Many Schools, Many Sports on MHSAA.tv

October 3, 2012

A total of 39 schools participating in six sports are among offerings from last week available now at MHSAA.tv as part of the School Broadcast Program. Football, volleyball and boys soccer again dominate the listings, but check out as well 2012-13 debuts for girls swimming and diving, girls golf and boys tennis.

See those below, plus links to the MHSAA Football Friday Overtime on Fox Sports Detroit and the Comcast/Xfinity game shot last week -- Rockford vs. Holland West Ottawa.

MHSAA.tv: Click on the "Schools" tab on MHSAA.tv to find these games:

  • Grand Rapids Northview vs. Greenville football
  • Vicksburg vs. Plainwell football
  • Ada Forest Hills Eastern vs. Cedar Springs football
  • Marcellus vs. Watervliet football
  • Rogers City vs. Hillman football
  • Iron River West Iron County vs. Calumet football
  • Oscoda vs. Lincoln Alcona football
  • Ellsworth vs. Indian River Inland Lakes football
  • Davison vs. Flint Northwestern volleyball
  • Hale vs. Hillman volleyball
  • Harbor Springs Harbor Light Christian vs. Ellsworth volleyball
  • St. Ignace vs. Cheboygan volleyball
  • Eaton Rapids vs. Mason volleyball
  • Rogers City vs. Sault Ste. Marie volleyball
  • Mason vs. Corunna swimming and diving
  • Petoskey vs. East Lansing soccer
  • Ada Forest Hills Eastern vs. Cedar Springs soccer
  • East Kentwood vs. Rockford soccer
  • Trenton vs. Taylor Truman soccer
  • Grand Ledge vs. East Lansing soccer
  • Belding vs. Comstock Park soccer
  • Mason vs. Jackson Lumen Christi tennis
  • Grandville vs. Rockford golf
  • Also, click under "MHSAA" and "Recent" for the 1995 Class A Football Final between Lapeer West and South Lyon, a 24-21 Lapeer West double-overtime win.

FOX: At midnight after each Friday's games, Fox Sports Detroit airs its Football Friday Overtime.

XFINITY: Friday's 24-14 Rockford win over Holland West Ottawa is available to subscribers On Demand on Xfinity's High School Sports site.

Below: This week's School Broadcast Program highlights, drawn from Grand Rapids Northview/Greenville, Lincoln Alcona/Oscoda and Watervliet/Marcellus football games and Belding/Comstock Park and East Lansing/Grand Ledge soccer matches.

Division 7 Final: Blue Streak

November 29, 2011

DETROIT – Only a few drives into the MHSAA Division 7 Final, Bennett Lewis came to Saginaw Nouvel coach Mike Boyd with a request.

Give me the ball until Pewamo-Westphalia stops me.

Never happened. The senior running back ran for five touchdowns, and his Panthers scored 56 points – both to set or tie MHSAA Finals records.

And both were accomplished over just two quarters as Nouvel cruised to a 56-26 win and its third football championship.

“I can’t say enough how proud I am of my teammates, especially the offensive line. We’ve been playing together a long time and they really executed in the first half,” Lewis said. “Their defense is one of the defenses we can run our offense against really well. We just executed and made big plays. ”

This championship goes with Nouvel’s back-to-back Division 6 titles in 2006 and 2007, and the Panthers finished 13-0 to match their perfect record in 2006. Pewamo-Westphalia made its first appearance in an MHSAA Football Final and finished 13-1.

The Panthers had scored 63 and 62 points, respectively, during the first two rounds of the postseason. And as Boyd said after, he had an offense built for speedy strikes – especially at an inside venue like Ford Field.

Nouvel blew past the previous MHSAA Finals record of 42 points in one half set by both Farmington Hills Harrison in 2000 and Jackson Lumen Christi in 2001.

“Maybe our third drive, Bennett came off the field and came right up to me and said, ‘I want the football. Until they stop me, give me the football,’” Nouvel coach Mike Boyd said. “I said, ‘Absolutely.’

“Great competitors, great leaders. Just a great group.”

Lewis, the Associated Press’ Division 7-8 Player of the Year this fall, ran 15 times for 200 yards – all in the first half – to push his season rushing total to 2,077. The five touchdowns gave him 36 rushing for the fall. Senior quarterback Joseph Buchalski was 7 for 10 passing for 196 yards and three scores. He also ran five times for 50 yards – again, all in the first half.

“That’s the best team I’ve ever played. The fastest. (And) I don’t hesitate to say Bennett Lewis is the best player I’ve ever played,” P-W senior quarterback/cornerback Justin Thelen said. “We fought, and I’m proud of that. But they had us on our heels right away.”

Thelen was 10 for 21 passing for 176 yards and two touchdowns, and senior Alex Thelen ran 16 times for 77 yards and a score. It was a tough end to a courageous run by the Pirates, who suffered through the death of classmate and baseball teammate Brendon Nurenberg in a car crash earlier this month, but battled through with his memory an additional motivator.

“He was just a fun guy. The guys loved being around him. And the guys rallied around that,” P-W coach Brad Weber said. “They did it for Brendon for the most part. They knew he would have fun, so they did too.” 

Click for full stats and play-by-play.