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.)
'Iceman' Adds Singles Championship to Durand's History-Making Weekend
By
Jeff Bleiler
Special for MHSAA.com
February 28, 2026
JACKSON – The chant started as soon as Noah Wood’s name was announced as the Division 3 Individual Finals champion.
“He’s a freshman! He’s a freshman!”
It was not news to those who know the Durand High School bowler, but to those who simply witnessed his on-lane achievements this weekend without that context, the fact that he’s only a freshman was astonishing.
A day after helping lead his Railroaders to the Division 3 team championship — the first team Finals title in any sport in school history — Wood added another piece of hardware to the trophy case by taking advantage of the freshly oiled lanes at JAX 60 on Saturday during match play.
“It means a lot,” Wood said. “I definitely wasn’t expecting to get both, but it feels great that we did.”
Wood defeated Olivet senior Michael Fitzner in a two-game championship match, 442-398, with scores of 224 and 218 to Fitzner’s 183 and 215. That followed a 257-258 blitz in the semifinals by Wood, who after an up-and-down qualifying session welcomed the fresh oil for match play.
“It was a mentality,” he said. “It was making spares and then going up and striking when you could. It helps when you get to bowl on fresh, but it was a mentally.”
Wood qualified ninth with a six-game total of 1,229 that included a 267 start but also a 163 finish.
“He didn’t do the best in qualifying,” said coach Nick Wood, who is Noah’s father. “The transition was tough, but he just does what he does. He gets enough. He understands you can’t win it in qualifying, you can only lose it.
“When he got into match play, you put him on fresh lanes, he was like a train today.”
While he enjoyed early leads in his previous matches, Noah Wood found Fitzner tough to shake in the first half of the championship. The pair were tied through the sixth frame of the first game before Fitzner missed back-to-back 10-pins while Wood stayed clean for a 224 finish. An 8-10 split in the ninth brought a ball change from urethane to reactive resin for Fitzner.
Wood carried a 41-pin lead into the second game and gave more than half of it back when he left a 4-6-7-10 split in the third frame. Fitzner, meanwhile, had strikes on five of his first seven deliveries in the game to get Wood’s attention.
After the split in the third, an undaunted Wood crushed the pocket for six straight strikes to seal the win.
“It’s moxie. This kid is unfazed. They call him the Iceman. Nothing fazes him,” Nick Wood said. “Mistakes happen — he’ll be the first to tell you. It’s what you do after the mistake that defines you, and he’s pretty good at defining himself.”
In his first match of the day, Noah Wood shot 279 and 212 to oust Caro senior Cameron Cuddie and then knocked out top seed Carter Ramage in a tight contest 421-413. Ramage, a Croswell-Lexington senior, was unstoppable during qualifying, shooting 1,419 on games of 228, 229, 205, 266, 265 and 226 to secure the top seed by 120 pins.
Wood sidelined Whitehall senior Mason Slaughter in the semifinals with 257-258 after Slaughter had rolled 259-263 in the quarterfinals.
“It gave me all the confidence I needed to get it done,” Wood said of his semifinal victory.
Fitzner qualified 10th with 1,218, then shot 241-221 to beat Ishpeming Westwood senior Roman Yuhas in the first round, scored 185-224 to topple Bronson junior Clayton Shortridge in the quarterfinals and came from behind to squeak past Armada senior Trenton Rogers in the semifinals 386-381.
Fitzner, who lost in the first round last year to eventual state champion Hunter Ross of Almont, was pleased with his showing.
“It was a long grueling day. It was who can pick up spares and who can stay in it mentally longer than physically,” he said. “That’s what bowling comes down to. For me, coming into it, keep the mental game strong for as long as you can and the scores will follow.”