Preview: Last Season's Runners-Up Returning, Seeking to Take Final Step
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 5, 2026
Last season's MHSAA Boys Lacrosse Finals runners-up will attempt to finish as this season's champions Saturday at Howell Parker.
But a pair of West Michigan hopefuls will be seeking to break up those celebrations.
Detroit Country Day, last season's second-place team in Division 2, will face Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central for this year's title at 11 a.m. Detroit Catholic Central, last season's Division 1 runner-up, will then take on first-time finalist Hudsonville in the Division 1 championship game at 2 p.m.
Tickets cost $11 and are good for both games, and may be purchased online only at GoFan. Both games also will be broadcast and available with subscription from MHSAA.tv.
Below is a glance at all four contenders. Rankings as part of “best wins” are based on the Michigan Power Rating formula.
Division 1
DETROIT CATHOLIC CENTRAL
Record/MPR: 16-5, No. 2
League finish: First in Catholic High School League Central
Coach: Dave Wilson, 20th season (309-106)
Championship history: Division 1 champion 2024 and 2018, 10 runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 13-7 (Semifinal) and 14-4 over No. 5 Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, 15-4 over No. 10 Brighton in Quarterfinal, 13-3 over No. 8 Ann Arbor Pioneer in Regional Final, 11-9 over No. 1 Rockford, 10-9 over Division 2 No. 5 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood.
Players to watch: Ryan Dye, sr. A; Travis Wasen, sr. G; Asher Miscovich. (Statistics not provided.)
Outlook: Detroit Catholic Central’s only in-state losses this season were to Division 2 finalist Detroit Country Day in the season opener and Brother Rice in the CHSL Bishop Tournament championship game, and the Shamrocks avenged the latter Wednesday to finish that season series with a 2-1 edge. This will be DCC’s fourth-straight championship game appearance, with last year’s runner-up finish coming on a 9-8 overtime loss to Rice. Dye made the all-state second team last season.
HUDSONVILLE
Record/MPR: 21-1, No. 3
League finish: First in Ottawa-Kent Conference Tier 2
Coach: Gunnar Elder, fifth season (66-30)
Championship history: Has never appeared in an MHSAA Final.
Best wins: 11-3 over No. 4 Grand Ledge in Semifinal, 11-8 over No. 7 Hartland in Regional Final, 10-8 over No. 1 Rockford in Regional Semifinal, 14-12 over No. 10 Brighton, 11-10 over Division 2 No. 4 East Grand Rapids, 12-11 over Division 2 No. 10 Ada Forest Hills Eastern, 10-4 over Division 2 No. 3 Caledonia.
Players to watch: Will Zuiderveen, sr. A (93 goals, 28 assists); Carson Campbell, soph. A (65 goals, 26 assists); Andrew McAleece, sr. A (40 goals, 29 assists); Andrew Hersberger, sr. G (6.09 goals-against average, .530 save %).
Outlook: After winning a third-straight league title, Hudsonville has taken another significant step this season reaching the Finals for the first time. Elder has been to this stage before – he was a three-time all-stater at East Grand Rapids and part of the 2011 Division 2 runner-up team. Zuiderveen made the Division 1 all-state first team last season and has paced an offense that also had received 29 goals from senior Lawsyn Weber, 24 from senior Zaidan Dykstra and 15 from junior Mason Weber entering the week. The lone loss came March 25 to Rockford, 18-5, and the Eagles avenged it in the Regional Semifinal.
Division 2
DETROIT COUNTRY DAY
Record/MPR: 19-1, No. 1
League finish: Does not play in a conference.
Coach: JD Hess, first season (19-1)
Championship history: Four MHSAA titles (most recent 2024), four runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 16-8 (Regional Final) and 9-7 over No. 5 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 17-3 over No. 9 Okemos, 16-5 over No. 3 Caledonia, 13-7 over No. 4 East Grand Rapids, 17-8 over No. 18 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, 15-4 over Division 1 No. 10 Brighton, 13-11 over Division 1 No. 1 Rockford, 16-6 over Division 1 No. 4 Grand Ledge, 16-9 over Division 1 No. 7 Hartland, 12-8 over Division 1 No. 2 Detroit Catholic Central.
Players to watch: Keaton Yearego, sr. A (68 goals, 60 assists); Mason Gal, sr. A (68 goals, 49 assists); Rhys Kenney, jr. A (74 goals, 59 assists); Bonner Upshaw, sr. D.
Outlook: Country Day ended a step shy of a repeat title a year ago, falling to East Grand Rapids 15-10 in the Final, but has returned for a fifth-straight championship game appearance with the majority of its top offensive players from last season. Yearego and Gal made the all-state first team last season, as did Upshaw on defense and senior Zain Halabi at SSDM. Hess took over the program after leading Cranbrook Kingswood the last five seasons. Country Day’s lone loss came to Carmel, Ind., 10-8.
GRAND RAPIDS FOREST HILLS CENTRAL
Record/MPR: 11-11, No. 18
League finish: Fifth in O-K Tier 1
Coach: Andy Shira, ninth season (123-45)
Championship history: Six MHSAA titles (most recent 2023), four runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 14-13 over No. 4 East Grand Rapids in Semifinal, 11-5 over No. 3 Caledonia in Quarterfinal, 11-10 (OT) over No. 10 Ada Forest Hills Eastern in Regional Final, 18-9 over No. 9 Okemos, 15-2 over Division 1 No. 10 Brighton.
Players to watch: Henry McNamara, sr. M (35 goals, 22 assists); Blake Teliczan, jr. M (48 goals, 23 assists); Michael Timmer, jr. G (8.78 goals-against average, .560 save %); Luke Nuo, jr. D.
Outlook: Forest Hills Central is in the midst of a stunning run after losing 10 of its first 12 games this season. The Rangers have avenged two of those defeats, to Forest Hills Eastern and East Grand Rapids, during the postseason and will attempt to do the same Saturday after falling to Country Day 17-8 on April 14. Teliczan made the all-state second team last season, McNamara and Nuo made the third team and junior Lars Dupuie earned honorable mention at FOGO. Juniors Finn Brunink (29 goals), Brody Nieuwkoop and Andrew Karas (both 22 goals) also have averaged a goal or more per game.
(Photo by Michigan Sports Photo.)
Brother Rice Answers Hartland's Championship Challenges
By
Jason Schmitt
Special for MHSAA.com
June 12, 2021
HOWELL — Over the years, teams have learned not to blink an eye when facing Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice on the lacrosse field.
It really doesn’t take all that long for the Warriors to make an opponent pay.
Hartland learned that first-hand Saturday during the MHSAA Division 1 Final at Parker Middle School. The Warriors erased a two-goal deficit over the final 21.4 seconds of the first half, then proceeded to outscore the Eagles, 6-0, in the third quarter en route to a 14-9 victory.
“That was huge,” Brother Rice head coach Ajay Chawla said. “We’re down two, and they’ve taken the momentum over. We score two quick ones there at the end. That was a game changer. We went into the locker room and instead of being down two, we’re tied.”
Hartland had rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to grab a 5-3 lead with 1:15 left in the first half. Five Eagles scored, capped off with a goal by senior Charlie Anderson, who took a pass from freshman Drew Lockwood and scored to give his team its biggest lead of the game.
Brother Rice wasted little time answering. Sophomore Ben Eck scored the first of his two goals, battling his way through the Eagles’ defense to put one upstairs and cut the lead to 5-4. After gaining possession of the ensuing faceoff, Chawla called a timeout to set up one last play before halftime.
“We were talking (during the timeout),” said Warriors senior Luke Dudley. “I wasn’t really beating my guy to the net in the first half, but I was getting my hands free. I knew I had (Josh Schlackman) off the pick, hit him, bang.”
The goal certainly changed the momentum in favor of Brother Rice.
“We fell asleep a little bit, and there were a couple of plays that we needed to be dialed in on to end the quarter. That happens,” Hartland head coach Nick Levanti said. “They’re a good team, and if you give them opportunities to score, they’re gonna. We gave up some easy ones there.”
Brother Rice dominated the third quarter. Sophomore Sam Klein scored seven seconds into the second half, and Dudley scored three of his game-high four goals in the third.
“We were obviously a little worried at first, going down, it was a bit of a surprise,” Dudley said. “But we’ve got guys out here who can step up and score. The offense got together. The defense got together. And we talked things out and knew what we had to do. We came out, got some gritty goals.”
Hartland scored the first goal of the fourth quarter, snapping an eight-goal streak by the Warriors. Junior Ryan Krause took a pass from junior Bo Lockwood to make it an 11-6 game. But Brother Rice would answer with a pair of goals from Dudley to push the lead back to seven.
“If you want to play good lacrosse, state championship lacrosse, there’s a margin for almost no error against any team,” Levanti said. “Especially Brother Rice.”
Eight Brother Rice players scored in the win. Robert Reaume, Josh Schlackman and Eck each had two, while Zach Rivers, Paulie Fortino, Klein and Hunter Polonkey each added one. Seniors Tommy Kunz and Nate Randall combined to make 12 saves in goal.
It was the second-consecutive Division 1 championship for the Warriors, who have now won 15 of the 16 MHSAA Division 1 titles handed out.
“At halftime, we reminded them of what they can do,” said Chawla, whose team finished the season 18-2. “They've never lacked heart and hustle and energy this year. What we have lacked sometimes is a little execution. We just weren’t executing. And we started to execute there in the second half. You saw what kind of team we can be when we execute.”
Senior Noah Luck led the Eagles with three goals. Bo Lockwood finished with a pair of goals and four assists. Drew Lockwood (two goals), Krause and Anderson rounded out the scoring for Hartland (22-2), which lost only to Brother Rice (twice) this season.
The Eagles are a young team, and Levanti said he’s excited about the future.
“We had a lot of young guys who stepped up and helped us throughout the year,” Levanti said. “We learned a lot about ourselves, about how tough we really are. It’s incredible, the amount of work ethic these kids have. We have a lot of sophomores, a lot of freshmen. I think there’s a really bright future for this program.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Brother Rice’s Ben Eck (38) works to get past Hartland’s Jack Sargeant. (Middle) The Eagles’ Joey Mattord (23) walls off Rice’s Connor Borkowicz.