MI Army National Guard Presents MHSAA Events
February 24, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Sharing in the values of leadership, sportsmanship and ethics emphasized by the Michigan High School Athletic Association, the Michigan Army National Guard is serving as the official military branch supporting MHSAA events and digital initiatives through the 2015-16 school year.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer, and soldiers are eligible for educational benefits including state and federal tuition assistance programs, the G.I. Bill and grants at Michigan colleges and universities that combined usually exceed the total cost of tuition, books and fees at most Michigan post-secondary institutions.
The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Monthly and annual summer training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom, or protecting lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
“The National Guard provides opportunities for young men and women to mature into productive citizens,” MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts said. “The emphasis the Guard puts on physical fitness, leadership and doing things the right way parallels what we strive to teach in school sports.”
The Guard has served as presenter of the MHSAA Cross Country Regionals and Finals and Football Playoffs during the fall, and this winter of the MHSAA Wrestling Tournament, which will conclude with the Team Wrestling Finals hosted Feb. 26-27 at Central Michigan University’s McGuirk Arena and the Individual Wrestling Finals scheduled for March 3-5 at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Guard recruiters also have been on-site attending numerous District, Regional and additional Finals events during the first half of the 2015-16 school year.
The Guard also is featured prevalently as part of the MHSAA’s online presence on both MHSAA.com and the MHSAA mobile app, and supports the “Michigan National Guard Performance of the Week” honoring a successful student-athlete on the MHSAA’s Second Half website.
“The Michigan Army National Guard is proud to support the MHSAA and student-athletes across Michigan,” said Lt. Col. Scott L. Meyers, who serves as recruiting and retention battalion commander for the Guard. “The Guard not only plays a key role in our national defense; we have a responsibility to serve our communities during times of state emergencies. As individuals, we are stewards in our communities and have an inherent responsibility to support our community in that role. One way to do this is to encourage student-athletes to live up to the ethics, values, and positive life choices common to the MHSAA and the Michigan Army National Guard.
“The National Guard is actively seeking these student-athletes to join our team. Their dedication combined with our education benefits and leadership training will provide the tools needed for them to become future leaders of Michigan’s communities.”
Click for additional information on the Michigan Army National Guard.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,400 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.
Pontiac Notre Dame Prep Welcomes Frantic Fun of 1st Trip to Football Finals
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
November 29, 2024
Betty Wroubel has never been so happy to have a bit of chaos and unfamiliar busyness descend upon her and the athletic department at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep this week.
An administrator at the school for 45 years — dating back to the days when it was known as Pontiac Catholic — Wroubel and her colleagues always wondered what things would be like if the football program ever made a state championship game.
This week, all that dreaming turned into reality as the Fighting Irish advanced to Saturday’s Division 5 Final against Frankenmuth. As expected, it’s been frantic.
Phone calls and emails from alumni and other school officials have come in droves, hoping there is room on the sideline for them even when there are limited spots available.
“I think the most difficult part has been telling people no,” said Notre Dame Prep associate athletic director Aaron Crouse.
There have been several phone calls placed to fellow administrators or other coaches who have been there to inquire about all the little things not normally thought about.
Should we have the team go down Friday to check out those games in order to get more familiar with the environment?
Is it best to gather up a bus to transport students down, or just send the link to tickets and tell everyone they are on their own?
Of course, trying to figure out such logistics has been a labor of love.
“They are good problems to have,” Wroubel said. “I’ll take these problems. It’s exciting and worth it.”
While the athletic administrators have felt the energy in their offices, the same can’t quite be said for the Notre Dame Prep team itself.
There were no classes during the week due to Thanksgiving break, so the buzz of making a football Final for the first time wasn’t really felt in the hallways.
The advantage to that though is that the Notre Dame Prep players have pretty much been able to focus on football, and given the season the Fighting Irish have had, they don’t really need any more perks to be at their best.
Notre Dame Prep enters with an 11-1 record, its only loss coming in the regular-season finale against Hudsonville Unity Christian.
The Fighting Irish recorded wins over perennial powers Jackson Lumen Christi and Grand Rapids Catholic Central, and bigger Oakland Activities Association schools such as Troy and Ferndale.
In his 11th year leading the program, Pat Fox also will coach in a Final for the first time after more than three decades in that role on a high school sideline.
Fox has several mentors who have helped guide him along the way, including former Rockford and current Newaygo head coach Ralph Munger, former Chelsea head coach Brad Bush and former Saginaw Arthur Hill head coach Jim Eurick.
Fox had planned on chatting more with Munger and Bush this week about the logistics of making a Final.
Regarding his team, Fox said getting this far is especially rewarding since he has been in the same building with many of his players for over a decade and has watched them grow up.
“My quarterback, I remember seeing him in the building when he was a little toddler,” Fox said.
That quarterback is junior Sam Stowe, who Fox credited with sticking with the program and waiting for his turn instead of trying to transfer for more playing time as a freshman or sophomore.
Stowe and Notre Dame Prep have been rewarded greatly for that patience, as he has thrown for more than 2,500 yards and 38 touchdowns, and has a completion percentage of 72 percent going into Saturday.
The Fighting Irish also have a core of six players who have been starters the past three years: WR/LB Billy Collins, DL/RB Drew Heimbuch, WR/LB Mike Wiebelhaus, WR/DB Joey Decasas, OL/LB Luca Gasperoni and OL/DL Jake Gartin.
Fox also said junior LB Brody Sink has developed into a Division I college prospect with his play this year.
“They’ve been through a lot of wars and have been great,” Fox said. “We have really good team speed.”
Wroubel and Crouse said they and other school officials “saw this coming” with how the program was trending up and being built right over the years. But the reality of what was happening didn’t fully set in until the fourth quarter of a Semifinal win over Flat Rock.
“Administrators were crying out there,” Wroubel said.
Come Saturday, the Notre Dame Prep community hopes there will be more tears in celebration of the program’s first state championship.
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Notre Dame Prep quarterback Sam Stowe (15) takes a snap against Detroit Central during a 49-14 Week 1 win. (Middle) The Fighting Irish, including Drew Heimbuch (5), line up before a game. (Photos courtesy of the Pontiac Notre Dame Prep athletic department.)