New Year Dawns for MHSAA.tv
January 3, 2013
Welcome back and Happy New Year from MHSAA.tv. Our student broadcasters kept things rolling through the holiday break, leaving you with plenty to watch as you get into the swing of 2013.
Five hockey productions top this week's list of 21 total that can be found by scrolling through the "On Demand" section at the bottom of the MHSAA.tv page. See the bottom of this page as well for this week's highlights package taken from events over the break, and MHSAA Perspective from our John Johnson.
- Rockford vs. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern hockey
- Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood vs. Birmingham Brother Rice hockey
- U-D Jesuit vs. Detroit Catholic Central hockey
- Calumet vs. Houghton hockey
- Calumet vs. Hancock hockey
- Montrose vs. Burton Atherton boys basketball
- Birmingham Brother Rice vs. Madison Heights Bishop Foley boys basketball
- East Kentwood vs. Muskegon boys basketball
- East Kentwood vs. Grand Rapids Christian boys basketball
- Gaylord vs. Cheboygan boys basketball
- Calumet vs. Lake Linden-Hubbell boys basketball
- Hillman vs. Rogers City boys basketball
- Montrose vs. Mount Morris boys basketball
- Oscoda vs. AuGres-Sims boys basketball
- Montrose vs. Mount Morris girls basketball
- Calumet vs. Lake Linden-Hubbell girls basketball
- Kalamazoo Christian vs. Parchment girls basketball
- Tawas, Lincoln Alcona, Whittemore-Prescott, Oscoda wrestling
- Parma Western vs. Mason wrestling
- Comstock Park Invitational wrestling
- Mason vs. Eaton Rapids swimming and diving
MHSAA Perspective: This week's edition talks about the value of reading the instruction manuals for life's gadgets, as well as high school sports - Read The Instructions
MHSAA.tv highlights: This week's School Broadcasting Program package features clips from the East Kentwood/Muskegon boys basketball game and the Calumet/Hancock and U-D Jesuit/Detroit Catholic Central hockey games.
Division 7 Final: Blue Streak
November 29, 2011
DETROIT – Only a few drives into the MHSAA Division 7 Final, Bennett Lewis came to Saginaw Nouvel coach Mike Boyd with a request.
Give me the ball until Pewamo-Westphalia stops me.
Never happened. The senior running back ran for five touchdowns, and his Panthers scored 56 points – both to set or tie MHSAA Finals records.
And both were accomplished over just two quarters as Nouvel cruised to a 56-26 win and its third football championship.
“I can’t say enough how proud I am of my teammates, especially the offensive line. We’ve been playing together a long time and they really executed in the first half,” Lewis said. “Their defense is one of the defenses we can run our offense against really well. We just executed and made big plays. ”
This championship goes with Nouvel’s back-to-back Division 6 titles in 2006 and 2007, and the Panthers finished 13-0 to match their perfect record in 2006. Pewamo-Westphalia made its first appearance in an MHSAA Football Final and finished 13-1.
The Panthers had scored 63 and 62 points, respectively, during the first two rounds of the postseason. And as Boyd said after, he had an offense built for speedy strikes – especially at an inside venue like Ford Field.
Nouvel blew past the previous MHSAA Finals record of 42 points in one half set by both Farmington Hills Harrison in 2000 and Jackson Lumen Christi in 2001.
“Maybe our third drive, Bennett came off the field and came right up to me and said, ‘I want the football. Until they stop me, give me the football,’” Nouvel coach Mike Boyd said. “I said, ‘Absolutely.’
“Great competitors, great leaders. Just a great group.”
Lewis, the Associated Press’ Division 7-8 Player of the Year this fall, ran 15 times for 200 yards – all in the first half – to push his season rushing total to 2,077. The five touchdowns gave him 36 rushing for the fall. Senior quarterback Joseph Buchalski was 7 for 10 passing for 196 yards and three scores. He also ran five times for 50 yards – again, all in the first half.
“That’s the best team I’ve ever played. The fastest. (And) I don’t hesitate to say Bennett Lewis is the best player I’ve ever played,” P-W senior quarterback/cornerback Justin Thelen said. “We fought, and I’m proud of that. But they had us on our heels right away.”
Thelen was 10 for 21 passing for 176 yards and two touchdowns, and senior Alex Thelen ran 16 times for 77 yards and a score. It was a tough end to a courageous run by the Pirates, who suffered through the death of classmate and baseball teammate Brendon Nurenberg in a car crash earlier this month, but battled through with his memory an additional motivator.
“He was just a fun guy. The guys loved being around him. And the guys rallied around that,” P-W coach Brad Weber said. “They did it for Brendon for the most part. They knew he would have fun, so they did too.”