MHSAA Historian Picks 10 to Remember
August 9, 2016
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
It sounded simple and fun, the theme for the MHSAA's spring issue of benchmarks: a history of MHSAA tournaments.
It certainly was the latter, but simple? Not so much.
There’s no way to do justice to nearly a century’s worth of history in some sports. Complicating matters was the abundance of information and photographs for some, and the scant amount of detailed data and images for others.
MHSAA historian Ron Pesch was given an equally challenging task: recount a “Top 10” list from his days covering various MHSAA Finals. He shares them here and, he adds, they are in no order of favorites.
The Shot: 1986 Class B Boys Basketball Final at Crisler Arena – Saginaw Buena Vista’s Chris Coles’ desperation shot, launched at the buzzer from well beyond half court, dropped through the hoop to give the Knights a 33-32 win over defending champion Flint Beecher in a rematch of the 1985 Class B title game. The shot was Coles’ first of the second half and his only points in the contest.
The Smurfs: 1986 Class A Football Final at the Pontiac Silverdome – The "Smurfs" – Muskegon Coach Dave Taylor's nickname for his small, quick swarming defensive linemen – limited heavily favored Sterling Heights Stevenson to four yards rushing and 73 yards of total offense in a 10-0 win. As a 1979 graduate of Muskegon High School, I was elated.
The Drive: 1989 Class B Football Final at the Pontiac Silverdome – I slid down from the press box into the stands at the Silverdome for the end of this one. With 2:20 remaining, the atmosphere was simply electric, as Farmington Hills Harrison’s lauded quarterback Mill Coleman took the reins with his team down 27-21 to DeWitt. The senior executed a flawless two-minute drill, guiding his team to the DeWitt 9 before scampering into the end zone for the tying points. Steve Hill added his fourth PAT for the lead, then secured the victory with an interception on the next series.
King Kool: 2005 Class B Boys Basketball Final, Breslin Center, East Lansing – David Kool was a flawless 20 for 20 from the free-throw line and scored 43 points as Grand Rapids South Christian downed Muskegon Heights 67-60.
The Parade: 2004 Individual Wrestling Finals, The Palace of Auburn Hills – In 2004, I traveled to Auburn Hills to watch the MHSAA Individual Wrestling Finals for the first time. The pageantry of the Grand March, the skills on display, the roar of the massive crowd, and the ensuing beauty and chaos of a wrestling extravaganza of this scale is truly a sight to see.
A Marathon: 2007 Division 3 Football Final, Ford Field, Detroit – East Grand Rapids and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s ended regulation tied 14-14, and this would turn into a five overtime battle that required an extra hour of play. No previous football playoff game, from Districts up, had ever gone beyond four overtimes. After exchanging field goals, touchdowns, extra points and two-point conversions, East Grand Rapids emerged with a 46-39 victory.
Tawana Towers: 1994 Class A Girls Basketball Final at Kellogg Arena, Battle Creek – Flint Northern, coached by Leteia Hughley and led by 6-4 freshman Tawana McDonald, defeated 1993 runner-up Detroit Martin Luther King, 46-32, for the Class A championship. McDonald batted down an MHSAA-record 10 shots, pulled down 13 rebounds and added five points and seven assists in a stellar performance.
Never Quit: 2008 Division 2 Football Semifinal, Spartan Stadium, East Lansing – Unbeaten, No. 1-ranked and heavily favored Muskegon trailed Davison by 22 late in the third quarter and 16 with less than five minutes to play. In perhaps the greatest comeback in playoff history, Muskegon recovered two onside kicks and scored 19 points in the final 4:31 to escape with a 38-35 victory and its third trip in five years to an MHSAA Final.
MHSAA Legends: 1998-2008 – For 10 years, the MHSAA showcased great teams from the past with their Legends of the Game series. From a historian’s perspective it was a chance to meet and learn more about folks I had often known only from the pages of microfilm. It was quite the treat to see years fall away as coaches, team managers and players reunited, in many cases for the first time after decades apart.
The MHSAA Record Books: Online, 1994 – One of my first efforts as state historian was to expand the record books beyond their primary focus on football, basketball, track & field and swimming & diving. With the arrival of the internet, an enhanced version of the record books was brought online. Coaches and fans were quick to respond with letters and e-mails, happily listing entries that had been “missed.” Soon, five category headings in a sport grew to 20, then to 50 and beyond.
Kids: 2004 Football Finals, Pontiac Silverdome – (OK, this is No. 11 ... consider it an extra point). For the first time, my sons joined me for my annual excursion to Metro Detroit for a Thanksgiving Day football weekend. They got to see the Silverdome before the move of the MHSAA Football Finals to beautiful Ford Field. Future Big Reds, they also got to see their future alma mater win another title.
PHOTOS: (Top) An MHSAA boys basketball tournament game is played at Olympia Stadium in Detroit. (Middle) Flint Northern's Tawana McDonald blocks a shot during the 1994 Class A Final.
Haudan Makes 17th Birthday Unforgettable with Pioneer's Repeat-Clinching Goal
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
October 31, 2026
EAST LANSING — Cake had to wait until later, but in the meantime this was the best-possible 17th birthday present for Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Gabby Haudan.
The junior ended up scoring the only goal of Saturday’s MHSAA Field Hockey Final, helping Pioneer earn a 1-0 win and yet another state championship trophy to add to its large collection.
Haudan’s goal came with 29.3 seconds left in the first quarter after senior teammate Zoe Shuchman sent the ball toward the front of the Saline goal on a rush from the right side of the field.
From there, Haudan out-battled Saline defenders and got a stick on the ball, placing it into the net for the lone score at Michigan’s State’s Ralph Young Field.
“I just knew I had to get a stick on it in order to get the ball farther,” Haudan said. “It was kind of straight to me and I had to put a lot of power into it. (Shuchman) saw the line, we make that connection, she sends it and we finish it off.”
The win gave Pioneer its 32nd field hockey state title overall and sixth straight including both of the first two since the sport became sponsored by the MHSAA a year ago.
This time, Pioneer bucked an old adage that it’s hard to beat a team three times in a row, since Pioneer ended up handing Saline the latter’s only three losses. Pioneer recorded 5-0 and 1-0 wins over Saline during the regular season.
Pioneer (18-3) also didn’t lose to a team from Michigan all year, with all its losses coming against out-of-state opponents.
“However many times you play, that game is what counts,” Pioneer head coach Jane Nixon said of playing Saline again. “We just really thought about our team trying to do the best that we could within what we do. We tried to focus on our strengths and what we do. That was kind of our strategy. To come out here with grit, heart, passing combinations, together on the attack and to do everything as a team.”
Once Haudan scored, it was going to be very difficult for Saline to come back. Pioneer hadn’t allowed a goal through its first four postseason games and maintained that streak through the Final.
“We played them twice and we know what their plays are, how they pass and who they like to pass to,” Pioneer senior defender Olivia Rollins said. “We were keeping that in the back of our mind and just playing our own game, keeping our structure strong.”
Saline (19-3) did have one glorious chance in the first quarter with the game still scoreless, when a shot from junior Ella Arvai was deflected and hit the crossbar. But Pioneer cleared the ball and held firm defensively the rest of the game.
“We had such an amazing group of girls,” Saline head coach Sophia O’Connor said. “We almost had every single person on our team score at one point this year. We had two girls who had almost 30 goals this season. We had 10 seniors that led our team for us this year. I’m so proud of how they did.
“Obviously the score didn’t go the way we wanted it to. But I’m proud of how they played today and how they kept playing even though (Pioneer) scored in the first quarter.”
Pioneer held a 4-3 advantage in shots and a 5-2 edge in penalty corners.
PHOTOS (Top) Ann Arbor Pioneer players hoist their championship trophy Saturday at MSU. (Middle) Pioneer's Gabby Haudan (13) finds an opening to score the game's only goal. (Below) Pioneer's Alexis Heys (3) and Saline's Ella Arvai (5) contend for the ball. (Photos by John Castine/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)