Wagner Scores Dream Finish for Cranes
June 6, 2015
By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half
TROY — Johnny Wagner had a once-in-a-lifetime moment three days earlier, but may have topped it on Saturday.
The Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood senior netted the winning goal in overtime of the MHSAA Division 2 Semifinal against Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central on Wednesday, putting the Cranes in their third straight championship game.
With another overtime looming, Wagner lived out yet another dream scenario by scoring the championship-winning goal with 10.5 seconds left in regulation, giving the Cranes a 10-9 victory over Okemos at Troy Athens.
Wagner's fifth goal of the game broke a 9-9 tie that Okemos achieved with a late three-goal outburst, capped by Charlie Ciuk's tally with 1:20 remaining. The Cranes led 8-4 with 7:45 left in the game.
"It was a similar play the last game in overtime," said Wagner, who had a hat trick when the Cranes won the 2013 championship. "It's something we've been working on. It's been an exciting week. It's a big one."
Cranbrook Kingswood got possession following Ciuk's goal and called timeout with 53.5 seconds remaining. Wagner held the ball coming out of the timeout before breaking toward the net and burying a shot into the upper-right corner.
It was the biggest goal of his career — or at least in the last three days. And he will have to watch the video to see it for the first time.
"I did not see it go in," Wagner said. "I thought the goalie saved it and everyone started jumping all over me. I got hit. I was shooting off my back foot. I'm not complaining."
There was never a doubt which player would take the final shot for the Cranes.
"That is exactly what we expect out of him," Cranes coach Mat Wilson said. "That play at the end was just to get the ball to your best player and let him do his thing."
While Wagner's goal was the final shot taken by the Cranes, it wasn't the final shot of the game.
Okemos won the ensuing faceoff and called timeout with 7.3 seconds on the clock. Cole Jamieson, who had two goals, ran with the ball from midfield and fired wide to the left of goalie Ryan Rosenthal from 10 yards out.
"It went wide," said Rosenthal, a 5-foot-5 senior who started in the last three Division 2 Finals. "Me and Trey (Greissing) ran to the end line to get that possession. At that point, we knew we had it."
Although Okemos was able to come back from four goals down to tie it, Rosenthal made two big saves from close range in the third quarter when the Chieftains were rallying from a 5-2 halftime deficit.
"I think he was the player of the game," Wilson said. "I'm not sure what his stats are, but he is an incredible leader. He kept us in the game. Without him, this might have turned out differently."
It appeared that the Cranes had safely secured their third MHSAA championship when the second of Wagner's four fourth-quarter goals gave them an 8-4 lead with 7:45 remaining in the game. But that goal was part of a wild scoring spree by both teams that produced six goals in 2 minutes and 19 seconds. Blake Grewal Turner's second goal with 5:26 remaining got Okemos within 9-8.
The scoring subsided for a few minutes until Ciuk took a pass from Monty Frankfort and went to the net for the tying goal with 1:20 to go.
"We were up a little bit, but knew this team could score," Wagner said. "They're a big offensive threat, so we knew it wasn't over. They got it to 9-9. I was on my tiptoes; I think the whole team was. To score and put the game away is unbelievable."
In the end, perhaps it was big-game experience that carried the Cranes. They were playing in their third straight Final, while Okemos was in the title game for the first time.
"We knew we weren't playing the way we usually play," Grewal Turner said. "I think we came out a little timid. We realized once we started pushing, they didn't stand a chance. We started pushing too late and it showed; we lost by one."
Grewal Turner opened the scoring with 10:53 left in the first quarter to give Okemos its only lead. Riley Matthews scored the first two of his three goals just 1:15 apart to give the Cranes a 2-1 lead before Bennett Sherman's tally with 1:42 left created a 2-2 tie after one quarter.
Charlie Pistner, Wagner and Greg Aikens of Cranbrook Kingswood scored the only goals of the second quarter, as the Cranes took a 5-2 lead into halftime.
Jamieson and Sherman scored back-to-back goals to get Okemos within 5-4 with 3:36 left in the third quarter. Matthews collected his third goal to end the third-quarter scoring, and Wagner scored the first two goals of the fourth to give the Cranes their 8-4 lead.
Jamieson, Davis Lewandowski and Adam Goodsir had fourth-quarter goals for Okemos.
PHOTOS: (Top) Cranbrook Kingswood's Johnny Wagner possesses the ball during Saturday's Division 2 Final. (Middle) The Cranes' Bennett Faliski (7) pushes upfield with Okemos' Anders Stakey defending.
Martin Makes Home in Goal for Monroe St. Mary's Boys Lacrosse, Ice Hockey Teams
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
April 29, 2025
Lacrosse isn’t the best sport to choose if you don’t like coming home with bruises every once in a while.
For Chloe Martin, the bruises are just part of the deal.
“I love it,” Martin said of lacrosse. “It’s a fast game and a challenge. I love that.”
Martin is a senior on the Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central boys lacrosse team. SMCC doesn’t offer girls lacrosse, so she plays on the boys team. That’s nothing new to her, either. She was also a member, representing SMCC, of the Downriver Unified cooperative boys ice hockey team this past winter.
“I didn’t expect to enjoy (lacrosse) as much as I did, but once I started playing and started playing with the boys, I fell in love with the sport,” Martin said.
Martin picked up ice hockey at the age of 8 while a student at Triumph Academy, a K-8 school near Monroe. She was hooked, but under one condition – she wanted to be in the net.
“When I was younger, I played forward and defense, but I didn’t really enjoy it,” she recalled. “When someone on the team said they needed a goalie, I raised my hand right away. It’s a lot of fun. I don’t think I would be playing if I wasn’t playing goalie.
“I like getting shots coming at me. It’s fun.”
Martin, from Monroe, joined the SMCC lacrosse team as a high school freshman. She played ice hockey as a sophomore and again as a senior. “I played travel hockey my junior year and, to be honest, I kind of regret it,” she said.
As a sophomore, she was able to be teammates with her brother, Walker.
“He was one of my biggest inspirations playing hockey,” she said. “We had a strong connection, and I wanted to play with him and his friends. That was one of my favorite teams to ever play on.”
Her brother also got her started in lacrosse.
“The reason I joined lacrosse was because of my older brother,” Chloe said. “Our coach saw that I was a goalie for hockey and wanted me to be a goalie for lacrosse. I agreed and played lacrosse.”
Lacrosse – for both boys and girls – is played in the spring in Michigan. The sport involves a ton of running and highly-skilled passing and catching. It also takes teamwork.
Martin prefers the boys game over the girls game. She’s tried both.
“I love playing against the boys. I tried playing girls lacrosse, and it wasn’t my thing,” she said. “For girls, there are different rules and I don’t really like it. I’m trying to get into it because I want to play either college hockey or lacrosse.”
She’s not sure which sport she likes better: “It’s not that big of a difference. There is more padding for hockey and less for lacrosse. You have a crease, and you are moving in the same type of direction. Lacrosse is less wear-and-tear on my hips. I have bad hips.”
While lacrosse has a bigger field, Martin said there is more action.
“Lacrosse is quicker than hockey,” she said. “You can have the ball in the other zone but three seconds later they can be down shooting on me.”
This season has been a strong one for Martin in net.
Earlier this month she helped the Falcons to a one-point win over Jackson at Albion College, recorded her first varsity shutout April 16 against Brownstown Woodhaven and made a school-record 19 saves on April 4 against Ypsilanti Lincoln. That save total was high enough to make the MHSAA record book.
“Nineteen is kind of a lot of shots,” Martin said. “I’ve faced more than that in hockey. I’d say facing 19 shots in lacrosse is kind of like facing 50 shots in hockey.”
SMCC athletic director Jared Janssen said Martin has been a key factor in the team’s success and that she’s an inspiration to others.
“Chloe stands out as an excellent player with the boys and performs at a high level in both hockey and lacrosse,” he said. “She has been a leader for hockey and lacrosse, and that has led to more girls participation in both programs. Our girls lacrosse program has grown from only one girl to four this year.”
Goalie remains her favorite position.
“It’s a lot harder to be goalie than you think. You don’t expect the ball coming at you as hard and as quick as they are. You kind of get used to it. You don’t get used to getting hit, but you get used to seeing the ball and where the players are shooting from.”
The 17-year-old daughter of Alison and Nathan Martin loves mountain biking, fishing and baking. She has her sights on playing a sport in college and becoming a nurse. That stems from the time her dad got COVID and pneumonia at the same time.
“He was in the ICU for three months,” Martin said. “When that happened, I just decided I wanted to be a nurse and help people. That’s what I love doing.”
As for the bruises, Martin is getting used to them. She wears a chest plate, elbow pads, glove and mask. There are no shoulder pads in lacrosse and little other protection, especially for the legs.
After a recent game, she had a bruise the size of softball on her leg.
“It’s rough. I get a lot of bruises, but I love it,” she said. “It’s mostly on my legs. It hurts a lot, but after a few seconds it goes away. There are so many bruises I get in lacrosse. I’ve never gotten this bruised from hockey.”
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) Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central’s Chloe Martin defends her team’s goal during a lacrosse game. (Middle) Martin, without a protective mask, which she wears for two sports. (Below) Martin monitors the puck while in net for Downriver Unified. (Action photos by Stephanie Hawkins; posed photo provided by Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central.)