Today in the MHSAA: 11/9/18

November 9, 2018

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

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

Thursday’s 32 Volleyball Regional Finals saw the elimination of 12 top-10 teams but all eight contenders ranked No. 1 or 2 move on as next week’s Quarterfinals were set.

1. Volleyball: No. 2 Pontiac Notre Dame Prep downed No. 3 North Branch in a power-packed Division 2 Regional title matchup – Oakland Press

2. Volleyball: Reigning Class C champion and current top-ranked Bronson moved on in Division 3 with a 3-2 Regional title win over No. 3 Schoolcraft – Sturgis Journal

3. Volleyball: Top-ranked Farmington Hills Mercy continued its run this fall over rival and No. 6 Bloomfield Hills Marian with a Division 1 Regional Final sweep – Oakland Press

4. Volleyball: Unranked Richland Gull Lake avenged two sweeps by No. 3 Mattawan this season with a 3-1 Regional Final win in Division 1 – Kalamazoo Gazette

5. Volleyball: No. 2 Lake Orion swept league rival and No. 9 Rochester Hills Stoney Creek for a Division 1 Regional title – Oakland Press

6. Volleyball: No. 2 Mendon came back from dropping the first set to clinch a Division 4 Regional title with a four-set win over No. 5 Battle Creek St. Philip – Sturgis Journal

7. Volleyball: Honorable mention Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian continued a title-filled run with a 3-1 win over No. 7 North Muskegon in a Division 3 Regional Final – Grand Rapids Press

8. Volleyball: No. 7 Adrian Lenawee Christian came back from a two-set deficit to down No. 3 Camden-Frontier in a Division 4 Regional Final – Adrian Daily Telegram

9. Volleyball: Honorable mention Onaway came back from losing the first set to upset No. 10 Rudyard in five in a Division 4 Regional Final – Alpena News

10. Volleyball: Kingsley won its first Regional since 2009 and ended Cadillac’s streak at nine with a sweep in a Division 2 matchup of honorable mention teams – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Also of note …

Volleyball: No. 5 Manchester swept Bath in Division 3 to earn its first Regional title in 25 years – Jackson Citizen Patriot

Volleyball: Kingston downed No. 8 Merrill in Division 4 to clinch its first Regional title in this sport – Saginaw News

Football: Central Lake coach Rob Heeke has announced his retirement; he led the team to the 8-player Division 1 title in 2017 – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Today in the MHSAA: 12/4/19

December 4, 2019

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Girls basketball season has begun across the state, and we also included a big-time hockey rivalry game in today’s first “Today” of the winter season.

1. Girls Basketball: Jenison picked up an impressive 59-52 win over Hamilton, a Division 2 semifinalist last season – Holland Sentinel

2. Girls Basketball: Two-time reigning Class D/Division 4 champion Adrian Lenawee Christian opened with a 59-48 win over Michigan Center – JTV

3. Girls Basketball: Flint Carman-Ainsworth outlasted Kearsley 57-51 in a rematch of last season’s Division 1 District Final – Flint Journal

4. Girls Basketball: Escanaba earned its first win over Marquette since 2012, 55-46 – Escanaba Daily Press

5. Girls Basketball: Midland Dow downed Freeland 42-26, as the Falcons began their season without recently-deceased coach Tom Zolinski – Midland Daily News

6. Girls Basketball: Traverse City West came back from a 15-point deficit to get past Benzie Central 50-46 in overtime – Traverse City Record-Eagle

7. Girls Basketball: Kent City trailed by 15 early but came all the way back for a 51-48 win over Comstock Park – FOX 17

8. Hockey: Division 2 No. 5 Marquette took a 6-1 win from Escanaba in the Redmen’s home opener – Escanaba Daily Press

9. Girls Basketball: Port Huron Northern outscored St. Clair 16-4 in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 46-32 win – Port Huron Times-Herald

10. Girls Basketball: East Jordan’s Jayden Weber scored 32 points to lead her team past Mancelona 52-27 – Petoskey News-Review

Also of note ...

Unified Sports: From Saturday, Hugh Bernreuter explained some of the success story behind the growing Unified Sports effort as flag football games were played at Ford Field for the second-straight year – Saginaw News