Rivaling for a Cause
January 25, 2013
It’s impossible to include all the perspective we gain from every “Battle of the Fans” visit.
But this anecdote, although it didn't make Tuesday’s story about our Frankenmuth trip, tells of another great example for what student cheering sections can accomplish.
Frankenmuth and Millington are heated rivals, to say the least, separated by 13 miles and made more competitive by plenty of championship-deciding matchups over the years.
But for their boys basketball game Jan. 10 at Frankenmuth, student section leaders from both schools almost completely on their own set up the game as a cancer awareness night, complete with Frankenmuth students in black shirts and Millington’s wearing pink.
The idea was the brainchild of a of Frankenmuth section leader, who then received help from a local bank and contacted Millington to get the ball rolling.
Battle of the Fans has shown us the obvious – these student sections need strong leaders – but also the special things they can accomplish with additional initiative.
“Never Forgotten”
Two more rivals, Fennville and Saugatuck, met late last month for their second “Never Forgotten” boys and girls basketball games with proceeds going to the Wes Leonard Heart Team for the purchase of AEDs.
Players wore jerseys with names on the backs of friends and family members who had died, and those jerseys were then given to family members after the games. Officials Ace Cover, Chris Dennie and Kyle Bowen also donated their game checks to the Heart Team, as did the winner of that night’s 50-50 raffle.
Leonard died from sudden cardiac arrest after making the game-winning shot in a basketball game March 3, 2011. The two schools played their first “Never Forgotten” games last season.
More support for less specialization
I’m asked once a year at least about sport specialization – that is, athletes focusing on just one sport, often from an early age, and if it pays off some way down the road.
Most of my evidence to support my belief in the well-rounded athlete has been anecdotal, based on conversations with people at the high school and college levels over the years. But a British study published this fall in the Journal of Sport Sciences by University of Birmingham researchers provides some interesting empirical findings.
The study of 1,006 people from the United Kingdom showed that those who participated in three sports at ages 11, 13 and 15 were “significantly more likely to compete at a national rather than club standard” between ages 16-18 than those who had practiced only one sport.
In other words, the study found that those who played more sports at earlier ages played at a higher level during their high school-age years, which seems to contradict the one-sport focus philosophy.
Click for more perspective on the study from Chris Kennedy, the Superintendent of Schools in West Vancouver, British Columbia.
PHOTO: The boys and girls teams for Fennville and Saugatuck pose together after their "Never Forgotten" games Dec. 21 at Fennville High. (Photo courtesy of Al LaShell.)
Huron to Take Next Step in Magnificent Rise with 1st Semifinal Appearance
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
October 28, 2025
When Luis Gomez Dominguez became a head soccer coach, he started thinking about what programs he wanted to emulate.
He found one in Troy Athens.
On Wednesday, Gomez-Dominguez gets a chance to knock Athens out of the playoffs and lift Ann Arbor Huron to the Division 1 Final.
“They do a great job,” Gomez-Dominguez said. “They do things the right way, even little things like having Grandparents Day. It’s a great program.”
New soccer coaches in the state would be on the right track if they start emulating what Gomez-Dominguez has done at Huron. He’s been head coach for seven seasons, oversees a program of nearly 90 soccer players, and Wednesday takes his 16-1-3 squad to Troy for a Semifinal game against the Red Hawks (14-3-4).
“I like to say it’s been a process, a three-year process,” Gomez-Dominguez said.
Last week the River Rats captured the school’s first Regional title. They won the Southeastern Conference and have steadily increased their number of wins each season, from four both of his first two seasons in 2019 and 2020 to 16 this year.
“We started building the program,” he said. “After COVID, our numbers just exploded.”
With the huge interest in soccer, Huron made the decision not to cut players.
Instead, the program drew up a plan for a freshman team, two junior varsity teams – an A and a B – and the varsity team.
“I think it gives players a clear path,” Gomez-Dominguez said. “You start with the program on the freshman team, progress to the first JV team as a sophomore, maybe play on the ‘A’ JV team as a junior and as a senior, you are ready to contribute to the varsity.”
Sometimes, of course, players jump that progression.
Three years ago, a substantial group of sophomores were on the varsity. Nasser Diarra, Kyle Johnsen, Kinley Poole, Philip Leucht, Amadou Sidibe and Matthew Pletcher all made the top team as the River Rats won 11 games.
“They were the core,” Gomez-Dominguez said. “We thought if we keep them together and add a few pieces around them, we would see the success.”
The plan worked. Those six are now seniors, part of an 18-senior varsity squad.
“We have a lot of experience,” Gomez-Dominguez said.
Poole is among the top scorers on the team with 12 goals and 10 assists. He’s a four-sport athlete at Huron, playing wide receiver on the football team, guard on the basketball team and sprinter in track. He’s likely to run track in college, Gomez-Dominguez said.
Pletcher is the starting goalkeeper. He’s allowed just four goals all season. Leucht has seven goals and three assists. Sidibe is a do-everything defender.
“He’s a lockdown defender,” Gomez-Dominguez said. “He’s our Swiss Army knife. He manages the other team’s attacking players. He can play anywhere on defense, and we line him up as a midfielder for defensive duties.”
Senior Malic Kasham is the team’s top goal scorer with 13. Jules Heskia has five goals, as does sophomore Kaito Yoshida.
Two more seniors – Unejs Ramaxhiku and Christopher Zou – joined the program this year after playing for MLS NEXT, a year-round club program. Zou has four goals and four assists.
“I think they saw the kind of fun we were having and wanted to be part of it,” Gomez-Dominguez said.
This season’s team, ranked No. 2 in Division 1, includes five sophomores and seven juniors.
The River Rats already have had a historic season when it comes to defense. They have given up just seven goals all fall.
“We are keeping an eye on the record book for that,” Gomez-Dominguez said.
The coach grew up in the Ann Arbor area, graduated from Pioneer and played college soccer at Madonna. He was an assistant coach with the River Rats when the head coach moved to California, and was named head coach. He has 65 wins over his seven seasons.
Huron has embraced a program-wide attitude. Gomez-Dominguez has five assistant coaches; the team is active on social media and lists its goals and expectations on a website dedicated to the program.
Huron defeated Troy Athens earlier this season, 2-1, but Gomez-Dominguez isn’t taking Wednesday’s game lightly.
“A lot has changed since then,” he said. “That game was played on a Saturday morning. It felt like a Saturday morning game. This one will be at night, at Troy High School, under the lights and we expect a big crowd. We are taking a fan bus. It will be a great atmosphere.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Ann Arbor Huron players stand for the national anthem before a game this season. (Middle) Andrew Rooks controls the ball as he charges up field. (Below) Kinley Poole (left) and Malic Kasham celebrate a moment. (Photos courtesy of the Ann Arbor Huron boys soccer program.)