Watch Spring Finals on Comcast
June 7, 2013
Arrangements have been finalized to have MHSAA spring tournament finals in baseball, lacrosse, soccer and softball shown on a delayed basis on Comcast Channel 900.
The package starts with the airing of Saturday’s (June 8) Lacrosse Finals. The Boys Finals will be shown on Tuesday, with the Division 1 match-up of defending champion Birmingham Brother Rice and Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern at 7 p.m. followed at 9:30 p.m. by the Division 2 title tilt between defending champion Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood. An encore presentation is set for June 15 in the same time slots.
The Girls Lacrosse Finals will debut on Wednesday at 7 p.m., with Rockford facing Bloomfield United in the Division 1 championship followed at 9:30 p.m. by the Division 2 finale pitting defending champion East Grand Rapids against Livonia Ladywood. Those games will get a second airing on June 16, with Division 1 at 3 p.m. and Division 2 at 6 p.m.
The Lacrosse Finals will be available on the Internet Saturday with live dedicated video (MHSAA.tv) and audio (MHSAANetwork.com) streams of the championship games at East Grand Rapids and Rockford. Here’s the complete live schedule:
Boys Lacrosse at East Grand Rapids
2 p.m. – Division 1 – Birmingham Brother Rice vs. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern
4:30 p.m. – Division 2 – Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central vs. Bloomfield Hills Cranbroo-Kingswood
Girls Lacrosse at Rockford
2 p.m. – Division 2 – East Grand Rapids vs. Livonia Ladywood
4:30 p.m. – Division 1 – Rockford vs. Bloomfield United
Next weekend, MHSAA Network coverage will include live streaming audio of the Semifinals and Finals in baseball and softball and live streaming video of the Finals in both of those sports as well as girls soccer. All of the video also will be shown on Comcast Channel 900. The complete schedule can be found on the MHSAA Website.
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.”