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.)
MHSAA.tv Schedule Includes Boys Soccer Matchups with League Title, District Seeding Implications
By
Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
September 28, 2021
With the boys soccer season drawing to a close over the next two weeks, MHSAA.tv and the NFHS Network will feature a number of matchups in that sport that will impact league championship races and possibly the seeding of the top two teams in each District, the latter to be announced Sunday (Oct. 3).
A pair of games appearing on MHSAA.tv this week will have significant impacts on the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference title race. On Tuesday (Sept. 28), league leader St. Joseph (11-0-2) hosts Stevensville Lakeshore (4-4-2), and on Thursday (Sept. 30) second place Richland Gull Lake (13-1) hosts tied-for-third Portage Northern (7-4-3). Also Tuesday, Ottawa-Kent Conference White leader Grand Rapids Christian (9-4-1) takes on East Grand Rapids (6-2-5) in a matchup of the only two teams undefeated in league play, and Oakland Activities Association Red co-leader Troy (10-0-3) faces third place Rochester Hills Stoney Creek (9-3-3).
The majority of regular-season games will be played by the end of next week, with District play to begin Oct. 13. Seeding of the top two teams in each District bracket – determined by Michigan Power Rating (MPR) – will be determined from results through Saturday (Oct. 2) and announced Sunday (Oct. 3) on the MHSAA Website.
Week 6 of the football regular season again will see more than 150 games broadcast on MHSAA.tv, in addition to the weekly live streams by MHSAA media partners Bally Sports Detroit and State Champs Sports Network. On Friday, Bally will travel to East Grand Rapids for its annual rivalry matchup with Lowell; game time is 7 p.m. with the broadcast on Bally Sports Detroit PLUS, online and on the BSD app. On Saturday, State Champs will stream live the 1 p.m. matchup of Madison Heights Madison at Warren Fitzgerald.
See below for links to a number of notable events on the Network this week:
FOOTBALL
Oct. 1, 6 p.m.: Clare at Marquette
Oct. 1, 6:45 p.m.: Paw Paw at Edwardsburg
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Clarkston at West Bloomfield
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Sterling Heights Stevenson at Clinton Township Chippewa Valley
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Grosse Pointe South at Macomb Dakota
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: New Lothrop at Ovid-Elsie
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Climax-Scotts at Adrian Lenawee Christian
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Detroit Catholic Central at Warren De La Salle Collegiate
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Cadillac at Traverse City Central
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Centreville at Cassopolis
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: St. Joseph at Portage Central
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Central Montcalm at Reed City
VOLLEYBALL
Sept. 28, 5:30 p.m.: Plymouth Christian Academy at Auburn Hills Oakland Christian
Sept. 28, 7 p.m.: Lake Orion at Clarkston
Sept. 29, 6:30 p.m.: Cadillac at Petoskey
BOYS SOCCER
Sept. 28, 6:30 p.m.: Stevensville Lakeshore at St. Joseph
Sept. 28, 6:45 p.m.: Grand Rapids Christian at East Grand Rapids
Sept. 28, 6:55 p.m.: Troy at Rochester Hills Stoney Creek
Sept. 30, 6:40 p.m.: Portage Northern at Richland Gull Lake
The MHSAA.tv schedule total includes more than 300 volleyball and more than 100 boys soccer matches this week. 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.