A-PLUS Idea: Petoskey Throwback Night
April 11, 2012
We run into plenty of great ideas during our travels around the state. And what better way to make our vast home feel a little bit smaller than to share them.
This was one of our favorites from this winter. Petoskey's Throwback night combined two things we often promote at the MHSAA -- an appreciation for our history and lots of fan involvement.
Each season, the Northmen pick a boys basketball to designate for a "throwback." Players wear some of the school's old uniforms from that era -- this season it was the 1950s -- and fans dress to match.
Petoskey also has the benefit of playing Throwback games in its old gymnasium at Central School, which was built in 1927 and now serves as an elementary school -- although sub-varsity teams also play in the gym regularly.
It's an awesome arena straight out of "Hoosiers" or any basketball nostalgia. Fans sit in wooden seats that line both sidelines and are raised up and away from the floor. There are two old-school scoreboards -- one on the wall and the more recent hanging from the rafters.
The building, which served as the high school's main gym until 2002, also was used regularly for Districts and Regionals for decades. It's easy to imagine the 1,500 seats filled and fans howling.
"No matter who we play, that's the best atmosphere for the game," Petoskey senior Nick Godfrey said of the throwback events.
PHOTOS: (Top) Wooden seats line both sidelines at Petoskey's Central School Gymnasium. (Middle) A sideline wall announces "Home of the Northmen" above an early scoreboard. (Middle below) The stands are mostly filled for the 2010 Throwback game as then-junior Cory Starkey, in head band, drives to the hoop. (Below) A photo from a game at Central Gymnasium during a much earlier era hangs in the classroom of Petoskey High teacher Matt Tamm.
Lockdown 'D' Proves Key Again as Sacred Heart Continues Title Pursuit
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 14, 2024
EAST LANSING — When your biggest team strength is actually stronger than it’s been all year, that’s pretty much a formula for victory.
Such was the case for Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart in its Division 4 Semifinal on Thursday.
The Irish have ridden their defense all year, and did so even more against Allen Park Inter-City Baptist, holding the Chargers to a season-low point total in claiming a 51-33 win at Breslin Center.
Sacred Heart (26-2) advanced to meet Wyoming Tri-unity Christian in the championship game at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
“We play unbelievable defense,” Sacred Heart head coach Justin Sherlock said. “That’s what got us here this far. When you get into the last week of the regular season, it’s one-day preps and you have to stick to your fundamentals. Our guys did that.”
Sacred Heart held Inter-City Baptist to 25.6-percent shooting from the field overall (11 of 43) and 3 of 15 from 3-point range.
“They dictated the game defensively,” Inter-City Baptist head coach Mark Kraatz said. “We haven’t struggled to score this year. Kudos to them. They were able to control us and force us to take shots we haven’t done all year.”
Sacred Heart didn’t exactly light it up from 3-point range (4 of 17), but was 14 of 21 on 2-point shots to make up for it.
“Our offense didn’t look too good in the first half,” Sacred Heart sophomore Noah Zeien said. “We were shooting a lot of threes, and we were bricking them. In that second half, we picked it up on offense and our defense did the same. I think that’s what won us the game.”
Zeien scored 19 points, and senior Aidan Halliday added 11 to lead Sacred Heart (26-2).
Now, the Irish will get a chance for redemption. Sacred Heart suffered a 71-41 loss at Tri-unity Christian in the second game of the season, and Sherlock hopes that experience will pay dividends.
“We’re different now,” Sherlock said. “That was 24 games ago. We’ve gotten better. We’ve gelled more as a team, and I have no doubt our guys won’t be afraid on Saturday. It’s for a state championship.”
Senior Andrew Frank scored 13 points in defeat for Inter-City Baptist (23-5), which made its first Semifinal appearance since its Class D championship year 1985.
“That was not a representation of how we’ve played (this year), but it was also a fair representation of how the opposing team played,” Kraatz said. “They played well. Their defense was just gritty and tough.”
Sacred Heart used a 10-2 run late in the second quarter to take a 22-16 lead into halftime, and then continued that momentum in a big way to start the third quarter.
The Irish opened the third with a 12-0 run to take a 34-16 lead midway through the period and put Inter-City Baptist in a deep hole.
Sacred Heart built its lead to 37-19 with 1:16 left in the third and took a 37-22 lead into the fourth quarter.
Inter-City Baptist cut its deficit to 13 on a couple occasions in the fourth, but that was as close as the Chargers would get.
PHOTOS (Top) Sacred Heart’s Alex Latham (20) walls off Inter-City Baptist’s Luke Taylor during Thursday night’s Semifinal at Breslin Center. (Middle) Grady Pieratt brings the ball upcourt for the Irish. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)