10 to Remember: Winter 2014-15
April 2, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
As one might imagine, six straight weekends of MHSAA Finals produce enough highlights to distract us from our seemingly endless Michigan winters.
As explained to preface “10 to Remember” many times before, all championships are lifetime memories for those who achieved them. Those listed below are just one person’s thoughts on which moments from this season will continue to be discussed most in the seasons to come.
10. Brother Rice Rides Team Effort to Repeat
Birmingham Brother Rice repeated as Lower Peninsula Division 1 swimming and diving champion, and did so by winning by more than 100 points for the second consecutive season. But what made this Warriors finish so impressive was that it didn’t include a single individual championship – they won the opening and closing relays of the meet and took seven second-place individual finishes along the way.
9. Kearsley Sweeps Bowling Championships … Again
Flint Kearsley varsity bowlers are guaranteed one other title this season – MHSAA champions. Both the girls and boys teams won team titles in Division 2, just as they had in 2014. The Kearsley girls again defeated Bay City Western in the championship match, this time by a mere 30 pins, 1,242-1,212. The Kearsley boys also earned their title by defeating Bay City Western, and by only seven pins – 1,351-1,344.
8. Rockford/Sparta Owns the Weekend
Rockford hosted the MHSAA Gymnastics Finals, making the cliché “bringing home the title” a short trip – twice. The Rams, a co-op with Sparta, won the team competition by 1.750 points over reigning champion Canton; Rockford’s only other MHSAA gymnastics championship also was the first in any sport in school history, in the Lower Peninsula in 1989. Juniors Madi Myers and Morgan Korf led the effort with the third and fourth-highest all-around scores of the Team Final – and Korf came back the next day with a stunning move to take the Division 1 individual championship. She had finished 18th in Division 1 as a sophomore.
7. Breckenridge Returns to Cheer Elite
In its second season back as a competitive program, Breckenridge added to its stature as one of the most powerful competitive cheer programs in MHSAA history by claiming the Division 4 championship by nearly 24 points over runner-up Pewamo-Westphalia. Breckenridge has won eight MHSAA titles in cheer, but didn’t have a team for six seasons because of low participation until bringing back the program for 2013-14.
6. Cowboys Lasso First Basketball Title
First Detroit Western International won its first Detroit Public School League championship since 1922. Then it made its first MHSAA Semifinals since 1974. The Cowboys capped this season with its first MHSAA Final victory, a nail-biter 62-59 over Saginaw Arthur Hill in Class A. Western also defeated Detroit Catholic League A-B champion Detroit U-D Jesuit in the Semifinal, and finished the season 26-0.
No team traveled farther to the MHSAA Basketball Finals than the Calumet girls – and it can be argued that no team came from farther away in expectation to become an MHSAA champion. The unranked Copper Kings traveled more than 500 miles to arrive at the Breslin Center, then defeated top-ranked Laingsburg in a Class C Semifinal and perennial power Flint Hamady in the championship game to claim its first MHSAA title in the sport.
4. Skatzka, Olson Become Latest of the Greatest
Richmond’s Devin Skatzka and Davison’s Lincoln Olson pushed the list of MHSAA four-time individual champions to 21 by finishing their careers with big victories. Olson actually was the 20th, winning his match at 135 pounds by technical fall in Division 1. Skatzka then became No. 21 with four MHSAA titles, with a technical fall in the 160-pound match in Division 3.
3. Brighton Claims First Title in Final Match
Few Finals in any sport this winter carried the drama of Brighton’s 31-25 win over Hartland in Division 1 wrestling. Bulldogs 112-pounder Lee Grabowski entered the final match carrying his team’s three-point lead but facing the scenario that if he lost even by decision, and the team score went to 28-28, Brighton would lose the tie-breaker. Oh, and Grabowski was facing an opponent he’d lost to twice in league competition earlier in the winter. Grabowski won a 4-2 decision this time, and Brighton won its first team title.
2. Godwin Heights, Powers North Central Cap 3-Season Surges
Wyoming Godwin Heights and Powers North Central made the MHSAA record book by adding to a pair of the most successful three-season runs in boys basketball history – and capping them with championships. Godwin Heights won its first MHSAA title, downing Detroit Henry Ford 85-68 in the Class B Final, to finish the last three seasons a combined 74-5. North Central, meanwhile, downed Morenci 67-47 in Class D to win its first title since 1984 and cap a three-season 75-5 run.
1. Record Comeback Sends Saints Home as Champs
St. Ignace trailed undefeated Pittsford by 20 points two minutes into the Class D Final when it launched a comeback equaled by only one other team in MHSAA girls basketball history. The Saints tied the score with 35 seconds to play in regulation and continued the rally in the extra period to claim a 64-60 title-clinching victory. Detroit Cass Tech, in the 1987 Class A Final, also had come back from 20 down in the third quarter to win. The championship was St. Ignace’s fifth in girls basketball.
PHOTO: St. Ignace basketball players celebrate after the Saints tied the largest comeback in MHSAA Finals history on the way to claiming the Class D title. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Rising Cadillac Dreaming Bigger Entering 5th Season Back on Varsity Mat
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
December 20, 2024
When Luke Phillips was a seventh grader, Cadillac High School did not have a wrestling team.
Cadillac Middle School didn’t either. Phillips, now a senior at Cadillac, started wrestling in a community youth program started by his father, Chad, and Eli Hoffert, Paul Hanus and Mark Cronkhite.
The youth program grew from 34 to 93 participants after its inception in 2016. Today there is not yet an official middle school team, but there sure is a high school team. Hoffert is now the head coach of Vikings, and he’s assisted by Hanus and Chad Phillips. Cronkhite was also on the Vikings’ coaching staff two seasons.
Cadillac returned to the mats with Hoffert at the helm five years ago — after last offering the sport in 2007. And now the Vikings are rolling along after capturing the school’s first District team wresting championship last season.
“It was a big year for us,” said Hoffert, a former Vikings wrestler himself. “It’s amazing. I want to train these kids so they can be as good as they can be and be better than I ever was and break school records and keep progressing, not just obviously in wresting, but with life.”
The Vikings graduated key seniors last year but have strong underclassman this winter including key freshman. They are 10-0 heading into this weekend’s tournament at Sault Ste. Marie.
Luke Phillips and sophomore Payton Sampson have hopes and dreams of getting on the podium at this year’s Division 2 Individual Finals. They also have hopes of bringing their team along with them through District and Regional competitions.
Phillips already has made school history. He became the first Cadillac wrestler to place at the Individual Finals, finishing eighth last season at 165 pounds. He wants much more this time around. He’s currently wresting at 190 after bulking up for football purposes but is planning to get down to 175 soon.
“It’s really special to me,” he said of earning Cadillac’s first Finals placing. “Obviously, I couldn’t have done it by myself. It took a lot of extra time and hard work from my coaches and teammates and the community that supported me.”
Phillips, a team captain for the third-straight year, is shooting to top the 150-win career mark long before the championship meet in March and rack up 160 or more total career victories. He’s at 122 now.
“I want to go and win a state championship, and winning Regionals with the team would be nice as well,” Phillips said. “It’s what I’ve been working for since I was 5 when I started wrestling.”
The Vikings’ team bond is growing with each day, the captain and coach pointed out.
“We have a lot of hard-working guys, and we’re one tight-knit group,” Phillips said. “It has been really important to our success not just as our team but in the community and our social lives and we have each other at all times – we all want what is best for our team.”
Phillips won both his matches this week as Cadillac knocked off Division 2 No. 9 Cedar Springs 41-33 and Charlevoix 69-4. Last weekend, the Vikings captured first place in a tournament at Montague. Earlier this year, they won a tournament at East Kentwood.
Hoffert is striving to grow a winning culture while helping kids get better at wrestling and health and fitness.
“When it’s wrestling season, it’s all wrestling,” said Hoffert, whose first coaching job was an eight-year run at Lake City. “It consumes us, and that’s the way it’s got to be to be a top-level program.”
The Vikings have postseason success on their minds but hope to claim the Big North Conference title first. Perennial champion Gaylord could be an obstacle.
The Vikings’ locker room board reads “Beat Gaylord” at the top.
It’s something Hoffert and Phillips have yet to do.
“Gaylord has always had a solid program that has won the majority of Big North championships and a lot of District championships and even Regional championships,” Hoffert said. “They are the hammers in the north.”
Topping Gaylord for conference and District titles this year would please the senior captain.
“I want to go out with a bang,” Phillips said. “It means a lot.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) An official raises Luke Phillips' arm in victory after his match this season against Charlevoix. (Middle) Cadillac coach Eli Hoffert, left, stands with Phillips. (Below) The Vikings' Payton Sampson works toward a takedown in his match against the Rayders. (Photos by Kristi Hoffert.)