Prep Zone Returns for Football Playoffs

October 28, 2015

By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director

For the fifth straight season, FOX Sports Detroit will provide live streaming video coverage of four games from each of the first four rounds of the MHSAA Football Playoffs – presented by the Michigan Army National Guard – on the PrepZone on FoxSportsDetroit.com.

Pre-District games on the PrepZone this Friday (Oct. 30) are:

  • Clarkston at Romeo
  • Farmington Hills Harrison at Birmingham Groves
  • Mason at St. Johns
  • Flint Powers Catholic at Goodrich

All PrepZone games will be live at 7 p.m. Fridays the first three weekends of tournament play, and the Semifinal games Nov. 21 starting at 1 p.m. will be part of a package with MHSAA.tv where all 16 games will be live on the Internet.

Fans can watch PrepZone games on their computer or handheld devices and follow these instructions:

On Your Desktop/Laptop Computer

  • Go to FOXSportsGo.com
  • Click on the “All Chs” menu at the bottom left of the page
  • Select “FOX Sports Go Extras”

On Your Handheld Device

  • Download the free FOX Sports Go app from your store
  • Click on the “All Channels” menu at the top of the app
  • Select “FOX Sports Go Extras”

All PrepZone games will be archived on MHSAA.tv.

A number of Football Playoff games will be covered by MHSAA members participating in the School Broadcast Program this week, including three Saturday (Oct. 31) games which will be available live on a subscription basis.  SBP produced games being shown live this week at 1 p.m. Saturday are:

  • Gaylord at Mt. Pleasant
  • Crystal Falls Forest Park at Lake Linden-Hubbell

A Day Pass to watch live on MHSAA.tv is $9.95.  A Month Pass is $14.95, and would also allow access to the full schedule of MHSAA Tournaments during the month of November:

  • Nov. 4 – Selected Boys Soccer Semifinals
  • Nov. 7 – Boys Soccer Finals
  • Nov. 7 – Selected Football Playoff District Finals
  • Nov. 14 – Selected Football Playoff Regional Finals
  • Nov. 19-20 – Girls Volleyball Semifinals & Finals
  • Nov. 21 – Lower Peninsula Girls Swimming & Diving Finals
  • Nov. 21 – Football Playoff Semifinals (12 games)

Other Football Playoff games available on an On Demand basis being produced by SBP schools this week are:

In its seventh 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 On-Demand - 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.

Launching at Midnight every Friday throughout the season is MHSAA Football Friday Overtime on FOX Sports Detroit.  Mickey York and Rob Rubick host the weekly 30-minute highlights show.  The show will re-air most Saturday and Sunday mornings – and will be archived on the FOX Detroit Website.  This week, FFOT will re-air at 6 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. Sunday on FOX Sports Detroit. 

The following games are scheduled to be highlighted this week on Football Friday Overtime:

  • Detroit Denby at Detroit Collegiate Prep
  • Marysville at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep
  • Bay City John Glenn at Orchard Lake St. Mary's
  • Riverview at Allen Park
  • Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett at Riverview Gabriel Richard
  • PLUS – Highlights from this week’s PrepZone games.

This week's School Broadcast Program highlights (see below) include football games with Otsego at Plainwell and Hudsonville at Rockford and a volleyball match, Bay City John Glenn at Pinconning.     

Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.

Football Week in Michigan Airs on FOX

October 10, 2017

By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
 

The MHSAA Football Playoff Finals – powered by the Michigan Army National Guard – dominate the schedule for FOX Sports Detroit’s first annual “Football Week In Michigan” this November.

Over eight days – November 18-25 – the best in high school, college and professional football involving Michigan teams will be featured on a variety of FOX video platforms – FOX Sports Detroit, FS1, FOX Sports GO!, Big Ten Network and FOX over-the-air television.

MHSAA championship football games provide 10 of the 13 games during FWIM. The prep schedule begins on Nov. 18 with the two divisions of the 8-Player Football Finals live from the Superior Dome in Marquette on FOX Sports GO! Those games will then be re-aired early in the week on FOX Sports Detroit. 

Seven of the eight 11-Player Football Finals on Nov. 24-25 will be shown live on FOX Sports Detroit-PLUS, the exception being the Division 4 game on Nov. 24, which will be shown on a same-day delayed basis on FOX Sports Detroit that evening at 11:30 p.m. All of the 11-Player Finals will be available live on FOX Sports Go!

Over-the-air FOX television affiliates in Michigan also will have the option to carry 11-Player Final games in their markets if they have a local team participating in a game. Participating affiliates are: Alpena – WBKB-DT2 (11.2); Cadillac – WFQX-TV (32); Detroit – WJBK-TV (2); Flint – WSMH-TV (66); Grand Rapids – WXMI-TV (17); Lansing – WSYM-TV (47); Marquette – WLUC-DT2 (6.2); Sault Ste. Marie – WWUP-DT2 (10.2); Vanderbilt – WFUP-TV (45). Check local listings Thanksgiving week for games to be shown locally.

Football Week In Michigan officially was recognized last week in a Proclamation by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder.

FOX Sports Detroit’s MHSAA Football Playoff coverage begins Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. with the announcement of the pairings for the 2017 Playoffs on the Selection Sunday Show on FOX Sports Detroit-PLUS. Throughout the Playoffs leading up to the 11-Player Finals, the FOX Sports Detroit Prep Zone returns to feature four games each week which can be viewed live on FoxSportsDetroit.com and FOX Sports GO!

A share of the Mid-Eastern Football Conference title is on the line Friday (Oct. 13) at 7 p.m. when Norway hosts Lake Linden-Hubbell in a game that can be watched live on MHSAA.tv.

The winner of the game will tie Newberry for the league title. The Indians completed league play last week with a 28-14 win over Norway. Norway is 6-1 overall, and Lake Linden-Hubbell is 3-3.

Norway is one of more than 60 MHSAA member schools across the state participating in the School Broadcast Program, one of nearly a dozen schools to be streaming live video of its home athletic events using the NFHS Network’s Pixellot technology and one of three schools currently using Pixellot in their gymnasiums and football/multi-purpose fields.

Pixellot is a unit equipped with four High Definition cameras which cover the length of the playing surface and then focus on the ball and player movement to deliver the action. The unit communicates with the scoreboard to insert a time and score graphic on the screen. Ambient audio is picked up by the device, but the play-by-play of an in-person announce team also can be patched in.

In its ninth 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. Pixellot is used by schools wishing to stream games but which lack the ability to staff the events. The SBP program also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions.

Here’s this week’s MHSAA.tv schedule of video streams being produced by SBP members:

Tuesday, October 10

Thursday, October 12

Friday, October 13

Monday, October 16

Tuesday, October 17

Wednesday, October 18

NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $9.95 per month. 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. School Broadcast Program participants will also be selling Season and Annual Passes at a discounted rate. A portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program.

A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA website.

Highlights of games produced in the past week by MHSAA School Broadcast Program members are back for another week. Featured events are in girls volleyball with Saginaw Swan Valley at Freeland, football with Newberry at Norway and boys soccer with Lansing Everett at Fowlerville. Highlights can be found each week on the MHSAA.tv website, the home page of the MHSAA Website and the MHSAASports Channel on YouTube. 

More than 15 football games are featured each week on the State Champs! Sports Network Extra Point – powered by the Michigan High School Athletic Association – Saturday at 10 a.m. on FOX Sports Detroit.

The half-hour program features highlights from more than a dozen games each week, including clips from games produced by MHSAA School Broadcast Program members. The program airs multiple times each weekend on FOX Sports Detroit and on Comcast Channel 900, and will be archived on the State Champs YouTube Channel. Consult your local listings for additional playback times.

Here are some of the games to be featured this week on State Champs! Extra Point:

  • Wyandotte Roosevelt at Gibraltar Carlson
  • Algonac at Richmond
  • Berkley at Farmington Hills Harrison
  • Detroit Catholic Central at Warren DeLaSalle
  • Grand Blanc at Livonia Franklin
  • Muskegon at Muskegon Mona Shores
  • Pontiac Notre Dame Prep at Portland
  • PLUS - Additional coverage from Grand Rapids, Lansing, Flint, Upper Peninsula and School Broadcast Program games.

The MHSAA also has a presence on other State Champs! Network programs throughout each weekend. The MHSAA Minute is a weekly part of the State Champs! High School Sports Show on FOX Sports Detroit at 9 a.m. every Sunday – with multiple replays on FOX Sports Detroit and Comcast Channel 900 throughout the week. That program also is archived on the State Champs YouTube Channel. Consult your local listings for additional playback times.

This week’s MHSAA Minute on State Champs talks about Selection Sunday.

The MHSAA also has content on the State Champs Scoreboard! High School Football Radio Show on Friday nights during the football and basketball seasons, originating on WXYT-FM (97.1) in Detroit and carried on more than 10 radio stations across the state. This Week In High School Sports and Be the Referee are weekly features on the program.