Today in the MHSAA: 3/9/17

March 9, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

High winds and power outages couldn’t down Wednesday’s eight MHSAA Hockey Quarterfinals and a number of boys basketball District games all over the state.

Each weekday during the school year, we’ll gather and post media links covering the most significant and intriguing high school events from all over the state. 

Boys Basketball

Detroit Public School League champion Cass Tech got past rival Detroit East English 72-67 in a Class A District Semifinal – MLive-Detroit

Freeland edged Sanford Meridian Early College 46-42 in a Class B matchup of teams that entered the night a combined 36-3 – Saginaw News

Newberry clinched its first District title since 1998, downing St. Ignace 67-55 in Class C – Marquette Mining Journal

Rapid River won its first District title also in more than a decade by downing Rock Mid Peninsula 60-50 in Class D – Escanaba Daily Press

Walled Lake Western and Walled Lake Northern met for the fourth time, with this last matchup going to Western 49-45 in Class A – Oakland Press

Onsted, which had fallen twice to Hillsdale this season, handed the Hornets their first and only loss in a Class B District Semifinal – Hillsdale Daily News

St. Joseph similarly had fallen twice to Portage Central, but came back to win their third matchup 50-47 in Class A – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium

Hockey

No. 3 Brighton returned to the Division 1 Semifinals with a 7-0 win over Lowell – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

Division 1 No. 4 Northville continued its run toward a possible first championship game berth with a 6-2 win over Macomb Dakota – Macomb Daily

Top-ranked Detroit Catholic Central booked a return to the Semifinals with a 6-2 win over Bay City Central/Western in Division 1 – Observer & Eccentric

Grandville also is becoming a regular in the Semifinals and will return after an 8-4 Division 1 win over Rockford – Grand Rapids Press

In a matchup of the top two ranked teams in Division 3, No. 1 Flint Powers Catholic came away with a 3-2 overtime win over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central – Flint Journal

Calumet will play in the Division 3 Semifinals for the first time in six seasons after a 7-3 win over Big Rapids – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

Warren DeLaSalle got past Detroit Country Day 4-0 in Division 3 – Macomb Daily

Dearborn Divine Child continued its surprise Division 3 run with a 4-3 win over Chelsea – Dearborn Press & Guide

Volleyball

Buchanan coach Lisa Holok resigned after 13 seasons and more than 500 victories, plus a trip this past fall to the Class B Semifinals – South Bend Tribune

Good Read

Only a few weeks before Mark Blentlinger was to take over the Schoolcraft bowling program in 2010, his daughter Kyleigh – who helped start the girls team – died suddenly. He thought of her much during the girls team’s run to the Division 4 Semifinals on Friday – Kalamazoo Gazette

Today in the MHSAA: 5/1/17

May 1, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

A loaded weekend of tournament action all over the state was topped by the best in boys golf and girls tennis facing off as their MHSAA postseasons draw near – Lower Peninsula Regionals for both begin in less than three weeks, and we got a preview of how some of the best might shake out at crunch time.

Each weekday during the school year, we’ll gather and post media links covering the most significant and intriguing high school events from all over the state.

Baseball

Division 3 No. 9 Blissfield downed No. 7 Sand Creek 7-3 in their lone matchup, as the second game was canceled because of bad weather – Adrian Daily Telegram

Boys Golf

Top-ranked Detroit Catholic Central won the Division 1 title and overall, and Division 2 No. 4 Flint Powers Catholic and Division 3 No. 2 Big Rapids also won divisional titles at the Traverse City Tee-Off – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Boys Lacrosse

Battle Creek Lakeview came back from a late four-goal deficit to down reigning champion and Division 2 No. 9 Harper Creek and win the Battle Creek All-City Invitational – Battle Creek Enquirer

Softball

Reed City’s softball team led a combined effort with the baseball team to claim the Osceola Royal Rumble, which took into account both teams' efforts combined – Cadillac News

Unranked New Baltimore Anchor Bay downed Division 2 reigning champion and top-ranked Richmond 13-1 in the final of the Macomb Classic #2 – Macomb Daily

Muskegon Mona Shores’ Taylor Dew had two home runs and six RBI going 6 for 6 over a two-game sweep of Whitehall – Muskegon Chronicle

Vicksburg’s Shaidan Knapp also had two home runs and six RBI, in one game, to lead the Division 2 No. 4 Bulldogs to a 10-1 win over Paw Paw – Kalamazoo Gazette

Sydney Pezzoni’s walk-off single gave Division 1 No. 9 Howell a 5-4 win over No. 4 Walled Lake Northern – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

From last week, longtime Trenton coach John Biedenbach went over 1,000 career wins in a victory over Southgate Anderson – Southgate News Herald

Girls Soccer

Caroline Lewis posted a pair of shutouts to lead Adrian to the first Adrian Lenawee Christian Cougar Cup – Adrian Daily Telegram

Girls Tennis

Division 1 No. 3 Northville, No. 1 Midland Dow and No. 8 Port Huron Northern claimed the top three spots at the 33rd Ann Arbor Huron Invitational – Midland Daily News

Division 4 No. 3 Jackson Lumen Christi downed No. 2 Kalamazoo Hackett 5-3 after Hackett had also beaten No. 8 Traverse City St. Francis and lost to No. 4 Ann Arbor Greenhills earlier in the week – Kalamazoo Gazette

Track & Field

Chesaning swept the boys and girls titles at its first home invitational in more than a decade; the boys team is ranked No. 3 in Lower Peninsula Division 3 – Saginaw News

Grand Rapids Christian swept the Grand Rapids Elite Meet titles, while Grand Haven finished runner-up in both competitions; the Eagles boys are No. 5 and the girls No. 6 in LP Division 2 – Grand Haven Tribune

Good Read

Fruitport’s Karson Kriger pitches, hits and plays outfield for his baseball team, also played football and is now giving rodeo a try – and providing inspiration to many doing so without an amputated left forearm – Muskegon Chronicle

Petoskey is mourning the unexpected death of girls tennis coach Dree Lo, a former standout at Okemos, beloved member of her community and longtime contributor to athletics – Petoskey News-Review