Rockford Adds to Program Legends in Claiming 1st Finals Title Since 2003
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 14, 2026
EAST LANSING – When Kyle Clough took over the Rockford boys basketball program 10 years ago, he called his shot.
Clough had a state championship shirt printed, leaving little doubt about his aim for a program that had not won a Finals title since 2003. He didn’t put a timeframe on it however, with “20??” following the lofty declaration.
Now he can replace those question marks with a two and a six.
Clough’s Rams defeated East Lansing 54-50 on Saturday in the Division 1 Boys Basketball Final at the Breslin Center, putting their program back on top for the first time in more than 20 years.
“I was confident going into that interview, and I thought I needed to be in that place,” Clough said. “All of us remember 2003 and 2012 (when Rockford finished runner-up), and Steve Majerle and Ryan DeKuiper and Michael Redell – those guys are legendary in this state. So, when you get the job in a place like Rockford, you walk in and see the state championships everywhere, there is a pressure. There’s a pressure on these kids.
“We’ve kind of been knocking on the door here of making a run here these last couple years and fell short for one reason or another. This year, these guys were really determined. These guys are some of the greatest kids this school’s ever had. For them to be now in the great part of Rockford basketball history and Rockford athletic history makes me awfully proud.”
Rockford (25-3) now has two titles in program history, as it ended East Lansing’s bid for a championship repeat in a game that came down to the final seconds.
It wasn’t until Jace Opoku-Agyeman broke free for a lay-up with one second to play that it was wrapped up, and the orange half of the capacity crowd at Breslin erupted in celebration.
“At first, I looked at Josh (Bascom) and I was setting up my guy to go to the opposite hoop, then I saw Josh and he called me over to come get the ball,” Opoku-Agyeman said. “I saw the clock with three, four seconds left and I made the lay-up to (go) up two scores so we had the advantage.”
Opoku-Agyeman was one of three Rams in double figures, scoring 13 points. He was joined by the Bascom brothers, Josh (14) and Jake (11), at the tip of an incredibly balanced Rockford scoring effort.
Dylan Gross added eight, and Eli Wolfe had seven, including the go-ahead layup with 56 seconds remaining.
Wolfe, a sophomore guard who holds scholarship offers from multiple schools in the state, including Central Michigan, has spent much of this season dealing with injuries and will have surgery on his hips in the offseason.
“What he did for us this year is absolutely incredible,” Clough said. “Two torn labrums in his hips, he rolled his ankle in the Regional Semifinal against Saginaw, and he just wouldn’t take any time off. Even at times when we asked him to sit out during practice, he knew he had to be in there with his teammates. He’s one of the best guards in the whole state, period. This year he played incredibly limited. It’s an incredible commitment to his team. He could have stopped early, had the surgery and been back for AAU, but he loves these guys. And what he did deserves a lot of attention, because it was absolutely selfless and incredible.”
While Wolfe’s shot put the Rams ahead and Opoku-Agyeman’s sealed the game, it was their team defense in between that won the game.
Rockford would not let Mr. Basketball Award winner KJ Torbert get a look at the basket, running a second defender to him every time he got the ball. East Lansing called a pair of timeouts to try and set something up, but Rockford continued to force the ball out of Torbert’s hands or deny him all together.
Clough credited his coaching staff and a morning walkthrough for preparing his team to deny Torbert his chance.
Nearly 50 seconds passed after Wolfe's go-ahead basket, but eventually the Trojans (27-2) did find an open shot from the baseline. But it didn't fall.
“I said, ‘Somebody else is going to have to make a play,’” East Lansing coach Ray Mitchell said. “Obviously they’re doubling KJ, we tried to draw up a scheme to get the ball for an open shot, and actually we got an open shot, but couldn’t knock it down.”
Torbert did finish with 28 points on the day, adding five rebounds in his final game for East Lansing. He will continue his career at Bowling Green, where he’ll be a conference rival of Rockford’s Jake Bascom, who is headed to Central Michigan.
“What can you say about KJ Torbert?” Clough said. “Maybe one of the best players in this state in quite a while, and he stuck here with us in the state. As a coach in this state, I appreciate a guy so much like that. He’s got such a talent level that it brings that kind of a crowd like that into the Breslin Center.”
Kingston Thomas added 10 points for the Trojans, while Tyree Anthony had seven.
PHOTOS (Top) Rockford players raise their championship trophy after winning the Division 1 championship Saturday at Breslin Center. (Middle) Jake Bascom (24) and Drew Ferwerda (22) wall off East Lansing’s KJ Torbert under the basket. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Bellaire's 'Captain' Robinson Making Senior-Year Impact Sure to Last
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
February 18, 2022
Oh, the glory days.
When Paul Koepke took over Bellaire basketball, he stepped into some mighty big coaching shoes.
He’s got the Eagles on the right track as they work to return to being a powerhouse program. The culture almost fits the visions he’s had since taking over for legendary and hall of fame coach Stan Sexton. They’re 8-7 overall and 6-5 in Ski Valley League play.
But today he’s preparing to lose his only senior starter, Cole Robinson, perhaps better known as The Captain. Robinson may not be as famous as the professional athletes whose careers led to being known as The Captain — baseball’s Derek Jeter and hockey’s Steve Yzerman —but he is to the locals.
“I have a bunch of freshmen,” noted Koepke, who’s been around the Eagles since the early 2000s as a middle school and varsity assistant coach. “I couldn’t ask for a better set up than having him as my captain.”
Robinson, a three-sport star for the Eagles, joined Bellaire’s 22-2 varsity team his freshman year as the postseason run ended with a 50-41 upset loss to Suttons Bay in the Regional. That loss ended a string of deep postseason runs covering decades. It was Koepke’s first year at the helm.
Today the Eagles are preparing to host Fife Lake Forest Area with their captain possibly on the sideline. He suffered an ankle injury in this week’s 44-32 win over Pellston. Koepke helped the senior guard off the floor after his first career injury.
He saw a glimpse of how things could be next year without The Captain, but he loved how his Eagles responded and how Robinson handled it.
The Eagles immediately went into a “win it for Cole” mode. Bellaire hopes tonight’s game will be the only game the 6-foot, 205-pounder needs to sit for a full recovery.
“Cole was on the bench cheering like a mad man after the injury,” Koepke said. “The kids were high-fiving him, and he was coaching kids up.
“We probably had better effort after that,” he continued. “We competed at a higher level, and I think we won that one for Cole.”
The injury didn’t hamper his leadership skills a bit. The Eagles beat Pellston with the same freshmen and sophomores Robinson’s had under his wings for some time.
Robinson has high hopes the young players will help win a District championship like the Eagles regularly did during their glory days. He has yet to win a District title – in any sport – during his years at Bellaire. He’s got this basketball season and his senior baseball season to experience it.
He did experience a first earlier this basketball season. Bellaire beat Gaylord St. Mary 69-62 on Feb. 8, the first win Cole and his senior teammates had experienced over the Snowbirds in any sport.
Robinson, who admits football is his favorite sport followed by baseball, likes helping his young teammates on the court. And he can’t wait to see them on the baseball field.
The Eagles have racked up more basketball wins this season than the previous two combined.
“For us, this is a big improvement,” Robinson said. “We’re a really young team.
“I think we’re going to surprise a few teams in the Districts,” he continued. “It’s going to be a tough one.”
Ellsworth, last year’s champion, will likely get the top seed in the 2022 tournament, hosted by Central Lake. Boyne Falls and Gaylord St. Mary also will vie for the title. The Eagles lost to Ellsworth 70-52 in the season opener. The freshmen were coming off just a two-game middle school season due to COVID-19 cancellations.
“Our record is starting to show we’re not just a bunch of freshmen just being freshmen,” Koepke said. “We’re starting to get pretty good.”
Bellaire starts three freshmen, a sophomore and The Captain.
“This man is selfless,” Koepke said about Robinson. “He’s the first one to come to me when I get there (to practice or games) to give me a fist bump and ask me how my day is going.
“Captain means a lot of things. He’s the last one to go off the bus. He cleans the bus. He’s the last one to leave the locker room.”
Robinson is averaging nearly six points and three assists per game. He also hauls in eight rebounds per contest. He’s coming from an outstanding football season as the Eagles’ tight end, tackle and defensive end. He had two touchdown receptions in the fall.
Jayden Hansen, a freshman, leads the team in scoring at more than 15 per game. Another freshman, Drake Koepke, averages 12 points. Hanson is among Northern Michigan’s leading rebounders. Koepke, the coach’s son, is among the area’s leaders in steals.
“We’re always looking for the third scorer,” Koepke said.
But the starting lineup is set.
“We finally kind of found out these are our guys, our lineup,” Koepke said. “We’re growing now.
“We understand who we are, and now we have to fix some things we struggle with,” he continued. “Right now we have a great attitude, and we are peaking.”
Robinson goes back a long way in Bellaire. He was a water boy for the varsity team when his father, Brock, was the Eagles’ head football coach. Brock died suddenly in 2020, and had served as The Captain’s youth football and baseball coach and high school football coach his freshmen and sophomore seasons.
The younger Robinson also lost his 2020 baseball season due to COVID. But he has persevered. Today he’s a regular on the court coaching youth basketball and his youthful teammates.
“You can say it’s been a little tough —I obviously miss him of course,” The Captain said. “He loved sports just as much as I do.
“I think about him usually before most sporting events – especially football games I’d think about him beforehand.”
Coach Koepke, who also assisted Coach Robinson in football, is amazed by his captain’s career and his contribution to the Eagles’ success.
“He is always a positive person,” Koepke said. “There are so many things he does.”
If the Eagles don’t make the great run this season as they have in the past, the veterans they’ll have next season along with others impacted by Robinson should help them return to the glory days.
“You are going to be a better person because you met Cole,” Koepke said. “That’s basically what Cole is.
“We’re all going to miss Cole. He’s made me a better person for sure.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Bellaire’s Cole Robinson looks for an open teammate during a game against Johannesburg-Lewiston. (Middle) Robinson works to bring down a Bear Lake ball carrier. (Below) Robinson works with players in Bellaire’s youth program on their shooting form. (Top and middle photos courtesy of the Antrim Review; below photo courtesy of the Bellaire athletic department.)