Montrose Again SBP Program of the Year
By
John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director emeritus
April 15, 2015
Capturing first place in three of five individual categories, Montrose High School repeated as the “Program of the Year” in the second annual MHSAA School Broadcast Program Excellence Awards for 2014-15.
The SBP Excellence Awards are underwritten by Herff Jones, which will award certificates and plaques to the schools which took individual honors, with the presentation dates and times to be announced.
Montrose took first place in Best Play-By-Play, Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Sports graphics, and the top two spots for Best Use of PlayOn! Sports Graphics. The program also took a second place for Best Produced Commercial/Feature and a third for Best Multicamera Production. Montrose also demonstrated during the school year a good blend of productions in a variety of sports covered and an overall command of the PlayOn! Sports software used for graphics and inserting commercials/features during the course of productions.
Other category winners were: Cedar Springs High School for Best Multicamera Production and Rogers City High School for Best Produced Commercial/Features.
Here is the complete list by categories of the schools and students being honored in this year’s SBP Excellence Awards:
Best Multicamera Production
First Place – Cedar Springs – Sam Owen, Sydney Dryer, Bryan Taylor, Alec Lachniet, Kaci Clark – Football game vs. Grand Rapids Northview.
Second Place – Cedar Springs – Rider Swanson, Sam Owens, Darrick Liggett, Kaci Clark, Cody Hoogerheide, Krystyn Messersmith – Football game vs. Ada Forest Hills Eastern.
Third Place – Montrose – Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley, Amanda Ramsey, Nathan Brown, Eric Vandefifer, Brandon Smith – Genesee Area Conference Girls Competitive Cheer Finals.
Best Play-By-Play
First Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, Trey Schmitz – Boys Basketball game vs. Lake Fenton.
Second Place – Rogers City – Casey Szatkowski – Girls Basketball game vs. Whittemore-Prescott.
Best Produced Commercial/Feature
First Place – Rogers City – Megan Brege, Heather Hentkowski, Ally Streich – Huron Halloween of Horror Feature.
Second Place – Montrose – Alyssa Bernard, Amanda Ramsey, Alicia Town, Allia Town – Sexual Assault PSA.
Third Place – Rogers City – Megan Brege, Heather Hentkowski, Ally Streich – Rogers City Girls Basketball Season Preview.
Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Graphics
First Place – Montrose - Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley, Eric Vandefifer – Girls Soccer match vs. Hemlock.
Second Place – Rogers City – Brendan Koss, Sarah Meredith – Football game vs. Rudyard.
Third Place – Rogers City – Chandler Beland, Josh Foster – Girls Volleyball match vs. Posen.
Best Use of PlayOn! Graphics/Software
First Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley, Griffin Powell, Bradley Payne – Boys Basketball game vs. Goodrich.
Second Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley – Girls Basketball game vs. Lake Fenton.
Third Place – Rogers City - Victoria Bullock, Zachary Myers – Football game vs. Hillman.
The School Broadcast Program, powered by PlayOn! Sports, is a platform which schools can utilize to reach members of their community about activities taking place in their buildings, providing recognition for students while at the same time giving them hands-on opportunities to gain broadcasting experience and providing schools an opportunity to realize additional revenues for their programs.
Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.
Nearly 100,000 Student-Athletes Set to Start MHSAA Fall Practices
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
August 9, 2024
Nearly 100,000 Michigan high school student-athletes are anticipated to begin Fall 2024 practices on Monday, Aug. 12, across nine sports for which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors postseason tournaments.
The fall season includes the most played sports for both boys and girls; 35,174 football players and 19,119 girls volleyball players competed during the Fall 2023 season. Teams in those sports will be joined by competitors in girls and boys cross country, Lower Peninsula girls golf, boys soccer, Lower Peninsula girls swimming & diving, Upper Peninsula girls tennis and Lower Peninsula boys tennis in beginning practice next week.
Competition begins Aug. 16 for cross country, golf, soccer and tennis, Aug. 21 for swimming & diving and volleyball, and Aug. 29 for varsity football. Football teams at all levels must have 12 days of preseason practice – over a period of 16 calendar days – before their first game.
In girls volleyball this season, for the first time, the top two teams in each District bracket will be seeded based on Michigan Power Ratings (MPR) that take into account a team’s regular-season success and strength of schedule. Those two seeded teams will be determined the Sunday prior to the final week of the regular season and placed on opposite sides of their District brackets.
Boys soccer also will see a slight change to its seeding this fall, as the entire bracket will be seeded based on MPR, not just the top two teams as in previous seasons.
The 11-Player Football Finals schedule at Ford Field also will have a slightly different lineup and earlier start times. On both Friday, Nov. 29, and Saturday, Nov. 30, the first games of the day will begin at 9:30 a.m., with the final games of both days slated to start at 7 p.m. On Nov. 29, Division 8 at 9:30 a.m. will be followed by Division 4 at 12:30 p.m., Division 6 at 4 p.m. and Division 2 at 7 p.m. to conclude the day. On Nov. 30, Division 7 kicks off at 9:30 a.m., followed by Division 3 at 12:30 p.m., Division 5 at 4 p.m. and Division 1 at 7 p.m. to finish the weekend.
A few more game-action rules changes will be quickly noticeable to participants and spectators.
- In football, uniforms now must have clear contrast between the colors of the jersey and body of the numbers (excluding the border); for example, white numbers with blue outline on a white jersey are no longer allowed. The visiting teams must wear white uniforms, and home teams must wear dark jerseys that clearly contrast with white.
- In soccer, the eight-goal differential rule remains but with the addition of a running clock during the first half if the differential reaches eight.
- In volleyball, line judges beginning this fall will switch sides of the court between sets.
The 2024 Fall campaign culminates with postseason tournaments beginning with the Upper Peninsula Girls Tennis Finals during the week of Sept. 30 and wrapping up with the 11-Player Football Finals on Nov. 29 and 30. Here is a complete list of fall tournament dates:
Cross Country
U.P. Finals – Oct. 19
L.P. Regionals – Oct. 25 or 26
L.P. Finals – Nov. 2
11-Player Football
Selection Sunday – Oct. 27
Pre-Districts – Nov. 1 or 2
District Finals – Nov. 8 or 9
Regional Finals – Nov. 15 or 16
Semifinals – Nov. 23
Finals – Nov. 29-30
8-Player Football
Selection Sunday – Oct. 27
Regional Semifinals – Nov. 1 or 2
Regional Finals – Nov. 8 or 9
Semifinals – Nov. 16
Finals – Nov. 23
L.P. Girls Golf
Regionals – Oct. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12
Finals – Oct. 18-19
Boys Soccer
Districts – Oct. 9-19
Regionals – Oct. 22-26
Semifinals – Oct. 30
Finals – Nov. 2
L.P. Girls Swimming & Diving
Diving Regionals – Nov. 14
Swimming/Diving Finals – Nov. 22-23
Tennis
U.P. Girls Finals – Oct. 2, 3, 4 or 5
L.P. Boys Regionals – Oct. 9, 10, 11 or 12
L.P. Boys Finals – Oct. 17-19 or 21-22
Girls Volleyball
Districts – Nov. 4-9
Regionals – Nov. 12 & 14
Quarterfinals – Nov. 19
Semifinals – Nov. 21-22
Finals – Nov. 23
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.