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High 5s: 11/14/12

November 19, 2012

All three of this week's honorees have achieved some sort of first-time stardom this fall, either individually or as a team. And both Carli Snyder and Alex Grace will be back next fall to continue building on these accomplishments. 

Carli Snyder
Macomb Dakota junior
Volleyball

(UPDATED 11/19) Snyder, a 6-foot-1 outside hitter, was an all-stater her first two seasons of high school. But she will be remembered even more for leading Macomb Dakota this fall to its first MHSAA championship in any girls sport. The Cougars defeated Temperance Bedford in three games in Saturday's Class A Final at Kellogg Arena. Snyder unofficially finished this season with 913 kills, good for seventh in the MHSAA record book since the beginning of the rally scoring era in 2004-05. Her 31 kills against Bedford were third-most for a Final during that time. Snyder already has committed to sign with the University of Florida next year. She likely will be among frontrunners for next fall's Miss Volleyball award. 

Title talk: "We wanted this thing so bad. Every girl on this team wanted it so badly. Megan (Manierski) was setting the ball perfectly. She made it very easy to get kills. ... Just talking about this moment, this gym, it makes you just want to play harder than you ever have."

Winning recipe: "We've been a competitive team in practice and in games all year, so I think that helped us at that moment (in three close Finals games) when we just didn't want to lose. We refused to lose. ... We support each other no matter what. And we hustled so hard."

Shake it up: "We have some secret handshakes with other people, but mine are very complex. I don't know how we went about that. Megan and mine is from "Parent Trap," and then Megan Downey and mine, we just made it up at team dinner. We make it a bit more complex than it needs to be, but it's fun. And it's a great thing to calm us down for a game when we've played a bad one before."

Had to be a Gator: "I like warm weather. I love the coaches. I actually called Florida for my recruiting phone call because I was kinda bored one day at home and I was like, 'I got a letter from them.' I fell in love with the coaching staff, and I told my mom that I needed to go on a visit down there. It's incredible, and when I went down there I was even more in love. Even on the phone, I knew this is where I would end up. It's just that feeling. You know when you get that feeling, and it's incredible."

Click to read more.

Alex Grace
Saginaw Swan Valley sophomore
Football

The Vikings' leading rusher is also one of the leading rushers in the state this season heading into Saturday's Division 4 Semifinal against Detroit Country Day. Grace has gained 2,091 yards plus run for 27 touchdowns, and needs only 109 yards and three more scores to make the MHSAA record book in both categories. He ran for 182 yards and three scores in the Vikings' Regional Final win over Croswell-Lexington. Grace took over as Swan Valley's running back this season after the graduation of his brother Johnathan, who rushed for 1,790 yards last season and now plays at Michigan Tech. Both brothers ran on Swan Valley's 400-meter relay that finished runner-up at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Track and Field Final in the spring. Alex is 6-0 and 185 pounds and runs the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds.

I'd like to run like: "Even my brother. I like to look at myself as close to him. Professionally, (Minnesota Vikings back) Adrian Peterson. He's a tough runner, fast. He's strong."

Underdogs again: "The last game against Croswell, they were the No. 2 team and we were predicted to lose. But we came back and beat them. I use that underdog feeling to work harder each day."

Best brotherly advice: "Work hard, and if there are doubters, don't let them get you down."

Science and math: (My favorite classes are) biology and economics. They just come easy to me. I enjoy it."

Click to read more. 

Flint Beecher football

The Buccaneers, coached by former Michigan State and NFL standout Courtney Hawkins, were one of the final teams selected for the playoffs, at 5-4 after a 3-4 start. But Beecher advanced to this week's Division 7 Semifinal against Detroit Loyola by eliminating reigning champion Saginaw Nouvel, 19-15, in last week's Regional championship game. Beecher, now 8-4, has made the playoffs six straight years. The first of that run came in Hawkins' second as coach and after 12 straight losing seasons. 

Click to read more. 

Previous 2012-13 honorees:

An Orchard Lake St. Mary's runner rounds third base Saturday as a Kenowa Hills throw comes in from the outfield. 

Kenowa Hills Rallies Early, but St. Mary's Rallies Late to Claim Latest Title

By Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com

June 13, 2026

EAST LANSING — The McLane Stadium scoreboard definitely had to be a strange sight for Orchard Lake St. Mary’s early in Saturday’s Division 2 Final against Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills. 

En route to 26 straight wins entering the game, St. Mary’s had routinely recorded lopsided wins, but found itself trailing an inspired Kenowa Hills team by four runs after three innings of play. 

But while it was unfamiliar territory, panic certainly didn’t set in.

“We were calm, cool and collected,” Eaglets senior Hudson Brzustewicz said. “We knew we were going to put up runs. It was just a matter of time before the bats got hot and balls started dropping.”

Brzustewicz couldn’t have been more right, as St. Mary’s rallied for a 6-4 win in eight innings to add another Finals championship trophy to its collection.

The Eaglets (34-5) have now won seven titles and five since 2015 – four in Division 2 and the 2022 Division 1 crown.

It also gave head coach Nick DiPonio his first title as a coach after winning one as a player for St. Mary’s in 1998.

“They never had a doubt that they had it within themselves to persevere through everything,” DiPonio said. “It makes it that much sweeter.”

In the eighth inning with the game tied 4-4, junior Joseph Schilp started the winning rally with a sharp one-out single to left-center field. Schilp took second base on a passed ball, then went to third on a bunt single by senior Nate Baumann. 

St. Mary’s senior and No. 9 hitter Preston Duff then brought Schilp home with another bunt single inside the third-base line to give their team a 5-4 lead.

Eaglets reliever Anthony Abela delivers a pitch. With two outs, Eaglets senior Luke Crighton hit an RBI single to make it 6-4. 

Kenowa Hills put runners on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, but St. Mary’s senior left-handed reliever Anthony Abela ended the game on a strikeout.

Abela came on in the fourth inning and provided five innings of scoreless relief, striking out six. 

Making its first trip to a Final, Kenowa Hills finished 36-3.

“We just gave up a couple too many runs,” Knights head coach Todd VandenHeuvel said. “They outhit us (13-6). If we could have gotten a couple more baserunners on and stayed aggressive like we were and put more pressure on them, it might have been a different outcome. But very proud of the kids."

Kenowa Hills got off to a good start, taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI single up the middle by Andrew Lake to score senior Brennan Gustinis, who led off the inning with a double. 

The Knights took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on junior Will Fussman’s RBI triple to the gap in right-center. 

With two outs, an attempted steal of home by Fussman worked, as an errant St. Mary’s throw got behind the catcher, allowing Fussman to score and make it 3-0. 

Kenowa Hills then made it 4-0 later in the inning when it executed a double steal perfectly with runners on first and third. With the runner on first breaking for second, senior Mason Peebles charged for home and slid underneath the tag at home plate after St. Mary’s cut off the throw to second and threw back to home. 

The Eagles got one run back in the fourth, cutting the lead to 4-1 on an RBI groundout by senior Derick Conrad. 

In the sixth inning, St. Mary’s made a move, cutting the Kenowa Hills lead to 4-3 on a two-run double to the gap in right-center by senior Tyler Shubnell. 

The Eaglets then tied the game at 4-4 on an RBI single by Bauman.

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) An Orchard Lake St. Mary's runner rounds third base Saturday as a Kenowa Hills throw comes in from the outfield. (Middle) Eaglets reliever Anthony Abela delivers a pitch.