Video 1/20/16: Basketball, Buzzer Beaters
January 20, 2016
By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director
Each week, MHSAA.tv features highlights of events produced by schools involved in the MHSAA School Broadcast Program.
This week's package includes clips from the Haslett/DeWitt girls and boys basketball games plus buzzer-beating shots from around the state.
Four top-10 teams in the statewide girls basketball rankings square off this week on MHSAA.tv.
On Tuesday, the top-ranked team in Class A, Saginaw Heritage, played at seventh-ranked Midland Dow at 7 p.m.; and the No. 7 team in Class B, Houghton, traveled across the Portage Canal Lift Bridge to face the top-ranked team in Class C, Calumet. Replays of both games can been seen on MHSAA.tv, produced by Midland Dow and Calumet High School students involved in the MHSAA’s School Broadcast Program.
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.
Here’s the schedule of events School Broadcast Program members plan to stream this week for broadcast at MHSAA.tv. On-Demand listings may be available as soon as one hour following an event’s completion.
Wednesday – Jan. 20
- New Lothrop at Montrose – Wrestling – 4:55 p.m. – LIVE
- Petoskey at Alpena – JV Boys Basketball – 5:30 p.m. – LIVE
- Fowlerville at Haslett – Girls Gymnastics – 6:30 p.m. – LIVE
- Petoskey at Alpena - Boys Basketball – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Houghton at Calumet – Boys Basketball – 7:20 p.m. – LIVE?
Thursday – Jan. 21
- Allendale at Comstock Park – Freshman Girls Basketball – 4 p.m. – LIVE
- Allendale at Comstock Park – JV Girls Basketball – 5:30 p.m. – LIVE
- Holt at East Lansing – Boys Swimming & Diving – 6 p.m. – On-Demand
- North Farmington at Lake Orion – Girls Basketball – 7 p.m. – LIVE
Friday – Jan. 22
- Mt. Morris at Montrose – Girls Basketball – 5:25 p.m. – LIVE
- Okemos at East Lansing – Girls Basketball – 6 p.m. – On-Demand
- Mt. Morris at Montrose – Boys Basketball – 6:55 p.m. – On-Demand
- Three Rivers at Dowagiac – Boys Basketball – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Farmington at Lake Orion – Boys Basketball – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Traverse City Central at Alpena – Ice Hockey – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Detroit University Prep at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood – Ice Hockey – 7:15 p.m.
- Okemos at East Lansing – Boys Basketball – 7:30 p.m. – On-Demand
Tuesday – Jan. 26
- Sparta at Comstock Park – Freshman Boys Basketball – 4 p.m. – LIVE
- Sparta at Comstock Park – JV Boys Basketball – 5:30 p.m. – LIVE
- Sparta at Comstock Park – Boys Basketball – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Paw Paw at Dowagiac – Boys Basketball – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Holt at Haslett – Boys Basketball – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Royal Oak at Lake Orion – Girls Basketball – 7 p.m. – LIVE
- Painesdale-Jeffers at Calumet – Boys Basketball – 7:20 p.m. – LIVE
- Cheboygan at Alpena – Girls Basketball – 7:30 p.m. – LIVE
- Atlanta at Whittemore-Prescott – Boys Basketball – 7:30 p.m. – On-Demand
Wednesday – Jan. 27
- Mason at Haslett – Wrestling – 6 p.m. - LIVE
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.)