HB 8.12.2021 FINAL 2

The Hastings Banner — Thursday, August 12, 2021 — Page 13

Changes will add to C.C. Finals, alter football playoff qualification

Teams participating in all nine sports for
which the Michigan High School Athletic
Association (MHSAA) sponsors postseason
tournaments – featuring more than 100,
student athletes statewide – will be allowed to
begin practice Monday, Aug. 9, and with a
plan to return to traditional schedules and
MHSAA Tournament formats after COVID-
19 resulted in various adjustments for the Fall
2020 season.
There are handful of key changes to
MHSAA postseason tournaments this fall. A
couple key ones include a new way for foot-
ball teams to qualify for the state playoffs and
an increase in the number of runners who will
qualify for the cross country championships.
Postseason competition in cross country,
football, golf, tennis and swimming & diving
will revert to their customary formats this
season, with all fall sports scheduled based on
their traditional calendars other than begin-
ning practice with a common start date for the
first time. At the time of this release (Aug. 6,

2021), there are no COVID-19-related

state-ordered restrictions regarding school

sports, for either athletes or spectators, from

either the MHSAA or the Michigan

Department of Health & Human Services

(MDHHS). County health departments and

local school districts may institute restrictions

for venues in their areas, and teams traveling

to those schools and venues must follow local

mandates.

Cross country will provide an opportunity

for more individual Finals qualifiers this sea-

son, as a minimum of seven individual quali-

fiers will advance from each Regional race.

Previously, runners on teams that did not

qualify as a whole could still advance to the

Finals if they finished among the top 15 indi-

viduals at a Regional – but at some Regionals

runners from the team qualifiers filled the

great majority of those top 15 finishes. The

seven individual qualifiers from each Regional

this season will be the first seven finishers

from teams that do not qualify as a whole,

even if they finish outside of the top 15.

In football, there will be the full implemen-

tation of the “enhanced strength-of-schedule”

format for selecting the 256-team field for the

11-Player Football Playoffs. The new format

eliminates automatic qualification based on

win total and bases it solely on playoff-point

average, which also is determined differently

in that it now awards teams more for playing

tougher schedules. Teams winning five games

during an eight-game schedule or six during a

nine-game schedule are no longer guaranteed

of making the state tournament.

The new playoff-point formula was used in

2020 to seed teams at the District and Regional

levels, but its use for qualification was put on

hold as COVID-19 caused a one-season

switch in playoff format that allowed all

teams to qualify last fall.

Another football change continues the

focus on minimizing injury risk, addressing

blocking below the waste in the free-blocking

zone (the rectangular area extending laterally

four yards to either side of the snap and three

behind the line of scrimmage). The new rule

states a below-the-waste block in the

free-blocking zone must occur as an immedi-

ate, initial action following the snap, instead

of the previous rule which allowed an offen-

sive lineman to delay and block below the

waste as long as the ball was still in the zone.

For lower peninsula girls’ golf, teams will

be required to use the scoring platform iWan-

amaker also for the regular season, just as

they were required to do so for MHSAA

Tournament competition during the 2020-

school year. The scoring platform is made

available through the MHSAA Golf app,

which was created and is operated by iWana-

maker and allows golfers, coaches and fans to

chart scoring in real time.

In tennis, if a seeded player withdraws on

the day of an MHSAA Regional or Final, all

seeded players below that withdrawing player

(including the provisional seed in that flight)

will move up and be placed on the proper line

for that new seed. (Non-seeded players drawn

into the bracket will not be moved.)

For most of the MHSAA’s modern history,

football teams had begun practice Monday of

the first week of the preseason, followed by

the rest of fall teams two days later. A 2019

rule change allowed a few more sports to

begin on Monday, dependent on their Finals

dates that fall. The common start date for all

fall practices this season and annually moving

forward was approved by the MHSAA

Representative Council at its Spring Meeting

in May and allows all teams to begin the 16th

Monday before Thanksgiving.

Football teams still must have 12 days of

preseason practice at all levels before their

first game, over a period of 16 calendar days

before the first kickoff, with the first varsity

games this fall scheduled for Aug. 26 and the

weekend of Aug. 27-28. Competition this fall

may begin Aug. 16 for golf and tennis teams

and Aug. 18 in cross country, soccer, volley-

ball and swimming & diving.

Longtime St. Rose parishioner shares memories, hopes

Editor’s note: Ellie Youngs of Hastings
recently sat down to interview Anne Hubert.
Both women have been lifelong members of
St. Rose Catholic Church in Hastings, similar
to their parents and grandparents. A fire at
the stone church a month ago prompted the
following interview. Ellie Youngs’ comments
appear in italics.

Ellie Youngs
Contributing Writer
Although I grew up being a part of St. Rose
of Lima, and I do consider my experience as
a parishioner to be a significant part of my
life, I am 20 years old, which, in the grand
scheme of things, is really not old at all. After
having a truly insightful and refreshing con-
versation with Anne Hubert, one of St. Rose’s
most senior and treasured parishioners, I real-
ized just how much St. Rose has been woven
into the lives of so many other families,
including mine.
Anne Hubert recalls a menagerie of experi-
ences as a member of St. Rose, as well as
memories of her family’s involvement in the
church. Her father, Roman Feldpausch (1903-
1986), received his First Holy Communion in
the old church, a wooden structure that was
destroyed by fire in 1909. Her dad later
played violin for the St. Rose Orchestra, she
said.
Her parents, Roman and Margaret Parker
Feldpausch (1905-1953), were married at St.
Rose (at 6 in the morning) and she and her
three siblings, as well as all eight of her chil-
dren were baptized at St. Rose, as well.
Hubert’s family’s involvement in the

church goes back multiple generations. She

recalled her grandma talking about “farmers

bringing in stones from their fields to build

our beautiful church.”

Some of the rocks that were not used in

building the current church were eventually

used by her family for landscaping.

As a current musician in the St. Rose choir,

I was especially pleased to hear Hubert dis-

cuss some of her favorite memories at St.

Rose and how the majority of them were from

being in the choir.

“Mom and Dad had us all take piano les-

sons to support the nuns,” Hubert said. Mother

Adelaide, one of the nuns, “taught me how to

play the organ. And, as a child in junior high

during the summer, I played the organ for

church. I can’t believe I did that, but I did!”

Not only is organ playing a memory which

Hubert fondly recalls, but the talented organ

playing of her friend Mary Peterson, as well.

“We sang every Sunday, and Mary Peterson

played the organ, and that was a thrill of St.

Rose,” Hubert said. “She was absolutely spec-

tacular. You could pull up the parts and hear

that music and say, ‘Mary’s playing the

organ.’ She had such feeling and such touch to

that organ. It was something else.”

Her own wedding was one of Hubert’s

favorite memories, too.

“My mother was still alive,” she said, “and,

to me, that was beautiful to have her there

with me.”

Another treasured memory of Hubert’s

went back generations. And she continued it

without much thought.

“One of the neatest things was a tradition

that I followed. My grandmother walked to

church every weekday Mass, as did my father

after he retired,” she said. “I didn’t give it a

whole lot of thought, but, all of a sudden, I

walked from our house on Green Street to

church every day for daily Mass. It was one of

those things where I followed their example

without even thinking about it.”

Over the past year and a half, life has dras-

tically changed for everyone. People have had

to put work and their personal lives on hold to

keep themselves and their loved ones healthy

and safe – and that included not attending

church in the same way as before.

As the situation started to shift back to a

state of normalcy, the attendance of younger

parishioners especially has gone down signifi-

cantly.

Hubert said this is something she “worried

about, but figured it was going to happen. I’m

not judgmental. I know this is going to hap-

pen. I have a special prayer that I made up

myself, and I pray every night that they have

the grace to save their souls. That’s my big-

gest prayer.”

After the church was damaged by fire in

mid-July, the parish was forced to make some

significant changes. The fire was a true test of

how parishioners are able to work together

during times of hardship and struggle, and

Hubert said, “Everybody joins in. My first

thought was, ‘I’ll pay off the bishop’s fund so

that Father [Stephan Philip] doesn’t have to

worry about that.’ I think people are all think-

ing that way: Make things as easy on Father

as possible. I think he is doing a remarkable

job and holding up beautifully.”

This past year has brought multiple obsta-

cles we have all had to work together to figure

out how to overcome, and it is truly amazing

to have people like Anne Hubert and a com-

munity like St. Rose who are willing to help

one another during times of need. Working

together has never been more imperative, and

Hubert exemplifies that perfectly.

Anne Hubert has been attending St. Rose Catholic Church in Hastings her entire

life.

The MHSAA is changing how individuals like Thornapple Kellogg’s Jessica Durkee
(pictured at the 2020 Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals) qualify for the state cross
country finals this fall. The top three teams and top seven individual finishers at
regionals not on those top three teams will qualify for the 2021 Finals. In recent
seasons, the top three teams and top 15 finishers regardless of team affiliation earned
spots in the finals.