Classes Still Create Hoosier Hysteria
July 27, 2017
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
This is the fourth part in a series on MHSAA tournament classification, past and present, that will be published over the next two weeks. This series originally ran in this spring's edition of MHSAA benchmarks.
Twenty years ago, Bloomington North High School won the Indiana High School Athletic Association boys basketball championship, defeating Delta 75-54 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.
The date, March 22, 1997, is at the same time revered and disdained by traditionalists in the state who saw it as the last schoolboy championship game the state would ever host.
That’s how devout the game of basketball, particularly interscholastic basketball, had become in the Hoosier state during the 87 years a state champion – one state champion, to be precise – was crowned.
Following that 1997 season, the IHSAA moved to a four-class system for its roundball tournaments, like so many of its state association counterparts had done years earlier.
It would be shocking to find more than a small percentage of current high school basketball players around the country unfamiliar with the iconic movie Hoosiers, even though the film is now more than 30 years old.
And, the storyline for that blockbuster unfolded more than 30 years prior to its release, when small-town, undermanned Milan High School defeated Muncie Central High School 32-30 in the 1954 IHSAA title game.
Perhaps it’s because of the David vs Goliath notion, or the fame of the movie that replaced Milan with the fictional Hickory and real-life star Bobby Plump with Hollywood hero Jimmy Chitwood, or the simple fact that Indiana had something other states didn’t.
Whatever the reason, plenty of opposition remains to this day to basketball classification in the state.
The fact is, the small rural schools were regularly being beaten handily by the much larger suburban and city schools as the tournament progressed each season.
Small schools also were closing at a rapid rate following the state’s School Reorganization Act in 1959, as students converged on larger, centralized county schools. From 1960 to 2000, the number of schools entering the tournament dropped from 694 to 381, and in 1997 a total of 382 schools and 4,584 athletes began competition at the Sectional level (the first level of the IHSAA Basketball Tournament).
It was at the entry level of the tournament where school administrators felt the pain of the new class system, but not necessarily for the same nostalgic reasons as the fans who either attended or boycotted the tournament.
At the Sectional round of the tournament, the IHSAA was culling just 2 percent of the revenue, with the participating schools splitting the balance. So, when Sectional attendance dropped by 14 percent in that first year of class basketball, many schools realized a financial loss. It was money they had grown to count on in prior years to help fund various aspects of the department.
Schools cumulatively received more than $900,000 from Sectional competition in 1998, but that total was down from more than $1 million in the last year of the single-class tournament.
Yet, the current format provides a great deal more opportunity and realistic chances at championship runs for schools of all enrollments.
To date, 60 additional teams have championship or runner-up trophies on display in school trophy cases around Indiana.
That was the mission in front of then-IHSAA commissioner Bob Gardner (now National Federation executive director) once the board made its decision: to give thousands more student-athletes the opportunity for once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
As any statistician knows, figures can be manipulated to tell any side of a story. Declining attendance in year one of class basketball is such a number.
The truth is tournament attendance had been on a steady downward spiral since its peak of just over 1.5 million in 1962. By the last single-class event in 1997, the total attendance was half that.
The challenge then and today, as it is for all state associations, is to find that delicate balance for those holding onto tradition, those holding onto trophies, and the number of trophies to hand out.
Editor’s Note: Stories from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette in 1998 and from a 2007 issue of Indianapolis Monthly provided facts in this article.
Hudsonville Unity Christian Adds to Era of Dominance - This Time in Division 2
By
Drew Ellis
Special for MHSAA.com
June 13, 2025
EAST LANSING – The MHSAA girls soccer record book needs some editing.
Hudsonville Unity Christian won its 13th Final on Friday at DeMartin Soccer Complex on the campus of Michigan State University, clinching with a 7-0 defeat of New Boston Huron.
The win broke Unity Christian’s tie with Madison Heights Bishop Foley for the most girls soccer titles of any program in the state, as each had 12 championships prior to Friday.
“I think the thing I am probably the proudest of for the kids is the consistency,” 36-year Unity Christian coach Randy Heethuis said. “They know if they do little things, it allows big things to happen. That is something that we have been preaching now for 20-plus years. We get kids who buy-in to the program and want to be part of it, and just want to end their season (at the Final), quite frankly.”
Appearing in its 17th MHSAA Final, which tied Bishop Foley for most-ever by a program, the Crusaders also became the 19th team in MHSAA history to finish a season undefeated (22-0-2).
While Friday marked the third consecutive championship, it was the first time Unity Christian claimed the top prize in Division 2. The previous 12 titles were all in Division 3.
“It’s not something that we really talked about. At the beginning of the year, we had some parents asking what that was going to be like. We don’t care what division we are in, we just want to come out and play soccer,” Heethuis said. “On any given day I think we are good enough that we can compete with anybody. We showed that day-in and day-out over the course of the season.”
Unity Christian put on the pressure from the start of the match. It dominated possession, resulting in 19 first-half shots. However, the Crusaders were able to put only four on goal.
The opening score finally came for the Crusaders in the 37th minute of play when senior Ava Lutke took a corner kick and it got through to the head of junior Tessa Ponstein, who found the net for her 15th goal of the season, making it 1-0.
“We had the corner and (Lutke) played a perfect ball to me, and it just came straight to my head,” Ponstein said. “I just knew to hit it where you want it to go … just get it in that goal. It was a great feeling.”
Ponstein got the assist on the second Unity Christian goal. Off a free kick, she found the head of junior Addison Pell, whose attempt trickled past the New Boston Huron defense for a score with 28 minutes to play. That made it 2-0 for the Crusaders.
The Chiefs would find themselves down a player after a second yellow card midway through the half, which sparked the five-goal rally during the final stretch of the game.
Lutke got a goal of her own with 18 minutes to play as she put in a header off a header pass from junior Tessa Nagelkirk. It was Lutke’s 29th goal of the season. That would be the first of three goals for the Crusaders over a span of 2:33.
“I saw the ball bobbling around and as I saw Tessa Nagelkirk coming into to get the header, I knew there was a chance of it getting in behind, so I just saw the opportunity to run in on it,” Lutke said. “It was there, so I got my head on it and put it past the keeper.”
Ponstein passed up a look at the net for herself to feed sophomore Kyla Kobrzycki for a goal with 16:46 remaining to make it 4-0.
“She’s been working hard too, and I felt like she had a better angle than I did,” Ponstein said of feeding Kobrzycki. “She’s earned (the goal).”
Freshman Olivia Walters then had a shot attempt hit the crossbar, only to find her foot for a putback score with 15:59 on the clock.
Sophomore Myla Obande and freshman Lauren Prins also found the net for the Crusaders during the closing minutes of the contest.
The scoring overshadowed another dominant defensive performance for Unity Christian, led by juniors Avery Dekker and Ava Steen, as well as sophomore Karli Rose. They allowed keepers Payton Barendsen and Kennidee Crump to earn a shutout without making a save.
Friday’s shutout marked the 18th consecutive postseason shutout for the Crusaders, as they outscored opponents in the playoffs this year, 22-0.
“That’s one of the things I am most proud about,” Heethuis said of the postseason shutouts. “Obviously, stats and offense get a lot of the accolades, but you go 18 tournament games without giving up a goal, that doesn’t just happen by chance. That’s the equivalent of going an entire season and not giving up a goal. That’s something we are extremely proud about.”
New Boston Huron junior keeper Brooklyn Burke led the Chiefs with nine saves, as she made some athletic plays to keep the Crusaders from scoring more. Altogether, Unity Christian finished with 36 shots in the match.
The Chiefs lost just two times in 2025, both to unbeaten teams in Unity Christian and Division 1 finalist Saline. The 21-2-1 final record and first Finals appearance is a big step for a program that was only 5-7-3 in 2023.
“I’ve been wanting for a while to have the girls side of our program (get to this level). We’ve always had the talent on this side. Everything has been going really well,” New Boston Huron coach Matt Lividini said. “Obviously, today didn’t go in our favor. There’s going to be a winner and there’s going to be a loser. Super excited with what we’ve done. Just three losses in the last two years.”
This marks the third time that Unity Christian has had a run of three consecutive MHSAA championships. The Crusaders won six straight from 2005-10, three straight from 2014-16, and now the 2023-25 run.
Heethuis upped his career win total to 664 games, 135 ahead of the field for most in MHSAA history.
PHOTOS (Top) Hudsonville Unity Christian's Ava Lutke (15), Tessa Ponstein (22) and Olivia Walters (11) celebrate during their Division 3 championship win Saturday. (Middle) New Boston Huron's Rylie Cassette (8) winds up to send the ball downfield with Unity Christian's Ava Steen (5) in pursuit. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)