Prep Bowl Highlights Streaming Schedule
October 18, 2016
By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director
The final weekend of the football regular season on MHSAA.tv will be highlighted by live games on Saturday (Oct. 22) from Ford Field in Detroit from the Detroit Catholic High School League’s annual Prep Bowl festivities.
A full day of football and honors to teams from the youth to the high school level will feature three championship games: Dearborn Divine Child v. Detroit Loyola in the Prep Bowl Final at 1 p.m., Waterford Our Lady vs. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood in the CD Division Championship at 4 p.m. and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s vs. Detroit Catholic Central in the AB Division Championship at 7 p.m.
The Prep Bowl on Saturday then leads into Selection Sunday, where the official announcement of qualifiers and first-round pairings for the MHSAA Football Playoffs, powered by the Michigan Army National Guard, will take place.
This year’s show is set for 7 p.m. (EDT) on Sunday (Oct. 23), originating from the FOX Sports Detroit studios in Southfield. Matt Shepard, Justin White and Rob Rubick will handle the on-camera duties. In addition to the cable television broadcast, the show will be available via a live video stream on the FoxSportsDetroit.com website, and for mobile users on FOX Sports GO!
There is one game with playoff implications Friday (Oct. 21) night with live streaming video on MHSAA.tv being produced by members of the School Broadcast Program. Flint Powers Catholic (5-3) heads into Davison (8-0) looking for a chance to qualify.
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.
Tuesday, Oct. 18
- Girls Volleyball – Morrice at Montrose, 6 p.m.
- Girls Volleyball – Houghton at Calumet, 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 20
- Girls Volleyball – Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central at Cedar Springs, 6 p.m.
- Girls Volleyball – Spring Lake at Comstock Park, 6 p.m.
- Girls Volleyball – Lake Linden-Hubbell at Calumet, 6:30 p.m.
- Football – Ishpeming Westwood at Negaunee, 7 p.m.
- Girls Volleyball – Kingsford at Marquette, 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 21
- Football – Birch Run at Montrose, 7 p.m.
- Football – Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills at Cedar Springs, 7 p.m.
- Football – Manton at Rogers City, 7 p.m.
- Football – Spring Lake at Comstock Park, 7 p.m.
- Football – Flint Powers Catholic at Davison, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 22
- Football – Dearborn Divine Child v. Detroit Loyola, 1 p.m.
- Football – Waterford Our Lady v. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 4 p.m.
- Football – Orchard Lake St. Mary’s v. Detroit Catholic Central, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 24
- JV Girls Volleyball – Sault Ste. Marie at Rogers City, 6 p.m.
- Girls Volleyball – Sault Ste. Marie at Rogers City, 6 p.m.
- Girls Volleyball – Corunna at Goodrich, 7 p.m.
A subscription to watch programming on the MHSAA.tv website is $9.95 for a Month Pass, and if purchased this weekend, a viewer would have access all of the live MHSAA Tournament action online during November. That schedule includes:
- Saturday Specials - Weekly Football Playoff Coverage on Oct. 29, Nov. 5 and Nov. 12
- MHSAA Boys Soccer Finals on Nov. 5
- MHSAA Girls Volleyball Semifinals & Finals – Nov. 17-19
- MHSAA Lower Peninsula Girls Swimming & Diving Finals – Nov. 19
- Super Streaming Saturday – All 16 Football Semifinal Games – Nov. 19
Fans also can access scores of games in-progress on the NFHS Network website via ScoreStream. Click on the Scores button in the upper right corner.
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 highlights package consists of clips from football games Montrose at Saginaw Nouvel and Petoskey at Alpena and a girls volleyball match, L’Anse at Calumet.
Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.
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.)