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.
Brother Rice Returns to Division 1 Final, Earns Familiar Title with OT Win
By
Drew Ellis
Special for MHSAA.com
June 6, 2025
ANN ARBOR – Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice won its 17th MHSAA Division 1 boys lacrosse championship Friday, but the 17th may be the sweetest one yet for the Warriors.
Facing off with its Catholic League rival Detroit Catholic Central for the 11th time in a MHSAA Finals game, Rice overcame an early 3-0 deficit to defeat the Shamrocks 9-8 in overtime.
“Somebody asked me this morning what I could write a TED Talk about – how about the heart of a team?” Brother Rice coach Ajay Chawla said. “We had it (Friday). They went down early, fought back. They never stopped fighting, and that’s been this team all year. … They wanted it really bad.”
Friday’s championship will stand out from the Warriors’ prestigious history after they missed appearing in the Division 1 Final in 2024, the first time they didn’t reach an MHSAA championship game in program history. During this regular season, Catholic Central also handed Brother Rice a pair of one-goal losses. All of that just motivated the Warriors more to pull out the victory at University of Michigan.
“Let me make this clear: The expectation is still there at Brother Rice,” Chawla said of winning Finals championships. “These guys felt it and when they came here, they had that expectation. They shouldered that just as heavy as any other team that has shouldered it. They had to shoulder it a little more because we didn’t even get here last year. We’re back where we want to be, where we should be, which is on top.”
The Warriors (19-5) won the opening faceoff of overtime and moved toward the Catholic Central goal. Sophomore defenseman Ben Waechter fired off a shot for the game-winner just 12 seconds into the additional period.
Upon scoring the championship goal, Waechter ran all around the field as his teammates attempted to swarm him to celebrate. It was the lone goal for the sophomore in the contest.
“It’s so surreal. It’s an unreal moment,” Waechter said of netting the game-winner in overtime. “I was cold all game, but I saw my opportunity, and I let it rip. No hesitation.”
After trailing 3-0 during the first half, Brother Rice wouldn’t trail in the second, but the game would be tied on three occasions over the final two periods.
The final tie came with 8:41 to play when Catholic Central senior Luke Zajdel intercepted a save attempt at the net and scored on a putback to make it 8-8.
Both teams would have scoring opportunities over the final stretch, but Catholic Central goalie Matthew Cranston and Brother Rice goalie Payton Fortino kept the ball out of the net. Both would finish the game with 12 saves.
The Shamrocks (23-1) got out to a strong start with that 3-0 lead after one quarter of play. Catholic Central’s defense set the tone, creating a lot of ground balls to allow the offense to control possession for most of the period.
Senior Lachlan Moffatt netted the first goal for CC, while Zajdel and Ben Papke followed for the three-goal advantage.
Needing to respond, Brother Rice adjusted its offensive approach and started peppering the right side of the net during the second quarter.
That strategy succeeded, as the Warriors posted three goals over a 1:20 stretch of play. Junior Frank Baiardi got the first two goals, while senior Hansen Polonkey followed with a low runner that found the net to tie the score at 3-3.
Catholic Central didn’t surrender the lead until the closing seconds of the first half. Trailing 5-4, the Warriors got a two-man advantage during the closing minute. That led to a Jayden Fortino goal to tie the game at 5-5 with 40 seconds left before the break.
Polonkey then gave the Warriors their first lead of the game with just two seconds on the clock as he scored on a wrap-around shot to put Brother Rice ahead 6-5 at halftime.
“Everyone just dug deep and showed a lot of heart,” Polonkey said of the second-quarter comeback. “We were all playing for the seniors and everything they have given to get back to a state championship. Deep down, we knew we just wanted it.”
Frank Baiardi led Brother Rice with three goals, Polonkey had two, and Joe Lee had a goal and an assist. Zajdel had three goals and an assist to lead Catholic Central, while Moffatt and Papke each finished with two.
PHOTOS (Top) Brother Rice’s Ben Waechter (30) winds up for what will be the game-winning shot of Friday’s Division 1 Final. (Middle) Waechter and a Detroit Catholic Central player contend for a loose ball.