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.
Field Hockey Showing Signs of Interest, Participation Boost with MHSAA Sponsorship
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
September 5, 2025
Zahid Hameed said everything has changed – and in a magnificent way.
The head field hockey coach at West Bloomfield the past three years, Hameed said there was a challenge with roster numbers and making sure there were enough players on the roster to fully compete.
With field hockey now an MHSAA-sponsored sport and not solely club status, that wasn’t the case when practice started in August.
“This year, from day one I had 20 players,” said Hameed, who said it would be a struggle to have 18 players on a roster at any point of a season in previous years. “It changed. Hopefully next year it will be maybe 30 or 40 and I can have a JV team. It will grow for sure.”
Growth is being experienced at programs throughout the Metro Detroit area now that field hockey has joined the MHSAA sports lineup, with the first Final set for Oct. 25.
Clarkston head coach Cary Exline said his program had a similar success story as it saw higher numbers once this season began.
“Last year, I had about 17 girls,” he said. “I have 25 (this year). It went from 17 to 25. That was a huge, huge jump. Now, I can run multiple drills at the same time without worrying about bodies. That’s a huge, huge positive for us.”
Athletes have certainly taken notice that field hockey is under MHSAA leadership. At some schools, that means field hockey can be part of a multiple-sport pay-to-play program instead of being a completely separate cost as a club program — and that’s having a positive effect.
“Now that it’s a sanctioned sport, it’s real easy,” said Hameed, who said he has nine freshmen on his roster who have never played the sport. “The girls can give it a try and if they like it, then that’s fine.”
For seniors around the state, it almost feels like they are living out a dream finally seeing the sport under the MHSAA umbrella.
“When I heard it was official, I was really excited,” said Clarkston senior captain Jenna Brown. “It shows that the sport is growing, and it’s nice to see more teams pop up around the area. We’ve played a couple of teams where it’s their first season. That makes me really happy that the sport is spreading.”
As a club sport, the best teams in Metro Detroit have historically been private schools such as Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, Detroit Country Day, Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart, Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett and Bloomfield Hills Marian. All those programs figure to remain strong going forward due to their tradition and coaching.
Grosse Pointe South also has had success, as a public school, and MHSAA sponsorship of field hockey could really be a boon to other public schools with large enrollment bases and prominent athletic programs. Clarkston and West Bloomfield, for example, stand to get much better quickly and possibly close the gap with more historically elite programs.
No doubt, there is a lot of untapped potential in those and similar communities.
“It brings light to the program,” Exile said. “When you look at field hockey, I think it’s the No. 2 or No. 3 most popular female sport in the world. In the world, it’s great. In Michigan, it’s like ‘You do what? What is this?’ I think with it being an approved sport, it lends credence to it.”
Going forward, coaches in the area should also have an easier time introducing the sport to younger kids in their communities and building feeder programs so players are more seasoned when they reach high school.
Hameed said youth clinics he conducted over the summer had a lot more participants than in past years, which should bode well for educating players about the positives of the sport.
“It’s a dynamic sport,” Hameed said. “It’s entertaining. It’s full of skills. You need to be energetic, agile, sharp and a good decision-maker.”
So far this fall, more and more athletes are discovering the benefits of giving the sport a try.
“It’s not a huge sport as of now, but I feel like it’s getting bigger,” said West Bloomfield senior captain Hannah Jakubiak. “It’s exciting that it’s picking up.”
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) Clarkston field hockey players Juliet Hardin (left) and Zoe Philbrick battle for a ball during warmups before a game Wednesday against West Bloomfield. (Middle) West Bloomfield players line up for the start of introductions. (Photos by Keith Dunlap.)