10 to Remember: Fall 2014
December 12, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
This fall saw the start of numerous championship legacies all over the Michigan, the continuation of a few more and the end of one that likely will be recalled for decades to come.
All championship runs are memorable for those fortunate enough to achieve them. But because of historical reference, dramatic impact or in rare cases national significance, some stay in our discussions a little bit longer.
Below is one person’s thoughts on the most memorable finishes from this fall’s MHSAA Finals.
10. Novi, East Kentwood Rise to the Top
Among a number of first-time champions this fall, the Novi boys tennis team and East Kentwood girls golf team celebrated taking final steps after some recent close misses. Novi had finished second at the 2013 Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final, by a point, as Ann Arbor Huron won its third straight title. The Wildcats clinched their first ever this season, by eight points, while the East Kentwood golfers finished 22 strokes better than their LP Division 1 field after finishing 10th and sixth the last two seasons, respectively. Senior Emily White capped her high school career with a 51-foot putt to win the individual title.
9. Saline Clinches on Final Swim
The Saline girls swimming and diving team trailed reigning champion Farmington Hills Mercy by a half-point entering the final event of the LP Division 1 Final. But the Hornets outpaced Mercy by three seconds in the 400-yard freestyle relay to move ahead and claim the team championship by 5.5 points. Saline had finished runner-up to Mercy by 20 points in 2013.
8. St. Mary’s Football Keeps Promise
From an incredible story point of view, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 7-0 win over Muskegon in the Division 3 Football Final was easily the most memorable of the fall. Showing immense courage, Eaglets running back Brandon Adams took the field only two days after his mother died after fighting cancer. He scored the game’s lone points midway through the first quarter.
7. Kestrels Give Coach Best Retirement Gift
Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central’s Diane Tuller coached teams to 595 wins over 17 seasons – and in her final match took the Kestrels to their fifth MHSAA championship. St. Mary downed Schoolcraft in four sets despite dropping the first to claim its third Class C title in five seasons. The Kestrels became the eighth team to win at least five MHSAA titles, claiming all five under Tuller’s guidance.
6. Concord’s Hersha Joins Elite Company
Only 14 runners in MHSAA boys cross country history have won at least three individual championships. Concord’s Jason Hersha became the latest, claiming the LP Division 4 title in 15:23.0, the second-fastest time in LP Division 4 Finals history. He became only the third to win three boys titles since team and individual qualifiers began running the same race in 1996; he also finished first as a sophomore and junior.
5. Canton Never Loses on Division 1 March
Just one on-target kick can change a soccer game. That makes Canton’s undefeated run to this season’s Division 1 boys championship even more impressive. Finishing without a loss in any sport is something – but the Chiefs defeated Rochester Adams 1-0 in the Final to end 24-0-3 and as the 13th undefeated champion in MHSAA boys soccer history. Canton posted 16 shutouts this fall.
4. Spring Lake Surges to First Championship
Despite trailing annual power Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood by six strokes after the first round, Spring Lake rolled through the second at the LP Division 3 Girls Golf Final to best the field by a final margin of 18 strokes and claim the school’s first MHSAA golf championship. The achievement was a crowning one for the program started by George Bitner, who has coached at the school since 1968 and fielded his first girls team in 1980.
3. Fisher Finishes Among Fastest in MHSAA History
Grand Blanc senior Grant Fisher finished his high school career with a second straight Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship – and the third-fastest time since the Finals moved to Michigan International Speedway 19 seasons ago. Fisher finished in 14:52.5, 1.5 seconds off the second-fastest time in MHSAA Finals history since 5K (3.1 miles) became the distance in 1980. The only runners who have come in faster than Fisher went on to the Olympics (Dathan Ritzenhein) and top American finishes (twice) at the Boston Marathon (Jason Hartmann).
2. St. Philip Stands Alone with 9 Straight Titles
Battle Creek St. Philip continued its near-decade dominance of Class D, but this time with another historical twist. The Tigers downed Leland in four sets in this season’s Final to win their ninth straight MHSAA championship – setting a record for consecutive titles after formerly being tied with the Marysville teams from 1997-2004. St. Philip entered the postseason ranked No. 3 in D but defeated both No. 2 Mendon and the top-ranked Comets during the final week.
1. Monroe St. Mary Ends Ithaca’s Record Run
Much of the credit for this topping the list goes to Ithaca, which brought a 69-game winning streak into the Division 6 Football Final. The streak was the longest active streak nationally among 11-player football teams, and a win would've allowed the Yellowjackets next fall an opportunity to break the MHSAA winning streak record of 72. But St. Mary controlled the clock with a workmanlike running game and held an Ithaca offense averaging 43 points to nearly a quarter of that in winning 22-12.
PHOTO: The East Kentwood girls golf team raised its first MHSAA Finals championship trophy this October. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
DCC Becomes 1st Champ to Not Allow Playoff Goal on Way to 4th-Straight Title
March 11, 2023
PLYMOUTH — Detroit Catholic Central removed the most valuable commodity from its hockey opponents during the MHSAA Tournament.
Hope.
If the Shamrocks got a lead, the game was pretty much over, whether the teams they faced wanted to admit it or not.
You can’t beat a team without scoring a goal. Catholic Central became the first team in the 49-year history of the MHSAA tournament to not surrender a goal, capping a perfect defensive postseason with a 3-0 victory over Brighton in the Division 1 championship game before 4,090 fans Saturday night at USA Hockey Arena.
Catholic Central outscored five teams by a combined score of 30-0 during the playoffs. The previous record for the fewest goals allowed in the postseason was two, achieved by the 2009 Catholic Central team over six games.
“It starts with the forwards, and then the defense and then the goalies,” Catholic Central senior forward Landon West said. “We know we can’t win games by trying to outscore teams. You’ve got to keep pucks in front of your net. We do everything we can to do that.”
Backstopping the latest shutout was senior Luca Naurato, who stopped all 20 shots he faced. Naurato finished with a 0.87 goals against average, a .941 save percentage and seven shutouts.
“It’s just another game at the end of the day, right?” Naurato said. “I felt pretty confident going in after warm-ups, and it just happened to work out that way.”
Naurato alternated in net all season with fellow senior Kyle Moore, who had a 0.73 GAA, .948 save percentage and nine shutouts.
The Shamrocks, who won their fourth-consecutive Division 1 crown, have gone with a timeshare in net during the last three seasons. Nicholas Galda and Bob Masters rotated in net each of the past two seasons.
“It’s a team effort,” Naurato said. “We played a defensive game, and it translated into the offensive zone.”
Opponents know they must be almost perfect against the Shamrocks (29-1), who allowed only 22 goals in 30 games.
“They don’t give you anything easy,” said Brighton coach Kurt Kivisto, whose team lost 2-1 and 3-0 to Catholic Central this season. “They don’t make mistakes. They’re really, really structured. They play an honest, hard-working game. They’re really deep, and that makes it difficult.”
The Bulldogs were a team known for coming back from multiple-goal deficits this season, but that’s nearly an impossible task against Catholic Central.
Although the shots were close, with the Shamrocks holding a 24-20 edge, Catholic Central was never seriously threatened after taking a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Jackson Walsh and Nolan Galda.
“They’re a tough team,” Kivisto said. “They don’t give you much and we were chasing the game a little bit. I really like the way we played in the second. We had a lot of opportunities there in the third; we weren’t able to capitalize. Naurato was really good in net.
“We know to beat them, you probably have to win special teams, and we weren’t able to do that tonight.”
Walsh scored the final goal of the 2022-23 season into an empty net with 1:54 left in the game.
“It wasn’t pretty,” Shamrocks coach Brandon Kaleniecki said. “I thought we turned over a lot of pucks. We didn’t want to give them chances and space, because you can’t afford to do that against a team like that.
“They’re really good. They’re going to create their own and we kind of fed into that and we took some penalties, so at that point we were on our heels, kind of the middle of the second, a lot of penalty killing and stuff like that. In a situation like that we just needed to grind it out and find a way. And that’s what the guys did.”
Catholic Central beat Brighton in the last two Division 1 championship games. The teams have dominated the division, meeting in six of the last 10 Finals. Before the Shamrocks’ current run of four straight titles, the Bulldogs won two in a row in 2017 and 2018.
Brighton goalie Levi Pennala made 21 saves in his second start in the championship game. The junior all-stater will be looking to bring the title back to Brighton next year.
“We’ve got a lot of guys on this team that are young,” Pennala said. “We’re gonna come back stronger next year. It sucks, but we’re lucky to have one more year.”
PHOTOS (Top) Detroit Catholic Central goalie Luca Naurato reaches high for a potential save during his team's 3-0 shutout of Brighton. (Middle) The Bulldogs' Nathan Daavettila (17) and the Shamrocks' Griffin Crampton pursue the puck.