Live Finals Continue on MHSAA.tv
March 10, 2015
By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director
It’s another big weekend of live MHSAA Finals video on the MHSAA.tv website with coverage of Girls Gymnastics, Ice Hockey and Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming & Diving Finals beginning Thursday.
The championship coverage will be complimented by Student Broadcast Program on-demand productions of Boys Basketball Districts and Girls Basketball Regionals. Check the MHSAA.tv website for daily schedule updates.
Live streaming this week begins at 5 p.m. Thursday with the first of two Division 2 Semifinal games in the Ice Hockey Tournament. Division 3 and 1 Semifinals follow on Friday with all Finals on Saturday.
Here’s the complete Ice Hockey coverage schedule:
Thursday – Division 2 Semifinals
Escanaba/Traverse City Central Quarterfinal winner v. Livonia Stevenson/Novi winner – 5 p.m.
Romeo/Grosse Pointe South Quarterfinal winner v. Hartland/Birmingham Brother Rice winner – 7:30 p.m.
Friday – Division 3 Semifinals
Wyandotte Roosevelt/Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood Quarterfinal winner v. Riverview/Okemos winner – 11 a.m.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central/Flint Powers Catholic Quarterfinal winner v. Houghton/Sault Ste. Marie winner – 1:30 p.m.
Friday – Division 1 Semifinals
Salem/Detroit U-D Jesuit Quarterfinal winner v. Troy/Detroit Catholic Central winner – 5 p.m.
Jackson/Bay City Central Quarterfinal winner v. Traverse City West/Grandville winner – 7:30 p.m.
Saturday – Finals
10 a.m. – Division 2
2 p.m. – Division 3
6 p.m. – Division 1
Girls Gymnastics coverage begins at 2 p.m. Friday with Team Finals competition at Rockford High School and will be followed Saturday with the Individual Finals beginning at noon. There will be a dedicated camera on each apparatus (Bars, Balance Beam, Floor Exercise, Vault), with an announcer providing information on each channel regarding who is competing in each event at a given time.
Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming and Diving coverage begins at noon Saturday at three locations, with the consolation and championship heats in each swimming event, plus the final round of the diving.
The continued Gymnastics, Hockey and Swimming 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 two weekends of live winter championship coverage, the following events will be featured:
- 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.
The MHSAA Championship Radio Network begins three straight weekends of winter tournament coverage this weekend at the Ice Hockey Semifinals and Finals. The audio stream is available at MHSAANetwork.com. Over the following two weekends, the MHSAA Championship Radio Network also will carry the Semifinals and Finals of the Girls and Boys Basketball Tournaments for distribution on an over-the-air network of radio stations and on the Internet.
Here’s the schedule of School Broadcast Program members planning to cover games in the coming week, which will be available at MHSAA.tv shortly after each game’s conclusion (All games are Video on Demand – Check daily for updates):
Monday, March 9
Boys Basketball District Quarterfinal – Lansing Sexton at Haslett, 6 p.m.
Boys Basketball District Quarterfinal – Midland Bullock Creek vs. Gladwin at Pinconning, 6 p.m.
Boys Basketball District Quarterfinal – Wyoming Lee at Comstock Park, 7 p.m.
Boys Basketball District Quarterfinal – Lowell at Cedar Springs, 7 p.m.
Boys Basketball District Quarterfinal – Fowlerville vs. Lansing Catholic at Haslett, 7:30 p.m.
Boys Basketball District Quarterfinal – Standish-Sterling vs. Essexville Garber at Pinconning, 7:45 p.m.
Wednesday, March 11
Boys Basketball District Semifinal – Grand Rapids Catholic Central vs. Grand Rapids West Catholic at Comstock Park, 6 p.m.
Boys Basketball District Semifinal – Midland Bullock Creek/Gladwin winner vs. Bay City John Glenn at Pinconning, 6 p.m.
Boys Basketball District Semifinal – Lansing Catholic/Fowlerville winner vs. Williamston at Haslett, 6 p.m.
Boys Basketball District Semifinal – Haslett/Lansing Sexton winner vs. Perry at Haslett, 7:30 p.m.
Boys Basketball District Semifinal – Standish-Sterling/Essexville Garber winner at Pinconning, 7:45 p.m.
Boys Basketball District Semifinal – Grand Rapids Forest Hills Eastern vs. Wyoming Lee/Comstock Park winner at Comstock Park, 8 p.m.
Friday, March 13
Boys Basketball District Final at Comstock Park, 7 p.m.
Boys Basketball District final at Pinconning, 7 p.m.
Boys Basketball District final at Haslett, 7 p.m.
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.”