Preview: Opportunities to Capitalize
June 7, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
We entered last season’s Boys Lacrosse Finals with a familiar scenario – both championship games were rematches – and we finished the day with Detroit Catholic Central breaking new ground with its first Division 1 title.
With a Semifinal win earlier this week over reigning Division 2 champ East Grand Rapids, could Ada Forest Hills Eastern become the next to end the spring as a first-time champion?
That’s a possibility in Division 2 on Saturday as the Hawks will make their first Finals appearance as a stand-alone program. Meanwhile, Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice will be looking to take Division 1 back from the Shamrocks, and Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central stands in the way of FHE as it hopes to rise after two straight runner-up finishes.
The Division 1 game leads off this year’s series at 2 p.m. Saturday, followed by the Division 2 game at 4:30. Both Finals at Howell’s Parker Middle School will be broadcast on MHSAA.tv, available with subscription, with audio available on MHSAANetwork.com. Click for more information, including all tournament results.
Below is a look at all four contenders, with player statistics through Regional Finals unless noted.
Division 1
BLOOMFIELD HILLS BROTHER RICE
Record/rank: 21-0, No. 1 at end of regular season
League finish: First in Detroit Catholic High School League
Coach: Ajay Chawla, sixth season (106-20)
Championship history: 13 MHSAA championships (most recent 2017), runner-up 2018.
Best wins: 18-4 over No. 5 Rockford in Semifinal, 16-12 and 16-5 over No. 2 Detroit Catholic Central, 19-0 over Division 2 No. 2 East Grand Rapids, 16-10 over Division 2 No. 1 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central.
Players to watch: Justin Glod, sr. A (80 goals, 36 assists); Jordan Hyde, jr. M (50 goals, 34 assists); Patrick O’Hara, sr. M/A (72 goals, 33 assists); Michael Cosgrove, sr. M (25 goals, 38 assists); Jack Crosby, sr. LSM; James Donaldson, sr. D. (Stats through 21 games.)
Outlook: Brother Rice saw its string of 13 straight MHSAA Division 1 championships come to an end in last season’s Final, and the Warriors have responded with a perfect run through this spring. A number of last year’s standouts have led the way – Cosgrove, O’Hara, Donaldson and Crosby made the all-state first team in 2018, and Glod made the second. Seven players have scored at least 23 goals, and those seven also all have at least 23 assists. Only five wins have come by fewer than 10 goals.
DETROIT CATHOLIC CENTRAL
Record/rank: 19-3, No. 2 at end of regular season
League finish: Second in Detroit Catholic High School League
Coach: Dave Wilson, 14th season (203-82)
Championship history: Division 1 champion 2018, runner-up seven times.
Best wins: 14-13 (OT) over No. 6 Lake Orion in Semifinal, 12-3 over No. 8 Clarkston in Regional Final, 23-10 (Regional Semifinal) and 18-8 over No. 7 South Lyon, 17-9 over No. 5 Rockford, 22-6 over Division 2 No. 3 Ada Forest Hills Eastern, 12-3 over Division 2 No. 2 East Grand Rapids.
Players to watch: Joey Kamish, sr. A; Ryan Sullivan, jr. A; Justin Petouhoff, sr. LSM; Kyle Love, sr. M; Connor Beals, sr. M; Jakob Hemme, jr. G; Ryan Birney, sr. M. (Statistics not submitted.)
Outlook: Last season belonged to the Shamrocks, as they finally broke through to defeat Brother Rice both during the regular season and in the championship game. The Warriors won the first meeting this season by 11 but the second by only four goals, and DCC should have plenty of confidence for this final rematch. Kamish, Love and Beals all made the all-state first team last season, while Sullivan, Petouhoff, Hemme and Birney made the second team. The only other defeat this spring came in the regular-season finale to Division 2 top-ranked Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, by three.
Division 2
ADA FOREST HILLS EASTERN
Record/rank: 16-6, No. 3 at end of regular season
League finish: Third in O-K Conference Tier 1
Coach: Zack Grusell, first season (16-6)
Championship history: Division 1 runner-up 2011 and 2013 as part of Forest Hills Eastern/Northern.
Best wins: 9-6 over No. 2 East Grand Rapids in Semifinal, 15-5 over No. 4 Spring Lake, 16-7 over No. 9 Flint Powers Catholic, 9-8 over No. 5 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern.
Players to watch: Brandon Pham, sr. G (8.4 goals-against average, .500 save percentage); John Morgan, soph. A (69 goals, 34 assists); Sam Bowen, soph. A (43 goals, 28 assists); Kevin Sprague, soph. A (33 goals, 15 assists); Ethan Johns, soph. M (30 goals, 21 assists).
Outlook: Forest Hills Eastern avenged a one-goal regular-season loss to East Grand Rapids to earn a spot in the championship game, and the Hawks have to be excited about Saturday and the future given the relative youth of their leading scorers this spring. Tough losses midseason to Detroit Catholic Central, Rockford, FHC, Hartland and EGR over an eight-game span no doubt helped prepare Forest Hills Eastern for this run, and the Hawks have given up a combined 27 goals over their last seven games. Grusell was one of the state’s all-time leading scorers while starring for Portage Central until graduating in 2011, and he moved up from assistant this season after also spending a season as an assistant at Forest Hills Central.
GRAND RAPIDS FOREST HILLS CENTRAL
Record/rank: 20-1, No. 1 at end of regular season
League finish: First in Ottawa-Kent Conference Tier 1
Coach: Andy Shira, second season (40-3)
Championship history: Three MHSAA titles (most recent 2016), four runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 20-5 (Semifinal) and 16-2 over No. 6 Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, 17-4 (Regional Final) and 19-2 over No. 5 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, 20-8 over No. 7 Detroit Country Day, 17-4 over No. 3 Ada Forest Hills Eastern, 17-5 over No. 2 East Grand Rapids, 12-9 over Division 1 No. 2 Detroit Catholic Central, 16-8 over Division 1 No. 5 Rockford, 14-2 over Division 1 No. 4 Northville, 17-15 over Division 1 No. 3 Hartland, 20-12 over Division 1 No. 10 Saline.
Players to watch: Jackson Clay, jr. A (87 goals, 55 assists); Tate Hallock, sr. M (57 goals, 35 assists); Jack Nolan, sr. G (7.4 goals-against average, .520 save percentage); Luke Majick, sr. M (56 goals, 33 assists); Cam Deines, sr. D; Logan Wedder, sr. FOGO.
Outlook: Forest Hills Central finished runner-up the last two seasons but finds itself the favorite again and despite graduating some serious star power last spring. That’s not to say the Rangers aren’t still loaded – Hallock and Majick were all-state first team last season as was Wedder as a top face-off specialist, and Deines and Nolan made the second team. Joining the scoring leaders this spring has been Clay and also senior attack Evan Metaj (48 goals, 16 assists) and sophomore attack Carson Deines (45 goals, 31 assists). FHC has played nearly all of the best in Michigan, and its only defeat was by six to Brother Rice.
PHOTO: Detroit Catholic Central goalie Jakob Hemme prepares for a Brother Rice shot during last season’s Division 1 Final.
Bedford Boys Lacrosse Continues Spectacular Rise with 1st Regional Title
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
June 17, 2025
Steve Ullery isn’t the president of a company or chief executive officer of a corporation. He doesn’t sit on any boards of directors.
However, what Ullery has done during his decade with the Temperance Bedford boys lacrosse program would make any CEO or chairperson of a board envious.
The Kicking Mules season ended against eventual Division 2 runner-up Detroit Country Day. But reaching the Quarterfinals for the first time in school history capped a monumental journey for the Bedford lacrosse program, that only this season climbed out of “club” status and became an official varsity sport at the southeast Michigan school.
“It’s been a long journey,” Ullery said. “And its not one that’s over. It’s one we are going to continue to try and improve on.”
Four or five years ago, Bedford was happy to go into halftime tied with Southeastern Conference opponents like Saline or Ann Arbor Skyline. Now, the Kicking Mules have won back-to-back conference titles.
“Eventually, we got better,” Ullery said. “The deficits got less. Maybe we were tied in the first quarter or we were winning the second half.
“About three years ago, we beat Saline for the first time. I think it was then that we started to realize, these teams aren’t invincible. That was the turning point of our program and the mindset of the players. We just need to go out and grab it.”
With back-to-back Southeastern Conference Red championship banners in hand, the Mules reached for another goal this season – reaching the MHSAA Finals.
A 16-1 win over Grosse Ile in their Regional Semifinal earned them a trip to the Regional Finals. A goal with 40 seconds left by freshman Kyle Burger sent the Mules to the Quarterfinals with an 11-10 win over Byron Center.
Country Day beat Bedford 19-1 in that Quarterfinal, but this still marked the greatest season in school history.
Ullery is from a small town outside of Dayton, Ohio. He played soccer, ran track and played basketball in high school. He attended Bowling Green State University in northwest Ohio and settled just across the state line in the Bedford school district. He was introduced to lacrosse when his oldest son came home one day with a sign-up sheet and said he wanted to give it a try.
“I picked this up by accident,” he said. “I didn’t know anything about lacrosse. My son wanted to try lacrosse, and they needed a coach. I was sort of volunteered to coach, jumped in and never looked back. It became a family endeavor. I have two sons and a daughter who played Bedford lacrosse.”
Ullery and another parent started watching YouTube videos about lacrosse to learn the technical side of the game to teach to youngsters.
“We tried to learn everything we could about the sport,” Ullery said.
He eventually moved up as a middle school coach and, as his own son reached high school, threw his hat into the mix to be the varsity coach. He was hired by the district.
Bedford athletic director Mark German said the program has taken off.
“Our boys lacrosse program revived the junior high team about four years ago … and we are now seeing the results of that feeder system,” German said. “At the high school level Steve Ullery and his staff, along with the players, just made the decision that they were no longer going to finish last in the SEC. They went to work and willed themselves to be champions.”
Although the program began in 2007, this is the first year boys lacrosse was funded by the school district. Prior to that it was considered a club sport by the district, although the school did allow the team to use the stadium and players to earn varsity letters and compete in the MHSAA postseason.
“We were privately funded,” Ullery said. “They took us under their umbrella this year.”
Coaching grew on Ullery, who surrounded himself with a mix of former high school and college lacrosse players and parents who wanted to be involved.
“Once we got a little bit of knowledge under our belt, we started developing a little bit of a culture,” he said.
As a coach, he said, he reflected on his own days as an athlete as well as a parent.
“Quite honestly, when I took the coaching position, I looked back and thought what are some things that used to drive me nuts about coaches and how can I be better than that,” he said. “The last thing I wanted to be was one of those coaches that other parents were hollering at, ‘Why is he doing this? Why is he doing that?’ From the onset, I tried to get as many parents into the team as possible. The more hands, the better.”
Ullery said he and the other coaches also wanted to build a well-rounded team.
“Bedford was never short on talented players,” he said. “The problem is they were never a talented team.”
In 2022, the Mules started six freshmen.
“We were a very young club,” he said. “We knew the odds were not in our favor, but we kept pushing. We promoted the assists over the goal. We promoted ground balls and takeaways, good defensive skills instead of only looking at goals and wins and losses.”
As head coach, he divided responsibilities among coaches for offense and defense and created a culture everyone wanted to experience. His assistant coaches this season – Josh Vislay, Aaron Kaun, Justin Burger and Romeo Ybarra – all played key roles.
“It was a good mix,” Ullery said. “We worked well together.”
Bedford, which finished 13-5, had a well-balanced team, although three of those 2022 freshmen (Blake Dlugosielski, Brady Weirich and Brennan McIntire) all finished their careers with more than 100 goals.
“We would have games where we might have seven or eight different scorers,” Ullery said. “That makes it hard for the other team to try and figure out who are we going to shut down.”
Bedford will lose nine seniors from this year’s team, but Ullery says the success of the program will keep rising as long as the feeder programs remain strong and keep things fun.
“It was busy, but I had the support of my family,” he said. “I would change nothing. It’s been an absolute joy and one heck of a ride. I’m humbled about where the team is and the successes we’ve been able to do as a group.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Bedford’s Noah Puccetti (15) brings the ball upfield during a Regional Semifinal win over Grosse Ile. (Middle) Kyle Burger considers his options with the ball in his possession. (Below) The Kicking Mules take a team photo with their Regional championship trophy at Ypsilanti Lincoln. (Photos courtesy of the Temperance Bedford boys lacrosse program.)