Steady Stream of MHSAA Finals
May 29, 2013
Spring sports championships take center stage on the MHSAA.tv website the next three Saturdays, with more 80 hours of live streaming video beginning with Saturday’s coverage of running events from the MHSAA Track & Field Finals.
Coverage begins at 10 a.m. with the morning preliminaries in the Lower Peninsula and the 3,200-meter relay final in the Upper Peninsula. The U.P. action will run continuously without a break, while the L.P. coverage takes a break after the semifinals in the 100 and 200 dashes and the high hurdles, resuming at approximately 1 p.m. with the afternoon finals. The afternoon session could begin up to 30 minutes earlier based on the finish of the morning session.
A complete schedule for both peninsulas, and lists of qualifiers, can be found on the Track & Field Pages of the MHSAA website.
The track coverage will be followed on subsequent Saturdays with the Boys & Girls Lacrosse Finals on June 8, beginning at 2 p.m.; the Baseball-Softball Finals on June 15, beginning at 9:30 a.m.; and the Girls Soccer Finals on June 15, beginning at Noon.
All of the live video streams are free and will be archived on the MHSAA.tv Website. DVD’s will also be available at MHSAA.tv.
The MHSAA Network will also stream live audio of the Lacrosse Finals on June 8, the Girls Soccer Finals on June 15, and the Baseball-Softball Finals on June 15. In addition, the Network will also stream live audio of the Semifinal games in both baseball and softball on June 14 from Bailey Park in Battle Creek. All of the live audio streams, and on-demand archives, will be available at MHSAANetwork.com.
This week's MHSAA Classics on the MHSAA.tv website are the 1994 MHSAA Girls Soccer championship games. In the Class A finale, Troy got the game-winning goal from Jenny Long with 14:30 to play, as the Colts topped Brighton, 3-2. In the Class B-C-D finale, With less than four minutes to play, Theresa Syway headed in a pass from Darcey Rasch to give Madison Heights Bishop Foley a 1-0 win over Richland Gull Lake. Click the links to watch these games.
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.