Today in the MHSAA: 6/6/16

June 6, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Another busiest week – and busiest day – in MHSAA sports is in the books. So too are Finals champions in track & field and girls tennis, and hundreds of District champions in baseball, softball and girls soccer and Regional champions in girls and boys lacrosse.

We touch on the statewide media coverage of just some of the highlights below.

Baseball

Top-ranked Coldwater won its fifth straight District title, downing No. 10 Marshall 8-4 in the championship game in Division 2 – Battle Creek Enquirer

Unranked Beaverton emerged from a Division 3 District that included No. 2 Sanford Meridian and No. 3 Clare – Midland Daily News

Birmingham Groves got past Birmingham Brother Rice 8-6 in Division 1 to win its first District championship since 2005 – Oakland Press

Boys Lacrosse

Birmingham Brother Rice received a rare scare before downing Clarkston 9-6 in Division 1 – Observer & Eccentric

Okemos won its second straight Division 2 Regional title by surviving Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, 9-8 – Lansing State Journal

Girls Lacrosse

Reigning Division 2 champion East Grand Rapids needed overtime to survive, 11-9, against Grand Rapids Catholic Central – Fox17

Rockford just edged Grand Rapids Forest Hills United 9-8 to move on in Division 1 – Grand Rapids Press

Girls Soccer

Division 3 No. 6 Freeland won its seventh straight District title, this time with a 4-1 championship game clincher over Alma – Midland Daily News

Division 4 No. 2 Elk Rapids moved to 21-0 this season with an 8-0 championship game win over No. 14 Leland – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Softball

Blissfield downed No. 6 Dundee to start Saturday, but top-ranked Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central beat Blissfield 4-1 in 10 innings in the Division 3 championship game – Adrian Daily Telegram

After seeing a 10-year District streak snapped in 2015, New Baltimore Anchor Bay made it 11 in 12 seasons with a 2-1 avenging of last year’s loss to Harrison Township L’Anse Creuse in Division 1 – Macomb Daily

Fulton won its first District title in this sport, downing rival Fowler 8-3 in the Division 4 championship game – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

Girls Tennis

Four MHSAA Lower Peninsula tennis teams won championships: Midland Dow in Division 1 after finishing runner-up in 2015, Bloomfield Hills Marian in Division 2 for the first time since 2013, Detroit County Day in Division 3 breaking a five-year hold on the title by Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, and Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart in a repeat in Division 4 – Second Half

Girls Track & Field

We covered all seven championship meets across both peninsulas, with the following teams winning titles: Oak Park, Lansing Waverly, Ithaca, Fowler, Marquette, Ishpeming and Ontonagon. Ithaca and Lansing Waverly's titles were their first, and Ontonagon’s its first since 1974 – Second Half

Boys Track & Field

We also covered all seven boys meets, with the following champions: Oak Park, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, Sanford Meridian, Saugatuck, Marquette, Ishpeming and Rapid River. Oak Park’s title was its first in the sport – Second Half

Today in the MHSAA: 3/8/19

March 8, 2019

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The Division 2 hockey championship game will be a rematch from 2018 after Thursday’s Semifinals, and the night’s Boys Basketball Regional Finals saw the end of this year’s run for a reigning champion.

1. Hockey: Reigning Division 2 champion and top-ranked Hartland upended No. 4 Birmingham Brother Rice 6-2 to earn an opportunity to repeat – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

2. Boys Basketball: Hudsonville Unity Christian held off reigning Class B champion Benton Harbor to win a Division 2 Regional Final 63-54 – WOOD TV

3. Boys Basketball: Freshman Emoni Bates made his second game-winning shot of this week, sending Ypsilanti Lincoln to the Division 1 Quarterfinals with an 81-79 win over Detroit Catholic Central – Detroit News

4. Hockey: No. 2 Trenton shut out No. 9 Marquette 4-0 to return to the Division 2 championship game – Southgate News-Herald

5. Boys Basketball: Flint Beecher avenged its tournament loss to Unionville-Sebewaing from last season, handing USA its only defeat, 65-42, in a Division 3 Regional Final – WJRT

6. Boys Basketball: Sanford Meridian handed Oscoda its only defeat of the season, 65-44, to win a second straight Division 3 Regional title – Midland Daily News

7. Boys Basketball: East Kentwood continued its week of upsets, following up Tuesday’s win over Muskegon with a Division 1 Regional title-clinching 61-60 victory over Hudsonville – FOX 17

8. Boys Basketball: Grand Rapids South Christian edged Grand Rapids Catholic Central 64-62 in a Division 2 Regional Final – WZZM

9. Boys Basketball: Cassopolis won its first Regional title in 30 years, downing Schoolcraft 62-51 in Division 3 – South Bend Tribune

10. Boys Basketball: Joe Liedel scored 16 fourth-quarter points as Erie Mason came back to defeat Detroit Loyola 59-53 in Division 3 – Monroe News

Also of note …

Unified Sports: WDIV went in-depth with the nationally-recognized Brighton Unified Sports program and the environment of inclusion it’s created at the school – WDIV