Today in the MHSAA: 12/20/18

December 20, 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.

Teams are getting in their final competitions before at least a brief holiday break, and we’re taking one too after today’s list – “Today” will return Jan. 7, although Second Half will continue publishing stories from all over the state during the final week of December and first of January.  

1. Boys Basketball: Gaylord St. Mary broke a 31-game, 14-year losing streak to Bellaire with a 29-26 win – Gaylord Herald Times

2. Boys Basketball: Camden-Frontier improved to 7-0 by handing a first loss to Reading, 57-46 – Hillsdale Daily News

3. Hockey: Evan MacDonald had a hat trick as Division 1 No. 5 Brighton downed reigning Division 3 runner-up Livonia Churchill 4-1 – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

4. Boys Basketball: Mancelona gave Pellston its first loss of this season, 67-65 – Petoskey News-Review

5. Girls Basketball: Waterford Our Lady made a late run to get past Pontiac Notre Dame Prep 61-56 – Oakland Press

6. Wrestling: Grand Haven came back from a 24-0 deficit to defeat Caledonia 39-33 – Grand Haven Tribune

7. Gymnastics: Escanaba remained undefeated to start the season with wins over Marquette and Negaunee – Escanaba Daily Press

8. Boys Basketball: Portland St. Patrick closed on a 22-5 run to beat Fowler 52-42 – Ionia Sentinel-Standard

9. Hockey: Brendan Pellerito had 34 saves as Mattawan shut out Portage Northern 4-0 – JoeInsider.com

10. Wrestling: Division 4 top-ranked Hudson earned a pair of league wins over Blissfield and Onsted – Adrian Daily Telegram

Also of note …

Hockey: The status of high school hockey is on the rise with talent evaluators at the game’s next levels – Observer & Eccentric

Tennis: Longtime coach Paul Bandrowski retired after leading Traverse City St. Francis’ girls and boys teams to a number of strong MHSAA Finals finishes – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Girls Basketball: From Tuesday, Eaton Rapids came back to stun Jackson Northwest 44-41, but the Mounties’ Sydney Shafer went over 1,000 career points – Jackson Citizen Patriot

Boys Swimming & Diving: From Tuesday, Lower Peninsula Division 1 No. 2 Ann Arbor Skyline edged LPD2 top-ranked Dexter 95-90 – We Love Ann Arbor

Today in the MHSAA: 5/23/16

May 23, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

It’s been an exciting few days especially for our track & field and girls tennis teams, which competed in Regionals over the weekend – with some of the many highlights among those linked below.

Baseball

Battle Creek Lakeview’s Ethan Eldridge threw a shutout to lead his team over Harper Creek for their all-city championship, 3-0 – Battle Creek Enquirer

Division 1 No. 4 Rockford swept Division 3 No. 1 Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett 4-1 and 4-2 – Detroit Free Press

Girls Soccer

Pontiac Notre Dame Prep won its first Detroit Catholic League A-B championship in this sport, downing Warren Regina in an overtime shootout – Oakland Press

Softball

Sierra Stoepker drilled a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 14th inning to lead Lake Odessa Lakewood to a 10-9 win over DeWitt in the championship game of the Lansing Softball Classic – Lansing State Journal

Napoleon (32-1) outscored its opponents 32-5 to win a second straight Al Glick Tournament championship, beating Parma Western 3-0 in the final – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

Petoskey won the Lansing Waverly Invitational, opening with a 5-4 win over two-loss Grand Ledge – Petoskey News

Division 3 No. 4 Clinton beat Division 2 No. 7 Muskegon Oakridge and later Division 3 No. 9 Reese for the Best of Michigan Tournament title at Byron Center – Adrian Dailey Telegram

Girls Tennis

Bay City All Saints won its first Regional and qualified for the MHSAA Finals for the first time since 1992 – Bay City Times

Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern edged East Grand Rapids by three points to win its 15th straight Regional, in Division 2 – Grand Rapids Press

Edwardsburg claimed its first Regional title as well, dominating the field to finish six points ahead of the rest in Division 3 – Kalamazoo Gazette

Ludington shared its Division 3 Regional title with Whitehall, and in the process No. 1 doubles pair Julia Flewelling and Claire Maltbie won their 100th match to break the school’s doubles record – Muskegon Chronicle

Division 4 No. 3 Kalamazoo Hackett swept singles to finish ahead of No. 5 Kalamazoo Christian in their Regional – Kalamazoo Gazette

Track & Field

Lake Linden-Hubbell swept boys and girls Regionals for the first time since 1998 – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

The Reese girls edged Frankenmuth 122-121 to win their first Regional title in 22 years – Saginaw News

The Addison boys won their first Regional since 1995, beating Petersburg Summerfield by 12 points, 124-112 – Jackson Citizen-Patriot

The Blanchard Montabella girls won their first Regional title, with the Division 4 victory also the school's first at that level of tournament competition in any sport since 2003 – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Good Read

The Grandville Calvin Christian baseball team will take part this week in fundraising for the medical care of Kyle Petrlich, who is awaiting a second heart transplant and in December required CPR from her brother Griffin, a player on the Calvin Christian baseball team – Grand Rapids Press