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.
Record-Setting Airport Earns 1st Quarterfinal Trip, Set to Take On Reigning Champ
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
March 17, 2026
The greatest girls basketball season in Carleton Airport’s history hasn’t come without its adversity. When it hit, however, it only made the Jets stronger.
Tonight, Airport (24-2) – which already has set a school record for victories, broke the single-game Monroe County scoring record and won the first Regional championship in school history – will play a Quarterfinal against reigning Division 2 champion Tecumseh.
The journey to get here has been magical, said head coach Darrell Mossburg.
“Something just clicked with this group,” he said. “Their focus has been so much better. They watch film, they pay attention to scouting reports. They’ve learned you have to play every single possession and not worry about a missed shot or turnover. It’s next possession, next possession.”
The Jets have four seniors, all who have played several seasons on the varsity. Olivia Gratz is a 1,000-point scorer, but not the leading scorer on the team. That distinction belongs to junior Sophia Mator, who averages 17 points a game and has made 60 3-pointers on the season.
Senior Peyton Zajac is right behind them in scoring and has been a big contributor in a variety of ways.
“Peyton hasn’t been a great scorer, but there are other things she does that people don’t see on the stat sheet, getting our people in the right spot and playing defense,” Mossburg said.
Senior Jillian Baker has made perhaps the biggest strides since last season.
“Jillian has been playing extremely well. She’s scoring more,” Mossburg said. “Brooklyn Martin (sophomore) has been playing great. They provide the depth that you need this late in the year.”
Seven Jets have scored at least 100 points on the season. Airport averages a whopping 67.6 points per game, and put up a 103-point outburst against Huron League foe Milan in the first game in February. Airport has scored at least 70 points 12 times.
“The defense can’t key on just Sophia,” Mossburg said. “We have a lot of depth.”
Mossburg said this is one of those years that Jets faithful have been talking about for many.
“I know the program all the way down to the fourth grade,” he said. “We knew when this group were seniors, when we could mix in a couple of the other players, we knew they were going to be really, really good.”
In years past, he said, his players didn’t always have the same approach to practice. Now, everyone is on the same page.
“You have to practice like a winner, and every day you have to practice like a winner,” Mossburg said. “They finally grasp that concept. They’ve realized this is it. We have to come to practice every day and act like a winner.”
The team’s basketball IQ is off the charts, he noted.
Sophomore Mya Stahr’s dad and uncle were basketball stars at Flat Rock. Junior Katelyn Roecker is the daughter of a former head coach and basketball official. Freshman Brityn Duffy’s dad was Airport’s football coach and played baseball at Michigan State University.
Jillian Baker is the daughter of Luke Baker, who coached the Jets for much of the season when Mossburg had to step away for health reasons. Baker’s niece, Brenna, is a senior on the team as well.
“A lot of good basketball families,” Mossburg said. “They have the right basketball IQ and have been brought up the right way,”
Baker has been an assistant with Mossburg for five seasons and was the natural choice to step in when necessary.
“Luke has been fabulous,” Mossburg said. “He has been great. He does what’s right for the program. He puts his time in with film and scouting reports. Without him, I don’t know where we’d be.”
Mossburg has been around sports his entire life, graduating from Airport in 1988 and playing football at the University of Toledo including under coach Nick Saban. Mossburg’s dad was a longtime coach in Monroe County who had a fling in professional football.
Mossburg stepped away for the early part of the season but returned to the bench in February in an assistant coach-type of role. Even when he was in the hospital, he and Baker communicated daily. It was agreed that when the postseason began, Mossburg would be back as the head coach.
“I always told the kids that the coaches aren’t between the lines playing,” Mossburg said. “It’s been a smooth transition. No worries at all.”
Mossburg said he’s weathered the storm with his health. The focus now is on playing a Tecumseh team seeking to repeat as champion.
“We have to focus on us and not play to the scoreboard,” he said, “keep our focus on possession by possession, one shot at a time, one rebound at a time.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Carleton Airport’s Delaney Zajac (1) and Olivia Gratz (2) defend the post against Flat Rock. (Middle) Sophia Mator (22) drives toward the lane against New Boston Huron. (Photos courtesy of Monroe News.)