Cheer Finals & More LIVE on MHSAA.tv

March 3, 2015

By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director

It’s another big weekend of MHSAA Championship action on MHSAA.tv, with nearly 300 hours of live streaming video in Girls Competitive Cheer and Individual Wrestling, plus Student Broadcast Program-produced coverage of Basketball Districts.

Live streaming this week begins at 2 p.m. Thursday (March 5) from The Palace of Auburn Hills at the Individual Wrestling Finals. A dedicated camera will be on each of 12 mats on the floor, and include full graphics to indicate the participants in each match, plus full in-progress scoring information via Trackwrestling.

Here’s the complete wrestling coverage schedule:

  • Thursday – First Round – 2 p.m.


  • Friday – Rounds 2-3-4 – 8:30 a.m. - Round 2 at 8:30 a.m. is the first Consolation round. Round 3 at 10:30 a.m. is the second round in the Championship bracket. Round 4 at 1:30 p.m. is the second round in the Consolation bracket.


  • Friday – Semifinal Round – 7 p.m.


  • Saturday – Rounds 6-7-8 – 8:30 a.m. - Round 6 at 8:30 a.m. is the third Consolation round. Round 7 at 9:45 a.m. is the fourth Consolation Round. Round 8 at 11 a.m. is the final round in the Consolation bracket.


  • Saturday – Final Round & Awards Presentations – 4:45 p.m.

Girls Competitive Cheer coverage begins Friday (March 6) from The DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids. Here’s the complete schedule:

  • Friday – Division 1 – 6 p.m. (Grand Blanc, Grandville, Hartland, Lake Orion, Livonia Stevenson, Rochester, Rochester Hills Stoney Creek, Sterling Heights Stevenson)


  • Saturday – Division 2 – 10 a.m. (Allen Park, Dearborn Divine Child, DeWitt, Gibraltar Carlson, Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills, Middleville Thornapple Kellogg, Ortonville Brandon, St. Joseph)


  • Saturday - Division 4 – 2 p.m.  (Breckenridge, Hart, Houghton Lake, Hudson, Manistique, Michigan Center, Pewamo-Westphalia, Shelby)


  • Saturday - Division 3 – 6 p.m. (Armada, Comstock Park, Howard City Tri-County, Lake Odessa Lakewood, Onsted, Paw Paw, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Richmond)

The continued wrestling and full cheer coverage is part of six straight weekends of live MHSAA Championship coverage on MHSAA.tv, and online viewers can catch every weekend of action for one low cost of $14.95. 

A Month Pass on MHSAA.tv for $14.95 will give a viewer access to events over a 30-day period from the time it is purchased.  Over the next three weekends of live winter championship coverage, the following events will be featured: 

  • Ice Hockey Semifinals & Finals – March 12-14
  • Girls Gymnastics Finals – March 13-14
  • Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming & Diving Finals – March 14
  • Girls Basketball Semifinals – March 19-20
  • Boys Basketball Semifinals – March 26-27 

A Day Pass is available for $9.95. All events will be available for free on-demand viewing by Wednesday the week following their initial live airing. 

Highlights from last weekend’s Team Wrestling Finals are now available at MHSAA.tv. Two highlight clips – one for each team from each match – are available from the Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals – 56 highlights in all.  You can also view those clips from the Second Half pages of the MHSAA Website:

The School Broadcast Program gives members an opportunity to showcase excellence in their schools by creating video programming of athletic and non-athletic events, with students gaining skills in announcing, camera operation, directing/producing and graphics. The program also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions.

Here’s the schedule of School Broadcast Program members planning to cover varsity competition this week for broadcast on MHSAA.tv  (as of Feb. 23). The following events will have live streaming video unless otherwise indicated:

Monday, March 2
Girls Basketball District Semifinal – Wolverine v. Posen at Hillman, 6 p.m. (Video on Demand)
Girls Basketball District Semifinal – Hancock v. L’Anse at Calumet, 6 p.m. (VOD)
Girls Basketball District Semifinal – Onaway at Hillman, 7:30 p.m. (VOD)
Girls Basketball District Semifinal – Ironwood at Calumet, 7:30 p.m. (VOD)

Tuesday, March 3
Boys Basketball – Wolverine at Posen, 7 p.m.
Boys Basketball – Houghton at Calumet, 7 p.m.
Boys Basketball – Midland Bullock Creek at Pinconning, 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, March 4
Girls Basketball District Final at Hillman, 6 p.m. (VOD)
Girls Basketball District Final at Calumet, 7 p.m. (VOD)

Friday, March 6
Boys Basketball – Byron at Montrose, 7 p.m.

Monday, March 9
Boys Basketball District First Round – Wyoming Lee at Comstock Park, 7 p.m. (VOD)

Live stats of select basketball games are also available on MHSAA.tv. Check out the MHSAA.tv website on game night to see which schools are streaming live stats, or stop by to view stats following games on an On-Demand basis.  A Day Pass to view live stats is $1.95.

All sporting events – live or delayed - are available on MHSAA.tv on a subscription basis for their first 72 hours online. A portion of each subscription is returned to schools originating the broadcast. Video subscriptions run $9.95 for a Day Pass and $14.95 for a Month Pass.  Some schools are also offering Annual Passes at a discounted rate. 

To view all of the recent School Broadcast Program productions, go to MHSAA.tv, click On-Demand on the nav bar of the left side of the page, and on the Filters tab at the top of next page, click on All States and then select Michigan. 

2011 8-Player Final: Carsonville-Port Sanilac Wins Inaugural Title

December 16, 2011

MARQUETTE – Carsonville-Port Sanilac sophomore Dan Rickett emerged from his team’s final huddle of this season, pulled close to an assistant coach and said, “This one says MHSAA this time.”

His Tigers also celebrated a championship last season – a perfect season in fact, but unofficial title because the MHSAA has not yet instituted playoffs for the now 3-year-old sport.

This year, the first playoffs were held. And that made Friday’s 59-20 win over Rapid River at the Superior Dome – and the trophy C-PS then received – mean so much more.

The Tigers are the first MHSAA 8-player football champions.

“All the people saying last year was nothing, this will shut them up,” C-PS senior quarterback Hayden Adams said. “It means a lot more because we actually had to make a run in the playoffs. It’s that much harder, and we had to play that much better every game.

“I think we topped it off at the end of the season.”

A total of 1,433 fans – most wearing Rapid River’s purple and yellow – cheered on the teams in the inaugural game. C-PS finished 12-1 overall to move to 21-1 in coach Tim Brabant’s two seasons. The Rockets finished 11-2 in their first season of 8-player.

The sport was added by the MHSAA in 2009 to provide another option for schools with enrollments so small they had difficulty fielding an 11-player squad. Playoffs were added this season after the necessary 20 schools announced they’d be sponsoring 8-player teams.

That was not lost on either team, even for Rapid River in the loss. The Rockets had won one game each of the last two seasons playing 11-player teams.

“We had never played in the postseason at all since I’ve been here,” Rapid River senior running back Jacob Berglund said. “To make it this far, it’s awesome.”

Offense has reigned in the early stages of the MHSAA 8-player game. The Final kept to that standard.

The teams combined for 901 yards. Adams completed 12 of 17 passes for 324 yards and five touchdowns, and ran for 130 more yards and two scores. Two of his scoring passes were to his brother Trevor Adams, also a senior, including a 43-yarder on the second play of the game. Rickett ran for 78 yards and a touchdown on five carries, and also caught six passes for 133 yards and two scores.

The Tigers jumped out to a 19-0 lead and pushed it to 27-6 by the end of the first quarter. But in 8-player football, a 21-point advantage generally is not a safe one.

Rapid River outscored C-PS in the second quarter to get within 39-20 by halftime. After completing just one pass during the first quarter, Rockets sophomore quarterback Jake Pearson threw for 144 yards and two scores during the second.

But then something somewhat unimaginable happened. The Tigers held the Rockets scoreless the rest of the game.

“At halftime we made some adjustments on what we should do when they motioned. We picked it up real fast,” said C-PS senior linebacker Steven Koehler, who finished with a game-high 20 tackles, including 12 solos.

“I think that the fact they had 10 seniors, and the speed. They’re a year older, two years older in some cases,” Rapid River coach Steve Ostrenga listed as reasons his team had difficulties. “You get two more years of development in that respect as far as strength, and their speed was noticeable. I think that was the big key, their speed.”

Half of C-PS’s players were seniors who had served large roles on this and last season’s teams.

“It’s very fun to watch when we have a group of kids who are that athletic, hard working, and very polite. It’s hard for me to send these guys off,” Brabant said. “I get emotional just thinking about it. But … I know they’re going to be very successful in life.”

The Rockets, meanwhile, graduate just seven players, and also had seven freshmen and three sophomores this fall. Said Pearson, “It was a great learning experience. We know what we have to do for next year now.”

“Now all the teams are going to see what we do,” Adams said. “And they’re going to start doing all the things we do.”

Final Stats and Play-By-Play