Beginning Another Tourney Journey
August 8, 2016
Below is the introductory commentary to the MHSAA's spring issue of benchmarks. Histories of MHSAA tournaments published in that issue have been appearing on Second Half every Tuesday and Friday.
By Jack Roberts
MHSAA Executive Director
Concussions and cutbacks. Participation fees and part-time employment. Student safety and specialization. International students and interstate travel. Transfers and trials.
Through a myriad of issues which periodically cloud our mission, the foundation on which the MHSAA was built still shines brightest three times each year: Tournament Time!
It can be daunting and overwhelming to make a living at this business of interscholastic athletics these days, not to mention a tad confusing. Do we need legal degrees? Medical degrees? Business degrees? Marketing degrees? There seems to be no escape from threat of legislative mandates which continually change the landscape of our product and how it’s delivered. Demands pile up, resources dwindle.
Add the daily challenges of scheduling issues, inclement weather and pleasing teenagers and their parents on a daily basis, and it’s easy to lose focus of the primary missions for the MHSAA and its member schools.
And then, scenes like this happen:
• Holly Bullough, a senior cross country runner from Traverse City St. Francis takes her second straight Division 3 championship, winning by 36.4 seconds ... with a stress fracture in her left foot.
• Detroit Martin Luther King QB Armani Posey directs a game-winning drive to give his school the Division 2 football championship ... a drive which started on his own 3-yard line with 37 seconds left and ended with a 40-yard heave to receiver Donnie Corley on the final play of the game.
• Leland sweeps the Class D volleyball title match 3-0 over Battle Creek St. Philip ... ending a string of nine straight titles for St. Phil, the 10th longest national streak in history.
• Davison’s Taylor Davis becomes only the fourth person in MHSAA Girls Bowling history to roll a 300 game in the Singles portion of the tournament ... and the first ever in the championship match.
• The Upper Peninsula’s Hancock HS wins the Division 3 ice hockey title in its first trip to the Final since 2000 ... a trip funded in part from a “Go Fund Me” web page that raised $6,620 from 99 donors in two days.
• Junior Kierra Fletcher of Warren Cousino carries her team to the Class A girls basketball championship with 27 points in the Final ... after scoring 37 of her team’s 60 points in the Semifinals and totaling 198 during eight tournament games.
That’s just a sampling of the magic from last fall and winter.
These moments shine through the current challenges and the unseen future that awaits us as they always have. The uniforms and faces are different, but the tournaments have always yielded the fruits of our labors, and the memories for our mental scrapbooks.
PHOTO: Leland's volleyball team hoists its Class D championship trophy last fall at Kellogg Arena.
P-W Power Trio Combines for 56 Points to Send Pirates to Saturday
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 12, 2026
EAST LANSING — Pewamo-Westphalia head coach Dominic Schneider knows his team is dangerous enough when seniors Grady Eklund and Trent Piggott are playing well at the same time.
But add sophomore Logan Farmer to that mix? It’s a three-headed monster that Schneider said takes his team to another level.
“He’s a great counterpart for Trent and Grady,” Schneider said of Farmer. “It’s hard to guard us when we have all three guys cooking like they were.”
That certainly was on display in Thursday’s Division 3 Semifinal against Flint Elite, where Eklund, Farmer and Piggott combined for 56 points in a 63-37 Pirates win.
P-W (26-2) advanced to the Division 3 championship game for the first time since winning it all in 2019. The Pirates will meet Pontiac Arts & Technology at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
As has often been the case this year, Eklund led the way, scoring 27 points on 9 of 12 shooting from the field. He also had seven rebounds and five assists.
Farmer finished 19 points on 7 of 13 shooting from the field, while the 6-foot-5 Piggott, the team’s best interior presence, provided 10 points and 14 rebounds.
It was a little bit of vindication for Pewamo-Westphalia, which lost in the Semifinals last year to eventual champion Riverview Gabriel Richard.
“I wouldn’t say a lot felt different,” Eklund said. “Same place, same time of year, different opponent though. We liked our odds going into this game, and we finished it.”
Making its first appearance in a Semifinal, Flint Elite finished 21-5. Sophomore A.J. Smith scored 17 points to lead the way for the Warriors.
Coming off an emotional overtime win over Onsted on Tuesday, Flint Elite head coach Greg McMath said that game might have emptied his team’s tank a bit.
“I thought we came out weird,” McMath said. “We played a great game in the Quarterfinals the other night. Went to overtime. I don’t think we were able to come out with the energy we have been playing with. I don’t think we really had the legs. But we have to credit our opponent. I think they took that away. They took away a lot of our first options, and we didn’t ever get to our second option on offense.”
Trailing 26-14 at halftime, Flint Elite started the third quarter off strong, scoring six straight to cut the Pewamo-Westphalia lead to 26-20.
But the momentum was short-lived, as Pewamo-Westphalia countered with a 14-2 spurt to take a 40-22 lead with 1:20 to go in the third.
The Pirates ended up taking a 44-31 lead into the fourth quarter and kept it growing from there. Eklund hit consecutive 3-pointers to give the Pirates a 50-31 lead with 6:25 left, and then a layup with 4:23 remaining to put Pewamo-Westphalia up 55-33.
“They were on a mission, Schneider said of his players. “It didn’t matter that this was a Semifinal game on the Breslin Center floor. They were going to get the job done.”
Leading 15-10 after the first quarter, Pewamo-Westphalia went on a 9-0 run to start the second, taking a 24-10 lead with 2:30 remaining until halftime.
Flint Elite didn’t score in the second quarter until there was 1:57 remaining until the half.
PHOTOS (Top) Pewamo-Westphalia’s Grady Eklund (10) drives to the basket while defended by multiple Flint Elite players Thursday at Breslin Center. (Middle) Elite’s Kaydin Banks (20) elevates to defend P-Ws Trent Piggott near the basket. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)