad – AnnArbor.com