Volleyball Matches Spike on MHSAA.TV
November 11, 2013
Volleyball took center stage on MHSAA.TV last week, with 22 District games including a number of Finals broadcast and now available on-demand.
Also, 10 football District Finals featuring teams from all over the state and league swimming and diving championships from the Capital Area Activities Conference Red all are viewable, thanks to the School Broadcast Program and Fox Sports Detroit Prep Zone.
Here's a look at some of what you'll see at MHSAA.TV, followed by the Prep Zone lineup for this Friday, our weekly MHSAA Perspective and highlights from last week's games:
- Elk Rapids vs. Charlevoix volleyball
- Hillman vs. Posen volleyball
- East Jordan vs. Johannesburg-Lewiston volleyball
- Rockford vs. Grand Rapids Northview volleyball
- Hale vs. Atlanta volleyball
- Mason vs. Holt volleyball
- East Lansing vs. Lansing Waverly volleyball
- AuGres-Sims vs. Fairview volleyball
- Davison vs. Lapeer East volleyball
- Charlevoix vs. Mancelona volleyball
- Onaway vs. Wolverine volleyball
- Lakeview vs. St. Louis volleyball
- Boyne City vs. Johannesburg-Lewiston volleyball
- Posen vs. Rogers City volleyball
- East Lansing vs. Haslett volleyball
- Grand Ledge vs. Battle Creek Central volleyball
- Boyne City vs. Charlevoix volleyball
- Okemos vs. Lansing Eastern volleyball
- AuGres-Sims vs. Atlanta volleyball
- Onaway vs. Rogers City volleyball
- Grand Ledge vs. Battle Creek Lakeview volleyball
- Okemos vs. Haslett volleyball
- Pewamo-Westphalia vs. Carson City-Crystal football
- Saline vs. Temperance-Bedford football
- Oak Park vs. Detroit U-D Jesuit football
- Battle Creek Lakeview vs. Portage Central football
- Rockford vs. Hudsonville football
- Belding vs. Comstock Park football
- Watervliet vs. Schoolcraft football
- Johannesburg-Lewiston vs. St. Ignace football
- Montrose vs. Saginaw Nouvel football
- Lake City vs. Lincoln Alcona football
- CAAC Red girls swimming and diving championships
Prep Zone: MHSAA Prep Zone on FOXSportsDetroit.com will again Friday stream live video of four playoff games.This week's games kick off at 7 p.m. EDT:
- Battle Creek Pennfield at Grand Rapids South Christian
- Saginaw Swan Valley at Lansing Sexton
- Melvindale at St. Clair
- St. Ignace at Beal City
MHSAA Perspective: Our John Johnson talks about how professional football's occupational hazards are not necessarily those of the high school level - Occupational Hazard
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.”