Today in the MHSAA: 12/19/17

December 19, 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. Hockey: Division 2 No. 8 Midland Dow pulled within a goal of the lead after falling behind by five, but unranked Saginaw Heritage prevailed with a 6-5 victory – Midland Daily News

2. Girls Basketball: Tiffany Senerius went over 1,000 points for her career as Waterford Our Lady got past West Bloomfield 53-44 – Oakland Press

3. Girls Basketball: Autumn Carpenter’s shot as time expired gave Union City a 29-28 win over Climax-Scotts – Coldwater Daily Reporter

4. Boys Basketball: Ewen-Trout Creek downed Wakefield-Marenisco 47-39 in a matchup of unbeaten teams – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

5. Boys Basketball: Benton Harbor Dream Academy opened its season with a win, handing St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic its first loss 54-52 – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium

6. Boys Basketball: Frankenmuth got past Saginaw Heritage 63-51, led by all-stater Mario Whitley – WNEM

7. Girls Basketball: Calumet’s defense locked down Ontonagon during the final quarter to come away with a 52-38 win – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

8. Girls Basketball: Engadine bounced back from a slow start to get past Rudyard 50-35 – Sault Ste. Marie Evening News

9. Football: You won’t find Mike Centala’s name in the record book with high school coaches who have won over the years, but he was plenty successful during 40 as a middle school coach in the Monroe Jefferson districtMonroe Evening News

10. Football: The Central Lake/Ellsworth co-op won the 8-player Division 1 championship last month, and reunited to celebrate the accomplishment before the respective basketball squads faced off – WPBN

Also of note:

Wrestling: Division 2 No. 3 Gaylord won the 21-team Marquette Challenge, finishing ahead of runner-up Sparta and Division 4 No. 2 New Lothrop – Gaylord Herald Times

Today in the MHSAA: 1/15/16

January 15, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Thursday provided a substantial appetizer for another big weekend with key basketball games, noteworthy swimming and diving finishes and a milestone wrestling victory.

Boys Basketball

Clarkston earned a key Oakland Activities Association Red edge with a win over similarly state-ranked North Farmington, 60-47 – Oakland Press

Frankfort earned a similarly important win in Northwest Conference play, winning a matchup of Class D ranked teams 65-55 over Buckley – Traverse City Record-Eagle

For the second straight day, a basketball team made an incredible comeback; this time, it was East Jackson building off a 21-2 deficit at the end of the first quarter to beat Napoleon 42-39 – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

Olivet junior Delbert Redfield made nine of 11 3-point tries and scored 33 points total to lead the Eagles to a 73-55 win over Lansing Christian – MLive Lansing

Girls Basketball

Warren Cousino handed Grosse Pointe North the latter’s first loss this season, 64-58, to move to 9-1 overall – Macomb Daily

Boys Swimming & Diving

Lower Peninsula Division 3 honorable mention Spring Lake downed No. 4 Hamilton, No. 5 Grand Rapids Christian and Division 2 honorable mention Holland in its best meet of a strong run so far – Grand Haven Tribune

Wrestling

Leslie defeated Olivet (and also lost to Lake Odessa Lakewood) on Thursday, giving Blackhawks coach Todd Stern his 400th career win since taking over as head coach in 1987 – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

Good Reads

Battle of the Fans V kicks off tonight with our first visit to Yale, a finalist as well in 2015 – Port Huron Times-Herald

Grand Haven’s basketball teams will return to their former gym now part of Lakeshore Middle School – Pirates Pit – on Feb. 6 and for the first time since 2007 as the high school gym will be used for the league wrestling meet – Grand Haven Tribune

Vanderbilt’s boys basketball team has one win this season, but it was the first in nearly two years and a testament to the rebuilding of the program under first-year coach Darren Conn and assistant Amie Byelich – Petoskey News