Michigan is a paradise for all trail lovers Page 2-D

Section D

SPORTS
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Shane Preston Brian Kalisher

www.TheNewsHerald.com

Prep Kickoff Classic

Anderson, Woodhaven will open at Wayne State

By Brian Kalisher
The News-Herald

Hank Minckiewicz

Exciting changes are on the way

New website, football broadcasts are right around the corner
hange is coming and its coming soon. In an effort to continue to bring readers (and viewers) the best in local high school sports coverage, the News-Herald will feature a few new twists beginning this fall. First, all News-Herald high school sports coverage will be moving to a new website: MiPrepZone. The site will be easy to access from the News-Heralds regular site. Simply click on sports at the top of the page and select MiPrepZone from the drop down menu. If you are interested in only high school sports, you should find the new site most rewarding. Instead of prep coverage getting lost among a forest of professional, sports college sports and news stories, it will be front and center and easy to find. In addition, there is also a place on the page, where readers can type in the name of the school they are interested in and find all the stories we have written about that school that season. The site will also have poll questions, places to post your photos and ways to get in contact with us here at the paper. It will also be home to our top 10 lists, statistical information and the Athlete of the Week feature. It promises to be an easier, cleaner and all around better experience for readers. Also new this fall will be the streaming of Friday night football games. Each week the News-Herald

The 2012 season is just 26 days away for Woodhaven star quarterback Nick Maher and the rest of Downrivers gridders.

will select a game and broadcast it on our website, The NewsHerald.com. This is something completely new to all of us and it promises to be an exciting addition to our coverage. Michigan High School Athletic Association rules prohibit us from streaming the games live, but they will be available right after the game. That means players and parents who were at the game can get home and give it another look and fans that were at other games that night can watch a second contest. The News-Herald has always done its best to get Friday-night football game stories, photos and scores into the Sunday publication and we will continue to do that, the addition of the streamed games promises to make our coverage that much deeper. We are excited about these changes. The streamed games are something completely new and promise to add another dimension to our football coverage. The move of stories to MIPrepZone is exciting, too. Having our high school sports stories clear of all the other News-Herald web traffic will make our coverage clearer and much, much easier to find. We will have more on these changes in coming editions as we get closer and closer to the 2012 fall high school season. The football season is only 26 days away and other sports start before that and we are looking forward to bringing you more and better coverage than ever before.

Gabriel Richard is on its fourth head coach in six years and Michael Schigelone (32) and the rest of the Pioneers hope this change leads to some success.

The dog days of summer and the sweltering heat are just a couple of indicators that preparation for another high school football season has arrived. But the biggest clue that gridiron action is set to resume is the announcement of the Detroit Sports Commissions Prep Kickoff Classic, a two-day football showcase held at Wayne State Universitys Adams Field on Aug. 24 and 25. During a press conference held in Detroit Tuesday, the Commission which is hosting the event for the first time welcomed the 12 teams involved, event sponsors, and media members to learn a little bit more about an exciting kickoff to the 2012 campaign. First and foremost, we want to provide a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience for, not only the student-athletes, but the coaches, cheerleaders, band members, and all those that follow their team, in a bowllike atmosphere, DSC Executive Director Dave Beachnau said. Christnagel There is no lack of Downriver representation included in the 12 teams involved in the event, as Anderson and Woodhaven will square off in the nightcap on Aug. 24. It will be the first night game played on Wayne States campus McLaughlin in its history. After going 8-3 last season and falling in the district finals, Derek McLaughlin and his Anderson squad are looking forward to starting the season off on a high note against a quality opponent. Its a very unique situation because we are so close and we see each other so often, McLaughlin said. Going to the different venue and being such a big game at night and on a big stage, its something thats very special as far as experience for us. It doesnt matter where we play; its always going to be a rivalry. On the other sideline, Woodhaven Coach Keith Christnagel and the Warriors are looking to come back strong after a 6-4 season and a pre-district loss to end last years run. Its great for us to get exposure for our program, Christnagel said. This year we have several seniors, its great for them. Weve played Southgate five times in the last three years, so were familiar with each other and I think its a great way to start the season. Theres no doubt that competing in a college stadium will be exciting for all parties involved. Anderson senior linebacker Bobby Bellon and his teammates see this contest as a great starting point heading into the season. Its an incredible opportunity for Southgate, the Downriver League, all of the communities down there to really showcase Southgate, as well as Downriver League football, Bellon said. Its an incredible opportunity for us. As special as it is even to play in this game on such a big stage, Bellon knows it will be that much sweeter if his team walks away with a win. A big win against Woodhaven, theyre a great team, a tough team. Its a great way to start the season, Bellon said. Besides holding a chat with each of the coaches and a few players, the DSC also showed off their new Made-in-the-D trophies that each team involved will receive after the event. As part of the overall effort to infuse a Detroit theme in the Detroit Sports Commission Prep Kickoff Classic, we wanted to develop unique trophies that spotlight the tremendous design capabilities found in Detroit, Beachnau said. The game match-ups will include Dearborn vs. Chippewa Valley in the 4:30 p.m. slot on Aug. 24, followed by the Anderson Woodhaven game at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday the 25th, East English Village (formerly Detroit Crockett) will take on Oak Park at 11 a.m., followed by Port Huron vs. Utica Eisenhower, Southfield vs. Detroit Martin Luther King, and Birmingham Brother Rice vs. Detroit Cass Tech in the nightcap to round out the event. For more information on the game and ticket availability, interested fans can visit www.detroitsports.org.