10 to Remember: 2013-14 Finals
July 10, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Every championship leaves a lasting impression with the athletes and coaches who achieved it and the communities that cheered them on.
That makes picking the 10 most notable finishes from this school year's MHSAA Finals a no-win scenario. But here's one person's carefully-considered opinion:
10. Unranked Eaton Rapids finishes No. 1 for the first time
The Greyhounds capped this year’s Girls Basketball Finals with a 51-38 win over Grand Rapids South Christian in the Class B title game that closed the weekend. But that statement alone barely scratches the surface of the story. The championship was the first for Eaton Rapids, which started five seniors and entered the tournament unranked but eliminated No. 6 Ypsilanti Arbor Prep, No. 8 Flint Powers Catholic and then the top-ranked Sailors during the season’s final week.
9. Western sweeps first Finals at Michigan State
The Baseball and Softball Finals moved to Michigan State University this spring, and the Bay City Western baseball and softball teams both took home championship trophies. The Warriors baseball team, after winning its first title in 2013, became the first in Class A or Division 1 to repeat in defeating Grosse Pointe South 6-2. The softball team won its first MHSAA championship by defeating Portage Central 4-2 after also making – and leading late – in the 2013 Final before losing by a run to Mattawan.
8. Sacred Heart overcomes, comes back for first title
Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart couldn’t have been favored by many in this season’s Class D Girls Basketball Final with one senior, making only its second championship game appearance and going up against Crystal Falls Forest Park and recently-crowned Miss Basketball Lexi Gussert. But the unranked Irish finished on a 14-3 run over the final three minutes to get past the top-ranked Trojans 56-53 and win their first MHSAA title.
7. Canton gymnastics finishes long championship journey
The Canton gymnastics team claimed its first MHSAA title by edging Grand Ledge by 2.4 points after finishing runner-up to the Comets each of the last three seasons. The Chiefs also had finished Finals runner-up in 1996 under coach John Cunningham, who took over the program in 1979 and has coached the sport since 1968. Grand Ledge had won 106 straight competitions including the last six MHSAA Finals.
6. Big Reds regain top spot in Class A hoops
With Mr. Basketball Deshaun Thrower and 2015 candidate Deyonta Davis setting the pace, Muskegon finished only the second perfect season in Class A in the last 24 seasons with a 91-67 Final win over Bloomfield Hills that earned the Big Reds their first MHSAA championship since 1937. Thrower had 21 points, and Davis had 26 and 13 rebounds.
5. Brother Rice sends Fracassa out as champion once more
The Warriors made coach Al Fracassa a back-to-back MHSAA football champion for the first time with a 38-21 victory over Muskegon in a rematch of the 2013 Division 2 Final. Brother Rice also finished 14-0 as Fracassa finished a career during which he built a 430-117-7 record dating to 1969. His wins rank first in MHSAA football history.
4. New Lothrop wrestlers end Hudson’s reign
The Hornets won their first MHSAA title since 2004 by edging Hudson 32-22 in the Division 4 Final at Kellogg Arena. New Lothrop’s title win also ended an MHSAA-record five-season championship run by the Tigers, who tied the Davison teams of 2002-06 for the longest string of consecutive titles.
3. Stars finish final title runs with 4
A pair of mid-Michigan athletes capped four-year varsity careers by joining the elite champions in their respective sports. Breckenridge runner Kirsten Olling became the fifth girl in MHSAA history to win four Lower Peninsula individual championships, claiming her latest and last in an LP Division 4 Final record 17:44.9. St. Johns senior Zac Hall became the third wrestler in three seasons and 18th in MHSAA history to finish with four individual championships. He defeated Greenville’s Alec Ward 12-2 in the Division 2 140-pound championship match to close this season 52-0 and his career 198-2.
2. St. Philip adds to all-time accolades
The Battle Creek St. Philip volleyball program ranks first in MHSAA Final appearances (27) and championships (19), but further cemented itself among the all-time elite by winning its eighth straight MHSAA title – good to tie Marysville’s 1997-2004 teams for the longest championship streak in MHSAA history. The Tigers did so this season by defeating Waterford Our Lady in three games in Class D, and despite graduating seven from its 2012 championship team.
1. Trenton wins one more for Turner
Trenton’s hockey team defeated Hartland 8-3 in the Division 2 Final to earn the program’s 14th MHSAA championship and first since 2010 – and send out coach Mike Turner with one more crowning achievement on the most notable career in MHSAA hockey history. Earlier this winter, Turner set the record for coaching wins. He finished 628-126-52 over 28 seasons stretching across two tenures.
PHOTO: Trenton hockey players celebrate during this season's Division 2 championship trophy.
Fowler Earns Opportunity to Finish Season Same Way as Eagles Started
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 13, 2025
EAST LANSING — Fowler began the season Dec. 3 with an opening-night road win over reigning Division 4 champion Wyoming Tri-unity Christian.
On Saturday, the Eagles will end the season with a chance to officially dethrone the Defenders as champions.
Fowler did its part to set up the rematch during the second Division 4 Semifinal on Thursday, earning a 59-43 win over Allen Park Inter-City Baptist.
“We’re both completely different teams since that time, but I think we both know what we are going to get from each other,” Fowler head coach Kam Riley said of Tri-unity. “We knew there was a chance we could see them at the end of the year. We’re excited for the opportunity.”
The Eagles advanced to their first championship game since 2002 on the strength of 3-point shooting and rebounding.
Fowler didn’t shoot great from the field overall, connecting on 21 of 58 attempts. But nearly half of those made field goals were 3-pointers.
Fowler made 8 of its first 17 shots from 3-point range to build a 19-point lead during the second quarter and finished 10 of 27 from beyond the arc for the game, as seemingly everyone associated with Fowler was making them from deep – even a Fowler student dressed in an eagle costume hit a half-court shot during a contest before the fourth quarter started.
Seniors Asher Koenigsknecht and Aaron Simon both scored 15 points, and senior Jacob Halfmann had 14 for Fowler (25-3).
The Eagles also controlled the boards, holding a 44-32 rebounding advantage with 15 offensive rebounds.
Senior Alex Halfmann and junior Joe Epkey both had 10 rebounds for Fowler.
“We anticipated it could be hard to shoot in a gym like this,” Riley said. “We don’t play here a lot. We knew we had a size advantage. Just an incredible effort by our guys crashing the glass.
Fowler held a 36-17 lead with 3:08 remaining in the first half and extended the margin to 38-22 by halftime, never letting Inter-City Baptist pull closer than 14 points the rest of the game.
Fowler committed only one turnover in the first half and seven for the game against an Inter-City Baptist team that had an experience advantage given it played in the Semifinals at Breslin Center last year.
“We just told each other that it was another game,” Koenigsknecht said. “Don’t make the court put any more pressure on you. Just do your thing like we have all season.”
Inter-City Baptist (24-5) was led by junior Ethan Esse, who scored a game-high 25 points. The silver lining for the Chargers is that they should be well-equipped for another run next year with just one senior on the roster.
But that didn’t make a second-straight Semifinal loss hurt any less.
“We were a team that was averaging 23 assists to nine turnovers a game,” said Inter-City Baptist head coach Mark Kraatz, whose team had nine assists Thursday. “It just wasn’t the way we’ve been playing. We didn’t share it. We didn’t get the assists that I thought. Rebounding, assists and then they shot it well. They played well.”
PHOTOS (Top) Fowler's Asher Koenigsknecht (3) gets up a 3-point shot as Inter-City Baptist's Ethan Esse (22) attempts to get a hand on the ball Thursday. (Middle) Inter-City Baptist's Carlos Jackson (11) considers his options with Fowler's Joe Epkey defending.