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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.

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.)