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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:

Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart’s Brody Collin (1) welcomes home teammate Brady Davis after Davis crosses the plate during their team’s Division 4 Semifinal win Thursday.

Pitchers Set Pace as MP Sacred Heart, Marcellus Advance with Shutouts

By Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com

June 12, 2026

EAST LANSING — To this day, Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart junior ace pitcher Nate Siler doesn’t know where his nickname of “gator” came from and why.

“I have no clue to be honest,” Siler said. “It’s just something I’ve had my entire life. I really don’t know where it came from.”

Regardless, Siler certainly did some “chomping” on the mound during a Division 4 Semifinal against Royal Oak Shrine Catholic on Friday.

Siler was in total control from the first pitch, striking out 16 batters and tossing a three-hit shutout to lead the Irish to a 4-0 victory. 

Ranked No. 2 in the state entering the tournament, Sacred Heart (37-4) will go for its third Finals championship at 2:30 p.m. Saturday against Marcellus. 

“Just throwing strikes,” Siler said of what was key to his dominance. “Do your job and not let the moment get too big. Stay even-headed and do the same job I’ve been doing all year.”

Sacred Heart provided Siler with all the run support he would need in the top of the first inning, striking first for two runs on an RBI single by senior Brady Davis and an RBI double by junior Hank MacDonald with two outs. 

“We’ve in the tournament been jumping off in the first inning and getting some runs,” veteran Sacred Heart head coach Earl Hartman said. “That’s always going to help (us get) relaxed. The two runs we got in the first inning were all (Siler) needed, and it usually is. He doesn’t often need more than that to win a ballgame.”

In the fifth inning, Siler and MacDonald hit consecutive RBI doubles to give Sacred Heart a 4-0 lead.

Siler did encounter some strife in the bottom of the seventh when Shrine loaded the bases with one out on a bloop single, walk, and hit batter.

But Siler ended the threat and the game with back-to-back strikeouts.

Shrine, which was making its first Semifinal appearance since advancing to the Division 4 championship game in 2003, finished 26-9.

“He controlled the game from beginning to end,” Shrine head coach Dan Noble said of Siler. “He was never really frazzled. We have cut down on our strikeouts significantly this year from last year, but you’ve got to give him all the credit. He’s the difference in the game. He just controls everything that he throws. He’s got a plus fastball, and he throws it with a four-seam and a two-seam action. Nothing looks the same, yet he ends up hitting the same spot.”

Click for the full box score.

Marcellus 4, Painesdale Jeffers 0

In the midst of focusing on his team’s current situation and what’s to come, Marcellus head coach Christian Hutson made sure to take time and offer reflection following his team’s win over Jeffers.

“I wish every coach could experience this today,” Hutson said while fighting back tears. “Just this atmosphere and being on that field. You never know if it’s going to happen. It’s pretty awesome. I’m all smiles. I don’t know what to say because there’s been some years where it’s been tough for us. It’s paid off.”

Marcellus pitcher Cale Hackenburg makes his move toward the plate during his team’s Semifinal victory.Marcellus (22-11) will play for a Finals championship for the first time thanks to the performance of junior Cale Hackenburg, who threw a four-hit shutout, striking out 15 and walking one. 

“Everything was working,” Hackenburg said. “My fastball, I could locate it well. My slider was making them uncomfortable.”

Marcellus also got his team’s offense going, hitting a one-out triple in the bottom of the first inning and then scoring on a sacrifice fly by junior Abram Coffey to make it 1-0 Wildcats. 

In the third inning, Marcellus took a 3-0 lead on an RBI single by Coffey and a Jeffers error on the same play that scored another run.

Marcellus rounded out the scoring in the fifth inning when Coffey tripled and then scored on an RBI groundout by senior Eli Torres. 

The Jets (15-9) were also making their first trip to a Semifinal, and got a boost when senior ace Cameron Anderson was able to start after it was thought he would be lost for this week. Anderson was involved in a horrific outfield collision during the Regional round. 

Jeffers head coach Joe Romano said Anderson suffered a cracked collarbone in his non-throwing shoulder that healed enough to start, but that it greatly affected his velocity trying to follow through. 

Anderson gutted through 2 1/3 innings before being taken out. 

“He was in pain,” Romano said. “He went through a lot of therapy this week just to get to this. It was not looking good, but he wanted to play so bad. He’s going to have a memory for the rest of his life. They hit three or four good hits, and that is what cost us the game. Other than that, it wasn’t anything that we did wrong.” 

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart’s Brody Collin (1) welcomes home teammate Brady Davis after Davis crosses the plate during their team’s Division 4 Semifinal win Thursday. (Middle) Marcellus pitcher Cale Hackenburg makes his move toward the plate during his team’s Semifinal victory.