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Montrose To Be Recognized Friday

September 13, 2016

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director

Montrose High School, the MHSAA School Broadcast Program of the Year for the third straight year, will be honored at halftime of the Flint Beecher at Montrose football game on Friday (Sept. 16). Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Montrose won the Program of the Year honor again in 2015-16 and was also honored by the NFHS Network as one of its Elite SBP schools nationwide. In addition to repeating as the top school in the program, Montrose captured first place honors in three of the five individual categories.

Montrose took first place in Best Student Play-By-Play (Eric Vandefifer and Conner Pyrc – Boys Basketball game v. Goodrich), and the top two spots for Best Produced Commercial/Feature (Eric Vandefifer, Conner Pyrc, Jared Adams, Mandy Ramsey, John Blackford – Ford Field Trip Feature; and Amanda Ramsey, Jared Adams, Alyssa Bernard, –  RAINN Sexual Assault PSA).  The program also took second and third place for Best Use of PlayOn! Sports Graphics (Eric Vandefifer, Conner Pyrc, Jared Adams, Mandy Ramsey, John Blackford – Boys Basketball game v. Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy; and Peyton Hobson, John Blackford, Conner Pyrc – Boys Basketball game v. Corunna); and third place in Best Multicamera Production (Eric Vandefifer, Conner Pyrc, Jared Adams, Mandy Ramsey, John Blackford – Boys Basketball game v. Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy). Montrose also demonstrated during the year a good blend of productions in a variety of sports covered, the ability to cover home and away events and an overall command of the PlayOn! Sports software used for graphics and inserting commercials/features during the course of productions.

The presentation will be shown live on MHSAA.tv as one of a number of live events being streamed online this year by School Broadcast Program members.

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 delayed - 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 this week’s MHSAA.tv schedule of video streams available being produced by SBP members, as well as live stats from MHSAA member schools using Digital Scout:

Tuesday – Sept. 13

Wednesday – Sept. 14

Thursday – Sept. 15

Friday – Sept. 16

  • Football – Flint Beecher at Montrose – 6:45 p.m. – LIVE
  • Football – Escanaba at Marquette – 7 p.m. – LIVE
  • Football – Lansing Eastern at East Lansing – 7 p.m. – On Demand
  • Football – Farwell at Clare – 7 p.m. – LIVE
  • Football – Hillman at Rogers City – 7 p.m. – LIVE
  • Football – Oxford at Lake Orion – 7 p.m. – LIVE VIDEO & STATS
  • Football – Allendale at Comstock Park – 7 p.m. – LIVE VIDEO & STATS
  • Football – Star International Academy v. Detroit Cesar Chavez Academy – 4:30 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Livonia Churchill v. Plymouth – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Maple City Glen Lake v. Onekama – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Grand Ledge v. Okemos – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central v. Greenville – STATS
  • Football – Grass Lake v. Manchester – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Grand Rapids Christian v. Grand Rapids South Christian – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Oakland Christian v. Sterling Heights Parkway Christian – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Harbor Beach v. Marlette – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Eaton Rapids v. Fowlerville – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Grand Haven v. Holland West Ottawa – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Brighton v. South Lyon – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Hart v. Whitehall – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Grand Traverse Academy v. Marion – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Addison v. Napoleon – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Fenton v. Flint Kearsley – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Davison v. Flint Southwestern Academy – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Hanover-Horton v. Vandercook Lake – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Lake Odessa Lakewood v. Vermontville Maple Valley – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Corunna v. Goodrich – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Bellevue v. Adrian Lenawee Christian – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – New Boston Huron v. Monroe SMCC – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Grosse Pointe South v. Utica Ford – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Midland v. Mt. Pleasant – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Flint Hamady v. New Lothrop – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Iron Mountain v. Negaunee – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Houghton Lake v. Sanford Meridian – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Erie-Mason v. Hillsdale – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Calumet v. Houghton – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Saginaw Arthur Hill v. Bay City Central – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Laingsburg v. Potterville – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Owosso v. Lansing Waverly – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian v. Grandville Calvin Christian – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Port Huron Northern v. St. Clair – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Hemlock v. St. Louis – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Stanton Central Montcalm v. Newaygo – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Battle Creek Harper Creek v. Hastings – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Dryden v. Mayville – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – St. Clair Shores Lakeview v. Madison Heights Madison – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Adrian v. Tecumseh – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Portage Central v. Traverse City Central – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Lansing Everett v. Holt – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – North Muskegon v. Ravenna – 7 p.m. – STATS
  • Football – Coopersville v. Sparta – 7 p.m. – STATS

Saturday, Sept. 17

  • Football – Lutheran Westland v. Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest – 1 p.m. - STATS

Tuesday – Sept. 20

The NFHS Network has announced new pricing for 2016-17, eliminating the Day Pass and lowering the cost of a Month Pass to $9.95. Subscribers will have access to all live video and streaming statistics across the country. All content becomes available for free, on demand viewing 72 hours after being shown live. Some schools also will be selling Annual Passes at a discounted rate. A portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program.

The SBP programming schedule is expected to expand now that school is in session across the state.  A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA website. Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office. 

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 package includes clips from the St. Clair/Clinton Township Clintondale and Traverse City Central/West football games, plus highlights from the Central/West "Patriot Game" festivities.

1975 Class D Football Film Finds Way Back to MHSAA for All to Enjoy Again

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director emeritus

April 11, 2023

Chasing history was one of the most enjoyable parts of serving at the MHSAA for nearly 34 years. Researching information, but especially what I considered for a long time to be talking to the “old guys” (now I’m one of them) and soaking up their verbal histories of our games.

It also involved chasing down old photos, broadcasts and game films – especially those which preceded our more modern video era beginning in the 1990s.

When I arrived at the MHSAA in 1987, there was a shelf of old 16mm film canisters of an assortment of Boys Basketball Finals from the 1950s to the 70s – certainly not a complete set. The Association would shoot some game action from each quarter and the trophy presentations. They’d be sent out to the participating schools to show to the students (I remember watching a Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart game in 1967 when I was in fifth grade). Some would find their way back to the office – most would not.

Will Robinson, the legendary Detroit Public School League coach who led Pershing High School to the league’s first MHSAA titles (in 1967 and 1970) after a district-imposed hiatus from 1931-61 from statewide tournaments, would pull my chain every time we saw each other about those games featuring Spencer Haywood and Ralph Simpson, among others. We never found them.

So it became a project to try and track down as many old game films of state championships as we could.

Any conversation with someone with a history tone always included a question about the whereabouts of a game film or video. One of those recently bore fruit.

When Crystal Falls Forest Park played in the 8-Player Football Finals at the Superior Dome in Marquette back in 2017, I spent a lot of time talking with living legend Bill Santilli, who led the Trojans to the Class D crown in the very first year of the tournament in 1975, and who would later coach the school to a second state title (2007) and serve as athletic director. He said he had a box on his desk collecting dust that he didn’t know what to do with – that box contained an old video tape from that game.

I uttered four little words – “Send It To Me.”

Posing with the championship trophy after the 1975 Class D Football Final are (left to right): Forest Park tight end Bryan LaChapelle, quarterback Richard Mettlach, head coach Dick Mettlach and running back Bill Santilli.After a while the tape arrived in East Lansing, and I got our video production friends at When We Were Young Productions/Rush Media in Wisconsin on it. This winter, they found someone who could convert it and sent me a file that was recently posted to the MHSAASPORTS Channel on YouTube. You can watch the Trojans play Flint Holy Rosary by Clicking Here or watching above.

There are all kinds of old game films/videos and artifacts in attics, closets, garages, etc., in every town.  Two of our Muskegon historians – Ron Pesch, the MHSAA’s history guy; and the old broadcaster, Jim Moyes, who called games on the radio for years in the Port City – can tell stories of their own about discoveries they have made. Moyes found all kinds of mementos while working on his book on the history of high school track & field in Michigan, and sitting with Ron at this year’s Girls Basketball Finals, he told a story of finding the mother lode of photographs from one of his other historical passions – silent film star Buster Keaton – who spent ten summers in the Actor’s Colony in Muskegon.

Pesch found a listing for Eleanor Keaton, Buster’s widow, using a telephone book (remember those?), made a phone call and shortly thereafter, on a vacation to California, was in her living room where he was loaned a photo album and family scrapbook containing all kinds of images from their time in Muskegon. Many of those images appear in a soon-to-be-released documentary, while the album and scrapbook now reside in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences library in Beverly Hills, Calif. You can preview the film by Clicking Here.

So if you think you have something of a state championship that could be utilized on a bigger platform and enjoyed by everyone, drop a note to [email protected]. If something needs to be converted to a more modern format, you’ll get a copy back, and the footage will be eventually viewable on the MHSAA’s YouTube channel.

To help guide your search, think in the following terms:

► Just about anything before 1990. But there are gaps during the 90s that need to be filled as well.

► Only Championship games and Semifinal games, unless something momentous occurred (like Richie Jordan’s 60-point game for Fennville against Bridgman in a Regional Semifinal in 1965, which is still an  all-time tournament single-game record for boys basketball).

► For a list of what’s in the MHSAA archives prior to 2000 – Click Here. A long-term project is to get all of the games on the list and up to about 2010 uploaded to the YouTube channel. Most games from 2013-14 on can be viewed on the NFHS Network, and some games between 2010 and 2013 are available for purchase as DVDs from PrepFilms.com.

PHOTO Posing with the championship trophy after the 1975 Class D Football Final are (left to right): Forest Park tight end Bryan LaChapelle, quarterback Richard Mettlach, head coach Dick Mettlach and running back Bill Santilli.