Thank You from Second Half
January 25, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Next week will mark the one-year birthday of Second Half, our place to tell your high school sports stories.
And I thank you for helping us to such a great start.
We knew what we hoped to accomplish starting this site a year ago, but we've learned quite a bit during a relatively short time. Although we continue to pursue the mission of being home of the state’s best high school stories and a daily stop for fans, we’ll continue to experiment to figure out what you'd most like to see and how best we can continue to pass along the great things happening in MHSAA athletics.
A few things to call to your attention as we move ahead:
- First and foremost, we strive to tell your stories – hoping to hit every sport and all regions of our state – and have some intriguing ones coming up as we get into the second half of the winter season. Stay tuned.
- Second Half is the home for the “Battle of the Fans II.” We have visits to Buchanan and Vandercook Lake next week, followed by Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard and Zeeland East the week after. We’ll announce the winner Feb. 22. All will be found here first.
- We've revamped our video page (see menu across the top of this screen) and will be adding more videos more regularly in the year to come.
- After a brief hiatus, we’ll next week bring back “High 5s” featuring two athletes and a team that have done great things this season.
- What you’re reading now is the first of a weekly “First Pitch” blog that will allow us to post more of the quick hits we run across in our regular travels. Make sure to continue checking out the twice-weekly blog by Executive Director Jack Roberts, as well as the Viewpoints and SAC Sound-Offs supplied regularly by our friends from the Michigan State University Institute for the Study of Youth Sports and the members of our Student Advisory Council, respectively.
- We began providing in-depth statewide coverage – both previewing and then postgame reporting – of our Finals in every sport this fall, and hope to become your first and fastest source for the stories behind our championships.
We’re always looking for ideas both for stories or any other features you’d like to see – and feel free to send them directly to me at [email protected].
And again, thank you again for coming to our site today. We look forward to seeing you more in the year to come.
Back Line Comes to Forefront as Byron Center Shuts Down Saline to Lock Up 1st Title
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
June 14, 2025
EAST LANSING – John Conlon praised his Byron Center defensive players Saturday for not just their play, but their selflessness all season.
As the Bulldogs powered through to the Division 1 Final, the backline of Carli Alexander, Ashtyn Stuck, Leah Willey and Jordan Kerns did their jobs, leaving the glory to their teammates further up the field.
But in the biggest game of the season, they went ahead and grabbed some of that glory, too.
Alexander and Stuck combined on the lone goal in Byron Center’s 1-0 victory against Saline at Michigan State University, giving the girls soccer program its first Finals title.
“Honestly, it’s awesome,” said Alexander, who provided the assist on Stuck’s goal. “It’s just unreal. I love playing defense, but when I get to play up there on the corners, it’s just awesome. And I love helping out the team; it’s great.”
Byron Center (21-1-3) had never played in a girls soccer Final prior to Saturday, but didn’t shrink from the moment as it handed Saline (21-1-2) its lone loss of the season.
That might be because it was used to playing in high-pressure situations, having won all its postseason games by a single goal, five victories coming at 1-0, and the other a 3-2 overtime win against Midland in the Regional Final.
“We talked about this back in March, that soccer is a fickle game,” Conlon said. “You can dominate and lose 1-0, or you can dominate and win 1-0, so you just have to be comfortable with that. I don’t think they understood it at first, but they do now. They ground out some great wins against some good teams.”
The biggest win against the best team included holding off top-ranked Saline’s dynamic scoring duo of Sadie Walsh and Sienna Snyder. They had combined for 50 goals (30 for Snyder, 20 for Walsh) leading up to Saturday, but were held to just five shots, with three on goal – accounting for every Saline attempt on the day.
“Walsh is a great player,” Conlon said. “She undid a couple of very good defenders running with the ball. She’s very good. We had to layer our defense and make sure she had to break through multiple levels. I think 1v1, she’s almost unguardable, so it was great team defending.”
The Bulldogs did it with composure on the back end, despite Kerns, a senior, being the only upperclassman on the starting back line. Alexander and Willey are sophomores, while Stuck is a freshman, as is starting goalkeeper Nora Schans.
“My wife started with a lot of these girls when they were 5, so we’ve been training them from a really young age,” Conlon said. “And they play at a high club level; a lot of our backline players do. They’re just great players, and they’re humble, they’re OK with defending and not scoring. They’re OK with coming away with a win and never coming away with the scoring, so our back four are fantastic.”
The scoring did come from the back four in this one, of course, and it was a beautiful set play from a Jadyn Glover corner.
Alexander met the ball near the top of the box, flicking it into a dangerous area, and Stuck struck it out of the air and into the net.
“The corner went short, so I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to try and at least get my head on it,’” Alexander said. “So I just flicked it, and Ashtyn just happened to be there and it was amazing. I’m really happy that she got that as a freshman.”
The goal was just the sixth allowed by Saline all season, and first it had allowed in the postseason. Goalkeeper Kaylee Mitzel, who made five saves Saturday, entered the game with a 0.23 goals-against average and 18 shutouts.
“I couldn’t be prouder of them,” Saline coach Leigh Rumbold said. “The amount of effort they put in day in and day out to get to this stage – getting to this stage is hard. Over the course of the boys and girls program at Saline, we’re the third team to get to this stage.
“It hurts. I don’t even have the words for it – you could obviously see it when they came off. It hurts to get to this stage and have this be our one loss, but the fact of the matter is, when you kind of take a step back and take a couple days, weeks to let it set in, it’s been an unbelievable season.”
Saline was able to put some pressure on the Bulldogs midway through the second half, but couldn’t turn it into quality chances on goal. And Byron Center did a good job of clearing the ball and moving it forward to striker Ella Alexander who, while she didn’t score, did have three shots and stressed the Hornets defense, often by herself as her team was set back defending.
“She’s a demon,” Conlon said. “She’s a demon. I jokingly have called her the Tasmanian Devil because I don’t think I’ve ever coached a front-runner who can run 80 or 90 minutes at that pace and press. I convinced her early on that, ‘You might not score, but you’ll turn balls over pressing the back line. She didn’t go in the scorebook today, but she created a lot of things for us.”
PHOTOS (Top) Byron Center keeper Nora Schans, far right, prepares to stop a shot from Saline’s Sienna Snyder on Saturday. (Middle) The Hornets’ Caylin Sturms (3) works to maintain possession despite pressure from a Bulldogs defender. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.