Preview: New Champions Guaranteed as U-M Welcomes Boys Lacrosse Finals
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 7, 2024
Both MHSAA Boys Lacrosse Finals on Saturday will crown new champions – and one contender is seeking to clinch a title for the first time in its program’s history.
Those opportunities were created when Hartland defeated reigning Division 1 champion Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice to advance, and Ada Forest Hills Eastern ended a repeat attempt in Division 2 by Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central. A championship Saturday also would be the first in FHE history – but the Hawks must take on 2023 runner-up Detroit Country Day, which won their regular-season meeting 11 weeks ago. Hartland faces reigning Division 1 runner-up Detroit Catholic Central, the first time these two will meet for a Finals title.
Both games will be played at University of Michigan Lacrosse Stadium for the first time, 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
DETROIT CATHOLIC CENTRAL
Record/MPR: 20-3, No. 2
League finish: First in Catholic High School League Central
Coach: Dave Wilson, 19th season (269-99)
Championship history: Division 1 champion 2018, nine runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 16-5 over No. 1 Rockford in Semifinal, 19-4 over No. 8 Brighton in Quarterfinal, 15-2 over No. 5 Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, 13-3 over No. 7 Birmingham Seaholm, 10-8 over Division 2 No. 1 Detroit Country Day, 17-8 over Division 2 No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central.
Players to watch: Joe Curtin, sr. D; Charles Graves, sr. G; Lachlan Moffatt, jr. A. (Statistics not submitted.)
Outlook: DCC returned to the championship game last year for the first time since 2019 and has dominated this spring, suffering its only in-state loss to Brother Rice 16-10 on April 9 but avenging it in the CHSL Central championship game a month later. The other two losses were by a goal apiece to Ohio powers Cincinnati St. Xavier and Dublin Jerome (the latter in overtime). Those three defeats were three of only four games during which the Shamrocks gave up more than eight goals; they’ve given up two or fewer in nine wins. Moffatt, Curtin and Graves all made the all-state second team last season.
HARTLAND
Record/MPR: 19-3, No. 4
League finish: First in Kensington Lakes Activities Association West
Coach: Nick Levanti, fifth season (80-12)
Championship history: Division 1 champion 2022, runner-up 2021.
Best wins: 11-10 over No. 5 Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice in Semifinal, 17-2 (Quarterfinal) and 14-13 (2OT) over No. 3 Lake Orion, 17-6 over No. 8 Brighton, 12-9 over Division 2 No. 4 East Grand Rapids, 11-7 over Division 2 No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central.
Players to watch: Dylan Ayotte, sr. A (44 goals, 16 assists); Jacob Ross, sr. A (67 goals, 23 assists); Drew Lockwood, sr. M (64 goals, 59 assists); Jake Lewis, sr. A (69 goals, 40 assists).
Outlook: After breaking through the DCC/Brother Rice hold on the Division 1 Final in 2021, Hartland will now make its third championship game appearance over the last four seasons and after avenging a mid-April loss to Brother Rice to get here. The other defeats came to Rockford by a goal in double overtime and also to St. Xavier, and the Eagles otherwise have mostly dominated as well with 10 wins giving up three or fewer goals including their first four of the postseason. Lockwood made the all-state first team in 2023, and Ayotte and Ross both made the second team.
Division 2
ADA FOREST HILLS EASTERN
Record/MPR: 16-4, No. 3
League finish: Third in Ottawa-Kent Conference Tier 1
Coach: Tony Boggiano, second season (30-9)
Championship history: Division 1 runner-up 2021 and 2019, Division 1 runner-up 2013 and 2011 as part of cooperative with Forest Hills Northern.
Best wins: 11-10 over No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central in Semifinal, 13-8 over No. 4 East Grand Rapids, 17-9 over No. 5 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, 16-9 over No. 7 Byron Center, 17-5 over No. 10 Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, 14-1 over Division 1 No. 7 Birmingham Seaholm.
Players to watch: Preston Hoexum, sr. A (72 goals, 34 assists); Will Morgan, sr. A (60 goals, 32 assists); Jackson Arnold, jr. M (28 goals, 25 assists); Mark Fuehrer, sr. A (53 goals, 19 assists).
Outlook: Forest Hills Eastern avenged a 15-11 loss to Forest Hills Central from April 29 to advance to this weekend, and its only other losses were to Division 1 Rockford and Grand Ledge and 16-7 on March 23 to Country Day. Hoexum and senior Noah Benedict (24 goals, 21 assists) made the all-state first team last season, and Morgan earned an honorable mention. Senior Camden Klaes has been strong in goal giving up 7.9 goals per game and saving 54 percent of shots he’s faced. Boggiano played at Forest Hills Eastern as part of the school’s first cooperative seasons from 2004-07, and he also previously served as Country Day’s offensive coordinator from 2015-19.
DETROIT COUNTRY DAY
Record/MPR: 18-2, No. 1
League finish: Does not play in a league.
Coach: Chris Garland, sixth season (79-22)
Championship history: Three MHSAA titles (most recent 2014), three runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 15-7 (Semifinal) and 12-9 over No. 4 East Grand Rapids, 18-4 over No. 9 Pontiac Notre Dame Prep in Quarterfinal, 13-9 over No. 7 Byron Center, 14-6 over No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, 14-7 over No. 5 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, 16-7 over No. 3 Ada Forest Hills Eastern, 9-8 over Division 1 No. 7 Birmingham Seaholm, 13-8 over Division 1 No. 6 Grand Ledge.
Players to watch: Caden Daley, sr. A (50 goals, 16 assists); Will Thompson, sr. A (50 goals, 30 assists); Oliver Aaron, sr. A (22 goals, 18 assists); Kellen Curby, jr. G (5.47 goals-against average, .570 save %).
Outlook: Country Day has finished runner-up the last two seasons, and the majority of last year’s top contributors are back for another title attempt after the 2023 lineup included only one senior starter. Daley, senior defenders Shafeek Halabi and Trevor Corless, and senior long stick midfielder Andrew Gryzenia all made the all-state first team last season, while Aaron and Curby made the second team and Thompson made the third. Sophomore Keaton Yearego (50 goals, 15 assists) is another big-time scorer as well, and four more players not listed above have found the net at least 17 times this spring.
PHOTO Ada Forest Hills Eastern’s Will Morgan (2) maneuvers to get off a shot during his team’s Semifinal win over Forest Hills Central. (Photo by Michigan Sports Photo.)
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.
The 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.”
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 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.)