Today on the MHSAA Network
June 2, 2012
Spring sports tournaments conclude over the next three weekends, and beginning today the MHSAA Network will provide live video coverage of championships of Girls and Boys Track & Field, Girls and Boys Lacrosse, Baseball, Lower Peninsula Girls Soccer, and Softball online at MHSAA.tv and FoxSportsDetroit.com.
Over the next three weekends, nearly 80 hours of live championship activity will be produced by PlayOn! Sports Midwest for internet viewing; today it begins with live track coverage from East Kentwood High School in Lower Peninsula Division 1, Houseman Field in Grand Rapids in Lower Peninsula Division 2, Comstock Park in Lower Peninsula Division 3, Jenison High School in Lower Peninsula Division 4, and Kingsford High School in the Upper Peninsula. All will begin at approximately 10 a.m.
Morning coverage in the Lower Peninsula will include the Finals of the 3,200 Relay; as well as the preliminaries and semifinals in the 100 and 200-Meter Dashes and the High Hurdles. Afternoon coverage begins at approximately 12:30 p.m. of all other running finals.
For the Upper Peninsula Finals, the 3,200-Meter Relay Finals begin at 10 a.m., and all other running Finals begin at Noon.
Coverage later this month will include the championship games in Baseball, Lacrosse, Soccer and Softball also being shown on a delayed basis on Fox Sports Detroit and Fox Sports Detroit PLUS beginning in late June. Highlights of MHSAA Finals in Lower Peninsula Boys Golf, Upper Peninsula Girls and Boys Golf, Upper Peninsula Boys Tennis, and Track & Field will be shown during the summer on Fox Sports Detroit on the Spring Super Show.
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.”