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Playoffs Coming to MHSAA.tv, Fox

October 29, 2014

A big month of live streaming video from MHSAA Tournaments gets underway this week, with the return of the PrepZone on FoxSportsDetroit.com and MHSAA.tv broadcasts of Finals in two sports, plus its own Football Playoff coverage.

It’s the fourth season for the popular PrepZone on FoxSportsDetroit.com, which will provide free live coverage of four Football Playoff games each week for the first four weekends of the tournament.

Games to be covered Friday are:

  • Division 2 – Warren DeLaSalle at Grosse Pointe North
  • Division 4 – Grosse Ile at Chelsea
  • Division 4 – Kalamazoo United (Hackett, Christian, Heritage Christian) at Eaton Rapids
  • Division 6 – Hillsdale at Hanover-Horton

All games will take place Friday at 7 p.m., with short-term archives available on FoxSportsDetroit.com and long-term on-demand viewing on MHSAA.tv.

Boys Soccer coverage on MHSAA.tv begins Wednesday with three live Semifinal games, and wraps up on Saturday with live coverage from Finals sites at Brighton and East Kentwood.  Here’s the full schedule (all coverage by subscription):

Semifinals – Wednesday

  • Finals – Saturday
  • Noon – 2 Finals games (Sites and Divisions TBA after Semifinals)
  • 3 p.m. – 2 Finals games (Sites and Divisions TBA after Semifinals)


Live streaming of the Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals takes place Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. Planned coverage on MHSAA.tv includes a leader cam, split cams at one and two miles and a camera at the top of the MIS press center covering the finish of race. Commentary will come from a team of reporters around the course.  

Here’s the complete schedule (all coverage by subscription unless noted):

  • 9:55 a.m. – On Air – Morning Session
  • 10 a.m. – Division 4 Boys
  • 10:30 a.m. – Division 3 Boys
  • 11 a.m. – Division 4 Girls
  • 11:30 a.m. – Division 2 Girls
  • 12:15 p.m. – Division 3 & 4 Awards (Free video stream)
  • 1:25 p.m. – On Air – Afternoon Session
  • 1:30 p.m. – Division 2 Boys
  • 2 p.m. – Division 1 Boys
  • 2:30 p.m. – Division 2 Girls
  • 3 p.m. – Division 1 Girls
  • 3:45 p.m. – Division 1 & 2 Awards (Free video stream)


MHSAA.tv also will cover two Football Playoff games live each Saturday the first three weeks of the tournament and 12 Semifinal games on Nov. 22. Here’s this week’s schedule (all coverage by subscription):


Coverage of the Girls Volleyball Tournament begins next week, with two District Semifinal Matches each night for four straight nights.  Here’s the complete schedule (all coverage by subscription):

Nov. 3 – Class C at Hanover-Horton

  • Concord v. Jackson Lumen Christi, 5:30 p.m.
  • Napoleon v. Vandercook Lake, 7 p.m.



Nov. 4 – Class C at Calumet

  • Ironwood v. L’Anse, 6 p.m.
  • Calumet v. Hancock, 7:30 p.m.



Nov. 5 – Class B at Frankenmuth

  • Frankenmuth v. Otisville-Lakeville/North Branch winner, 6 p.m.
  • Caro v. Flint Northwestern/Mt. Morris winner, 7:30 p.m.



Nov. 6 – Class A at Hudsonville

  • Jenison v. Grandville/Holland West Ottawa winner, 5 p.m.
  • Hudsonville/Holland winner v. Wyoming/Zeeland East winner, 7 p.m.


A Day Pass subscription to MHSAA.tv is $9.95. A Month Pass subscription is $14.95, enabling purchasers to watch all of this week’s action plus three weeks of coverage of the Girls Volleyball Tournament, weekly Football Playoff coverage and the Preliminaries and Finals of the Lower Peninsula Girls Swimming & Diving Tournament. All events become available for free on demand viewing three days after the date of the contest. 

Radio: The MHSAA Internet Broadcast Network – MHSAANetwork.com – kicks off its Fall audio coverage with the Boys Soccer Finals on Saturday. During the month of November, the MHSAA Network will also provide live free audio of the 8-Player and 11-Player Football Finals and the Semifinals and Finals of the Girls Volleyball Tournament.

School Broadcast Program: A number of events broadcast last week are available on-demand on MHSAA.tv:

Soccer Regionals

  • Bay City Western vs. East Lansing
  • Madison Heights Lamphere vs. Ortonville-Brandon
  • Kalamazoo Hackett vs. St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic
  • Marysville vs. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood
  • Spring Lake vs. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern
  • Grand Rapids Covenant Christian vs. Kalamazoo Heritage Christian
  • Grand Haven vs. Saline
  • Elk Rapids vs. Grant
  • Ludington vs. Tawas
  • Okemos vs. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central
  • Spring Lake vs. East Lansing


Volleyball

  • Montrose vs. Genesee
  • Central Montcalm vs. Big Rapids
  • Calumet vs. Houghton
  • Posen vs. Mio
  • Montrose vs. Saginaw Arts & Sciences
  • Calumet vs. Lake Linden-Hubbell


Football

  • Hillman vs. Hale
  • Negaunee vs. Ishpeming Westwood
  • Whittemore-Prescott vs. Reese
  • Stanton Central Montcalm vs. Lakeview
  • Rockford vs. Holland West Ottawa
  • Pinconning vs. Midland Bullock Creek
  • Comstock Park vs. Sparta
  • Posen vs. Owendale-Gagetown
  • Watervliet vs. Lawton
  • Cedar Springs vs. Ada Forest Hills Eastern

MHSAA Highlights: This week's package includes clips from the Spring Lake/East Lansing soccer and the Midland Bullock Creek/Pinconning and Ishpeming Westwood/Negaunee football games.

Battle of the Fans: Blue Crew Legacy

February 18, 2012

PETOSKEY -- Directly across the gym from the Petoskey student cheering section Friday, a toddler played on the first row of bleachers.

He wasn’t paying much attention to the Northmen’s boys basketball game against West Branch Ogemaw Heights. But he was wearing a blue T-shirt that read “Future Blue Crew” -- guaranteeing he will be soon enough. 

At Petoskey High, a Class A school in a town where families have lived for generations, kids grow up aspiring not just to be the athletes playing for championships -- but also the Blue Crew members cheering them on.

While the other cheering section finalists in this season’s MHSAA “Battle of the Fans” contest were officially organized, for the most part, over the last year or two, Petoskey’s Blue Crew is nearing a decade as a constant at its school’s athletic events -- and a source of community pride. 

“It’s such a legacy. Eighth grade, you’re looking forward to to being even involved in the Blue Crew, ... and now that we’re all seniors, everyone is listening to us, and we just want our teams to do well,” Petoskey senior Hayley Fettig said. “That’s a big part of it. We’re here to support our teams and cheer for our teams, and be a team ourselves.”

Petoskey was the fifth and final stop on the Battle of the Fans tour to find Michigan’s top student cheering section. Over the last five weeks, MHSAA staff and members of its Student Advisory Council also visited Frankenmuth, Reese, Grand Rapids Christian and Rockford. MHSAA-produced videos of all five finalists have been posted on the MHSAAsports YouTube page. Online voting will take place Monday-Thursday on the MHSAA Facebook page (you must “like” our page to vote). The winner will be announced Friday.

 

For most of its basketball history, Petoskey played in its old Central Gymnasium, an arena straight from the movie “Hoosiers” which seats about 1,500 fans and turned into a giant tunnel of cheers and shouts for every home game. But late in the fall of 2002, the newly-built high school opened a much larger gym that not only holds more fans, but also is more cavernous.

 

A bigger room meant a need for bigger spirit. And that sparked the Blue Crew, the brain child of members of the student council, some of whose names are still thrown around the halls to this day -- although the current seniors were in elementary school when it all began. 

About 140 students piled into a “whited out” Blue Crew on Friday, plus 60 more in the jazz band that plays every home game and easily could be confused for one at the college level. To the left of the Crew sat about 50 more students not yet in high school. All sub-high school students are known as “Future Blue Crew,” while teachers are “Old-School Blue Crew.” 

The Blue Crew often stands larger than it did Friday -- but on this night, the junior varsity and freshman basketball teams were playing simultaneously at other sites, and the hockey team was on the road. Petoskey’s Big North Conference foes are spread throughout the northern third of the Lower Peninsula, but the Blue Crew is known for making hours-long trips and constant support. 

Members of the student council still play a big part. Those 12 students, plus 10 more take a one-hour leadership class taught by former girls varsity coach Matt Tamm. His classroom is a hall of memories itself, with photos of teams going back decades. Taking up center spot on a main wall is the original Blue Crew banner including its mission and three directives for generations to come.

“When I was younger, the older kids always told us, ‘You have to watch how we do this so when you’re older, you can do it how we did it,’ senior Brad Berkau said.

“You begin to learn when you’re younger what we do and how to go about cheering the right away. Not just boasting about our team, but not putting down the other ones too,” senior Nick Godfrey added.  

That “right way” includes refusing to cheer negatively. Petoskey athletic director Gary Hice said it’s been four or five years since he’s had to tell the Crew that one of its cheers was crossing the line. Counselor Karen Starkey, who helps by coordinating parents to cheer with the students, said she hasn’t seen the Blue Crew respond to an opposing cheering section’s negative chant in at least two years.

Instead, the Crew pours its energy into more memorable ventures.

Starkey was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2011, and her first chemotherapy treatment was on a game night. 

She showed up in white, anticipating a white out. Instead, she found the entire Blue Crew in pink -- before receiving a group hug from the 200 or so students there supporting her as well. 

“Those are the things these guys just jump out and do,” Starkey said. “It’s so not necessary, but it was just so cool.”

PHOTOS courtesy of Larry Tracy and CMA Action Photography.