Comeback Rangers Regain Top Spot
June 9, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
BIRMINGHAM – First, Trent Bohrmann’s stick flew high into the air. Then his right glove, followed by his left.
Finally, Bohrmann tossed his helmet to one side before being embraced by another mohawk-shaven teammate coming toward him from the other. The senior goalie wouldn’t need his gear anymore – although it came in quite handy over the last 19 minutes of Saturday’s MHSAA Division 2 Final at Seaholm High.
That’s how long he and his Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central teammates kept Detroit Country Day scoreless in coming from three goals down to win this season’s championship, 7-6.
The Rangers scored four straight and got two key fourth-period plays from their senior in net in toppling the reigning champion Yellowjackets.
"We came together truly that last half after they got that sixth goal. We really tore it up,” Bohrmann said. “And then that last quarter was just so nerve-wracking, because you knew they were coming. You knew they were going to be taking shots. You just had to stop it.
“We’ve had a few close games this year, and in playing those games, I knew our defense as a whole could step up and handle that pressure, even at this level.”
Detroit Country Day finished this spring 15-7. Forest Hills Central, winner of the title in 2010, capped this season 21-2. FHC was No. 1 and Country Day was No. 2 in the LaxPower computer rankings heading into the Regional semifinals.
Entering the championship game, FHC had given up 5.3 goals per game this season, with Bohrmann saving 65 percent of shots against him. Against Country Day, he stopped 13 of 19 – including perhaps his biggest of the season on a point-blank shot with 6:03 to play.
He made his second potential game-saving play with 2:12 to go, diving for the end line to gain possession for the Rangers after another Yellowjackets’ shot sailed past the net.
But he needed help. Junior Luke Gerard (61) and senior C.J. Biggs had combined for 102 goals entering Saturday. And trailing 2-0 after the first quarter, FHC got on the board on a Gerard goal from junior Collin Schlosser 3:20 into the second. But Country Day scored the next two to push its lead to 4-1 and led 4-2 at halftime.
“The whole time, I’m just thinking this is what we worked for. I know my team is going to come through. I just had faith in my teammates,” Gerard said. “We were definitely feeling things out. This was the first time we’d played DCD … and we knew in the second half we’d have to bring it with our offense.”
Schlosser answered with two goals during the first half of the third quarter. His second goal, 5:41 in, started FHC’s four-goal streak capped by Gerard’s go-ahead strike with 14:43 to play in the game.
“They took advantage of the times when we really made some mistakes,” Country Day coach Byron Collins said. “We made some really big errors, I think, errors we had been making early in the season that suddenly started resurfacing as the pressure got a little bit more. I think at times we succumbed to that and didn’t play our style. But hats off to them. It’s gotta take a good team to take advantage of those things.”
Senior Ahmed Iftikhar had 15 saves for Country Day, including a number on shots fired from only a few feet away. Sophomore Shane Switzer scored a game-high three goals for the Yellowjackets and also had an assist.
Sophomore Andrew Kransberger added two assists for the Rangers, and senior Kevin Stephen had two goals, including the one that tied the score 7:25 into the third quarter. Junior Neil Cunningham also scored for FHC.
“I think nerves hit us a little bit. We just talked at halftime; we can win this game. There’s nothing out there we haven’t seen before,” Rangers coach Tony Quinn said. “We just got our transition game going. That really was the difference. We got some goals moving up and down the field that we probably wouldn’t have gotten in set-up situations because their defense and goal was such an outstanding group.”
Click for the full scoring summary.
PHOTOS: (Top) Forest Hills Central junior Spencer Nehls (3) readies to fire a shot during Saturday's Division 2 Final. (Middle) Rangers goalie Trent Bohrmann (12) deflects a shot by Country Day's Pat Dugan (4). Photos by John Johnson/MHSAA
Preview: Familiar Foes Meet Again in Ann Arbor for Boys Lacrosse Finals
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 6, 2025
Tonight’s MHSAA Boys Lacrosse Finals will be rematches both of championship games past and meetings this regular season.
In Division 1 at 4 p.m., Detroit Catholic Central and Bloomfield Brother Rice will meet in a Final for the 11th time – and third time this season, with DCC winning 10-9 and 12-11 in overtime.
Following in Division 2, Detroit Country Day will face East Grand Rapids in a championship game for the third time and first since 2011 – with the Pioneers winning their faceoff this March 25, 10-9.
Both games will be played at University of Michigan Lacrosse Stadium, and below is a glance at all four contenders. Rankings as part of “best wins” are based on the Michigan Power Rating formula. Tickets cost $11 and are good for both games, and may be purchased online only at GoFan.
Both games will be broadcast and available with subscription from MHSAA.tv.
Division 1
BLOOMFIELD HILLS BROTHER RICE
Record/MPR: 18-5, No. 3
League finish: Second in Catholic High School League Central
Coach: Ajay Chawla, 12th season (191-48)
Championship history: 16 Division 1 titles, two runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 9-8 over No. 2 Rockford in Semifinal, 13-5 (Quarterfinal) and 9-4 over No. 9 Brighton, 15-6 over No. 11 Romeo in Regional Final, 9-6 over Division 2 No. 2 East Grand Rapids.
Players to watch: Theo Ley, sr. A; Hansen Polonkey, sr. A; Payton Fortino, sr. G.
Outlook: After missing the Division 1 championship game last spring for the first time since boys lacrosse became MHSAA-sponsored in 2005, Brother Rice is back in the season finale. Nine of the Warriors’ game this season were against out-of-state opponents, against whom Rice finished a combined 6-3. Ley made the all-state first team last season.
DETROIT CATHOLIC CENTRAL
Record/MPR: 23-0, No. 1
League finish: First in Catholic High School League Central
Coach: Dave Wilson, 20th season (293-100)
Championship history: Division 1 champion 2024 and 2018, nine runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 12-11 (OT) and 10-9 over No. 3 Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, 22-4 over No. 5 Grand Ledge in Semifinal, 18-0 over No. 6 Ann Arbor Pioneer in Regional Final, 18-8 over No. 2 Rockford, 20-0 over No. 11 Romeo, 11-5 over Division 2 No. 1 Detroit Country Day.
Players to watch: Lachlan Moffatt, sr. A; Luke Zajdel, sr. M; Connor Lukas, sr. M. Outlook: Much of the nucleus that carried DCC to its second Division 1 championship last season came back this spring, with Moffatt, Zajdel and Lukas all returning all-state first-team selections from a year ago, senior defenders Luke Taylor and Joey Ramirez back after making the second team and senior attack Francisco Williams a third-team all-stater in 2024. The Shamrocks have won 33 straight games dating back to May 7 of last season and breaking Brother Rice’s record of 29 consecutive victories during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. DCC’s four shutouts also have tied an MHSAA single-season record.
Division 2
DETROIT COUNTRY DAY
Record/MPR: 20-3, No. 1
League finish: Does not play in a conference.
Coach: Chris Garland, sixth season (100-25)
Championship history: Four MHSAA titles (most recent 2024), three runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 20-11 (Semifinal) and 18-6 over No. 7 Mattawan, 19-1 over No. 4 Temperance Bedford in Quarterfinal, 15-2 over No. 6 Ada Forest Hills Eastern, 19-9 over Division 1 No. 8 Seaholm, 14-3 over Division 1 No. 9 Brighton, 15-3 over Division 1 No. 4 South Lyon East, 17-8 over Division 1 No. 10 Hartland, 14-13 over Division 1 No. 2 Rockford, 13-11 over Division 1 No. 5 Grand Ledge.
Players to watch: Keke Yearego, jr. A (93 goals, 13 assists); Mason Gal, jr. A (55 goals, 19 assists); Luke Fisher, soph. A (46 goals, 7 assists); Kellen Curby, sr. G (5.7 goals-against average, .580 save %).
Outlook: Country Day will be playing in its fourth-straight championship game, this time carrying a 14-game winning streak and having won its first five playoff games by an average of nearly 14 goals per game. Yearego has set the program’s single-season goals record at the end of May and made the all-state second team last season, while senior mid Joe Norton (45 goals, 22 assists) made the first team in 2024 as did Curby and junior defender Andrew Gryzenia.
EAST GRAND RAPIDS
Record/MPR: 19-3, No. 2
League finish: Second in Ottawa-Kent Conference Tier 1
Coach: Kyle Osipoff, fourth season (61-19)
Championship history: Six MHSAA titles (most recent 2021), four runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 10-9 over No. 1 Detroit Country Day, 20-7 over No. 8 Dexter in Regional Final, 13-7 over No. 6 Ada Forest Hills Eastern, 14-3 over No. 3 Haslett, 21-7 over Division 1 No. 10 Hartland, 17-3 over Division 1 No. 9 Brighton, 20-8 over Division 1 No. 5 Grand Ledge.
Players to watch: Gavin Buck, sr. A (54 goals, 28 assists); Luke Starck, jr. D (4 goals, 3 assists); Bennett Winkel, sr. A (66 goals, 46 assists); Quinn Irwin, sr. G (6.19 goals-against average, .550 save %)
Outlook: East Grand Rapids has won Regional titles every season under Osipoff and is returning to the Finals for the first time since 2021. The Pioneers have won 11 straight games with its three losses by a combined six goals to Rockford, Brother Rice and Hamilton Southeastern (Ind.). Starck made the all-state first team last season, and Buck and Irwin made the second. Senior attack Oliver Owen (40 goals, 48 assists), junior attack Dylan Buck (40/12), junior mid Ethan Pfeiffle (39/11) and senior mid Owen Stropkai (24/16) are among others supplying significant offense.
PHOTO Detroit Country Day’s Keke Yearego (22) pursues into the midfield during last season’s Division 2 Final win over Ada Forest Hills Eastern.