All Girls Quarterfinals Live on MHSAA TV
March 13, 2017
By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director
For the first time, all of the Quarterfinal games in the MHSAA Basketball Tournaments will have live streaming video on the MHSAA.tv website, beginning with Tuesday’s (March 14) in the Girls Tournament.
A $9.95 subscription will allow for live viewing of Tuesday’s Quarterfinals, plus Semifinal action on Thursday and Friday (March 16-17) from the Breslin Center in East Lansing, and all of the Quarterfinal and Semifinal games from next week’s Boys Tournament – 56 games in all.
Most of the Quarterfinal games are being produced by participants in the MHSAA’s School Broadcast Program. Here’s the complete schedule, with the producing SBP school in parenthesis:
Class A
- Farmington Hills Mercy vs. Warren Cousino at Southfield A&T High School, 7 p.m. (Center Line)
- Macomb Dakota vs. Flushing at Davison High School, 6 p.m. (Davison)
- Kalamazoo Central vs. East Kentwood at Lansing Eastern Fieldhouse, 7 p.m. (East Lansing)
- Ann Arbor Huron vs. Southfield A&T at Southfield A&T High School, 5:30 p.m. (Center Line)
Class B
- Detroit Mumford vs. Detroit Country Day at Marysville High School, 7 p.m. (Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood)
- Marshall vs. Grand Rapids Catholic Central at Otsego High School, 7 p.m. (Comstock Park)
- Williamston vs. Ypsilanti Arbor Prep at Brighton High School, 7 p.m. (Detroit Catholic Central)
- Freeland vs. Cadillac at Big Rapids High School, 6 p.m. (Cedar Springs & Rockford)
Class C
- Blissfield vs. Detroit Edison PSA at Ypsilanti Community High School, 6:30 p.m. (Riverview Gabriel Richard)
- Flint Hamady vs. Hemlock at Saginaw Heritage High School, 7 p.m. (Mt. Pleasant)
- Schoolcraft vs. Pewamo-Westphalia at Portage Northern High School, 6:30 p.m.
- Maple City Glen Lake vs. St. Ignace at Gaylord High School, 7 p.m. (Charlevoix)
Class D
- Engadine vs. Crystal Falls Forest Park at Negaunee High School, 7 p.m. (Negaunee)
- Waterford Our Lady vs. Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary at Burton Bendle High School, 6 p.m. (Montrose)
- St. Joseph Michigan Lutheran vs. Pittsford at Battle Creek Harper Creek High School, 7 p.m.
- Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart vs. Frankfort at Buckley High School, 7 p.m. (Mancelona)
Coverage of all games will be single camera with graphics. SBP-produced games may also include their own announcers. DVDs of all games can be ordered through MHSAA.tv.
In its eighth year, the School Broadcast Program gives members an opportunity to showcase excellence in their schools by creating video programming of athletic and non-athletic events, with students gaining skills in announcing, camera operation, directing/producing and graphics.
The program also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions.
All sporting events – Live or On-Demand – are available on a subscription basis only for their first 72 hours online. They become available for free, on-demand viewing approximately 72 hours following their completion. A portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program. A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA website.
A weekly staple on the MHSAA.tv website and the MHSAASports Channel on YouTube is back for another year with highlights of selected games last week produced by members of the Association’s School Broadcast Program.
This week’s highlights package includes Girls Basketball Regional Final games St. Ignace vs. Calumet and Flushing vs. Midland Dow.
Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.
Ford Field Trip Gives Students Taste of Football Finals Broadcasting
By
Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
December 7, 2021
Four levels above them, in the press box, a group of prospective broadcasters were touring the facilities. The high school students had spent the Fall sports season streaming games to the NFHS Network and now were learning about a career in broadcasting from Eric Vandefifer, a Montrose High grad currently serving as the radio voice of Saginaw Valley State University basketball and as a contributor to a variety of high school broadcast channels including the MHSAA Network.
Seven years ago, Vandefifer was in a similar situation. He was part of a field trip to Ford Field for the Finals that helped him realize sports broadcasting was a career he wanted to pursue. Those field trips were headed by Tom Skinner and Thom Lengyel, who became mentors to Vandefifer. As a high school junior in 2017, Vandefifer was named Best Student Broadcaster nationally by the NFHS Network.
“With Tom Skinner now deceased and Thom Lengyel retired from the broadcast business, I just felt like I had to continue this and their legacy,” Vandefifer said. “It was important to me to keep it going because when I was in school, it was something I looked forward to.”
Nearly 50 students from Lowell, Montrose, Lake Orion, Mount Pleasant and Ann Arbor Greenhills high schools made the Nov. 26-27 trip to Ford Field. They were able to film highlights, interview players, practice announcing the games, meet other members of the press and more. For Vandefifer, giving back to students who are in the position he once was is very rewarding.
“We had the ability to feel like real media members for a day. I wanted to be able to give other students that same opportunity,” Vandefifer said. “Seeing kids who have a love for sportscasting and that drive to get better gives me real hope for the next generation in this business.”
And after the field trips were done each day, Vandefifer put his headphones on, got behind the microphone and called the two afternoon games for the MHSAA Championship Network.
PHOTOS (Top) Eighth grader Sam Belill, left, and freshman Owen Leitelt from Montrose practice calling a game from the Ford Field press box. (Middle) Mount Pleasant make a stop at the press conference room. (Photos provided by the Montrose and Mount Pleasant School Broadcast Programs.)