Football Selection Show Goes Global
October 13, 2015
By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director
The watch party of the MHSAA Selection Show on FOX Sports Detroit will go global for the first time Oct. 25, as the 60-minute program announcing the qualifiers and pairings for the MHSAA Football Playoffs also will be streamed online on the FoxSportsDetroit.com website.
Mobile viewing also will be available of the program on FOX Sports GO, which is a free download for Android and iOS devices. The Selection Sunday Show will air live on FOX Sports Detroit at 7 p.m. Oct. 25.
One of the newest members of the MHSAA's School Broadcast Program will debut content Wednesday – live coverage of the Detroit Catholic High School League Boys Soccer Finals. In the first game at 5 p.m., Dearborn Divine Child faces the No. 7 team in the Division 2 coaches poll, Orchard Lake St. Mary's, in the CB title match. The AB championship has Birmingham Brother Rice against Detroit Catholic Central, which is ranked No. 7 in Division 1, at 7 p.m.
The CHSL also will stream its annual football championships Oct. 24 and its girls volleyball finals Oct. 26.
More than two dozen athletic events produced by students involved in the School Broadcast Program are scheduled for the coming week on MHSAA.tv.
In its seventh 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.
Here’s the schedule of School Broadcast Program events planned this week at MHSAA.tv. On-Demand listings may be available as soon as one hour following an event’s completion. (List as of Oct. 13):
Tuesday – Oct. 13
- Allendale at Comstock Park – JV Girls Volleyball – 5 p.m. – LIVE
- Flint Beecher at Montrose – JV Girls Volleyball – 5:55 p.m. – LIVE
- Allendale at Comstock Park – Girls volleyball – 6:10 p.m. - LIVE
- Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern at Cedar Springs – Boys Soccer – 6:45 p.m. – LIVE
- Negaunee at Calumet – Girls Volleyball – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Hillman at Rogers City – Girls Volleyball – 7 p.m. - LIVE
Wednesday – Oct. 14
- Tawas at Pinconning – Girls Volleyball – 6:30 p.m. – LIVE
Thursday – Oct. 15
- Greenville at Cedar Springs – Girls Volleyball – 6 p.m. – LIVE
- Grand Rapids West Catholic at Comstock Park – Girls Volleyball – 6 p.m. – LIVE
- Flint Beecher at Montrose – JV Football – 6:25 p.m. – LIVE
- Allendale at Comstock Park – JV Football – 6:30 p.m. – LIVE
- Marquette at Negaunee – Freshman Football – 6:30 p.m. – On Demand
- Okemos at East Lansing – Girls Volleyball – 6:30 p.m. – On Demand
- Stephenson at Marquette – Girls Volleyball – 7 p.m. - LIVE
Friday – Oct. 16
- Hillman at Whittemore-Prescott – Football – 6:30 p.m. – On Demand
- Ironwood at Calumet – Football – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Allendale at Comstock Park – Football – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Marquette at Negaunee – Football – 7 p.m. – On Demand
- Bellaire at Onaway – Eight-Player Football – 7 p.m. – On Demand
- Rogers City at Oscoda – Football – 7 p.m. – On Demand
- Burton Bendle at Pinconning – Football – 7 p.m. – On Demand
Tuesday – Oct. 20
- Gladstone at Marquette – Girls Volleyball – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Au Gres-Sims at Rogers City – Girls Volleyball – 7 p.m. - LIVE
Weekly highlights from games produced by participants in the MHSAA's School Broadcast Program are back for another school year on MHSAA.TV. This week's highlights are from football games East Kentwood at Rockford and Bloomfield Hills at Lake Orion and a boys soccer semifinal match in the Capital Area Activities Conference Cup between Williamston at East Lansing. Watch this week's highlights below.
Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.
Launching at Midnight every Friday throughout the season is MHSAA Football Friday Overtime on FOX Sports Detroit. Mickey York and Rob Rubick host the weekly 30-minute highlights show. The show will re-air most Saturday and Sunday mornings – and will be archived on the FOX Detroit Website. This week, FFOT will re-air at 6, 8:30 and 11:30 a.m. Saturday; and 7 a.m. Sunday on FOX Sports Detroit.
The following games are scheduled to be highlighted this week on Football Friday Overtime:
- Mayville at Detroit Cesar Chavez
- Southfield at Oak Park
- Detroit Catholic Central vs. Warren DeLaSalle at Wayne State University
- New Haven at Clawson
- St. Clair Shores South Lake at Madison Heights Madison
- Plus – SBP Coverage of East Grand Rapids at Lowell and Ironwood at Calumet.
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.)