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Live Finals Play On at MHSAA.TV
March 4, 2014
Another full weekend of live MHSAA Finals video will be available on the MHSAA.TV website this week with coverage of Girls Gymnastics, Ice Hockey and Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming & Diving Championships.
The championship coverage will be complimented by Student Broadcast Program on-demand productions of Boys Basketball Districts and Girls Basketball Regionals. Check the MHSAA.TV website for daily schedule updates.
Live streaming this week begins at 5 p.m. Thursday (March 6) with the first of two Division 2 Semifinal games in the Ice Hockey Tournament. Division 3 and 1 Semifinals follow on Friday (March 7), with the Finals on Saturday (March 8).
Girls Gymnastics coverage begins Friday at 2 p.m. with the Team Finals competition at Plymouth High School and will be followed Saturday with the Individual Finals at noon. Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming and Diving coverage begins at noon Saturday at three locations, with the consolation and championship heat in each swimming event plus the final round of the diving.
The continued Gymnastics, Hockey and Swimming coverage is part of six straight weekends of live MHSAA Championship coverage on MHSAA.TV, and online viewers can catch every weekend of action for one low cost of $14.95.
Also available on-demand this week on MHSAA.TV are every round from last week's Individual Wrestling Finals plus a host of Girls Basketball District games, Hockey Regional games and boys basketball games from the final week of that regular season.
Here's a look at those listings, followed by this week's MHSAA Perspective and MHSAA.TV highlight clips.
- Haslett vs. East Lansing
- Comstock Park vs. Ada Forest Hills Eastern
- Hillman vs. Posen
- Lowell vs. Greenville
- Ada Forest Hills Eastern vs. Grand Rapids Wellspring
- Haslett vs. Okemos
- Mio vs. Houghton Lake
- Grand Rapids Northview vs. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central
- Lansing Waverly vs. DeWitt
- Grand Rapids West Catholic vs. Grand Rapids Catholic Central
- Tawas vs. Lincoln Alcona
- Grand Rapids Catholic Central vs. Ada Forest Hills Eastern
- DeWitt vs. Haslett
- Greenville vs. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central
- Houghton Lake vs. Lincoln Alcona
Hockey
- Pontiac Notre Dame Prep vs. Auburn Hills Avondale
- Escanaba vs. Negaunee
- Calumet vs. Hancock
- Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood vs. Auburn Hills Avondale
- Painesdale-Jeffers vs. Hancock
- Marquette vs. Escanaba
- Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood vs. Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett
Boys Basketball
- Lakeview vs. Morley-Stanwood
- Comstock Park vs. Jenison
- Cedar Springs vs. Sparta
- Plainwell vs. Parchment
- Petoskey vs. Boyne City
- Cheboygan vs. Charlevoix
- East Lansing vs. Lansing Waverly
- Watervliet vs. Saugatuck
- Houghton Lake vs. Harrison
- Calumet vs. Escanaba
- Fairview vs. Rogers City
MHSAA Perspective: In this week's edition, John Johnson offers some little known facts about the MHSAA Girls and Boys Basketball Tournaments - Did You Know?
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Battle of the Fans: We Are Ram Nation
February 7, 2012
ROCKFORD – Standing near the front and center of Rockford’s massive sea of black Friday, six students all played significant roles in keeping 500 of their closest classmates organized and focused on their work for that night.
Seniors Joe Belliel, Sam Anderson and Shain Showers, junior Katie Hartnett and sophomores Kory Young and Casey Watters are just some of the leaders of their school’s student cheering section, Ram Nation, one of five finalists for the MHSAA's "Battle of the Fans" competition. But representing three grades and various social groups, they also are the essence of what the section has accomplished since forming last summer.
Despite boasting one of the state’s largest high schools, Rockford has always taken pride in being something of a small-town community.
Still, there are nearly 2,600 students in grades 9-12. It’s just about impossible for everyone to know everybody else. And only a handful can play on the boys basketball team. But a hard-fought victory – like Friday’s one-point win over rival Hudsonville – allows the entire student body to take ownership while making a massive impact for the school’s sports teams.
“Obviously, (the players) could have done it. But we have a big impact keeping them going all the time and really pumping them up,” Rockford junior Katie Hartnett said after that 36-35 win. “I think they really appreciate it. We’re here to be here for them, not just to show off for ourselves.”
Only one trip, to Petoskey on Feb. 17, remains on the MHSAA Student Advisory Council "Battle of the Fans" tour. Videos of all five finalists are being posted on the MHSAA Facebook page for an online vote that will take place Feb. 20-23. After that vote and SAC discussion, the winner will be announced on Feb. 24. Clips from all five MHSAA-produced videos will be shown during the Girls and Boys Basketball Finals in March at the Breslin Center.
Ram Nation began as a suggestion from a parent who noted the inconsistent crowd support from students over the last few years. Take Belliel as an example. Perhaps the most vocal of the group’s hierarchy, he admits he went to “maybe four basketball games” last season.
Now, everything is a must-see event. Anderson, a member of the student council, maintains a giant dry-erase calendar in the cafeteria that lists every school extracurricular event. At a recent hockey game, Ram Nation filled one side of the rink. On Nov. 19, the volleyball team played in the MHSAA Class A final at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Center, while the football team played in a Semifinal only a few blocks away. Ram Nation members ran back and forth to support both.
And students know they better show up early. Belliel got a call Friday from someone who already was in the stands at 4:30 p.m. – although the girls basketball game started at 6 and the boys at 7:45. Rockford High houses only grades 10-12, but freshmen and some middle schoolers also augmented the crowd.
“I didn’t think it would be as good as it is. I just thought we were going to start it and get it better,” Anderson said. “And all of a sudden it just hit, and it was pretty big.”
Indeed, Ram Nation made things happen quickly.
A small group met a few times over the summer. A Facebook page was created. Watters researched online for any cheers he could find. Theme nights were planned, T-shirts made and sold as something of an unofficial “membership” to the section.
“I think we’ve always been somewhat of a close-knit community. But I think maybe instead of a divided student body – the freshmen, juniors, the sophomores – it’s pulled them together,” Rockford athletic director Tim Erickson said. “The more you have, the louder you’re going to be, and the more enthusiastic you’re going to be. (Ram Nation) has created more of an atmosphere like that.”
Another cool touch: Every home basketball game is a fundraiser. Friday’s was for "Hoops for Haiti." A few weeks ago, shirts were made with “I believe that we love Steve” printed on the backs. The spin-off of the popular “I believe that we will win” cheer was in support of former boys hoops coach Steve Majerle, who stepped down after the last season and is battling Parkinson’s Disease.
It’s another example of an unexpected benefit of Ram Nation’s creation.
Teams are definitely getting more support from classmates. But classmates feel they’ve come together for something bigger as well.
“It’s honestly ridiculous. You don’t realize how much of an impact the student section has on a game until you’re in and you’re playing,” said Showers, a football and baseball player. “I can remember there were times in the season when I’m trying to yell across the field at one of my teammates, and no one can hear anything. That was the first time I’d ever experienced that. And the year before, it wasn’t like that at all.
“(But) honestly, Ram Nation’s first goal isn’t to cheer our teams on and get our teams going. It’s about unity. Not just students and teachers, but the whole community, bringing everyone together. I think that’s what we’ve accomplished so far.”
PHOTOS by Rockford junior Aimee Reece (top) and senior Jeremy Hoekstra (middle).