East Grand Rapids Scores Repeat in OT

June 9, 2018

By Jason Schmitt
Special for Second Half

HOWELL Defense is the specialty of East Grand Rapids boys lacrosse coach Rick DeBlasio.

But even the veteran coach had to be impressed with the offensive exploits of his high scoring tandem of seniors Eric Solberg and Chris Owens.

Solberg tied an MHSAA championship game record with six goals and Owens netted the game-winner as the Pioneers won their second straight Division 2 title with an 11-10, double-overtime victory over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central on Saturday at Parker Middle School in Howell.

“When he gets his hands free and sweeps, and if you give him a half a step, it’s over,” said DeBlasio, talking of Owens, the team’s leading scorer this season. “For him to get the game-winning goal, it was really special. It’s something the whole team celebrates.”

The game-winner, which came with 2:04 left in the second overtime, may have caught the Rangers by surprise – and some of Owens’ teammates as well.

“We had decided to settle it down, maybe get on offense, but I saw an opening and I just took a shot,” said Owens, taking in the moment just minutes after being swarmed by his teammates on the north end of the field. “It’s crazy, all these people watching. It feels really good to finish it off.”

It seemed like neither team would be able to finish things off. East Grand Rapids looked like it was going to close out the game in regulation, only to see Forest Hills Central tie it up at 10-10 on a goal by junior Luke Majick with 33 seconds remaining.

“To get back to this game, after what happened last year, has really been a driving motivator for us this year,” Rangers coach Andy Shira said. “Obviously our guys didn’t want to lose (the game). Especially against East Grand Rapids, we’re not going to go down without a fight.”

That was evident throughout the game.

Forest Hills Central kicked off the scoring less than five minutes in, with senior Tobey Hendricks scoring off a pass from Majick. But East Grand Rapids would answer, with Solberg scoring a pair of goals to cap off a low-scoring first quarter.

Forest Hills Central and East Grand Rapids then went on a scoring binge, combining to tally seven goals in just less than four minutes, the last three scored by the Pioneers. Solberg had three of them, Owens had the other, giving their team a 6-4 lead at halftime.

Though the Pioneers continued to maintain a lead into the fourth quarter, Forest Hills Central would not go away. On three occasions, the Rangers tied the game up. Junior Tate Hallock scored two of those tying goals, with Majick scoring the other.

Solberg’s six goals tied a championship game record held by three Birmingham Brother Rice players (Morgan Macko, Jason Alessi and Devin Peurach). He’s a converted midfielder, something his coach said has worked in favor of the Pioneers.

“We were hoping his dodging would free him up, but we went through a period where offensively we weren’t getting the kind of production we wanted and I moved him to attack,” DeBlasio said. “Since I moved him to attack, he’s averaged four to six goals a game. He’s a pretty special kid.”

Junior Jack DelVecchio and senior Drew Poortenga also scored goals in the Pioneers’ victory.

Hallock finished with four for Forest Hills Central (18-2), while Majick and senior Patrick English each had two. Seniors Hendricks and Bryce Clay each added one goal for the Rangers, who entered the postseason as the top-ranked team in Division 2.

It was the third straight year the two schools played for the Division 2 title, with the Pioneers winning last year and the Rangers picking up the 2016 title. Central had defeated East Grand Rapids, 14-7, earlier this season.

“They executed a little bit more (today),” Shira said. “Everything they did today, we’ve seen on film. We just didn’t execute as much as them. We had our chances, but they’re an excellent team, very well coached.”

The championship was the fifth for East Grand Rapids (19-4), which also won titles from 2007-09 and again last year.

Click for the full scoring summary.

VIDEO: East Grand Rapids’ Chris Owens scores the game-winner in overtime.

PHOTOS: (Top) East Grand Rapids celebrates its Division 2 championship game win. (Middle) EGR and Forest Hills Central players battle for possession.

Wolves Lacrosse Growing, Gaining While Providing Opportunities to Play

By Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com

May 5, 2025

Eric Anderson has been sure to make the branding of his lacrosse program more representative of the make-up of his team.

Bay & ThumbThe team is under the supervision of the Bay City Central athletic department, as BCC is the primary school in the cooperative that draws players from four schools total. But while the team also carries BCC’s mascot, the Wolves, their uniforms are black, purple and grey, and their helmets white – with those color choices making “Wolves lacrosse” more a representation of the breakdown of its players: 12 from Bay City Central, 12 from Frankenmuth, two from Freeland and two from Saginaw Swan Valley.

While the players outside of Bay City Central appreciate the gesture, they’re much more appreciative of the opportunity.

“Lacrosse being my favorite sport, I didn’t really have a choice. If there wasn’t a team, I couldn’t play,” Frankenmuth senior Aidan Hubbard said. “With this opportunity, it brings a lot of joy to me, playing the sport I love, and I didn’t have to just quit it because there wasn’t a team. 

“I’m going to be honest, (the branding is) not really (important). As long as I’m playing, I don’t care what our team name is. We’re wearing the purple and playing on this field.”

The identity is important to Anderson, who built the team by going the co-op route following the pandemic. His first season as coach was set to be the spring of 2020, but a promising roster of more than 30 players never got to see the field.

By the time he was able to coach a game in 2021, that number was down to 14.

“I reached out to my AD and said that we have to do something different; we need a co-op,” Anderson said. “My son was coming in as a freshman, and I knew we had a couple lacrosse players who are hockey players at Frankenmuth High School. We reached out to Frankenmuth, and Frankenmuth grabbed a hold right away. … Between the parents and myself, we have not had a single issue. Everything has been absolutely seamless. We treat it as one. This is a Bay City Central lacrosse team. Bay City Central pays for it. But our colors are black, purple and grey, even though Central is purple and gold. We refer to it as Wolves lacrosse.”

Anderson’s son, Maveric, attends Bay City Central, and was part of that first co-op team, as were Hubbard and John Britton, who both attend Frankenmuth. 

All three are now seniors, along with Frankenmuth’s Caleb Morgan, who joined as a sophomore and is in his third year with the program.

“It’s very unique,” Morgan said. “Because it’s not people you see every day in school. You only get to see these guys this time during the year, so it’s like a very unique experience catching up after the year is over and everybody comes back after a whole year of not seeing each other.”

Maveric Anderson (8) pursues a loose ball Saturday against East Kentwood. With that backbone, the team has grown to its current number of 28, nearly to the point where Anderson can create a junior varsity squad.

“The program really wasn’t too much in the past years,” Hubbard said. “Now, it’s kind of like getting a little jumpstart. Even kids over in Frankenmuth, everyone in Frankenmuth is talking about it. It’s kind of hot in Frankenmuth right now. Lots of younger kids are wanting to play.”

It helps that the Wolves are translating those numbers into success.

Heading into tonight, the Wolves are 8-4 on the season and have won eight of their past 10 games.

Not only have they already set a school record for wins, they’re on their way to doubling the number of wins they had (five) over the previous three years combined.

“We have a bunch of younger kid stepping into roles that they’ve never really played before,” Britton said. “I kind of figured that sooner or later we’d get enough kids to put on a lacrosse field and win some games.”

It’s something Anderson could see coming, as the team had been getting more and more competitive. And, despite the fact they were consistently scheduled as a team’s ceremonial Senior Night, they weren’t making it easy for the opposition.

“This group of guys would compete in every single game,” Anderson said. “We would just lose because, in the fourth quarter, we’d run out of gas. We didn’t have enough players. We’ve been everybody’s Senior Night for the last number of years. Last year, we watched all these teams graduating 18 kids, 16 kids, all these kids, and we graduated one. You believe that these kids, they’ve kept receipts.”

Now, Anderson is seeing his senior-led team – there are 13 on the Wolves roster – not only winning more games, but controlling them. 

“You know where I see (the improvement), I see it offensively, where we’re finally able to handle the ball, make passes, and control the ball in the offensive zone,” Anderson said. “We’re not always having to be on the run and backtracking. We’re able to get the ball in the zone, maintain an offensive possession and get a quality shot.”

The Wolves already have attained the goals Anderson had set for his team, as they’re competing night in and night out and have shown massive improvement year over year. 

For the players, they simply want to keep doing that – and building up the program for which they’ve laid the foundation.

“We’ve kind of just been building,” Hubbard said. “We’ve had our little group, and it’s just been building up and everyone here has stuck it through, so I think we all deserve it. Coaches, too. They stuck it through while we were one of the worst, if not the worst, lacrosse teams in Michigan.”

Paul CostanzoPaul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Wolves lacrosse players celebrate a win this season. (Middle) Maveric Anderson (8) pursues a loose ball Saturday against East Kentwood. (Photos by Shae Lauwers/Moments by Shea.)