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Back To The Mat On MHSAA TV

February 28, 2017

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director

Whether it’s a takedown or a pyramid, you can watch more than 300 hours of live streaming video on MHSAA.tv this week with Finals in Girls Competitive Cheer and Individual Wrestling taking place, plus the usual serving of games from School Broadcast Program members.

Live Finals streaming this week begins at 2 p.m. Thursday from The Palace of Auburn Hills at the Individual Wrestling Finals. A dedicated camera will be on each of 12 mats on the floor, and include full graphics to indicate the participants in each match, plus full in-progress scoring information via Trackwrestling.

Here’s the complete wrestling coverage schedule:

  • Thursday – First Round – 2 p.m.
  • Friday (March 3) – Rounds 2-3-4 – 8:30 a.m. - Round 2 at 8:30 a.m. is the first Consolation round. Round 3 at about 10:30 a.m. is the second round in the Championship bracket. Round 4 at about 1:30 p.m. is the second round in the Consolation bracket.
  • Friday – Semifinal Round – 7 p.m.
  • Saturday (March 4) – Rounds 6-7-8 – 8:30 a.m. - Round 6 at 8:30 a.m. is the third Consolation round. Round 7 at about 9:45 a.m. is the fourth Consolation Round. Round 8 at about 11 a.m. is the final round in the Consolation bracket.
  • Saturday – Final Round & Awards Presentations – 4:45 p.m.

Girls Competitive Cheer coverage begins Friday from The DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids. Here’s the complete schedule:

  • Friday – Division 1 – 6 p.m. (Brighton, Grandville, Hudsonville, Lake Orion, Rochester, Rochester Adams, Rochester Hills Stoney Creek, Sterling Heights Stevenson)
  • Saturday – Division 2 – 10 a.m. (Allen Park, Charlotte, Dearborn Divine Child, Flint Kearsley, Gibraltar Carlson, Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills, Muskegon Mona Shores, Muskegon Reeths-Puffer)
  • Saturday - Division 4 – 2 p.m.  (Adrian Madison, Breckenridge, Farwell, Houghton Lake, Hudson, Michigan Center, Pewamo-Westphalia, Shelby)
  • Saturday - Division 3 – 6 p.m. (Comstock Park, Flat Rock, Howard City Tri-County, Lake Odessa Lakewood, Monroe Jefferson, Paw Paw, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Richmond)

The continued Wrestling and full Cheer coverage is part of six straight weekends of live MHSAA Championship coverage on MHSAA.tv, and online viewers can catch every weekend of action for one low cost of $9.95. Over the next three weekends of live winter championship coverage, the following events will be featured: 

  • March 9-11 – Ice Hockey Semifinals-Finals
  • March 11 – Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming & Diving Finals
  • March 14 – Girls Basketball Quarterfinals
  • March 16-17 – Girls Basketball Semifinals
  • March 21 – Boys Basketball Quarterfinals
  • March 23-24 – Boys Basketball Semifinals

All events become available for free, on-demand viewing approximately 72 hours following their completion.

In addition to all of the tournament action, regular-season coverage of contests by participants in the MHSAA’s School Broadcast Program will bring more than 30 contests into homes over the coming week.

Included in the coverage: A piece of the Mid-Peninsula Athletic Conference title is on the line Tuesday when Iron Mountain visits Negaunee in boys basketball. Both teams are tied with Norway at 9-2 in league play entering this week’s action. Calumet could lock up a boys basketball title in the West-PAC this week, hosting Houghton and Hancock.

Here’s this week’s MHSAA.tv schedule of live video streams being produced by SBP members (All times Eastern Standard):

Tuesday, Feb. 28

 

Wednesday, March 1

 

Thursday, March 2

 

Friday, March 3

 

Monday, March 6

Be sure to check the Upcoming Events page at MHSAA.tv for schedule additions every day.

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.

Fans also can access scores of games in-progress on the NFHS Network website via ScoreStream. Click on the Scores button in the upper right corner.

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 action from the Team Wrestling Finals and a girls basketball game between Menominee and Marquette.

Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.

Montrose SBP

Ford Field Trip Gives Students Taste of Football Finals Broadcasting

By Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

December 7, 2021

DETROIT – An hour before kickoff of the first game of 11-Player Football Finals weekend – the Division 8 championship decider between Hudson and Beal City – Bally Sports Detroit announcers Evan Stockton and Rob Rubick were busy preparing to call the action from the television booth on the third level of Ford Field.

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.

Mount Pleasant SBP“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.)