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Football Follies

October 7, 2014

Notice reached the MHSAA office of a so-called “2014 Michigan Youth Football Classic” that invites youth league teams to “a great weekend of youth tackle football.” For $450 per team, youth football teams will bang bodies for two days – Nov. 8 and 9 – with each team guaranteed at least three games. Three!
No level of football but this – for the youngest players who have the most vulnerable skulls – allows the idiocy of three games in a weekend. Most limit competition to a maximum of one game in a week!
In my opinion, this isn’t a football classic. It’s child abuse.
I wish the foolishness would stop there, but even an organization called USA Football seems to have lost its head. Initially and mostly with funding from the NFL, USA Football was focused on teaching youth football coaches and players safe blocking and tackling techniques. Good.
But now this pseudo-national governing body for amateur football is planning events for various age groups that will extend tackle football practices and games throughout what used to be an off-season. Multiple competitions in tackle football are scheduled for high school age players in January, February and July of 2015.
At a time when professional, college, school and Pop Warner football are all reducing contact during practices in-season, USA Football wants to expand the contact experience out of season. It makes about as much sense as three games in a weekend.
Unforgettable 5ive

Unforgettable 5ive: 2021 11-Player Football Finals

By Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

December 1, 2021

Here's a look at our Playoff Week 4 "Unforgettable 5ive" from MHSAA.tv and MHSAA media partner broadcasts:

► Belleville's Jeremiah Caldwell hauls in the 72-yard touchdown pass from Bryce Underwood in a 55-33 Division 1 win over Rochester Adams.

► Warren De La Salle Collegiate's Brady Drogosh breaks for a 45-yard touchdown run in a 41-14 Division 2 win over Traverse City Central.

► Detroit Martin Luther King gets a huge 4th-down stop against DeWitt to preserve a Division 3 victory, 25-21.

► Hunter Shaw's 33-yard walk-off field goal clinches Chelsea's 55-52 come-from-behind Division 4 win over Hudsonville Unity Christian.

► Grand Rapids Catholic Central's Nolan Zeigler takes the John Passinault pass 59 yards for the score in GRCC's 31-7 win over Marine City in Division 5.

► Dan Shipman intercepts the pass and returns it 29 yards, one of four Lansing Catholic interceptions, in a 16-6 win over Warren Michigan Collegiate in Division 6.

► Pewamo-Westphalia's Dak Ewalt runs it in from 35 yards out as PW defeats Lawton 14-10 in the Division 7 Final.

► Hudson's Nick Kopin scored twice, including this 6-yard run, in a 14-7 win over Beal City in Division 8.