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.)
Field Hockey Showing Signs of Interest, Participation Boost with MHSAA Sponsorship
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
September 5, 2025
Zahid Hameed said everything has changed – and in a magnificent way.
The head field hockey coach at West Bloomfield the past three years, Hameed said there was a challenge with roster numbers and making sure there were enough players on the roster to fully compete.
With field hockey now an MHSAA-sponsored sport and not solely club status, that wasn’t the case when practice started in August.
“This year, from day one I had 20 players,” said Hameed, who said it would be a struggle to have 18 players on a roster at any point of a season in previous years. “It changed. Hopefully next year it will be maybe 30 or 40 and I can have a JV team. It will grow for sure.”
Growth is being experienced at programs throughout the Metro Detroit area now that field hockey has joined the MHSAA sports lineup, with the first Final set for Oct. 25.
Clarkston head coach Cary Exline said his program had a similar success story as it saw higher numbers once this season began.
“Last year, I had about 17 girls,” he said. “I have 25 (this year). It went from 17 to 25. That was a huge, huge jump. Now, I can run multiple drills at the same time without worrying about bodies. That’s a huge, huge positive for us.”
Athletes have certainly taken notice that field hockey is under MHSAA leadership. At some schools, that means field hockey can be part of a multiple-sport pay-to-play program instead of being a completely separate cost as a club program — and that’s having a positive effect.
“Now that it’s a sanctioned sport, it’s real easy,” said Hameed, who said he has nine freshmen on his roster who have never played the sport. “The girls can give it a try and if they like it, then that’s fine.”
For seniors around the state, it almost feels like they are living out a dream finally seeing the sport under the MHSAA umbrella.
“When I heard it was official, I was really excited,” said Clarkston senior captain Jenna Brown. “It shows that the sport is growing, and it’s nice to see more teams pop up around the area. We’ve played a couple of teams where it’s their first season. That makes me really happy that the sport is spreading.”
As a club sport, the best teams in Metro Detroit have historically been private schools such as Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, Detroit Country Day, Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart, Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett and Bloomfield Hills Marian. All those programs figure to remain strong going forward due to their tradition and coaching.
Grosse Pointe South also has had success, as a public school, and MHSAA sponsorship of field hockey could really be a boon to other public schools with large enrollment bases and prominent athletic programs. Clarkston and West Bloomfield, for example, stand to get much better quickly and possibly close the gap with more historically elite programs.
No doubt, there is a lot of untapped potential in those and similar communities.
“It brings light to the program,” Exile said. “When you look at field hockey, I think it’s the No. 2 or No. 3 most popular female sport in the world. In the world, it’s great. In Michigan, it’s like ‘You do what? What is this?’ I think with it being an approved sport, it lends credence to it.”
Going forward, coaches in the area should also have an easier time introducing the sport to younger kids in their communities and building feeder programs so players are more seasoned when they reach high school.
Hameed said youth clinics he conducted over the summer had a lot more participants than in past years, which should bode well for educating players about the positives of the sport.
“It’s a dynamic sport,” Hameed said. “It’s entertaining. It’s full of skills. You need to be energetic, agile, sharp and a good decision-maker.”
So far this fall, more and more athletes are discovering the benefits of giving the sport a try.
“It’s not a huge sport as of now, but I feel like it’s getting bigger,” said West Bloomfield senior captain Hannah Jakubiak. “It’s exciting that it’s picking up.”
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) Clarkston field hockey players Juliet Hardin (left) and Zoe Philbrick battle for a ball during warmups before a game Wednesday against West Bloomfield. (Middle) West Bloomfield players line up for the start of introductions. (Photos by Keith Dunlap.)