10 to Remember from 2011-12
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
July 11, 2012
Second Half's mission in this, its first school year, was to tell the best stories behind the scores and highlights of MHSAA competition.
Of course, every score and especially every championship has a story behind it. The MHSAA awarded 127 team and many more individual championships in 2011-12. Obviously we can't reflect on them all. But these 10 performances were loaded with prestige, drama and accomplishment that made them incredible stories for high school sports fans regardless of hometown or allegiance.
10. Grand Ledge gymnasts earn No. 5
The Comets had to fend off a charge by Canton, but won their fifth-straight MHSAA team title by 0.825 of a point with a final score of 149.400. The fifth-straight title tied the record set by Ludington from 1975-79 and extended Grand Ledge's first-place streak to 75 consecutive events. The next day, senior Christine Wilson and junior Sara Peltier swept the Division 1 and 2 individual titles, respectively.
9. West Bloomfield's Erin Finn joins elite
The Lakers junior said after her Division 1 cross country win that she'd dreamt of winning that title since she learned how to walk. She finished fourth as a sophomore before winning the championship by a little more than a second. After establishing herself as one of the top distance runners in the country in competitions over the winter, Finn finished the school year by winning the 3,200-meter run at the Division 1 Track and Field Final.
8. More and more Morley Stanwood
The Mohawks girls pulled off a rare feat this school year -- after winning their second MHSAA volleyball title in the fall, they added a first-ever girls basketball championship. Both efforts were keyed by seniors Alexis Huntey and Bailey Cairnduf, who had the most and second-most kills in the Class C Volleyball Final and then combined for 45 points and 25 rebounds in the basketball championship game.
That argument was made after Lansing Sexton claimed its second-straight Class B boys basketball championship in dominant fashion. The Big Reds finished 27-1, their only loss by a point to Detroit Pershing, and have won 74 games over the last three seasons -- tied for sixth-most in MHSAA history for that long of a stretch. Guards Denzel Valentine (Michigan State), Anthony Clemmons (Iowa) and Bryn Forbes (Cleveland State) all signed to play at Division I colleges this fall, with junior Jalen Hayes and freshman Trevor Manuel likely joining them in a few years.
Coyotes junior Sami Michell established herself as one of the top hurdlers in MHSAA history at the Division 3 Final by becoming the first Lower Peninsula girl to win four events at a championship meet since Mason County Eastern’s Maria Shoup in 1979. She set Division 3 records in the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles and long jump, and her 300 time also was the best in MHSAA Finals history, regardless of division or class. She also won the 200.
Top-ranked Grand Haven's latest run at an MHSAA championship seemed all but over when Grosse Pointe South led the Class A final by 18 points with just under 10 minutes to play. But Shar'Rae Davis' fullcourt sprint and score that began with 12 seconds to play gave the Buccaneers a 54-53 win and their first title. It was the third-longest comeback in MHSAA Girls Basketball Finals history.
Livonia Ladywood had been a favorite to win its first MHSAA title all season -- with four-year pitcher Briana Combs in the circle. But when Combs couldn't finish the Semifinal because of an injury, rarely-thrown sophomore Lauren Hayes stepped in. All she did was finish that game and throw a three-hitter against Saginaw Swan Valley in the Final, while also getting three hits and driving in two of the team's four runs in the championship win.
St. Johns senior Taylor Massa finished off one of the most celebrated careers in MHSAA wrestling history with his fourth championship and not one loss during his high school career. Massa claimed the title at 171 pounds this year to go with others at 145, 152 and 160. He became the 15th in MHSAA history to win four titles, ranks 20th with 221 wins and seventh in the national record book for consecutive victories.
Grosse Pointe South's girls running teams had arguably the most dominant school year in MHSAA history, first winning the Division 1 cross country title before doing the same this spring in track and field. And the Blue Devils did it with mostly the same nucleus contributing to both -- particularly juniors Hannah and Haley Meier, sophomore Kelsie Schwartz and freshman Ersula Farrow. Those four combined to run a national record time of 8:48.29 in the 3,200 relay at the Division 1 Final this spring.
1. Short walk, championship run
Second Half was created as a place to tell great stories, Cass Tech made it easy on the first day of the Football Finals. The Technicians arrived at Ford Field after a short walk from their school. They had never played in a Final before and were unranked entering the postseason. They arrived with a strong group of seniors, but also a freshman quarterback named Jayru Campbell who ended up throwing five touchdown passes in a 49-13 win over No. 2 and perennial powerhouse Detroit Catholic Central.
PHOTO: The Morley Stanwood girls basketball team prepares to celebrate as the final seconds tick off in the Mohawks' Class C Final win. (Click to see more photos from High School Sports Scene.)
Turning to Dad's Memory, Kropp Seals Leland Title with Unforgettable Clincher
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
November 1, 2025
GRAND LEDGE — As he made the walk toward the ball, all Leland senior Howie Kropp could think about was his late father.
With Leland mired in a shootout against Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett in the MHSAA Division 4 Boys Soccer Final, Kropp approached the ball facing the dream scenario – an opportunity to give his team the championship.
He could have been thinking about the fact that he hadn’t scored a goal all year, or that he had never taken a shot in a penalty kick shootout before.
Instead, all that was on his mind was his father, who passed away when he was 8 years old.
“My Dad, he’s up there. I knew he would take over if I just put the ball on the ground,” Kropp said. “He coached me in soccer throughout my entire life. Ending on this note meant the world to me.”
Kropp stepped up and calmly delivered the winning goal, giving Leland a 4-2 advantage in the shootout for a 2-1 overall win and Leland’s first Finals championship since 2018.
“I kind of let myself go,” Kropp said. “I know he helped me put it in the back of the net.”
Leland head coach Rob Sirrine knew Kropp, who was a goalkeeper his first three years of high school before transitioning to the field this year, entered the game having not scored this year.
However, that didn’t prevent Sirrine from putting Kopp as the fifth shooter for his team.
“He couldn’t buy a goal in the regular season,” he said. “We kept telling him that you’re going to get an important one in the playoffs. He kept going and he kept going, and didn’t get one. I was like, ‘Howie, now is your time.’”
With the game tied 1-1 after regulation and overtime, Leland took a 1-0 lead after the first round of the shootout following a successful conversion by senior Ignacio Creamer and a save by senior keeper Ravello Smith.
After Leland’s Weston Burda and Liggett’s Ollie Cooley traded conversions, Liggett tied the shootout at 2-2 on a goal by Brady Ancona.
Leland then went up 3-2 in the fourth round with a goal by senior Adrian Spencer and another save by Smith, which set up the title-clinching opportunity for Kropp.
Despite the loss, Liggett head coach David Dwaihy still had lots of reason for optimism. Not only did his team make it to the championship game, but the future looks bright with a roster laden with sophomores and freshmen who played big roles all season and throughout the game.
Liggett was aiming to win its first title since 1999.
“We’ve got a really strong collection of ninth and 10th graders who made an impact,” Dwaihy said. “It was neat to see them step up on a big occasion and not back off.”
Leland took a 1-0 lead with 24:24 remaining in the first half on a goal by Spencer, who took a pass from junior Jose Roman and fired a shot from just outside the box inside the far post.
Liggett answered with 5:55 left in the first half on a goal by sophomore Sekou Manneh, who found a loose ball on his foot in the center of the field just outside the box and fired a perfect low shot into the net.
That would be all the scoring in regulation and overtime, which set the stage for penalty kicks and Kropp’s memorable moment.
“I’ve never even been in a shootout,” he said. “I was just trying to take deep breaths and let the emotions flow out of me. I really just had a lot of faith.”
PHOTOS (Top) Leland’s Howie Krupp and his teammates begin to celebrate his game-winning goal and the Division 4 title Saturday at Grand Ledge High School. (Middle) Comets keeper Ravello Smith makes a save during the shootout. (Below) Liggett’s Sekou Manneh celebrates his equalizing score. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)