"Midnight Madness" Breaks Out Friday

By Bill Mullaly

Nothing to do this Friday night after you attend the Feather Party at Sacred Heart Church, which begins at 7:30? Well, if you head over to Hudson High School you will have plenty to see and even participate in if you so desire. The second edition of what Hudson boy' s head coach Wayne Perry calls “Midnight Madness” will take place in the local gymnasium. Perry held this event two years ago and it was a smashing success but he is looking forward even more towards tomorrow’s night fun because this time it will also involve the girls program. With the switch in seasons now in full swing the boys and girls programs will both celebrate the “Midnight Madness” and it all begins at 9:00. “The first time we did this two years ago it went well and we wanted to do this again,” said Perry, who begins his third season as the boy' s coach at Hudson. “We were thinking about doing this every other year but now with the girls playing in the winter we might try to make this an annual event.”

The festivities begin at 9:00 at night when the boy' s varsity and junior varsity teams will be introduced to the crowd. The master of ceremonies for the event will be Hudson athletic director Jeremy Beal. Perry and his basketball program will feature three teams this year with a junior varsity team and also a freshman squad for the second year. Drew Godfrey is new to the program and he will take over the junior varsity team from Lance Horwath who moved up to the assistant principal’s job. Tiger head varsity football coach Chris Luma will coach the freshman team again assisted by his brother Mark. Perry will be helped at the varsity level by Brad Milligan. The girls have two teams in their program and girls head coach Tom Romanowski will lead the varsity with Mike Sprow again coaching the junior varsity team. The whole night of activities is being sponsored and produced by the newly formed Hudson Basketball Club that Perry is excited about. “We have this basketball club that I feel will really support and encourage the growth of basketball in Hudson,” said Perry. After the introduction of the boys and girls teams then there will be a celebrity game of “cat” or “horse” among the school administrators. Superintendent Kathy Malnar along with high school principal Mike Osborne and his assistant Horwath will participate in that activity. There will be something of interest for everyone, as a dance team from Adrian with some local girls will also perform a routine to get the crowd revved up. The Hudson cheerleaders are also expected to participate and do a performance and the Hudson High School band will also be in attendance to help get the spirit going as everyone sings the school fight song. After these activities the program moves along to shooting contests that will involve members of the crowd.

Things like hot shots games where participants will have to make shots from different locations in so many seconds will be held along with half-court type shot attempts. “We want to provide a chance for the fans and people in the crowd to participate,” said Perry, who wants everyone to know that admission is free for all and that concessions will be available to purchase.

The final activity for the night will be the scrimmages that will see the girls team begin action at around 11:00 at night. Hudson girl' s coach Romanowski started practice last Monday, November 5th and he has 15 girls for both programs at this point. He hopes to have seven on the varsity and eight players on the junior varsity team. Hopefully, another player or two will come out for the teams before the season gets going. The boys program on the other hand has between 40-45 players that have been attending the conditioning and open gym workouts. Most likely coach Perry will have to make some cuts in his program due to the large numbers. "It' s great to have such a huge interest in the boys basketball program but the bad part is not having enough room for all the kids that want to play," said Perry, who held his first official practice this past Monday, November 12th.

The girls will begin play the final day of the month as they head to Hillsdale to play the Hornets on the 30th. The boys will begin play four days later as they head to Adrian Madison to play the Trojans on December 4th. Both teams will have a unique home opener as they both begin play at home on Saturday, December 8th when they will host Pittsford. The girls will play the Wildcats at 6:30 and the boys will play at around 8:15. "So far the switch of the seasons is going quite well and we are making the most of it and it is working out pretty good for us," said Romanowski, who should be excited about the upcoming season with all the talent he has on hand. Also, when the girls are introduced a short recognition will be made for the 2006 team that won the LCAA title.

Get on out to the gym on Friday night for some fun and madness brought to you by the Hudson Basketball Club.

Football Playoff Update

The helmets have been put away and the shoulder pads have been stacked up for the winter. The football season is over at least for the Hudson Tigers but the local teams of Blissfield, Sand Creek, Lumen Christi of Jackson, Leslie and Climax-Scotts are still going. They all have a very good shot at making it to the Dome now called Ford Field for the state finals Thanksgiving weekend. Christi is in division 5, Blissfield and Leslie both D-6, Sand Creek D-7 and Climax in D-8. Let’s hope all of these area teams from local conferences do well and make it to Ford Field. Also, let’s hope for a chance to see the Tigers deep into the playoffs next fall. And you heard it here first that next year the Tigers will be playing in the state semifinals. With Hudson Tiger high school football gone for now everyone’s attention turns to the big game on Saturday in Ann Arbor at the Big House as Michigan plays host to Ohio State in the annual clash to see who plays in the Rose Bowl. If the big college game at 12 noon doesn’t interest you then you might want to journey up to Hillsdale College this Saturday to watch Blissfield take on Leslie in the division 6 semifinal game at 1:00. The winner of that game automatically qualifies to play in the state championship game. While it is fun to watch the local teams we know play in the playoffs it' s not quite as much fun as watching the Tigers but we will be doing that in the middle of November next year.

More Football

One note of interest that I forgot last week was that Tiger head coach Chris Luma is closing in on history as Hudson' s head coach. He already owns the mark for most games ever coached with 119 and a mark of 85-34. He has coached for 11 years (1997-07) and he ties legendary coaching icon Tom Saylor for second place for most seasons as head coach as Saylor (1966-76) also was at the helm for 11 years. Former highly successful coach Phil Lawrence (1980-91) holds the mark for most seasons as the head coach at 12. His record was 60-51 and he coached 111 games total. Luma is also nine wins away from tying Saylor for most wins ever by a Hudson coach as Saylor was "94-5-1" in his 11 years. Wouldn't it be something if somehow Hudson goes 9-0 in the regular season in 2008 and then Luma gets win number 95 in the playoffs?

Also, a special moment of reflection needs to take place today (Thursday) November 15th. Do you Tiger fans and Hudsonites remember where you were and what you were doing 32 years ago today? As back on November 15th, 1975, Hudson won game number 72 in a row over Kalamazoo Hackett at Houseman Field in Grand Rapids. That win set a national record as the New York Times, PeopIe Magazine, CBS sports and Sports Illustrated were all on hand to witness and report about the events. It was a sunny afternoon on that day that put Hudson on the high school football map forever. Saylor has always told me that "we can visit the past and that is fine but we can' t live in the past." Good advice coach but the good ole'  days sure were fun. Final score back then: Tigers 24, Fighting Irish 14.

So take a moment on Thursday (today) to talk to someone who remembers that day 32 years ago and get a reaction from them about the game and the events surrounding that historic win that goes down as one of the greatest moments in Hudson history football or otherwise.

                                                To Index