See Finals Live on MHSAA.TV and Fox
November 19, 2013
It’s a huge streaming weekend for MHSAA tournaments, with more than 70 hours of live audio and video coverage of three sports on the MHSAA Network and FOX Sports Detroit.
The MHSAA.TV website will host live video of the Girls Volleyball Semifinals and Finals, and the Finals of the Lower Peninsula Girls Swimming & Diving Championships, on a subscription basis. A pass can be purchased for $14.95 to watch all three days of volleyball plus the swimming, or a daily pass is available at $9.95. These events will be available for free on-demand viewing beginning Nov. 27 at MHSAA.TV.
Prep Zone: It’s the last weekend of Prep Zone coverage on the FoxSportsDetroit.com website, with free live coverage of the 8-Player Football Final and four Semifinal games in the 11-Player Football Playoffs. All of these events will be archived at MHSAA.TV.
On Friday, the championship game of the 8-Player Football Playoffs between Peck and Rapid River at Legacy Field in Greenville will take place at 7 p.m., with live streaming video on FoxSportsDetroit.com, and live audio streaming on MHSAANetwork.com. Because of conflicts with collegiate and professional games, the game will be on cable on a delayed basis. It will be shown on FOX Sports Detroit at 9 a.m. Saturday and again on Nov. 26 at 8 p.m. The on-demand video archive will be available shortly after the game’s conclusion at MHSAA.TV.
Below are Saturday's 11-player Prep Zone games. Three kick off at 1 p.m. and Ithaca/Montrose begins at 2 p.m.
- Detroit Catholic Central (10-2) vs. Detroit Cass Tech (12-0) at Troy Athens High School
- Birmingham Brother Rice (12-0) vs. Detroit Martin Luther King (10-1) at Wayne State University
- Ithaca (12-0) vs. Montrose (12-0) at Midland High School
- Muskegon Catholic Central (10-2) vs. New Lothrop (12-0) at Greenville High School
Volleyball Finals: Coverage runs Thursday through Saturday, and free audio of the games is available at MHSAANetwork.com. Here’s the complete schedule with Tuesday Quarterfinal pairings shown:
Thursday – Nov. 21
Class D Semifinals
2 p.m. – Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart/Leland winner vs. Waterford Our Lady/Marine City Cardinal Mooney winner
3:45 p.m. – Brimley/Crystal Falls Forest Park winner vs. Battle Creek St. Philip/Hillsdale Academy winner
Class A Semifinals
5:30 p.m. – Northville/Traverse City West winner vs. Haslett/East Grand Rapids winner
7:15 p.m. – Temperance Bedford/Livonia Stevenson winner vs. Romeo/Bloomfield Hills Marian winner
Friday – Nov. 22
Class C Semifinals
2 p.m. – Unionville-Sebewaing/Grand Rapids Covenant Christian winner vs. Schoolcraft/Mendon winner
3:45 p.m. – Ottawa Lake Whiteford/Auburn Hills Oakland Christian winner vs. Beal City/Calumet winner
Class B Semifinals
5:30 p.m. – Berrien Springs/Grand Rapids South Christian winner vs. Saginaw Swan Valley/Cadillac winner
7:15 p.m. – Pontiac Notre Dame Prep/North Branch winner vs. Monroe St. Mary /Wayland winner
Saturday – Nov. 23
Class D Final – 10 a.m.
Class C Final – Noon
Class A Final – 2 p.m.
Class B Final – 4 p.m.
Swimming & Diving Finals: On Saturday, MHSAA.TV will be home of live streaming video of the Lower Peninsula Girls Swimming & Diving Finals beginning at Noon. The Division 1 Finals will take place at Oakland University; the Division 2 Finals are at Eastern Michigan University and the Holland Aquatics Center will be hosting the Division 3 event.
Last week's action: A number of football Regional Finals and a pair of volleyball Regional games were added oto MHSAA.TV by our partners with the School Broadcast Program:
- Montrose vs. Madison Heights Madison football
- St. Ignace vs. Beal City football
- Melvindale vs. St. Clair football
- Saginaw Swan Valley vs. Lansing Sexton football
- Battle Creek Pennfield vs. Grand Rapids South Christian football
- Comstock Park vs. Cadillac football
- Battle Creek Harper Creek vs. Plainwell volleyball
- Berrien Springs vs. Three Rivers volleyball
MHSAA Perspective: John Johnson spotlights the writings of a former coach and current athletic director who adjusted his perspective about officials by calling his own 30-second timeout - 30-Second Timeout
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.