Class C Preview: History Will Be Made
March 21, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Regardless of which team emerges as Class C champion Saturday, that crowning moment will conclude quite a story.
At the very least, the winner could be celebrating a first MHSAA boys basketball title in more than two decades.
Detroit Edison and Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central both are seeking not just their first MHSAA titles in boys basketball this weekend, but to play in the championship game for the first time.
Grand Rapids Covenant Christian, meanwhile, was runner-up last season at the Breslin Center but hasn’t won a title since 1994. Maple City Glen Lake, if it wins out, would claim its first since 1977.
Class C Semifinals – Thursday
Detroit Edison (15-10) vs. Grand Rapids Covenant Christian (22-4), noon
Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central (25-0) vs. Maple City Glen Lake (23-2), 2 p.m.
Class C Final – Saturday, 4:30 p.m.
Tickets cost $10 per pair of Semifinals and $10 per two-game Finals session (Class C and Class B). All Semifinals will be streamed live on MHSAA.tv and viewable on a pay-per-view basis. The Class D, A and C championship games will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Detroit, while the Class B Final will be shown on Fox Sports Detroit on a delayed basis at 10:30 p.m. Saturday. All four championship games will be streamed live on FoxSportsDetroit.com and the FOX Sports Go! app. Free radio broadcasts of all weekend games will be available on MHSAANetwork.com.
Below is a glance at all four semifinalists. Click on the name of the school to see that team’s full schedule and results from this season. (Statistics are through teams' Regional Finals.)
DETROIT EDISON
Record/rank: 15-10, honorable mention
League finish: Fourth in Detroit Public School League East Division 1
Coach: Brandon Neely, fifth season (69-44)
Championship history: Has never appeared in an MHSAA Final.
Best wins: 73-46 over No. 3 Unionville-Sebewaing in Quarterfinal, 63-57 (Regional Semifinal) and 82-45 over Detroit Pershing, 59-51 over Class A honorable mention Detroit Cass Tech, 50-48 over Class A honorable mention Detroit Renaissance, 65-48 over Class A honorable mention Belleville, 83-67 over Class D No. 1 Southfield Christian.
Players to watch: Pierre Mitchell, Jr., 6-0 sr. G (15.3 ppg, 3.2 apg); Gary Solomon, 6-5 sr. G (16.2 ppg, 3.3 apg).
Outlook: Edison is making a second straight trip to the Semifinals after winning its second Regional title last week and this season also winning the Detroit Public School League tournament. The team’s record might look just slightly above average, but eight of those losses were to Class A teams including three team ranked among the top five at the end of the regular season and a fourth that will play in the Semifinals on Friday. Mitchell, Solomon and 6-9 senior Deante Johnson (13.1 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 2.2 bpg) also were starters and standouts a year ago.
GRAND RAPIDS COVENANT CHRISTIAN
Record/rank: 22-4, honorable mention
League finish: Does not play in a league.
Coach: Tyler Schimmel, fourth season (71-25)
Championship history: Three MHSAA titles (most recent 1994), Class C runner-up 2017.
Best wins: 53-30 over honorable mention Sanford Meridian in Quarterfinal, 58-48 over honorable mention Dansville in Regional Final, 53-47 over Grand Rapids Christian.
Players to watch: Carson Meulenberg, 6-6 sr. F (15.4 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 3.2 apg); Tyler Cammenga, 5-8 sr. G (9.2 ppg, 64 3-pointers).
Outlook: Four starters from last season’s Class C championship game loss to Flint Beecher have brought Covenant Christian back this weekend. Meulenberg earned some attention with 20 points in last year’s Final, and Cammenga entered the last week of the season with 64 3-pointers for the second straight year. Senior 6-3 guard Nathan Minderhoud (10.7 ppg) is the team’s second leading scorer, and senior 6-4 forward Trenton Koole adds 7.4 ppg, 5.0 rpg and 3.2 apg. All four losses this winter came to Class B teams that finished with at least 17 wins, including semifinalist Grand Rapids Catholic Central.
MAPLE CITY GLEN LAKE
Record/rank: 23-2, No. 5
League finish: Tied for first in Northwest Conference
Coach: Rich Ruelas, third season (56-14)
Championship history: Two MHSAA titles (most recent 1977), one runner-up finish.
Best wins: 66-49 over No. 4 Iron Mountain in Quarterfinal, 66-32 (Regional Semifinal) and 50-37 over No. 9 McBain, 49-29 over honorable mention Manton in District Semifinal, 54-45 and 52-31 over Class D No. 6 Frankfort.
Players to watch: Xander Okerlund, 6-4 jr. G/F (16.1 ppg, 3.1 apg); Cade Peterson, 6-5 sr. F (14.1 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.6 bpg).
Outlook: A talented group has Glen Lake at the Semifinals for the first time since finishing Class D runner-up in 1996. The only losses were to league rival Buckley, a semifinalist in Class D. Iron Mountain, falling by 17, came the closest to Glen Lake of any opponent so far this postseason. Some of the same players, including quarterback Peterson and senior starting forward Nick Apsey (a running back/linebacker in the fall), took Glen Lake to the Division 6 Football Final in 2016. Sophomore forward Reece Hazelton adds 13.3 ppg.
MONROE ST. MARY CATHOLIC CENTRAL
Record/rank: 25-0, No. 1
League finish: First in Huron League
Coach: Randy Windham, ninth season (181-37)
Championship history: Has never appeared in an MHSAA Final.
Best wins: 31-28 over No. 6 Kalamazoo Christian in Quarterfinal, 61-56 over honorable mention Hanover-Horton in Regional Final, 56-44 over No. 7 Ottawa Lake Whiteford in District Final.
Players to watch: C.J. Haut, 6-8 sr. F (18.4 ppg, 11.3 rpg, 2.9 bpg); Hunter Kegley, 5-9 jr. G (15.2 ppg, 68 3-pointers)
Outlook: Monroe St. Mary has been on the verge of a championship run with four Quarterfinal appearances this decade and a Semifinal berth in 2013. The Falcons fell to Edison in last season’s Quarterfinal, but haven’t lost a game since. In fact, the last two games were two of only four decided by single digits this season. Junior 6-4 forward Tyler Welch adds another 10.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.
PHOTO: Grand Rapids Covenant Christian’s Carson Meulenberg puts up a shot against Flint Beecher during last season’s Class C Final.
After 2 Decades Away, Turner Home Again at Jonesville
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
February 26, 2021
JONESVILLE – Jeff Turner’s coaching career has come full circle – and it took only about 25 years.
Turner graduated from Jonesville High School in 1986, after playing for longtime coach Bill Dunn as a senior. After coaching stops in Morenci and Dundee in southeast Michigan, Turner landed a job at Traverse City Central in 2007. Now, he’s back where it all started – at Jonesville.
“It’s been great,” Turner said on the eve of playing Reading tonight in a Big 8 Conference showdown. “The players and coaches have been working hard to implement the program philosophies.”
Turner’s Comets are 5-1 in the Big 8, tied atop the league with Reading. Tonight’s game will go a long way toward deciding this year’s champion.
“Things are definitely going well,” Turner said.
Championships and successful seasons have long been a part of Turner’s history. He got the coaching bug while attending Hillsdale College. He credits Dunn and Greg Morrison, his football coach at Jonesville, with prepping him to coach one day.
“I coached the JV basketball team for Coach Dunn for four years while I attended college,” Turner said. “He was a huge influence on my coaching and a big reason why I coach today.”
After his student-teaching and a short time as an assistant at Morenci, Turner got the head coaching job at Dundee. He made the Vikings into a perennial Lenawee County Athletic Association contender. He took over a program that had gone through six straight losing seasons, and went 94-57 and won or shared four league titles over seven years. His 2002-03 team won 19 games, his best year to date.
He then left Dundee and headed north, landing at Traverse City Central.
“It was a dream job,” he said. “We had always wanted to live up north. It was a good move for us at the time. It was a big school, and I met a lot of challenges.”
After 10 seasons in Traverse City, Turner said he made the decision to move back downstate for his family. His wife, Amy, and daughter have been chronically ill with autoimmune diseases for years and had been making frequent trips to the University of Michigan hospital in Ann Arbor.
“They’ve been following me for 20 years,” Turner said. “I said it was time for me to follow them.”
He got a teaching and coaching job at Allegan High School, where he coached for three seasons. It was a good fit for him and his family.
“I didn’t really have any plans to leave Allegan, but the hometown team opened up,” Turner said. “It was hard to pass that up. It just makes sense to be closer to home.”
He was hired in mid-June and started holding basketball workouts when it was allowed. He coached JV football in the fall and feels right at home at Jonesville.
“I was super excited when the season started,” Turner said. “It was kind of like Christmas in a way. For our seniors it was a big thing that we were able to play. It was a big sigh of relief for them.
“There are people here that I went to school with,” Turner added. “It’s nice seeing some familiar faces. I have some good memories here. It’s been a great transition. Everybody has been very accepting of my coaching.”
His son, Zeke, is part of his coaching staff at Jonesville.
“It’s awesome,” he said about coaching with his son. “He grew up within my system and knows it very well. He played for me at Traverse City and his senior year at Allegan.”
In the classroom, Turner teaches middle school science.
Not everything is the same in his hometown. Jonesville opened a new gym in 2000 where Turner now directs practices and games.
“It’s a good change of pace here,” he said. “It’s been fun. I’m teaching kids where I knew their parents.”
There are other familiarities being back in southeast Michigan. One of his players is senior Connor Lauwers. Lauwers is the grandson of former Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central coach Ray Lauwers, who coached the Falcons for 42 years, winning more than 600 career games. Turner got to know him while coaching at nearby Dundee.
“Coach Lauwers has been a big influence on me as well,” Turner said. “He’s a really good person.”
On the court, Jonesville started the season with four straight wins, including a 48-35 victory over Reading. A loss to Homer is the only blemish on the schedule. Those three teams are tied atop the league at 4-1. Turner is one away from 200 varsity wins over his combined 21 seasons.
“It’s a pretty good league,” Turner said. “You have to come prepared every night. Every game is a challenge.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Jonesville's boys basketball team huddles around Jeff Turner during a game this season. (Middle) Turner, left, with his son Zeke during their time together at Allegan. (Top photo by Brian Playford, middle photo courtesy of Turner family).