Today In The MHSAA: 3/24/21

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

March 24, 2021

The final week of hockey and first week of boys basketball playoffs began Tuesday, as the first four ice rink contenders earned trips to USA Hockey Area in Division 2 Quarterfinals – with a matchup of the top two ranked teams one of the highlights of the season so far.

1. Hockey: Top-ranked Byron Center downed No. 2 Hartland 2-1 to advance to the Division 2 Semifinals – FOX 17

2. Hockey: No. 10 Trenton earned its fourth-straight trip to the Semifinals with a 3-1 win over No. 5 Novi in Division 2 – Southgate News-Herald

3. Hockey: For the second-straight season No. 6 Marquette downed No. 9 Traverse City Central in a Division 2 Quarterfinal, this time 1-0 – Up North Live

4. Hockey: No. 3 Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice advanced in Division 2 with a 6-0 win over No. 8 Port Huron Northern – Oakland Press

5. Boys Basketball: Tugg Nichols’ last-second 3-pointer gave Montague another close win over Muskegon Oakridge, this time 66-63 in a Division 3 District opener – Local Sports Journal

6. Boys Basketball: After two losses to Battle Creek Lakeview over the last week, Battle Creek Central won a third matchup 44-39 in a Division 1 District opener – Battle Creek Enquirer

7. Boys Basketball: Brennan Parachek’s 3-pointer at the buzzer took Dexter past Brighton 52-49 in Division 1 – Chelsea Sun Times News

8. Boys Basketball: Bronson got past White Pigeon 57-54 in overtime in Division 3 – Coldwater Daily Reporter

9. Boys Basketball: Cass City also won in overtime in Division 3, 48-43 over Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker – Huron Daily Tribune

10. Boys Basketball: Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central scored during the final seconds to get past Rockford 52-51 in Division 1 – FOX 17

In Memoriam: Chip Mundy (1955-2023)

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

August 16, 2023

When the MHSAA took a significant step in telling the stories of school sports with the introduction of the Second Half website in 2012, Chip Mundy was a natural to lend his expertise after a career doing the same in the Jackson area.

He always took special care in searching out the human interest side of our “stories behind the scores” – and today we remember that dedication as we mourn his death Monday. He was 68.

Chip MundyMundy was a graduate of Jackson Parkside and then served as sports editor at the Brooklyn Exponent and Albion Recorder from 1980-86. He then became a fixture in high school sports coverage as a reporter and later copy editor at the Jackson Citizen Patriot from 1986-2011.

Mundy was one of the original correspondents when Second Half took on a regional component beginning with the 2015-16 school year, thoughtfully providing biweekly features from the “Southeast & Border” area that includes Jackson, Ann Arbor, Monroe and the host of smaller communities north of the Michigan/Ohio line. Before the beginning of 2H’s “Region Reports,” Mundy also was among the first to begin producing coverage of MHSAA Finals for the site as Second Half started in part with a mission of covering all MHSAA championship events.

He admittedly ended up reporting on some sports he’d rarely or never covered before, and admittedly often wrote a little longer than he’d intended – but in his own words, because “there were so many stories” or “the story was so good.”

Click to read many of his features for the Second Half website.