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.)
She's Back: South Lyon Ace Bradshaw Returns for Another Title Pursuit
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
April 11, 2024
SOUTH LYON — Two words likely won’t sit well with a lot of Division 1 softball teams around the state this year.
She’s back.
Or to play on the words of former Texas Longhorns quarterback Sam Ehlinger after a Sugar Bowl win in 2019, and others who before and since have added dramatics to the phrase: “She’s baaaaaaaaaaaack.”
“She” is South Lyon senior pitcher Ava Bradshaw. And if anyone who follows high school softball in the state happened to forget that name, let’s do a little refresher.
Back in 2021, Bradshaw burst onto the scene in her first year of high school and played like a freshman …. in college.
Bradshaw was a dominant two-way force both pitching and hitting, so much so that behind her, South Lyon won its first MHSAA Finals title, in Division 1.
In the championship game against Allen Park, Bradshaw threw a three-hit shutout, striking out nine and walking one in a 5-0 South Lyon victory. She also had two RBI.
“I didn’t realize how crazy what we did was,” Bradshaw said. “We really did make that run.”
Bradshaw was even better as a sophomore and seemed destined to lead South Lyon to a repeat.
However, a first inning against Mattawan during which everything that could go wrong seemingly did started a 3-1 Quarterfinal loss that stunningly ended those 2022 aspirations.
But hey, no problem. Bradshaw had two more years to win another championship, right?
Then came the summer prior to her junior year, when Bradshaw suffered a torn ACL during her travel ball season. She was hoping to come back at some point last year as a junior, but understandably didn’t want to push anything too hard, especially since by that point she had committed to play in college for Duke.
This year, it would have been understandable if Bradshaw would have just wanted to sit out her senior year, enjoy the countdown to graduation and simply gear up for the next chapter.
But Bradshaw was having none of that.
“In high school ball, every day I’m practicing and I’m playing with my friends, playing for my town and for my school,” she said. “That’s an honor, and I have so much fun. I couldn’t imagine not playing my senior year. That would be so sad. When I look back on my high school experience, some of the biggest memories I have come from softball. I couldn’t imagine not finishing what I started.”
So Bradshaw is indeed back and not only fully healthy, but stronger and hungrier than she ever has been during her high school career.
Bradshaw said going through rehabilitation for her injury last year has made her better physically.
“I was forced to do certain movements and exercises that I never would have done had I not been forced to go to (physical therapy),” she said. “I became a more well-rounded athlete. I improved flexibility and mobility.”
In her first game this season, Bradshaw struck 12 of the 15 batters she faced and went 4-for-4 at the plate.
“We just plugged her right in,” South Lyon head coach Dave Langlois said.
Not having Bradshaw last year actually could end up making South Lyon even better this year.
“I think we were the only ones to score a run on the state champs, Hartland, in our Regional,” Langlois said. “We were one hit away with a young, inexperienced team for the most part. Those kids got to get experience in crucial times (without Bradshaw) when they may not have gotten (it).”
South Lyon probably still would’ve been formidable if Bradshaw decided not to play this year. But adding her back to a talented roster of underclassmen who are a year older and better?
It’s no wonder why “she’s back” might be the most terrifying two words for softball teams not named South Lyon this spring.
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties
PHOTOS (Top) South Lyon’s Ava Bradshaw makes her move toward the plate during a game against Flat Rock this spring. (Middle) Bradshaw, middle, celebrates with teammates after they won the 2021 Division 1 championship at Secchia Stadium. (Top photo by Conner Lipke; middle photo by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)