Oscoda Teams Rise From Past to Perfection
February 8, 2019
By Chris Dobrowolski
Special for Second Half
OSCODA — The tide has turned in Oscoda.
After struggling year after year in boys and girls basketball, the Owls are enjoying quite a turnaround on the hardcourt this winter as both teams enter the final month of the regular season undefeated — just one of two schools in the state to be collectively unbeaten in boys and girls hoops.
The boys team boasts a record of 15-0 and is 9-0 in the North Star League Big Dipper division, while the girls squad has cruised to a 12-0 mark, including going 5-0 in league play.
It hasn’t always been that way, however.
“There’s a lot of years where we really struggled,” said Oscoda varsity boys basketball coach Seth Alda, a 2003 graduate of the school who is in his seventh year at the helm. “It wasn’t that long ago. There were a lot of years where we not only struggled but a lot of teams beat us by quite a bit.”
The boys team has reached a stretch where it has failed to win a league championship in 27 years or District title in 18 straight seasons, while the girls program became infamous for having lost 89 consecutive games at one point.
“We went almost four and a half years without winning a game,” said Oscoda varsity girls basketball coach Mark Toppi, who took over the girls program four years ago. “They had only had a couple wins in the past three years before I took the job.”
The Owls had been caught in a rut for most of the last few decades, partly due to a precipitous decline in the school’s enrollment after Wurtsmith Air Force Base was decommissioned in 1993. As families left the area, Oscoda became a shell of itself. At one time Class B playing within the North East Michigan Conference, the school was unable to remain competitive with its league rivals as its student population was slashed in half. It eventually made sense to leave the NEMC, and Oscoda toiled as an independent before finding a landing spot in the Huron Shores Conference, which eventually morphed into a reconfigured North Star League in 2014.
Things began to trend in the Owls’ favor last season as a group of talented and ambitious athletes started making their mark. It’s a core of players who have gotten better by working hard, dedicating themselves, including honing their games and picking up additional competition on local travel teams.
“We kind of saw it coming,” said Alda. “Last year we were 14-8, which was our first winning season in 15 years. We returned a lot of players off that team. Last year we were young, and this year we’re still young. We have a lot coming back next year too.”
The Owls’ main core consists of juniors Brayden Mallak, Gabe Kellstrom, Devin Thomas and Chance Kruse, as well as sophomores Owen Franklin and Gavin Lueck.
“We’re guard-oriented,” said Alda. “We like to get up and down the court. We press. We shoot a lot of threes. Typically, we go four out and one in — four guards and one post player. We like to push the tempo. We like to increase possessions. We’ve got three kids (Mallak, Kellstrom and Franklin) who are shooting over 35 percent — a couple of them over 40 — from the 3-point line.”
The girls team managed to come up with 13 wins a year ago despite not having a senior on the roster. That was part of the ascent from three victories in Toppi’s first season, to seven wins two years ago. The 13-9 record in 2017-18 earned Toppi the Associated Press’ Class C Coach of the Year Award.
With all that returning experience from the best girls team Oscoda had seen in years, the Owls were primed for an even better season.
“I could tell we were going to have a good year, just because of all the work they put in over the summer,” said Toppi. “We had a lot of success (last summer). We play up all the time whenever we go to team camps. We always try to play Class B or Class A schools. We take a lot of beatings in the summer. This year was the first year that we were winning against some of those schools. That was a nice sign. I try to tell them, ‘If we’re losing by 15 to a Class A school, that’s not bad.’ This year we were beating some of them.”
The Oscoda girls team has a bit more experience than the boys, with senior Katelyn Etherton in her fourth year as a starting guard. She reached the 1,000-point mark in her career earlier this year. Junior post player Lauren Langley is another key veteran who teams with Etherton, and each average close to 17 points per game. Sophomore Macy Kellstrom leads the team in steals and assists as the point guard, and classmate Izzy Hulverson is averaging a double-double in points and rebounds.
The problem the girls team has discovered is it isn’t getting pushed by the teams on its schedule. The Owls are winning by an average of 34 points per game. A 41-25 win over Tawas was the closest to date. Toppi hopes not having a close game during the regular season won’t hurt the Owls when they get to the postseason. For now, he’s just focused on getting the Owls ready for a tournament run.
“I’m just trying to get them to play hard and practice hard,” he said. “I don’t want them to look at the schedule. We’re still trying to get competition in practice and get better every day.”
The boys games have been a little less one-sided, particularly two clashes against league rival Mio. Oscoda beat the Thunderbolts both times, but one was a seven-point win in a back-and-forth game a week ago and the other was a 35-33 nail-biter earlier this season that wasn’t decided until Mallak drove the length of the court and scored on a buzzer beater.
The buzz has caught up to the Owls as the wins have continued to pile up for both teams.
“Around the school I feel like everybody’s wearing Oscoda across their chest a lot more proudly than what it was a while ago,” said Franklin. “Wherever you go, people know who you are now.
“Every practice Mr. Alda talks to us about how we could be the first in so many years to do this (or that). Early in the year we were 8-0 and he was like, ‘You’ve got a chance to go 9-0. That hasn’t happened in 30 years. He talks to us a lot about making history.”
The struggles the school endured in basketball are not forgotten, but both teams are doing their part to make better memories on the court. The girls already snapped a 48-game losing streak to nearby rival Tawas, and the boys swept the Braves for the first time in 20 years. The boys team is also close to ending that elusive conference championship drought, and both teams have their eyes on earning some District tournament hardware.
“I keep talking about how exciting it is when you get to tournament time, if you can make a run,” said Alda, who was a freshman on Oscoda’s last basketball Regional champion in 2000. “This is just a really cool thing to be a part of.”
Chris Dobrowolski has covered northern Lower Peninsula sports since 1999 at the Ogemaw County Herald, Alpena News, Traverse City Record-Eagle and currently as sports editor at the Antrim Kalkaska Review since 2016. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Lauren Langley, left, and Brayden Mallak have been key to Oscoda’s perfect starts; Mallak here hits the game-winning shot against Mio. (Middle) Katelyn Etherton beats everyone to the basket during a win over Lincoln Alcona. (Below) The Owls celebrate that Mio victory Dec. 13. (Photos courtesy of the Oscoda girls and boys basketball programs.)
Breslin Bound: 2024-25 Boys Report Week 10
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 3, 2025
We are only three weeks away from the start of MHSAA Boys Basketball District Tournaments, and just under two weeks away from publishing those brackets – and movement up and down statewide Michigan Power Ratings (MPR) lists should continue to be captivating as we advance on our Feb. 16 pairings announcement.
Among notable risers over the last week were Romulus Summit Academy North in Division 2 and Fowler in Division 4, and we highlight both below along with several more continuing to make a hard drive toward pole position for the start of the postseason.
“Breslin Bound” is powered by MI Student Aid based on results and schedules posted for each school at MHSAA.com.
Week in Review
The countdown of last week’s five most intriguing results:
1. Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 49, Grand Rapids Northview 48 Even without injured all-stater Trey McKenney, St. Mary’s (10-6) can play with the elite and edged a good one in Northview (12-4) at the Red Hawk Showcase at Aquinas College.
2. Adrian Madison 43, Onsted 37 The Trojans, just 10-13 a year ago, moved into a tie for first in the Lenawee County Athletic Association at 12-3 overall by handing Onsted (15-1) its only defeat.
3. Elk Rapids 56, Harbor Springs 39 The Elks (12-4) avenged a 61-59 loss to Harbor Springs (12-3) from Jan. 10 to move into first alone in the Northern Shores Conference.
4. Detroit Cass Tech 77, Grand Rapids Christian 62 (OT) Cass Tech (14-1) forced overtime during the final seconds of regulation, then pulled away from the Eagles (9-7) in overtime of this game at Aquinas.
5. Cadillac 60, Traverse City West 53 Cadillac (11-4) handed West its only Big North Conference loss and put itself in strong position to at least share the title with three league games left (and one BNC loss as well) compared to five games remaining for the Titans (12-2).
Watch List
With an eye toward March, here are two teams in each division making sparks:
DIVISION 1
Detroit Martin Luther King (14-3) The Crusaders enter this week’s Detroit Public School League Tournament coming off a third-place finish in the PSL Blue but still definitely a favorite for the city championship. League losses came by two points to champion Renaissance (10-7) and eight to second-place Cass Tech (14-1) in mid-December. The third defeat came at the end of November to Illinois state contender Chicago Kenwood Academy. In the meantime, King has defeated nonleague Birmingham Groves (12-5), Saginaw United (13-5), Auburn Hills Avondale (11-6), Kalamazoo Central (12-2), Flint Carman-Ainsworth (11-4) and most recently Grand Rapids Catholic Central (10-5).
Muskegon (14-2) The Big Reds are in pursuit of a fourth-straight Ottawa-Kent Conference Green title and lead after sharing the championship with Mona Shores a year ago. Muskegon also has loaded its nonleague schedule again and is the only team to defeat East Lansing (16-1), with other solid wins over Hudsonville (12-3), Green second-place Byron Center (12-5) and over the weekend Ann Arbor Huron (12-4). The two losses – Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice (16-1) and Warren Lincoln (12-4) – no doubt provided good looks as well. The Byron Center rematch is Friday, and dates against Grand Blanc and Kalamazoo Central also are notable coming up.
DIVISION 2
Grand Rapids Covenant Christian (13-2) The Chargers are in Division 2 this season after reaching the Division 3 Quarterfinals a year ago. Playing as an independent, they continue to line up strong opponents from all four divisions – four teams with double-digit wins highlight the remaining schedule, topped by North Muskegon (14-0) and Schoolcraft (12-4). Covenant is coming off a big win over Bellaire (13-4), with another over Allendale (11-4) also popping off the page and losses to Hudsonville Unity Christian (16-1) and reigning Division 4 champion Wyoming Tri-unity Christian (13-2) smart plays for postseason prep. Unity and Allendale are in the same District bracket.
Romulus Summit Academy North (16-2) The Dragons enter this week’s Charter School Conference Tournament after earning the Gold championship and did so winning all 10 of their league games by double digits including in handing last season’s Division 3 runner-up Detroit Old Redford (14-1) its only defeat. Summit’s only losses were to Walled Lake Central (15-3) and East Lansing, and the Dragons also have league wins over Detroit University Prep (13-5) and Detroit Lincoln-King (12-6) and nonleague victories over Renaissance and Groves. University Prep and Old Redford were two of three teams to hand Summit losses during its 22-3 run last season.
DIVISION 3
Centreville (13-1) The Bulldogs are undefeated against Michigan opponents, their only loss to an Indiana team, and coming off three wins last week including a 59-50 defeat of Hartford (13-2) that left Centreville in first alone in the Southwest 10 Conference as it pursues a repeat title. The rematch is Feb. 18, and the Bulldogs also have swept White Pigeon (10-5). Wednesday’s game at Schoolcraft will be a great nonleague test after defeating Centreville last season.
Riverview Gabriel Richard (15-2) The Pioneers are building toward a potential big finish again after reaching the Division 3 Semifinals a year ago. They’ve won 10 straight, and during this run handed Jackson Lumen Christi an 88-65 loss that not only was the Titans’ only defeat but eventually decided the Catholic High School League AA title. The losses were to Division 1 Grand Blanc (10-6) and Division 2 Flint Powers Catholic (14-0), both during December, and this winning streak also includes a 79-58 win over Division 1 Flint Carman-Ainsworth (11-4).
DIVISION 4
Fowler (15-2) The Eagles opened this season with a 62-59 victory over reigning Division 4 champ Tri-unity Christian and haven’t looked back, with 13 wins by at least 12 points. Fowler will have a chance Tuesday to avenge its first loss this winter, 51-49 to rival Pewamo-Westphalia from Dec. 18, and doing so would make the Eagles and Pirates tied atop the Central Michigan Athletic Conference with four league games remaining for both. Fowler’s other loss came to Division 2 Fruitport (13-3), and wins over Fulton (11-5) and Division 2 Marshall also have provided nice bumps.
Norway (12-4) A 65-64 win over Stephenson last week kept Norway in position to share the Skyline Central Conference large-school championship with Munising, which the Knights fell to in their season opener. The big test will be Crystal Falls Forest Park on Feb. 11 – the Trojans handed Munising their lone league loss and already defeated Norway nonleague Jan. 2. The Knights’ other losses were to Iron Mountain (14-2) and West Iron County, but they bounced back from the latter by downing Kingsford (11-3) and Stephenson (10-6) for the second time, and they also are benefitting from an early win over Felch North Dickinson (12-5).
Can’t-Miss Contests
Be on the lookout for results of these games coming up:
Tuesday – Detroit U-D Jesuit (16-1) at Warren Lincoln (12-4) – This has become one of the most anticipated matchups of this entire regular season, with the Cubs rising to become one of the top contenders in Division 1 and Lincoln sharp again after winning Division 2 last year.
Tuesday – Oxford (16-0) at Lake Orion (13-5) – The Wildcats can pull away a little more comfortably from second-place Lake Orion in the Oakland Activities Association Red, or the Dragons can avenge Oxford’s 57-37 win from Jan. 3 and move into position to share the title.
Tuesday – Beal City (12-3) at McBain (13-1) – Beal City’s 57-48 win in their first meeting remains McBain’s only loss, and the result of this rematch could eventually decide the Highland Conference title.
Friday – Lansing Waverly (14-2) at East Lansing (16-1) – East Lansing is first and Waverly second in the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue thanks to the Trojans’ 75-65 win in their first meeting Dec. 19.
Friday – Bad Axe (13-3) at Millington (14-1) – These two are tied atop the Big Thumb Conference White standings with Bad Axe having won their first meeting 60-54 on Jan. 15.
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PHOTOS (Top) A Mount Pleasant defender works to block Cortez Porter’s path to the basket during the Oilers’ recent 52-45 win over Davison. (Middle) Negaunee's Brady Mager (4) tries to wall off Marquette's Ford Richardson (11) as Richardson drives during his team’s Dec. 10 win over the Miners. (Davison/Mount Pleasant photo by Terry Lyons. Negaunee/Marquette photo by Cara Kamps.)