De La Salle 3-Peat Adds First-Time Accomplishment to Program's Legacy
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
November 7, 2026
GRAND LEDGE — The Warren De La Salle Collegiate boys soccer team talked all season about making more history at Saturday’s Division 2 Final.
Thanks to a 3-2 win over St. Joseph, De La Salle achieved that goal by becoming the first team in the state’s two largest classifications (Class A/Division 1 and Class B/Division 2) to win three straight state championships.
The title also was the program’s eighth overall.
“It means a ton to me because it’s never been done in D1 or D2,” longtime De La Salle head coach Thaier Mukhtar said. “We talked about making history, and they absolutely made history. This was a challenging year for me. I had to take a team that won back-to-back state championships and some way, somehow, find a way to keep them hungry. You have any idea how hard that is?”
De La Salle added to the run thanks to two more goals by the school’s all-time leading goal-scorer and points-earner, senior Andrew Corder, and key contributions from others.
“This one means more to me than the first two combined,” Corder said. “After, I was just bawling my eyes out, which I really didn’t do for the first two. Knowing I played my last game for De La Salle, it sucks. But I went out on a good note.”
The Pilots (21-3-4) also found a way to do what no team had been able to do all year – crack the St. Joseph defense.
The Bears entered having allowed just four goals all year and no more than two in a game, but De La Salle scored three times.
For St. Joseph, it was a tough way to end a special season that saw the Bears advance to the Finals for the first time since finishing Class B runner-up in 1992.
“It’s a legacy,” St. Joseph head coach John Brown said. “Obviously this one game doesn’t define us. They fought until the very end.”
De La Salle took a 2-1 lead with 35 minutes remaining in the game when Corder put in a rebound from in front of the St. Joseph goal after Settimo Leone put a shot on net.
Just 2:10 later, Corder put home another rebound off a shot by sophomore Marco DiLuca to give De La Salle a 3-1 lead.
St. Joseph made it interesting late, cutting the Pilots’ lead to 3-2 with 8:12 remaining on a goal by senior Caden Shannon, who put home a loose ball in the box through a bunch of bodies following a corner kick by senior Evan Hudak.
But the Bears couldn’t get the equalizer, and De La Salle celebrated more history.
“My challenge to them was simply, ‘OK, I nitpicked everything. I corrected all your mistakes. Win or lose, I went back and corrected all your mistakes. I hammered you over and over again,’” Mukhtar said. “I said to them, ‘I needed to get you here. The coaching staff got you here. Now it’s your game. I’m done coaching you. You now go out there and you decide whether you want this game bad enough or not.”
De La Salle opened the scoring with 28:35 left in the first half on a goal by Leone, who jumped on a loose ball in the box in front of the St. Joseph goal and fired it in.
The Bears tied the game with 6:30 remaining in the first half on a goal by senior Remy Kelm, who possessed the ball at the top of the De La Salle box, turned around and fired a shot that bent inside the far post.
PHOTOS (Top) De La Salle’s Andrew Corder sends a shot toward the St. Joseph goal Saturday. (Middle) The Pilots’ Kayden Risch (21) and St. Joseph’s Reece Crawford contend for the ball. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Late Strikes Net Skyline 2nd Finals Win
November 3, 2018
By Keith Dunlap
Special for Second Half
NOVI – On a sunny, albeit chilly, fall Saturday afternoon, lightning still managed to strike at Novi High School during the Division 1 boys soccer championship game.
But instead of from the sky above, it came on the field from Ann Arbor Skyline.
In a game seemingly destined for overtime and a shootout, Skyline unexpectedly struck quickly, scoring two goals in a span of 58 seconds late in the second half to earn a 2-0 win over East Kentwood.
It was the second Division 1 title since 2015 for Skyline, and the first time in six MHSAA Finals appearances since 2007 that East Kentwood didn’t take home the championship trophy.
The game was scoreless until there was 9:42 left, when Skyline junior Jamie Balms sent in a service to the top portion of the box.
Sophomore Gabe Kellman flicked it with his foot deeper into the box to junior Chris Emerson, who with his back to the goal did a mini bicycle kick and flicked a shot with his right leg into the goal to make it 1-0 Skyline.
“I turned my back and hit it,” Emerson said. “It was crazy. I couldn’t even explain it.”
It didn’t take long for the Eagles to add an insurance goal.
Just 58 seconds later, junior Oskar Shiomi-Jensen sent a cross into the box, and junior Bryce Schaner headed it into the goal to make it 2-0 Skyline.
“We knew it was going to be a set piece or some sort of breakdown,” Skyline head coach Chris Morgan said. “We just told them before the game started and throughout the game. We said to ‘trust, trust, trust.’ And we got it. That was all it was.”
It was a stunning offensive outburst after a game that mostly featured stout defensive play and few quality scoring chances.
That was expected going in, since Skyline had allowed just 11 goals on the season, while East Kentwood entered with five consecutive shutouts.
Skyline remained firm defensively despite dealing with a rash of injuries throughout the year that cost the Eagles six starters.
But ultimately, Skyline’s depth on the backline showed through.
“They did an outstanding job,” Morgan said. “We didn’t make any subs in the back throughout the whole tournament. Hats off to those boys.”
For East Kentwood, it was definitely a strange feeling taking home the runner-up trophy.
The Falcons had won all five of their championship matches since 2007, the last a shootout win over Troy Athens in the 2016 Final.
“We fell asleep on a set piece, and obviously Skyline is very good on set pieces, so you have to give them credit,” East Kentwood head coach John Conlon said. “Soccer is a game of inches, and they won the inches when it mattered.”
Conlon also praised the Skyline defense, which he knew would be a challenge before the game – and it played out that way.
“It’s hard to generate much against their team,” Conlon said. “It was a heavyweight bout, and two guys are trying to land punches. They finally landed a punch, and we couldn’t get one off.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Skyline’s Jamie Palms leads his team across the field in celebration of their Division 1 championship win. (Middle) Skyline’s Gabe Kellman (16) and East Kentwood’s Samuel Olson work to gain possession Saturday.