Improved Dundee Enjoys Memorable Start
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 12, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The Dundee boys basketball team has stacked up a pair of accomplishments already this winter – one to enjoy right now, and another to take pride in for years to come.
The Vikings, after finishing last season 10-11, are off to an 8-0 start this winter. The early run has included a 67-64 win on Dec. 15 over Onsted, last year’s Lenawee County Athletic Association champion.
The significance of that accomplishment is easy for players to get, especially since the majority of this year’s rotation went through the growing pains of last season. But the historic meaning of the win that came after Onsted probably will take some more time to sink in – even as it’s bound to be one of the most lasting achievements of these players’ careers.
Dundee’s 60-50 win over Carleton Airport on Dec. 20 was the 1,000th victory in program history, making the Vikings one of at least 12 in Michigan high school history to have reached that milestone and the first from Monroe County.
“I don’t think at their age they understand how big of an accomplishment that is – that you’d basically have to go undefeated 50 straight years to get to 1,000,” said second-year coach Jordan Bollin, who is in his 11th season total as a coach in the southeast part of the state. “We tried to explain it to them, and I think they do (get it more) now.”
Dundee is the Applebee’s “Team of the Month” for December in part for both headlining moments this season, pulling off its first five wins during that first month and seven of eight so far by double figures.
The Vikings are paced by six seniors, including four who start alongside junior Ben Miller, who also started last season as a sophomore and leads with team with 12.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. To make this season's jump, they put in the necessary time; Bollin said he held four-player workouts three times a week during the offseason, in addition to the players honing their skills during open gyms and over a busy summer.
Bollin also emphasized that while the program has undergone a system change – introducing a more free-flowing offense and shorter practices this winter – it’s maintained the same culture of toughness that exists throughout the community and is often most recognizable with the school’s best-known team – a wrestling program that has won three of the last four MHSAA Division 3 championships.
“I’ve coached at a couple places, and the kids at Dundee are tougher bred,” said Bollin, who graduated from Temperance Bedford, then assisted there and at Blissfield before coming to Dundee as an assistant three seasons ago. “I don’t know how to explain it. The parents do a great job of raising them. A lot of the parents played at Dundee, and it’s a well-versed culture there. It’s a very tough community … and it’s always ‘Yes coach. No coach,’ very respectful kids.
“The wrestling program sets the tone, and if our kids ever get tired or feel that our practice is tough, we ask, ‘Do you want to go wrestle?’ Tim (Roberts) is one of the best coaches probably in the nation, and they probably outwork any team in any sport in the state, and I can say that in confidence.”
It’s certainly worth noting that Dundee’s basketball program also is making this impressive run sharing winter athletes with that wrestling program in a school of just under 500 students. That might make the Vikings’ basketball depth notable as well; Bollin said in 11 seasons he’s never had a team with this many contributors, as six players have scored at least 13 points in a game. Senior guard Brayden Federer is another top scorer, pouring in 12 points per game while also serving as the leading lockdown defender.
For Dundee’s next game after winning 1,000, against Flat Rock on Dec. 22, the Vikings welcomed the school’s 1987-88 team that advanced to the Class C Semifinals and is considered the program’s best of all-time (Dundee’s 1937-38 team also made the Class C Semifinals, but no team has won a Regional title since 1988). Those past players were recognized with an on-court ceremony and visited the locker room before the game to meet the current players before these Vikings went on to a 44-30 win to close the month.
Bollin had an idea before this season that this team might be lined up for a special run too. So far it’s included a couple of meaningful accomplishments, and the Vikings hope they’re just getting started.
“We’re a starless team … and even in my second year, I’m improved as a coach. We’re prepared for anything they see, but a lot of it is on them,” Bollin said of his players. “People take it for granted, that experience, but it’s a big deal. These guys don’t get rattled much this year. Last year if a team switched defenses on them, it would set them back a couple of plays.
“(And) we’re a really close-knit unit, and they don’t let each other slack. It’s easy to coach when you have a team like that.”
Past Teams of the Month, 2016-17
November: Rockford girls swimming & diving - Report
October: Rochester girls golf - Report
September: Breckenridge football - Report
PHOTOS: (Top) Dundee’s Tyler Turner looks to get past an Onsted defender during the Vikings’ three-point win last month. (Middle) Dundee players and coaches commemorate the program’s 1,000th win after defeating Carleton Airport. (Photos courtesy of the Dundee boys basketball program.)
Steady Seniors Pace Zeeland East's Special Season
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
March 26, 2021
Trip Riemersma couldn’t have scripted a better way to score the 1,000th point of his four-year varsity career.
The Zeeland East senior stole a pass during the fourth quarter of Thursday’s Division 1 District runaway against visiting archrival Zeeland West, then put the exclamation point on it with a breakaway dunk for points 999 and 1,000.
Right on cue, the small but enthusiastic student section at “The Coop” started chanting: “1,000! 1,000!”
“It’s very special, one of many things this season,” said Riemersma, who finished with 20 points in the undefeated Chix’ 61-27 victory to start postseason play. “I couldn’t have reached this milestone without my teammates. They get me the ball when I’m open, and I just convert.”
It was actually just the latest chapter in a storybook season for Zeeland East (17-0), which completed the school’s first undefeated regular season since 2009 – the year that Korey Van Dussen and Nate Snuggerad led the Chix all the way to the Class B championship game, where they lost to Flint Powers Catholic.
This year’s group has similar aspirations after winning the Ottawa-Kent Conference Green title and being ranked No. 9 in Division 1 in the final Associated Press state poll, led by five senior starters who will all be playing college sports.
Riemersma, the 6-foot-3 son of former University of Michigan football standout Jay Riemersma, gets much of the attention with his ability to shoot, drive and play inside. He averages 17.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game and will play basketball next year at Saginaw Valley State.
The inside work on both ends of the court is done by the Claerbaut twins – Nate (6-11), a game-changer defensively who averages 13 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks; and Brandon (6-5), who scores better than 10 points per game, along with averaging four rebounds and 3.4 assists. Many of those assists are to his brother as the pair possess a unique chemistry on the court, which they will take to Ferris State next year.
The point guard is 5-10 senior Adam Cassel, a Hope College football recruit, who brings the girth to a starting five known for its height and length.
Rounding out the Chix starting lineup is 6-2 senior Ethan Houghtaling – a throwback, three-sport athlete, who is the quarterback of the football team and the star pitcher on the baseball team (and committed to Western Michigan for the latter), but has no problem humbling himself and filling a critical supporting role on the hardcourt.
“Before almost every game, Ethan asks me: ‘Coach, what do you need me to do?’” said Zeeland East coach Jeff Carlson, a former standout himself at Holland and later Hope College. “I’m really blessed with this group. They are all phenomenal athletes, they are all competitors and they are all unselfish. That sure makes coaching a lot easier.”
Next up for the Chix is a Saturday District Final matchup with neighboring rival Holland West Ottawa, which went to overtime to down Hudsonville in Thursday’s opening game. Tipoff is 7 p.m.
Houghtaling is normally well into baseball season by now, but he has no problem at this point with leaving the bat and glove in the garage for a couple more games and, who knows, maybe a couple more weeks.
“This is the season we have been working toward since seventh grade,” explained Houghtaling, who had his typical workmanlike performance Thursday with six points and eight rebounds. “Even though we are unbeaten, our mentality is to go out every game and prove we are for real and to keep adding to it.”
He is savoring every moment, as his last three seasons have all been cut short or eliminated by COVID-19.
The Chix finished 16-6 last basketball season, which was truncated during District week by the pandemic. Houghtaling’s junior baseball season never got started, and his senior football season ended abruptly with a 4-2 record when East was forced to forfeit its Division 3 District opener due to coronavirus cases in the program.
“I am so happy for these kids, that they have been able to have the type of season they’ve had,” said Carlson, who is in his second year as the Chix head coach and is assisted by Tyler Bartolacci. “They deserve it.”
Now the question becomes: How far can they go?
The Chix certainly put on a clinic Thursday, against a talented Zeeland West team which gave East its closest game of the season, a 44-39 victory back on Feb. 23. This time, the Chix put on the clamps defensively and got out and ran to a 19-3 lead after one quarter, extended it to 31-9 by halftime and cruised from there.
The only thing missing was the usual standing-room-only crowd of close to 3,000 fans when the two Zeeland schools meet. Carlson would love to have those crowds, but knows this team doesn’t need that to get pumped up.
The Chix are so focused and serious that Carlson often starts practices with a game of tag to try and lighten the mood.
The problem is, as Riemersma explains, even tag soon becomes ultra-competitive with this year’s team.
“It’s team-bonding stuff and supposed to be a little bit of fun before we get focused in on basketball,” said Riemersma. “But we all want to win everything we do, so it usually gets pretty intense, but I guess that’s a good thing.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Zeeland East 6-10 senior center Nate Claerbaut, right, goes up for a clean blocked shot, while his twin brother, 6-5 senior forward Brandon Claerbaut, applies pressure from the other side during a game last season. (Middle) Zeeland East senior Trip Riemersma poses with the commemorative basketball he was presented after scoring his 1,000th varsity point in Thursday's 61-27 Division 1 District Semifinal win over rival Zeeland West. (Below) Zeeland East senior guard Ethan Houghtaling sizes up a 3-point shot. Houghtaling, who played quarterback in football for the Chix, is a three-sport athlete who will play baseball next year at Western Michigan University. (Top and below photos contributed; middle photo by Tom Kendra.)