Class D: Athens Finds a Way
March 15, 2012
EAST LANSING – Athens has strung together six straight District titles, but always fell just a bit short of reaching the Finals at Breslin Center.
For a few reasons, this wasn’t supposed to be the season the Indians took that next step.
They graduated 11 players last spring. Add in the necessary blend-in of an exchange student, two sophomores and a freshman who play significant roles.
But coach Calvin Quist might’ve found a championship combination – of at least a historical one.
Athens downed Crystal Falls Forest Park 61-48 in Thursday’s second Class D Semifinal and will play in its first MHSAA championship game Saturday morning.
“It means everything in the world. Just to be part of a great tradition,” Athens junior Leia Fuller said. “It’s unexplainable. Going this far, you really don’t know what it feels like. You just want to go the further step, just want to go more and more.”
Athens (21-5) will take on No. 7 and two-time reigning champion Waterford Our Lady (22-4) at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Don’t expect the Indians to be intimidated.
No player measures taller than 5-foot-8, but the Indians proved again that doesn’t matter much if they don’t let opponents get the ball up the floor.
Relying on a stifling defensive press, Athens had 19 steals and took advantage of 23 total Forest Park turnovers. Trojans sophomore Alexis Gussert was outstanding – hitting 14 of 24 shots for 34 points, to go along with 12 rebounds, five blocks and three steals – but the rest of her teammates combined to shoot only 20 percent from the floor.
“I’m speechless. We had a pretty good game plan, and these young ladies executed it well,” Quist said. “This is the deepest team I’ve had in all the (seven) years I’ve coached. I have nine players and any of the nine could start. And that too was part of our plan, because we didn’t think they had much depth. So our plan was to get the ball and go.”
The Indians outscored Forest Park 19-5 in the second quarter to take a 35-15 lead into halftime and cap what Quist called one of the team’s best first halves this winter.
But the second half saw the Trojans (21-6) make a courageous comeback.
Keyed by Gussert’s offensive punch – she hit one of her 3-pointers from just in front of her team’s bench – Crystal Falls cut the deficit to eight, 56-48, with 42 seconds to play. But the Trojans couldn’t come all the way back.
“You’ve gotta keep it up, get it into your head that you can do this,” Forest Park senior Audrey Sholander said. “Being a senior, you don’t want to give up that game. You don’t want to come out with a loss. But regardless, we just knew what we had to do.
“We’ve had close games all season long. We know how to get back in the game, know we have to work hard. In the end, they just outplayed us. So it was a tough loss, but we tried our hardest.”
Sophomore Payton Wood led Athens with 13 points and eight rebounds, and sophomore Leo Plaisir added 10 points. Nine players scored for the Indians, and seven had at least five points.
“We pass it around. We know our game and we know what shots we can take,” Wood said. “That teamwork seems to have gotten us through this game.”
Click for the box score. Watch the game and both teams' postgame press conferences at MHSAA.tv.
PHOTO: Athens freshman Allison Fuller looks for an open teammate Thursday. (Photo courtesy of Hockey Weekly Action Photos)
Father & Son Set to Meet for 1st Time Coaching from Opposing Benches
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
December 10, 2025
The bantering back and forth is almost complete.
On Thursday, Mike and Zachary Zyla will finally coach against each other in a varsity girls basketball game.
It’s a game that both coaches circled months ago when Zachary, 26, got his first head coaching job at Britton Deerfield.
“It’s going to be intense,” Zachary said. “I’m sure he will want to win just as badly as I will. Me and our girls have been talking about the game a lot because it’s a game we think we can win. We want to beat Sand Creek.”
Mike Zyla coaches Sand Creek and is Zachary’s dad. He is a longtime coach in cross country and track and added varsity basketball to his resume three years ago. Zachary, who played at Sand Creek, was hired this past offseason to coach the Patriots.
Both schools are in the Tri-County Conference.
“It’s going to be fun,” Mike said. “We’ve been going back and forth about it for a couple of weeks. We’ll see how it goes.”
Basketball is special in the Zyla household.
Zachary’s other brother, Ryan, coaches at a junior college in Minnesota. His sister, Chelsi, played two years of college basketball after graduating from Sand Creek. Their mom, Kirsten, keeps the scorebook for Mike’s games. She is a special education teacher at Britton Deerfield.
“When basketball season rolls around, that’s all we talk about,” Zachary said.
“I guess it’s a little bit in the bloodlines,” Mike said.
After graduating from Sand Creek in 2018, Zachary served in the Navy. He returned home two years ago and served two seasons as his dad’s assistant.
“I just love the game of basketball,” he said. “I’ve been playing since I was probably 2 years old. It’s the thing I’m passionate about. I watch almost every night. If it’s not a live basketball game, I watch clips of old games. I’m just a junkie for basketball.”
Mike said he misses having his son on his bench.
“I miss having him on staff,” Mike said. “He’s really sharp, picking stuff up on the fly. It was nice having him on the sidelines with me. It’s a good opportunity for him, though.”
Please welcome BD’s new varsity girls basketball coach Zach Zyla! Zach comes to BD from Sand Creek where his father Mike is the head girls coach. Zach assisted on the Aggie varsity girls team in the 2024/25 season and is a track assistant coach for the Aggies. Go Patriots! pic.twitter.com/6cpwUw6OW4
— BD Athletics (@athletics_bd) May 2, 2025
Zachary accepted the job in time to have a summer program with BD.
“I’ve always been a big fan of basketball,” he said. “It’s in my blood. I started coaching the Sand Creek hoopsters when I was 16 years old. I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I would say coaching at the varsity level was a goal of mine. It’s always been a dream of mine. I didn’t expect to get a head coaching job so soon. I’d like to get to the next level someday.”
He said he has a few new things for his team to run against his dad.
“He taught me a lot, but our coaching strategies are different,” Zachary said. “I think I’m going to have some things he hasn’t seen yet.”
Sand Creek and BD both lost their season openers Tuesday. Since BD’s game started at 4:30 p.m., Zachary was able to get to Sand Creek to see his dad’s game against Pittsford.
“He was able to scout us,” Mike said.
It’s all in good fun.
“We have a great relationship,” Zachary said. “We bounce ideas off each other all of the time. Even for our first game of the season, we were talking about what we should do, the offenses and defenses. We talk pretty much every day.”
As rare as it is for a father and son to coach against each other, it’s the second time it’s happened in Lenawee County in recent years. Hudson varsity boys basketball coach Jeff Webster coached against his son, Jamison Webster, when Hudson played Tecumseh two seasons ago.
Jamison said it was a great experience, one the Zylas will never forget.
“Coaching and competing against my dad’s teams at Hudson over the last few years has been a great experience,” he said. “We both want to win, being the competitors we are. That being said, the lifelong memories we have made being able to share a sport we both love is what makes it special.”
Zachary said he knows it will be a little different than normal.
“The game’s intensity will be higher than most nights,” he said.
Mike agreed. He doesn’t relish the idea of beating his son, but doesn’t plan on backing down. Since they are both in the TCC, they’ll face off again later this winter.
“We’re both pretty competitive,” he said. “Competitive genes are in the family. I don’t think either one of us will be very happy if we are on the losing side Thursday night.”
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.
PHOTO Britton Deerfield varsity girls basketball coach Zachary Zyla poses for a photo with his father Mike Zyla, right, the varsity girls basketball coach at Sand Creek. (Photo provided by the Zyla family.)