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 But because of historical reference, dramatic impact or in rare cases national significance, some stay in our discussions a little bit longer.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.)
Success Comes with Stories as Portage Central Surges Toward Postseason
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
May 21, 2025
PORTAGE — The urge to play varsity soccer was so strong for Allison “Ricky” Rearick that as a sophomore she agreed to become an obstacle while opponents tried to boot balls past her into the net.
A defender all her life, the Portage Central senior had to completely change her game to become a goalkeeper, using her hands instead of her head to advance the ball.
She also had a problem trying not to duck when the ball came blitzing at her.
“That was my biggest problem coming in,” she laughed.
Three years later, Rearick is an old hand in net for Portage Central, allowing just 11 goals over 14 games this spring while leading the Mustangs to a 12-3 record. She has seven shutouts.
As Portage Central readies for its Division 1 District opener Tuesday against Mattawan at Kalamazoo Loy Norrix, Rearick's story is among those that have made this a special season.
Her comfort in net was not always the case.
“We were just joking with her the other day,” coach Tim Halloran said. “Her first game was against Hudsonville, at Hudsonville, the No. 1 team in the state at the time.
“She had been training for six or seven days. Right before the game, she went to my assistant, Ashleigh Garrod, and said ‘Can I practice punting the ball? I don’t know how to punt the ball,’ which is a big part of the game.”
That’s when the team’s goalkeeper coach, Brad Conway, stepped in.
"He helped me my whole sophomore year,” Rearick said. “When we got to Districts and Regional time, I was starting to feel pretty comfortable.”
Halloran said he knew Rearick would be able to handle the new position.
“Through her freshman year she played defense,” he said. “She’s tall (5-foot-9) and she played basketball, so she can use her hands.”
Rearick said the transition from defense to goalkeeper was easier because “after basketball, I knew how to catch a ball, which was good. The jumping aspect of basketball also helped.”
It all came together in that first game at Hudsonville, a 2-1 Portage Central win.
“I was so nervous, probably the most nervous I’ve ever been in my life,” she said. “I was so scared. I was still very nervous the next couple games, but it was so much fun.”
Even more fun was being named all-state honorable mention her junior year after giving up just eight goals all season.
As she winds down her senior campaign, Rearick said, “This group of girls, playing with them has been amazing. I’ve actually learned to enjoy the position.
"It’s a lot of pressure at times, but when you have a big game you’re able to help your team with a big save. It feels amazing.”
Senior teammate Kaeli Mason appreciates having her buddy in goal.
“Ricky’s just amazing,” Mason said. “She saves us so much. She’s an overall great person, so it’s great to have her back there.
“We all talk a lot on the field. Communication is a big part of defense on the field.”
Building a family bond
Portage Central certainly appreciates that back-line bond. Mason has had to work her way back into soccer shape after breaking her leg and missing all of last season.
She played in two scrimmages last spring but knew something wasn’t right.
“Maxing in my weightlifting class and tryouts were the same week,” Mason said. “I think it was just overload.
“I limped and had to keep going back to the doctor until they finally figured it out with an MRI.”
Mason was anxious to get back on the pitch.
“It was a struggle, but going through all our preseason stuff and playing travel helped me get back (into shape), and working out on my own,” she said.
Mason also had her soccer-playing family to support her, including her mom, Tami Mason, who is a 1993 Portage Central grad.
The senior said her mother encouraged her not only to play, but also to make the team a family.
Tami Mason was also a defender in her day, “although they called it stopper back then,” she said, noting that team pictures still line the halls at the school.
“It’s kind of funny because all my kids have gone there and they say, ‘Oh, there’s Mom,’” she laughed.
Looking back at her high school days, Tami Mason said soccer was the highlight.
“The camaraderie with all my teammates, they were like family,” she said. “It was such a high going out on that field, knowing you had to do whatever you could to win those games and do your best.
“It was literally my favorite part of school. I’m still pretty close to a lot of the kids I grew up playing with. I still have a photo album with all the clippings from back in the day.”
One part of this year’s Mustangs team is a throwback to Mason’s era.
“It’s funny because (this year’s team) calls themselves the P.C. Bad Boys," she said. “Back in the day, there’s a cop song “Bad Boys” so we used to walk out on the field back then with a jambox on our shoulders playing that.
“It’s so funny to see that now they have T-shirts and refer to themselves as that. I’m like, that started back in the day with us. It’s kinds of surreal.”
In a quirky twist, Halloran also coached Tami Mason, although it was on a travel team, not at Portage Central.
Reality check
While Kaeli Mason worked her way back to the team after rehabilitating her broken leg, Halloran has returned from a scare that was much more serious.
Doctors discovered he had kidney cancer in August 2021.
“They took the whole kidney, so I am cancer-free on the inside and I have skin cancer on the outside from 30-some odd years of being out in the sun,” he said. “Luckily, I didn’t have to do any radiation or chemo. It was just learning to live with one organ fewer than I had.”
That also changed his perspective on life.
“I got married (in December, 2021, to Tammy Dykema-Halloran) and I think I’ve taken a step back,” he said. “We were together for 12 years and we said, ‘Hey, cancer is something we’re not going to mess with.’
“You don’t know what’s going to happen. So we got married, and it’s been a very calming influence. I’m still very passionate about being out here and I love doing this, but I’m sure I took it way too seriously in other points in my career and lost a lot of sleep and a lot of hair and have a lot of gray hair from worrying about stuff.”
***
Besides Rearick and Mason, Halloran has five other seniors on the team: Lauren Tooley, Anna Pellegrini, Kyra Gardner, Katie McLaughlin and Madison Cutler.
Juniors are Sophia Sanborn, Janelle Yao, Claire Pierce, Delaney O’Reilly, Ella Bish and Maya Moulton. Sophomores are Ally Areaux, Kaitlyn Lam, Lily Dimick, Addison Giebel, Lily Grueter, Jenna Dietzel, Jillian Mills, and Claire VanderRoest; and the two freshmen are McKinley O’Reilly and Marley Righter.
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Portage Central keeper Allison Rearick, far right, prepares to launch the ball during a game against Kalamazoo Loy Norrix. (2) Rearick considers her options with a teammate and opponent in front of her. (3) At left, Kaeli Mason plays this season and walks arm-in-arm with her mother Tami, also holding the trophy at far right during her playing days. (4) Portage Central coach Tim Halloran. (Rearick photo by Jim Cottrell. Mason photos courtesy of Tami Mason. Halloran photo by Pam Shebest.)