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.)
Bally Sports Detroit Set to Announce MHSAA Football Playoff Pairings
By
Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
October 19, 2021
The 288 qualifiers for this season’s Michigan High School Athletic Association Football Playoffs will be announced at 5:30 p.m. Sunday (Oct. 24) on the Bally Sports Detroit primary channel.
Brackets and matchups in all eight divisions for 256 11-player teams and 32 qualifiers across two divisions for 8-player football will be presented during the “Selection Sunday Show,” with all brackets to be posted to the MHSAA Website after the completion of the show at 6:30 p.m. Dates and times for first-round games will be added Monday (Oct. 25).
Viewers also may watch on the Bally Sports Detroit website and app. The MHSAA Playoffs in both divisions are set to begin during the weekend of Oct. 29-30. The 8-Player Playoffs will conclude with both Finals on Nov. 20 at Northern Michigan University’s Superior Dome in Marquette. The 11-Player Finals will be played Nov. 26-27 at Ford Field in Detroit.
Lower Peninsula Boys Soccer District Tournaments continue this week with more than 50 games broadcast on MHSAA.tv and the NFHS Network. Two weeks remain in the volleyball regular season, with a number of key matchups of schools large and small filling a broadcast schedule offering more than 300 matches total this week.
Viewers also will be able to watch more than 175 regular-season football finales on MHSAA.tv this weekend, plus the last of regular-season live broadcasts by Bally Sports Detroit and State Champs! Sports Network. BSD will broadcast live on its primary channel Friday’s Southfield Arts & Technology at River Rouge matchup, with kickoff at 7 p.m. State Champs! Sports Network will broadcast Saturday's second Detroit Catholic League Prep Bowl game between Warren De La Salle Collegiate and Detroit U-D Jesuit at 4:30 p.m. from Ford Field.
See below for links to a number of notable events on MHSAA.tv this week:
BOYS SOCCER
Oct. 19, 5 p.m.: Berkley vs. Detroit U-D Jesuit
Oct. 19, 5 p.m.: Ann Arbor Skyline vs. Saline
Oct. 19, 7 p.m.: Troy vs. Troy Athens
VOLLEYBALL
Oct. 19, 6 p.m.: DeWitt at Okemos
Oct. 19, 7 p.m.: Saline at Ann Arbor Skyline
Oct. 20, 6:45 p.m.: Traverse City West at Cadillac
Oct. 20, 7 p.m.: Frankenmuth at Freeland
Oct. 20, 7:30 p.m.: Beaverton at Clare
Oct. 21, 6:55 p.m.: White Lake Lakeland at Rochester Adams
Oct. 21, 7 p.m.: Dexter at Chelsea
Oct. 21, 7:15 p.m.: Marquette at Kingsford
Oct. 21, 7:30 p.m.: Unionville-Sebewaing at Cass City
Oct. 23, 9 a.m.: Byron Center at Lowell
Oct. 23, 1 p.m.: Hudsonville at Rockford
FOOTBALL
Oct. 21, 7 p.m.: Bark River-Harris at Ishpeming
Oct. 22, 6:35 p.m.: Lansing Catholic at Pewamo-Westphalia
Oct. 22, 7 p.m.: Midland at Midland Dow
Oct. 22, 7 p.m.: Lake Orion at Saline
Oct. 22, 7 p.m.: Saginaw Heritage at Mount Pleasant
Oct. 22, 7 p.m.: Grand Ledge at Holt
Oct. 22, 7 p.m.: Frankenmuth at New Lothrop
Oct. 22, 7 p.m.: Novi at Livonia Churchill
Oct. 22, 7 p.m.: Hartland at Belleville
Click the links below to see all three sports’ listings in full:
Football – Volleyball – Boys Soccer
NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $10.99 per month. Subscribers have access to all live video and streaming statistics across the country. School Broadcast Program participants benefit as a portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program.
More than 400 MHSAA member schools are participants in the School Broadcast Program, now in its 13th year, producing games using traditional hands-on student crews or via Pixellot cameras installed at stadiums and gymnasiums across the state. A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA Website.