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.
Lowell Follows Lone Senior to Inaugural MHSAA Boys Volleyball Championship
By
Jeff Bleiler
Special for MHSAA.com
June 6, 2026
BATTLE CREEK — Drew Davidson left Kellogg Arena on Saturday with the first Division 2 Finals championship trophy awarded by the MHSAA for boys volleyball – and also with a pocket full of timeouts.
Davidson’s Lowell boys volleyball team defeated Grand Rapids South Christian in the best-of-5 final, 3-1. Despite an up-and-down, back-and-forth match with Lowell prevailing 25-23, 25-20, 23-25 and 25-18, Davidson called no timeouts during the Final.
“I like seeing them get flustered and see how they respond,” Davidson said. “You saw in the third game where we responded poorly and couldn’t side out, and then what happened in the fourth game? We responded and came back out and finished the job off.
“For a young team, it’s not always going to be perfect, but to see how they respond to getting flustered, I like to see that.”
Saturday’s historic championship marked a culmination of more than two years’ work since the May 2024 announcement of the boys volleyball tournament joining the MHSAA postseason schedule.
That fact was not lost on Davidson nor his younger brother Max, the lone senior on a team that had collected three consecutive state volleyball championships (awarded previously by the coaches association) entering Saturday’s Finals.
“It’s the first and the fourth for us,” Drew Davidson said. “It’s Max’s senior year so he’s won every year, so that’s kind of a cool way to send him out. With it being an MHSAA sport now, it’s just makes it even better to bring the first one home and have that on the record books.”
Max Davidson led a team of 11 total — including six freshmen — and turns the setting reins over to freshman Issac Kissinger.
“I don’t have to worry about the program after I leave,” Max Davidson said. “I know Issac can take over. He’s definitely better than when I was a freshman, so I can’t imagine how good he’s going to be as a senior. And all the other freshmen who came in and filled really big roles, they did a really good job.”
They needed to in order to defeat a talented and senior-laden South Christian team for the third time this season. The Sailors had a lead in every set and the first set knotted at 23-23 before Lowell won the last two points.
The second set was back and forth as well, with neither team holding a lead larger than two points until consecutive aces by Lowell junior Lincoln Pollema put the Red Arrows up 19-16. South Christian tied it at 19-19 before Lowell scored six of the next seven points, including the set-winning kill by Kissinger.
The third set featured just about everything from both sides — with South Christian jumping out to a 17-11 lead, a Brock Hoekwater one-armed dig finding the floor on the other side the final point of four straight.
Drew Davidson did not call timeout, and his team responded on Pollema’s serve, scoring eight in a row for a 19-17 lead. With the score tied 23-23, seniors Jack Borisch and Carson Joldersma each had kills to close the set for South Christian.
“We’ve played Lowell three times, but we stood in it with them today, and I thought we played an incredible match,” South Christian coach Mya Udell said. “I just can’t be more proud of the guys, how they worked together and how they’ve come together. They’ve been a huge support for each other, and it’s just been great to be a part of.
“We took a set off Lowell, and they’re an incredible team.”
Lowell jumped out to a 19-11 lead in the fourth set before a South Christian timeout ignited a six-point run that included three straight Joldersma kills — but did not result in a Lowell timeout.
Instead, the Red Arrows took serve on a kill by Kissinger, got two Jaeger Smith kills and with freshman Teylon Compton serving, closed it out with a Kissinger kill and block kill by junior Josh Wolfers.
“That was a crazy game. South Christian brought it,” Drew Davidson said. “They played really well, so that was fun to come against and have to overcome. The boys did eventually.”
The Sailors lose seven seniors from this year’s runner-up squad that finished 28-14-2, and Udell said the group leaves behind a lasting legacy.
“I think for them, their legacy is they can always be known for that first season, making it to a state championship and having a great record,” she said. “But they’re also great men. They love the Lord, they care about others and they’re going to do great in the real world.”
Lowell, which finished the season 27-6, likely will not be a stranger to the MHSAA Finals. Of the 11 players on the roster, four are juniors and six are freshmen — with six additional freshmen on the way.
“We’ve been playing four, five, six freshmen, so it’s super exciting to see those guys grow,” Drew Davidson said. “The opportunity they get to play with the older kids and then what that’ll do for next year, that’s exciting.”
PHOTOS (Top) Lowell players huddle on the court during their Division 2 championship win Saturday at Kellogg Arena. (Middle) The Red Arrows’ Will Selent elevates during a serve.