Blahas Building Lasting Owosso Legacy
February 5, 2020
By Tim Robinson
Special for Second Half
Owosso seniors Hunter and Colton Blaha, born 11 months apart, have been competing with each other nearly every day of their lives.
“We’ve been competing forever,” said Colton, the younger of the brothers, with a laugh. “Sprinting down the road so you can get to the house first.”
Hunter agreed.
“We’re always competing, no matter what it is,” he said. “Board games, chores. It doesn’t matter.”
The Blaha brothers have channeled that competitiveness into a work ethic and sense of community that has helped lift the Owosso High School sports programs in which they’ve competed.
Both played football (Hunter at quarterback, Colton at running back), while Hunter plays basketball and runs track and Colton is an all-state wrestler who plays baseball in the spring.
Most of the programs they have played for have not had recent success. The brothers endured part of a 43-game losing streak in football, Hunter’s basketball team recently snapped a 30-game losing streak, and the Owosso baseball team has struggled in recent years.
And, to the Blahas, that doesn’t matter.
Competing does.
“I honestly don’t care what our record is,” Colton Blaha said. “We always had a close bond with the kids in our grade, and that means more than anything. It means more than any record we could have had in wins or losses.”
Trojans athletic director Dallas Lintner, who also is an assistant football coach, said what sets the Blahas apart is that selflessness – a willingness to help build a program despite an outward lack of success.
“What’s refreshing to see at the high school level is that they’re competitive, but they’re classy,” Lintner said. “They mean a lot to us at Owosso High School. They mean a lot to our community particularly with the relationships they’ve built with middle-school kids, with elementary school kids. They really do it all for us.”
Both Blahas have worked, assisting the coaches in their sports, with younger athletes at all levels to help them feel a part of the program.
“When we got here, the senior leadership was horrible,” Hunter Blaha said. “We got treated horribly by the upperclassmen, and that plays a big part in a program, having a bond and a relationship with the younger kids. We set that as a goal in the eighth grade, because we knew how important it was to our program if we got the youth program going at a young level and got them going at the same pace.”
And so Owosso football players at lower levels have seen the Blahas at their games or matches the last four years. Both attend youth level games and interact with future Owosso athletes as much as their schedules allow.
“They’re like rock stars to those kids,” football coach Devin Pringle said. “We do things at elementary schools like reading to kids, and we take the Blahas. They’re like NFL stars to those kids. They wrestle with them, give them high-fives, talk about grades.”
At one point during the football season, Hunter became involved with a troubled elementary school student as part of a class in social tolerance.
“I was chosen to help this kid,” he said. “My idea was to bring him to a game, come see a coin toss, maybe get him a signed football.”
Which he did. The youngster got to do all three and went home with a lasting memory.
“It was an awesome experience,” Hunter said. “I could tell he was really happy that he got the chance to do that.”
Another thing that makes the Blahas stand out, their coaches said, is their commitment to their hometown.
“A lot of kids transferred out of here to play on better sports teams,” Colton Blaha said. “My mom has always taught us to make a name for ourselves, and I feel that Hunter and I have both done that here. We’ve done the best we can to try to change the sports programs around, and we hope the kids under us have picked up on that.”
Naturally, coaching and commitment by those younger players is critical, but there are signs of a turnaround in Owosso football. The Trojans varsity won two games last season and lost three more by a single point. The rest of the teams in the program all had winning records.
“We knew coming in it would take some time to get a new culture established,” Pringle said. “When it happens, it’s because these young men decided to stay.”
After his freshman year of football, Hunter Blaha was promoted to varsity. As a sophomore, he was a unanimous choice as a team captain and started at quarterback.
Colton finished third at 160 pounds at last year’s Division 2 Individual Wrestling Finals, a rise fueled by the competitive fires built during his youth.
“We used to have basement wrestling tournaments, and he used to kick my butt,” Colton said of Hunter. “I used to get so mad at him.”
The boys wrestled and sometimes fought at school, too.
“I always beat him,” Hunter said. “I remember one day I stopped and he came up to me and said, ‘I’m not going to let you whip my (butt) any more. It’s just not going to happen. That’s the day he started wrestling, and he’s been working his tail off ever since. It’s pushed me to work harder and get some goals in mind.”
As for the rivalry, “a year later, (Colton) started whipping my butt,” Hunter said, smiling. “It’s escalated from there.”
Both Blahas plan to compete in college, Hunter in football and Colton in wrestling. Both plan to become teachers, and Pringle has a not-so-subtle plan for Hunter.
“Colton is amazing in his own right,” Pringle said. “But Hunter, when he gets that degree, he’ll be head football coach at Owosso someday. We’re getting a new weight room, and I tell him, ‘I’ll have this ready for you when you take over.’ He’ll be a kid who impacts hundreds of kids before he’s done.”
But first, there’s a senior year to complete.
“It feels like it came up way too fast,” Hunter said. “It feels like yesterday I started at quarterback my sophomore year. I kind of get emotional about it. I don’t like talking about it. Most kids are ready to get out of here, to get their lives going. But I’ve been here since I was 6 years old, and it’s all I’ve ever known, playing with these kids.”
Colton Blaha is known as an athlete who’s the first to arrive at practice and the last to leave, almost to a fault.
“I have him in a fourth-hour class, and he always wants to get in a couple of extra sets,” Pringle said, chuckling. “He always leaves the room last, and sometimes I’m late for lunch because of it.”
A few lost minutes of lunch, though, has been a small price to pay.
“I know they’re going to do great things,” Lintner said. “They’re going to be great husbands. They’re going to be great fathers. They’re going to be great college athletes no matter what university they choose. We’re super proud of them, and as an educator, I’ve been fortunate to be with them the last four years of their journey.”
Asked what the most important thing is that they've gained through athletics, both brothers pause for several seconds before answering.
“Hard work can take you anywhere,” Colton said. “Always. Through hard work, you go through a lot of ups and downs, a lot of lefts and rights, but if you keep working hard, keep your head balanced, you can go anywhere.”
“Being a family, definitely,” Hunter said. “That’s what it’s all about. Life’s not always about football and athletics. You want to make your friendships and talk about these memories 20 years down the road.”
But the Blahas have done more than make memories. They’ve made an impact, one that will be felt ‘years down the road.’
PHOTOS: (Top) Colton, left, and brother Hunter Blaha. (Middle) Colton, left, begins his third-place match during last season’s Division 2 Individual Finals at Ford Field. (Middle photo by HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Yale Athletics Completes Banner Winter with 3 Record-Setting Seasons
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 20, 2025
Whatever dollar number Chace Palmateer had next to “banner updates” on the 2024-25 Yale athletic department budget, it’s not going to be enough.
But after a record-breaking winter for the Bulldogs, he’s not really concerned with costs.
“We have six (titles to add) for winter alone, and that’s not including that we had a pretty good fall with cross country,” Palmateer said. “It’s a fantastic problem to have, and truthfully, I hope we have more in the spring.”
Yale’s wrestling, boys basketball and girls basketball teams each completed perhaps the best seasons in their respective program histories this winter, smashing team and individual records along the way.
“That energy among our student-athletes was phenomenal this winter,” Yale boys basketball coach Garnett Kohler said. “That’s one thing about our Yale community, we all support each other. We’re all Bulldogs, through and through, and we love to see each other have success. I thought we kind of fed off each other’s success, too. The wrestlers got going really good early, and that kind of set the stage, then us and the girls got going.”
Yale’s wrestlers were runners-up at the Division 3 Team Final, their best finish ever. The boys basketball team set a record for wins in a season at 22, won the Blue Water Area Conference and District titles, and advanced to the Division 2 Regional Final for just the second time in program history. The girls also set a record for wins in a season at 22, shared the BWAC title, won a District and advanced to a Regional Final for the first time.
“The atmosphere in the school was great,” Yale wrestling coach Rob Majcher said. “So many programs were having so much success because of the work they put in. It’s nice to see that hard work that the kids and coaches put in really paid off for them.”
Majcher’s team was the first to make its postseason run, winning its second-straight Regional title with a dramatic 32-31 victory against BWAC rival Algonac.
The Bulldogs defeated Adrian Madison in the Quarterfinals and Lake Odessa Lakewood in the Semifinals at Kalamazoo’s Wings Event Center before running into an all-time great Dundee team in the Final.
“It meant everything (to get to the Finals),” Yale senior 120-pounder Landon Sopha said. “Everything I’ve done throughout my life was all coming down to that moment for the team. It was just pure joy and excitement, not only getting that mitten (trophy), but thinking of these next years and how great Yale wrestling can be.”
Sopha was part of a record-tying six boys Individual Finals qualifiers for the Bulldogs, and one of five to place, as he took third at 120. Mackey McClelland (113) placed second, Cole McLaughlin (165) placed third, Logan Rhodes (120) placed fourth and Kersten McClelland (132) placed fifth. The five boys placers were second-best in program history, and if you add Gianna Hoskins (105) and Ember Marriott (190), who both placed sixth in the girls tournament in their respective weight classes, the seven total would be an all-time best.
Throughout the year, the Bulldogs set program records for most individual varsity matches won (798), takedowns (1,485) and varsity pins (475) in a season.
McLaughlin set the record for most first-minute pins in a season at 24, and Kersten McClelland had 536 match points, a school record.
“We told the kids, ‘You stick with this, and you will do good things,’” Majcher said. “As a coach, it’s definitely fulfilling to see a group of kids that did stay and did achieve what they were able to.”
Then there was Sopha, who finished off a record-breaking career for the Bulldogs. He became the first in Yale wrestling history to advance to the individual semifinals all four years, the second four-time all-state finisher, fourth four-time Finals qualifier, third four-time BWAC champ, and the all-time leader in career match points at 1,354. He also became the second Yale wrestler to reach the 200-win mark.
“It means a lot,” Sopha said. “For me, it’s something that I’ll be able to look back on forever. It’s something that I’ll hopefully be able to watch people in the future break. It’s pretty cool.”
As wrestling season wound down, the boys basketball team found itself re-writing its own program record book.
Yale finished 22-4 on the year, winning a record 19 regular-season games and setting a program record for consecutive wins with 14. It was a season that surprised Kohler.
“We lost eight seniors from last year, and they had a lot of success on their own,” he said. “We had a lot of new guys coming in, and I did know they had some talent and had some success coming up through the younger ages. I knew we could eventually be good, but I didn’t expect the season-long success we had, strictly because we were so young and untested. That’s really a testament to what (seniors) Ryan Fisher, Clayton Harmon and Blake Bowman were able to do. They were able to get those other guys to buy into that real early, and everybody kind of fed off their leadership.”
While the team was setting records, junior guard Jackson Kohler was lighting the individual record book on fire.
He set marks for points (560), steals (82) and 3-pointers (76) made in a season, as well as points (1,164) and assists (417) for a career.
“Obviously, I’m a team guy, so I wanted the league championship and the District championship, but it’s always good to have accomplishments along the way when you’re winning,” said Jackson Kohler, who is Garnett’s son. “Being a little kid growing up when he was coaching here earlier, I was always watching the older guys practice and how they would go about practicing and how they would be in their games. I always looked up to them and just worked and worked to get to where I am now.”
As Jackson was setting records on the boys side, his classmate Sadie Dykstra was doing the same while leading a record-setting Yale girls team.
Dykstra, who won the long jump and 300-meter hurdles at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Track & Field Finals in 2024, also became her program’s all-time leading scorer this season, sitting at 1,248 after her junior year.
She’s the Yale girls basketball record holder for points in a game (38), field goals in a game (14), free throws made in a game (12), points in a season (596), scoring average in a season (22.9) and field goals made in a season (217 prior to the Regional Final).
“I think it was super cool – this doesn’t happen very often where you can (go) from the girls side to the boys side and see records being broken by two individual players,” said Dykstra, who admitted that her record-setting season hadn’t really sunk in yet. “I’m going to be honest, it’s probably not even hit me yet that our team went that far to the Regional. Of course, I’m super excited, but I just know I have so much more to give. I’m really looking forward to next season.”
For Yale girls basketball coach Jason Leonard, who spent time with the boys program before taking over the girls head coaching job a year ago, seeing Kohler and Dykstra excel at the same time has been a joy.
“You don’t get to see that – you’re lucky to see one on one side, boys or girls,” he said. “To me, they’re the two best players in the area, and it’s a pretty cool thing to see. I’ve seen Jackson come up on the boys side and as a freshman, he had a huge impact. It’s pretty cool to see and pretty cool for the programs and the community to have them leading their teams to a new level.”
Of course, Dykstra’s records were just the tip of the iceberg for a team that was also experiencing a record run.
The Bulldog girls tied their program record for BWAC wins (13) and regular-season wins (19), while setting the mark for total wins. They also set records for free throw percentage (63.96 percent) and field goals made in a season (551 prior to the Regional Final).
Dykstra also wasn’t the only record-breaker on the team, as senior Alyssa Barr became the program’s all-time leader in career rebounds and blocks with 690 and 74, respectively, heading into the Regional Final loss against Country Day.
“I think we exceeded expectations,” Dykstra said. “I don’t think anybody thought, ‘Oh, they’re going to get to the finals of Regionals,’ just for the fact that we matched up with Armada in the first round of Regionals. I think we definitely exceeded expectations coming from more of other people’s standpoints. For me, I think we met my expectations, because we weren’t going to lose to a team (Armada) two out of three times.”
Regardless of the expectations any of the teams had coming into the season, one thing is certain: It was a winter nobody in Yale will soon forget.
“I will say, we’ve had very good teams come out of the Thumb, and different schools have had different teams succeed at different times, but I don’t remember a school having across-the-board success like we had this winter with the three teams,” Garnett Kohler said. “In schools like ours, talent gets spread out across the groups, and talent comes in waves. To do it all in the same season, it’s pretty fun to watch.”
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) Players on Yale’s bench cheer on their teammates during a game this season. (2) Landon Sopha carries the state flag during the opening ceremony at the MHSAA Team Wrestling Finals. (3) Jackson Kohler gets to the basket against Algonac. (4) Sadie Dykstra shoots a jumper against Croswell-Lexington. (Photos by Katie Allen/Yale Expositor.)