Lacrosse Finals Live on MHSAA.TV
June 5, 2013
The Finals of the MHSAA Girls and Boys Lacrosse Tournaments will be available on the Internet Saturday as the MHSAA Network will have live dedicated video and audio streams of the championship games at East Grand Rapids and Rockford.
It’s the second straight weekend of live video online championship coverage on MHSAA.tv, and the first of two weekends of audio coverage on MHSAANetwork.com.
The Girls Lacrosse Finals at Rockford High School will have the Division 2 game start things off at 2 p.m., with the winners of Wednesday’s Semifinal games pitting East Grand Rapids vs. Okemos, and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood against Livonia Ladywood. The Division 1 game follows at 4:30 p.m., where the winners of Semis between Rockford and Hartland, and Bloomfield Hills Lahser and Ann Arbor Pioneer will play.
Action in the Boys Lacrosse Finals at East Grand Rapids High School also begins at 2 p.m. The first game will be the Division 1 finale between the winners of Wednesday’s Semifinal games – Birmingham Brother Rice vs. Clarkston, and Grand Rapids Forest Hills Eastern/Northern vs. South Lyon. The second game at 4:30 p.m. is in Division 2, where Semifinal winners from the Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central vs. Detroit Country Day, and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood against East Grand Rapids will square off.
All of the live video streams are free and will be archived on the MHSAA.tv Website. DVDs will also be available at MHSAA.tv.
Next weekend, MHSAA.tv will carry live video of the Baseball-Softball Finals on June 15, beginning at 9:30 a.m.; and the Girls Soccer Finals on June 15, beginning at Noon.
MHSAANetwork.com will feature expanded coverage of the Baseball-Softball at Battle Creek, with live audio broadcasts of the Semifinals on June 14; in addition to the Finals the following day and the Girls Soccer Finals.
The Track & Field action continues on the MHSAA.tv website this week, as the running event finals will be added to the site as individual events for on demand viewing.
Division 3 Final: Eaglets Fly Again
November 29, 2011
Five times since its most recent MHSAA football championship, Orchard Lake St. Mary returned to the championship game – and lost.
Saturday night there was no stopping the Eaglets – or their running attack – at the Division 3 Final at Ford Field.
St. Mary rushed for 478 yards – and after near-misses the last two seasons won its first championship since 2000 with a 45-7 win over top-ranked Mount Pleasant.
"I knew what it felt like to lose, so it gave me the fire and other teammates the fire to win,” St. Mary senior running back Spencer McInnis said. “It’s unexplainable. It’s awesome. It’s something I’ve wanted since I was a kid. I always knew I was going to go to St. Mary’s. It’s just a great feeling.”
The Eaglets (12-2) had fallen by eight and three to East Grand Rapids in the last two Finals, and in a five-overtime classic in 2007. They entered the playoffs ranked No. 4 by The Associated Press – but as champions of the Detroit Catholic League Central, which sent three teams to Ford Field this fall.
“It was great to win again,” said St. Mary coach George Porritt, who finished his 23rd season leading the program. “It’s a collective effort from these kids, and it’s been all year long.”
McInnis ran for 213 of the team’s 478 rushing yards, and took three of his 23 carries into the end zone. Junior brother Parker McInnis ran for 96 yards and a score, as did junior fullback Grant Niemiec. Senior James Ross added another running touchdown.
“We were in position to make some tackles, and it wasn’t a scheme thing or guys getting blocked. It’s just that their athletes made our guys miss, or we couldn’t tackle them,” Mount Pleasant coach Jason McIntyre said. “I’ve never seen backs that we couldn’t tackle one on one or two on one. A lot of teams will have one great back, and you can focus and rally there. But they had three and four.”
The Oilers’ usually-strong running game finished with just 122 yards, led by senior quarterback Ryan Elliott’s 40. He also had Mount Pleasant’s lone score. It was the team’s first Finals appearance – and only loss this fall as it finished 13-1.
Junior defensive back Cory Williams led the Oilers with nine tackles. Senior lineman Dylan Zerki led the Eaglets with 11, and Ross had 10.