Battle of the Fans: Frankenmuth Dance Party
January 21, 2012
FRANKENMUTH -- The hometown Eagles hosted Freeland in a boys basketball game Saturday night.
And a 250-student chicken dance broke out.
Sure, Frankenmuth calls itself “Michigan’s Little Bavaria.” And things were a little ramped up for the student section's "German Night" -- which, by the way, was scheduled long before this game was announced as the first stop on the MHSAA's "Battle of the Fans" tour.
But the rest of the dancing and singing that made up most of the game’s two hours? That’s just the usual for this “Battle of the Fans” finalist. The Eagles student section turns every boys and girls basketball game into a dance party. And everyone in the gym, regardless of allegiance, is invited.
“That is what we are best at. That is what we are known for,” Frankenmuth senior Brennan Webb said. “Since we do it for every single game, all of these other student sections expect that. And when you come to our house, that’s what you’ve got to expect.”
MHSAA staff and its 16-member Student Advisory Council members also will visit "Battle of the Fans" finalists Reese, Grand Rapids Christian, Rockford and Petoskey over the next month and shoot videos that will be part of an online vote on the MHSAA's Facebook page. The winner will be announced Feb. 24, and clips from all five videos will be shown during the Girls and Boys Basketball Finals in March at the Breslin Center.
Eagles leaders met before this season and planned out themes for all 20 regular season games plus every one through a potential MHSAA Finals run. Super Hero night was pretty cool. So was Christmas night. And of course, German night was a hit.
But mostly, it comes back to singing and dancing. Usually, the students bring the music in the form of a boom box. This time, they had a DJ complete with lights flashing over that section of stands.
Webb carries a blue notecard with cheers listed on the front and back -- in case he needs a quick reference during the game. Saturday’s sing-along included some hip-hop, a Bob Seger tune and a Christmas carol. They have chants for specific players on their team, a German chant for after successful free throws, and a breakdown for timeouts “to keep the energy up.”
“The past few years we had pretty funny energetic people,” senior Jacob Fahrenbruch said. “So it kinda took over, and we made every single person come to every single basketball game.”
Someone comes to all of them -- even if the section numbered just five for a game an hour’s drive away and the night before exams earlier this month.
Officials and opposing coaches both have paid compliments to the section for the atmosphere it creates. Students chant “Come on over” to those from opposing cheering sections -- and have had some takers. Eagles cheerers played a half-serious game of red rover with Marysville students during their teams’ volleyball Quarterfinal this fall. Just like the players, the schools’ cheering sections also did a postgame handshake. “We like to make friends,” senior Zack Robinson laughed.
An informal student section has existed for a few years. Themes were set mostly by word of mouth. A group of seniors usually led, but nothing too organized.
This winter, the Eagles got serious.
Seniors Webb, Robinson, Nick Veitengruber, Evan Escott, Jeff Hillman and Fahrenbruch make up a big part of the leadership assembly. They created a Facebook page for announcements. They also take advantage of a 15-minute weekly in-school televised news broadcast to teach cheers to their classmates.
Consider: Roughly 6,500 people live in Frankenmuth and the surrounding township. So during Saturday's halftime, when the Eagles’ student section emptied onto the floor and started chicken dancing, those fans accounted for roughly half of the student body -- and nearly four percent of the school district's population.
Frankenmuth's cheerers have caught some occasional grief from opposing fans when they go on the road. But their enthusiasm, positivity and open invite to join in has led students from other schools to say they wish they could be a part. And, of course, a little making fun of one's self goes a long way.
After a big Freeland shot Saturday, Eagles cheeres chanted, "In our faces!" And after Frankenmuth standout Kent Redford air-balled a shot, his classmates directed the usual "Air ball" chant at him -- all in good fun.
“It usually takes a while, but then we break them in,” Webb said. “That’s how we usually make friends. We make fun of ourselves. (They think) these guys are idiots, but they’re pretty funny. We’ll hang out with them.”
2019 Scholar-Athlete Finalists Announced
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 22, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The 120 finalists for the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Scholar-Athlete Awards for the 2018-19 school year, presented by Farm Bureau Insurance, have been announced.
The program, in its 30th year, has recognized student-athletes since the 1989-90 school year and again this winter will honor 32 individuals from MHSAA member schools who participate in at least one sport in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament.
Farm Bureau Insurance underwrites the Scholar-Athlete Awards and will present a $1,000 scholarship to each recipient. Since the beginning of the program, 768 scholarships have been awarded.
Scholarships will be presented proportionately by school classification, with 12 scholarships to be awarded to Class A student-athletes, six female and six male; eight scholarships will be awarded to Class B student-athletes, four female and four male; six scholarships will be awarded to Class C student-athletes, three female and three male; and four scholarships will be awarded to Class D student-athletes, two female and two male. In addition, two scholarships will be awarded at-large to minority recipients, regardless of school size.
Every MHSAA member high school could submit as many applications as there are scholarships available in its classification, and could have more than one finalist. Detroit Catholic Central has four finalists this year while Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart, Northville and St. Joseph each have three. Twelve schools each have two finalists: Ann Arbor Pioneer, Big Rapids, Davison, Fenton, Grand Rapids West Catholic, Grosse Pointe South, Marlette, Novi, Okemos, Saranac, Traverse City Central and White Lake Lakeland.
Multiple-sport participation remains the norm among applicants. The average sport participation rate of the finalists is 2.4. There are 77 three-plus sport participants in the finalists field, and all but two of the 28 sports in which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments are represented.
Of 418 schools which submitted applicants, 30 submitted the maximum allowed. This year, 1,645 applications were received. All applicants will be presented with certificates commemorating their achievement. Additional Scholar-Athlete information, including a complete list of scholarship nominees, can be found on the MHSAA Website.
The applications were judged by a 65-member committee of school coaches, counselors, faculty members, administrators and board members from MHSAA member schools. Selection of the 32 scholarship recipients will take place in early February. Class C and D scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 5, Class B scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 12 and Class A scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 19. All announcements will be made on the MHSAA Website.
To honor the 32 Scholar-Athlete Award recipients, a ceremony will take place during halftime of the Class C Boys Basketball Final, March 16, at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing.
To be eligible for the award, students must have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.50 (on a 4.0 scale) and previously have won a varsity letter in at least one sport in which the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament. Students also were asked to respond to a series of short essay questions, submit two letters of recommendation and a 500-word essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.
Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan was founded in 1949 by Michigan farmers who wanted an insurance company that worked as hard as they did. Those values still guide the company today and are a big reason why it is known as Michigan’s Insurance Company, dedicated to protecting the farms, families, and businesses of this great state. Farm Bureau Insurance agents across Michigan provide a full range of insurance services—life, home, auto, farm, business, retirement, Lake Estate®, and more—protecting nearly 500,000 Michigan policyholders.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.
2018-19 Scholar-Athlete Award Finalists
BOYS CLASS A
Colin Czajkowski, Brownstown Woodhaven
David DeBacker, Detroit Catholic Central
Joseph Hardenbergh, Detroit Catholic Central
Keegan Koehler, Detroit Catholic Central
Ryan Marra, Detroit Catholic Central
Jack Killian, Fenton
Noah Stout, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central
Ryan Downey, Grosse Pointe South
Michael Willard, Grosse Pointe South
Samuel Martens, Holland
Carson Currie, Lapeer
Noah Kinnucan, Muskegon Mona Shores
Daniel McLaughlin, Northville
Matthew George, Novi
Trey Mullins, Novi
Carson Krumm, Okemos
Harrison Poeszat, Orchard Lake St. Mary's
Parker Raymond, Rochester Adams
Nolan Rich, St. Joseph
Edward Roe, Traverse City Central
Michael Song, Troy
John Tisch, Utica
Trent Farquhar, White Lake Lakeland
Avery Robinson, Wyoming
GIRLS CLASS A
Anna Scott, Ann Arbor Huron
Alexa Easter, Ann Arbor Pioneer
EmJ Rennich, Ann Arbor Pioneer
McKenna Evans, Battle Creek Lakeview
Ariella Cuellar, Bay City Central
Emily Moriartey, Davison
Ellie Timmons, Davison
Audrey Whiteside, East Grand Rapids
Chloe Idoni, Fenton
Lexi Loehfelm, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern
Adele Kemp, Greenville
Addison Irish, Hudsonville
Maya Albright, Midland
Mariella Simoncini, Northville
Claire Wan, Northville
Alma Cooper, Okemos
Yveloute Rea, Petoskey
Elizabeth Bulat, Rochester
Megan Corbe, St. Joseph
Cailey Rooker, St. Joseph
Jade Turner, Traverse City Central
Madeline Purvis, Troy Athens
Madeline Rehm, White Lake Lakeland
Megan Morehouse, Zeeland East
BOYS CLASS B
Sam Bussler, Battle Creek Harper Creek
Pierce Morrissey, Big Rapids
Clark Doman, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
Justin Luo, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
Alex Netzley, Cadillac
Noah Doederlein, Carleton Airport
Adam Bruce, Gladstone
Jack Perry, Michigan Center
Connor Swinehart, Newaygo
Michael Gormley, North Branch
Isaac Waffle, Olivet
Tommee Smith, Sparta
Cooper Clark, Stevensville Lakeshore
Dillon Mochty, Tawas
Dylan Day, Tecumseh
Ethan McKenzie, Whitehall
GIRLS CLASS B
Kamryn Cushway, Big Rapids
Salena Prakah-Asante, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
Eleri Giem, Boyne City
Lauren Anderson, Charlotte
Olivia Haring, Clare
Daisy Ansel, Comstock
Sarah Bidgood, Comstock Park
Chloe Bartz, Edwardsburg
Zoe Neirink, Frankenmuth
Bridget Kohane, Grand Rapids West Catholic
Dana Wila, Grand Rapids West Catholic
Lindsey Jurecki, Grosse Ile
Robin LeFevere, Imlay City
Sophie Moccio, Milan
Emily Unger, Montague
Mallory Kean, Yale
BOYS CLASS C
Trey Feldeisen, Ann Arbor Greenhills
Brian Goetz, Blissfield
Timothy Marvin, Byron
Noah Waldron, Concord
Jared Swiontek, East Jackson
Alexander VanDeWeghe, Ithaca
Jack Sumners, Marcellus
Logan Marshall, Marlette
Logan Solgat, Marlette
Dane Smitz, Roscommon
Drew Ward, Saranac
Nathan Huizar, Vassar
GIRLS CLASS C
Sarah Barnes, Houghton Lake
Precious Delos Santos, Indian River Inland Lakes
Riley Poupore, Iron Mountain
Lauren Freeland, Kent City
Megan Dopheide, Lawton
Elizabeth O'Hotzke, Manchester
Joslyn Muth, Manistique
Rachel Allen, Mason County Central
Jordan Cooper, Saranac
Thea Johnson, Saugatuck
Lillian Bambacht, Union City
Jordan Craven, Whitmore Lake
BOYS CLASS D
Jake Lane, Climax-Scotts
Brendan LeClaire, Dollar Bay
William Newbold, Frankfort
John Slivka, Manistee Catholic Central
Ryan Yahner, McBain Northern Michigan Christian
Noah Krepostman, Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart
Brendan Zeien, Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart
Brandon Scheurer, Portland St. Patrick
GIRLS CLASS D
Keagan Fischer, Bellaire
Lyndsi Wolfe, Fulton
Natalie Woodland, Lansing Christian
Samantha Somers, Mackinaw City
Scout Nelson, Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart
Abbey Bullis, Peck
Jessie Rieth, Three Oaks River Valley
Julia Diskin, West Bloomfield Frankel Jewish Academy