Today in the MHSAA: 9/9/19

September 9, 2019

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Unranked – and probably soon-to-ranked – volleyball and soccer teams dominated the top half of today’s list of achievers from an invitational-filled weekend across a number of sports. 

1. Volleyball: Unranked Beaverton defeated Division 3 No. 4 Bronson in the final to claim Bay City Central’s Mitten Bay Invitational title – Midland Daily News

2. Volleyball: Also-unranked Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern downed Division 1 No. 6 Grand Haven and then honorable mention Northville to win the Grand Haven Invitational – Grand Haven Tribune

3. Cross Country: The East Grand Rapids, Ada Forest Hills Eastern and Pewamo-Westphalia girls and Ann Arbor Skyline, Haslett and Hanover-Horton boys won championships at the Bath Bret Clements Invitational – Athletic.net 

4. Boys Soccer: Unranked Portage Northern made a number of stops in getting past Division 2 top-ranked Mattawan 1-0 – JoeInsider.com

5. Girls Swimming & Diving: Chelsea, No. 4 in Lower Peninsula Division 3, edged LPD2 honorable mention Grand Rapids Northview to win the DeWitt Invitational – Chelsea Sun Times News 

6. Cross Country: Brighton’s boys and Troy’s girls won Gold division Averill Invitational championships at Kensington Metropark – Athletic.net

7. Cross Country: Traverse City teams swept titles at the Bullock Creek Lancer Invitational, the West girls and St. Francis boys claiming championships – Traverse City Record-Eagle

8. Volleyball: Petoskey finished the day 6-0 and defeated Midland Dow in the final to win its home invitational – Petoskey News-Review

9. Cross Country: The Petoskey girls and Charlevoix boys won Charlevoix Mud Run championships – Petoskey News-Review

10. Volleyball: Kingsford repeated as the Great 8 Tournament champion at West Iron County – Iron Mountain Daily News

Today in the MHSAA: 12/4/19

December 4, 2019

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Girls basketball season has begun across the state, and we also included a big-time hockey rivalry game in today’s first “Today” of the winter season.

1. Girls Basketball: Jenison picked up an impressive 59-52 win over Hamilton, a Division 2 semifinalist last season – Holland Sentinel

2. Girls Basketball: Two-time reigning Class D/Division 4 champion Adrian Lenawee Christian opened with a 59-48 win over Michigan Center – JTV

3. Girls Basketball: Flint Carman-Ainsworth outlasted Kearsley 57-51 in a rematch of last season’s Division 1 District Final – Flint Journal

4. Girls Basketball: Escanaba earned its first win over Marquette since 2012, 55-46 – Escanaba Daily Press

5. Girls Basketball: Midland Dow downed Freeland 42-26, as the Falcons began their season without recently-deceased coach Tom Zolinski – Midland Daily News

6. Girls Basketball: Traverse City West came back from a 15-point deficit to get past Benzie Central 50-46 in overtime – Traverse City Record-Eagle

7. Girls Basketball: Kent City trailed by 15 early but came all the way back for a 51-48 win over Comstock Park – FOX 17

8. Hockey: Division 2 No. 5 Marquette took a 6-1 win from Escanaba in the Redmen’s home opener – Escanaba Daily Press

9. Girls Basketball: Port Huron Northern outscored St. Clair 16-4 in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 46-32 win – Port Huron Times-Herald

10. Girls Basketball: East Jordan’s Jayden Weber scored 32 points to lead her team past Mancelona 52-27 – Petoskey News-Review

Also of note ...

Unified Sports: From Saturday, Hugh Bernreuter explained some of the success story behind the growing Unified Sports effort as flag football games were played at Ford Field for the second-straight year – Saginaw News