Sharpened by OAA Red Schedule, Troy Becomes League's Latest to Win Finals Title
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
November 11, 2026
GRAND LEDGE — Technically, Troy won the Division 1 boys soccer title this past Saturday with a 2-1 win over Livonia Stevenson.
But the Colts probably felt like they also won a state championship when they captured the Oakland Activities Association Red title back in October.
It’s understandable, since it can’t be denied how powerful the OAA Red has been in recent years.
In four of the last five years, and five times since 2019, the Division 1 championship has been won by an OAA Red team – and the league might be on the verge of getting stronger.
With Northville, Novi, Davison and Grand Blanc set to join the OAA next year, the reclassified Red division should see at least one of those teams added to it, adding more muscle to a league that saw Rochester Adams win Division 1 titles in 2022 and 2024 and Troy Athens in 2019 and 2023.
“Seeing (Athens) win it a couple years ago and seeing Adams win it, that really put that fire in us and made us want to win it even more,” said Troy senior Ryan Wind.
The Colts actually did prove themselves different from those championship Adams teams and the Athens 2023 squad in a good way, since Troy became the first OAA Red school to win both a league and MHSAA Finals title in the same year since Athens did so in 2019.
“I knew it had to come,” Troy senior Kevin Garay said. “This is just a special group of guys, a special team and coaching staff. I knew this was the year.”
Make no mistake, playing in and conquering the challenging OAA Red schedule that included No. 7 Clarkston, No. 8 Seaholm, Athens, Oxford and Berkley made top-ranked Troy tough as nails going into the MHSAA Tournament.
Of note, Adams, ranked No. 5 in the state at regular season’s end, was in the OAA White this year, but will likely be back in the Red next fall.
“It’s the best league in the state in my opinion,” Troy head coach Adam Spinks said. “To play such tough competition week in and week out, when you hit the playoffs, it prepares you mentally and physically for those games.”
Troy’s District round of the state tournament was seemingly an OAA Red postseason tournament, with Athens, Berkley and Seaholm also in that bracket.
The Colts rightfully felt that if they could survive that, the path would be less rocky in Regionals and beyond.
Following a 4-2 win over Seaholm in the District Final, Troy was on its way.
“It’s the hardest league in the state, so it prepares you so well for the playoffs,” said Cole Cusmano, an important piece of Troy’s attack who had to miss the second half of the championship game win over Stevenson after suffering a foot injury during the first half.
“We definitely thought once we got past the District – and we were just taking it one game at a time – we knew we had our sights on something big this year.”
Troy certainly did, not only claiming its first Finals championship since 2003 but becoming just the 20th unbeaten champion in MHSAA history.
The big question over the offseason is how the OAA Red will officially be realigned for next year with four new members coming in. Northville – which fell to Livonia Steveson in overtime in District play – is a possibility to join the OAA Red and should add another powerhouse to the league.
It should no doubt make for an even more compelling regular season race next year, and the way things have gone over the last five, lead to an obvious conclusion: Whichever OAA Red team is the last one standing in next year’s playoffs should probably be considered the favorite to win the Division 1 title.
“It was exhausting,” Garay said of the OAA Red slate and tournament run. “It was really hard. But we went for it, and we earned it.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Troy’s Jack Bowen (10) and Niko Zhuli (8) celebrate Zhuli’s goal during Saturday’s Division 1 Final. (Middle) The Colts’ Kouta Cawood (11) makes a run at the goal. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Elk Rapids Ends Stalemate with Overtime Goal to Clinch First Finals Title since 1998
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
November 7, 2026
GRAND LEDGE — Elk Rapids junior Noah Liggett admitted he was “dreading” seeing the Division 3 Boys Soccer Final go into penalty kicks.
So, just in the nick of time, he did something about it.
Just when it appeared Elk Rapids and Williamson were heading into a shootout, Liggett scored with 2:07 remaining in overtime to give Elk Rapids a 1-0 win.
It was the third Finals championship overall for Elk Rapids and the first since it won the second of back-to-back titles in 1998. The Elks had lost two years ago in the championship match to Pontiac Notre Dame Prep.
The winning goal was started by senior Eli Zbylowski, who served a ball into the box that was headed toward Liggett by an Elk Rapids player.
Liggett pounced on the chance, finding room to get a foot on it before driving the ball just underneath the crossbar to set off a wild celebration.
“I can’t even recall what happened,” Liggett said. “I just remember hitting it and running down the sideline. But it’s amazing.”
Liggett’s goal capped off a match during which Elk Rapids (24-1-3) controlled a majority of the possession but couldn’t penetrate a stout Williamston defense.
That didn’t change until Liggett broke through, ending nearly three decades of waiting for a third title in school history.
“I think we’ve known for a while that this group is capable of an awful lot,” Elk Rapids head coach Nate Plum said. “But (you don’t fully know) until you start putting all the pieces on the field and you start seeing what they look like and how they shape up in the early fall. There’s always waves through a season. We’ve had our waves where sickness hit us and we had our injuries. But we finished that game with 100 percent of our team ready to play and able to play. Just super happy with them, and we knew they could do something like this.”
Williamston (12-9-4) was seeking its first Finals title to cap a rather improbable tournament run. The Hornets started the year off 1-6-3, but ended up winning eight in a row going into the championship match, its fourth in school history and first since 2015.
The Hornets had already earned two shootout wins during these playoffs – over Eaton Rapids in a District Final and Grosse Ile in a Semifinal – and rightfully felt good about their chances had they been able to get into penalty kicks again.
It wasn’t meant to be Saturday, but the last three weeks still provided a great tournament ride for their school and community.
“We should be proud of the effort they put in this season,” Williamston head coach Ian Kurth said. “Coming into the postseason, we were 6-8-4. We had to fight our way with every single match. The performance and the effort the boys turned in is what got us here. And we should be proud of that.
“You know, one mistake late in the game against a really quality Elk Rapids program. They deserve that championship, and we’ll look to reload and maybe we can get back here next year.”
Elk Rapids didn’t allow a goal over its final 15 matches this season and will carry the third-longest shutout streak in MHSAA history into next fall.
PHOTOS (Top) Elk Rapids players celebrate their Division 3 championship win Saturday at Grand Ledge. (Middle) The Elks’ Gavin Hamilton (3) works to find an opening against Williamston’s Trey Moulton. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)