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: 10/15/15
October 15, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Championship are won on a seemingly daily basis in October, and plenty were earned and celebrated Wednesday – but please also check out some great reads at the bottom of this list, including a look at why specialization is increasing as a nationwide concern.
Cross Country
The Saugatuck girls, ranked No. 2 in Lower Peninsula Division 4, won their ninth straight Southwestern Athletic Conference title with 12 runners earning all-league honors – Grand Rapids Press
Boys Soccer
LP Division 2 No. 5 East Lansing capped an impressive run through the Capital Area Activities Conference Gold Cup by winning the final 3-1 over Grand Ledge – Lansing State Journal
LP Division 1 No. 15 East Kentwood secured its 12th Ottawa-Kent Conference Red title in 13 seasons with a 1-0 win over Grandville, helped in part by a pair of players whose ties the program go back to the early years of the run – Grand Rapids Press
LP Division 1 No. 7 Utica Ford shut out No. 14 Fraser to clinch the Macomb Area Conference Red championship – Macomb Daily
Unranked Birmingham Brother Rice stunned LP Division 1 No. 3 Detroit Catholic Central 2-1 in the championship game of the Detroit Catholic League A-B tournament – Oakland Press
LP Division 4 No. 11 Charlevoix clinched a share of the Lake Michigan Conference title with a 3-0 win over Grayling, thanks to a hat trick by Walker Drost – Charlevoix Courier
Saginaw Heritage scored the first goal Flint Powers Catholic had given up since Sept. 12, but the Chargers emerged with a 2-1 win and the overall Saginaw Valley League championship – Flint Journal
Volleyball
Lansing Catholic won the first volleyball league championship in its long history, beating Fowlerville in three sets to claim a share of the CAAC White title – Lansing State Journal
Good Reads
Single-sport specialization has become a topic of national focus and concern, and MHSAA Executive Director Jack Roberts was among association directors talked to for this report on why it’s a health-related issue and how states are working to promote multi-sport participation instead – NFHS.org
Vandercook Lake is enjoying its best football season in 45 years and plays for a league title this weekend, and is led by a three-sport athlete who has been on a long road back after Crohn’s disease led to his shedding 90 pounds only two years ago – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
The Christmas tree standing tall in front of the Capitol in Lansing this winter will come from Wakefield thanks to a donation by Florence Daniels in honor of her husband Jim, who coached Wakefield High's boys basketball team to 355 wins, 12 district the five regional titles in 28 seasons. He also was a member of Channing High’s Upper Peninsula championship team in 1944 and coached Al Inkala, who went on to become an MHSAA championship-winning girls tennis coach at Okemos – Lansing State Journal