Stapleton Rewriting Frankenmuth Record Book as Eagles Pursue Historic Heights
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
September 16, 2026
Carter Stapleton set his sights on the Frankenmuth boys soccer scoring records as soon as he walked into the high school.
After accomplishing that feat just three games into his senior season, Stapleton is now setting the bar incredibly high for the next ambitious Frankenmuth freshman.
“It just showed all of the hard work that I put in throughout my career, and how much my team has supported me,” Stapleton said. “Last year (100 goals) became a big goal. Later in the season, I was pretty confident I was going to break the school record, so 100 was definitely the next big milestone that I had in mind.”
Stapleton has 90 goals and 134 points in his Frankenmuth career, both school records. He surpassed both marks Aug. 24 during a 5-0 win against Saginaw Valley Lutheran, supplanting Kendall Morris (2023) and Matt Hinds (2013), respectively.
Stapleton also is tied for the school single-game records for goals (six), points (eight) and assists (four).
“(Playing with Stapleton) is beneficial for everybody,” Frankenmuth coach Marcus Baker said. “He’s a great leader, a strong player. We have a small community, so I get chances to drive by the field in my off time, and he’s usually the one that’s out there doing drills, bringing teammates with him or working by himself. He’s definitely committed.”
Baker had his eye on Stapleton well before he was playing for the Eagles, having seen him play club soccer for Detroit City FC Genesee.
So, as a freshman, when he and his teammates had to help fill a roster that had lost 11 seniors from the year before, Stapleton was immediately tasked with a major role.
“With his technique and his skill level, we were able to play through him,” Baker said. “He was a guy that could make all the plays and read the game better than most people. He was a vital, key player. Like if we were playing chess, he’d be the queen.”
Stapleton, who had played forward for his club, played that season as a center midfielder and managed 18 goals and five assists as a young Frankenmuth team advanced to the District Final.
The following year, in the same role, he had 22 goals and 12 assists as Frankenmuth won its District before losing in the Regional Semifinal to eventual Division 3 champion Notre Dame Prep.
As a junior, Stapleton moved back to his more familiar center forward position and had 30 goals and 22 assists, leading Frankenmuth to a Regional Final, where it lost in overtime against Lansing Catholic.
This fall, he’s up top again and has 20 goals and five assists 12 games into the season.
“We just let him loose,” Baker said. “He’s definitely a threat, and his finishing skills are above the majority of our players. He sees passes that can be made to score goals while playing up top, and he also finishes the opportunities that he does get up top. It’s huge, it’s almost like having two queens on the chess board. He’s been playing with some of these boys since AYSO, and the chemistry is there.”
Foremost among those teammates when it comes to chemistry is Stapleton’s DCFC teammate, Landon Jacobs, who plays center mid for the Eagles.
That allows Stapleton to adjust his playing style from club to high school seamlessly, even though the games can be played in slightly different styles.
“For club, I tend to drop back as kind of a false nine, and get a lot of other players involved in the play,” Stapleton said. “With high school, it’s a lot more direct. So I either have the ball at my feet and drive to goal, or I make runs in behind, because I know Landon can find me.”
Stapleton and Jacobs are two of 10 seniors leading the way this year for Frankenmuth, which is 8-4 and ranked No. 11 in Division 3.
The four losses came over a five-game stretch, with three at the Eagles’ own Bavarian Cup against Davison, Ann Arbor Greenhills and Rockford, and the other against Haslett. Stapleton was out injured during the tournament, and while he would have liked to prove himself and help his team compete against some of those larger schools, he sees the positives in his absence.
“That could have been a good thing for the younger guys,” Stapleton said. “To help them get ready for next year, and the rest of this year.”
That outlook is further proof to Baker that his team is in good hands with Stapleton wearing the captain’s armband.
“He’s a very humble person, so for him to say that about his teammates, that’s a reason he’s one of the captains,” Baker said. “He sees it the way that I see it. He understands that it’s not just on him.”
The experience of the seniors, plus that gained by the underclassmen already this season, has Stapleton excited about how the rest of his final year at Frankenmuth could unfold. The team has advanced one round further during the postseason at the end of each of his first three years in the program. Another win this year would mean a berth in the Division 3 Semifinals, something Frankenmuth has achieved only once, in 2003.
With his name already all over the individual record books for the school, Stapleton would love to share that record-setting performance with his teammates.
“I definitely want to get there,” he said. “We can get a lot done this season. It’s kind of a toss-up with all the teams in Division 3. Honestly, I thought last year was going to be our year, we had a lot of really strong seniors. But a lot of younger guys have stepped up a lot this year.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Frankenmuth's Carter Stapleton advances the ball during his team's game against Bay City John Glenn on Wednesday. (Middle) Stapleton, right, and teammate Jack Muller give each other a quick five during an August win over Saginaw Valley Lutheran. (Photos by BMB Studios.)
Pilots' Record-Setting Coach Always Eager to Play Role in Helping Students Soar
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
November 13, 2025
As if they were fans standing outside an arena’s exit waiting for a famous rock star or professional athlete to come out, Warren De La Salle Collegiate students congregated outside a gate at Grand Ledge High School with bated breath.
Instead of a rock star or athlete, the students had phones up waiting for Thaier Mukhtar, and let him know just how much he was loved.
“Mr. Mukhtar! Mr. Mukhtar!” the students chanted while mobbing him with praise.
Given what he has meant to the school and Michigan high school soccer for nearly four decades, it’s no wonder why the students waited him out.
Mukhtar had just helped lead De La Salle to its seventh Finals championship with a 2-0 win over Hudsonville Unity Christian, and Mukhtar said he was now in elite company with a famous NFL quarterback.
“Everyone was making fun of me because Tom Brady had one more ring than me,” Mukhtar quipped. “Now he doesn’t.”
The Division 2 title was the second straight for De La Salle and finished off a recent stretch full of milestones.
Two seasons ago, Mukhtar became the all-time winningest boys soccer coach in state history when he surpassed Nick Archer of East Lansing by earning his 661st victory.
This year, Mukhtar reached the 600-win mark coaching for De La Salle. That achievement didn’t come with much fanfare, but that was by design and true to form.
“He didn’t celebrate a lot because it’s more about the team,” Pilots senior James Spicuzzi said. “We got him a signed ball, but that was really it. It’s more about the team for him than it is about himself.”
Mukhtar has tried to make that his emphasis since becoming the head coach of De La Salle in 1983 at the age of 23.
The Pilots won their first championship, in Class A, in 1990, and then consecutive titles in 1992 and 1993.
After sharing the 2000 Division 1 title with Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice and then defeating Brother Rice to win the championship in 2005, De La Salle went on a title drought.
Mukhtar actually left his coaching post at De La Salle in 2011 and coached boys and girls soccer at Fraser from 2012-17 before returning as Pilots coach in 2018.
A social studies teacher at De La Salle for 30 years – a job he still holds – Mukhtar admits his coaching style can rub some the wrong way.
“I’m a demanding coach,” he said. “I’m a perfectionist. I call out every little mistake, and I make sure we work on those mistakes. I don’t care if we win 4-1 or 4-0, but are making mistakes. You’re not going to make those mistakes at the end of the year if you don’t want to send your team home.
“I have people – whether it’s parents or players – look at me like, ‘That guy is crazy. They just won the game.’ It ain’t about winning the damn game. It’s about getting here (to the state final) and not making those mistakes. Not committing the foul. Not being out of position. Not communicating in the back. Different things we harp on over and over again.”
Junior Andrew Corder, who led De La Salle with 38 goals this year, said it’s tough love that players have learned to embrace.
“It’s been kind of hard at times, but he just wants the best for us,” he said. “It’s all worth it.”
Mukhtar said he often thinks about retirement, but then points to something his son told him as a reason to keep running it back.
“Every year it’s a battle with me and my administration and, ‘Am I returning? Am I not returning?’ I say to take it year by year,” Mukhtar said. “My CEO at De La Salle made me guarantee that I give him two years (notice) at least. … I give two and then I always say, ‘Why am I doing this?’ My knee is killing me. But when my son says to me, ‘Dad, the fact that you get nervous and the fact you get excited means that you’re not ready (to retire).’ He said it perfectly, and he’s 100 percent right.”
Which is why Mukhtar is likely to continue coaching for the foreseeable future, and why more student celebrations should be in store.
“I’m still teaching at school when I don’t have to, and I’m still coaching when honestly I’ve done everything I’ve needed to do in my life,” Mukhtar said. “I’m like three wins away from 900 career victories coaching boys and girls. I’m still doing all these things because I feel like I can play a role in their life. It’s not just soccer. I want you to be able to believe in yourself and believe that you can accomplish whatever you work hard for. I teach my students the same thing.”
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) De La Salle boys soccer coach Thaier Mukhtar holds up his team’s championship trophy after the Pilots clinched the Division 2 title Nov. 1 at Grand Ledge High School. (Middle) Mukhtar embraces keeper Giovanni Vitale after his team’s 2024 championship win.