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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.

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