Senior-Loaded Hamilton Makes Memorable Most of Historic Opportunities
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
March 17, 2023
HAMILTON – The senior year for a high school athlete is the last opportunity to make a mark on a program.
For the eight seniors on the Hamilton boys basketball team, an indelible impression was made.
The Hawkeyes’ season ended Wednesday night in a Division 2 Regional Final against a talented Grand Rapids South Christian squad.
However, their remarkable regular season, and subsequent postseason run, will be fondly remembered by the people in this small West Michigan community for years to come.
“Our goal going tonto the season was to win a District and to have a good season, but more importantly to prove to the Hamilton community and to prove to people that followed us and ourselves that anything can be done when you put your mind to it,” Hamilton boys basketball coach Nick Kronemeyer said. “Anybody can be beat, and you can accomplish anything if you do it the right way and do it together. We wanted to inspire 6,500 people in Hamilton with that message.”
Hamilton produced a storybook season and compiled a pair of accomplishments that hadn’t been achieved in more than three decades.
The Hawkeyes won a conference championship for the first time since 1988 and then proceeded to capture the program’s first District crown since 1987.
They finished 22-5 overall after struggling to a 7-15 record a year ago.
“We knew this group coming up was a talented group and loved the game of basketball,” Kronemeyer said. “We thought we were going to be pretty good last year with this group, and we kind of underachieved a little bit. Coming into this year, we believed wholeheartedly that we could have a special season if we did it the right way and learned from some of the things we went through last year.”
Lessons were learned and success was gained as the Hawkeyes recorded the second-most wins in school history and provided several thrilling moments for their spirited fanbase.
“After I played my last football game, I knew the last basketball season was going to be really hard and you just have to give it your all because you only get so many games and then you're done,” Hamilton four-year player Brandt Goodpaster said. “So to have that much success and have as many extra games as we did was a blessing as a senior.”
Hamilton’s main objective for the season was a long-awaited District title, but as the final two weeks of the regular season approached, the team realized it was still in the hunt for an Ottawa-Kent Conference Blue title.
“We were just trying to get better, trying to play our best at the end of the year,” Kronemeyer said. “The conference title didn’t get talked about, but when we got to the last couple weeks we realized we had a chance and started to go after those games.”
Hamilton played Coopersville in the final conference game and came away with its biggest road win in many years.
“It was for all the marbles, it was for the outright conference championship and it was a game that you dream about growing up and why you put the work in,” Kronemeyer said. “That meant a lot to our community, and the way it happened at the end, it was just a pretty special night.”
The Hawkeyes erased years of futility in the conference when Goodpaster made the game-winning shot during the waning seconds.
A fitting conclusion for a stunning turnaround.
“It was a huge team effort, and it just ended up in my hands for the last shot,” Goodpaster said. “My shot didn't win the game though, all the possessions and defense before that and all those things leading up to it won the game for us.”
The next stop was Districts, and the Hawkeyes were still riding the emotional wave from the conference title.
A win over Holland Christian – which had knocked Hamilton out of the postseason the past two years – followed by victories over South Haven and Allegan earned the Hawkeyes a coveted District championship.
“It was an accumulation of everything that has gone into it over the past couple years, and we played really well that night and got the job done,” Kronemeyer said. “We had talked about what it would be like for the first team that does it, and we knew it was going to be a special experience.
“The kids signed shoes, napkins and T-shirts for an hour after the game. That was a pretty special experience for the community and the program. It was just a great night.”
And the District title occurred on their home court.
“The message from Coach from the very start was we are going to cut the net and we are going to win a District,” Goodpaster said. “We'll be the first team to do it and reset the standard.
“When I found out we were hosting Districts, we thought that this is the way we have to go out. Senior year, on our home court, no other option than to win and be District champs.”
Hamilton didn’t stop there and added another memorable moment in the Regional Semifinal against Marshall. The Hawkeyes trailed by 10 points early in the fourth quarter, but rallied and won on a tip-in at the buzzer by senior Austin Osborne, another four-year varsity performer.
“That was a dogfight, and we just made plays at the end,” Kronemeyer said.
Other contributors for Hamilton included leading scorer Justin McIllwain, a junior, and seniors JD DeGroot and Brady Tebo.
“I’m proud of our seniors and that group,” Kronemeyer said. “They came to play every game, and all the credit goes to our guys. They were great to be around and did it the right way.”
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for five years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Hamilton raises its first boys basketball District championship trophy since 1987 on March 10. (Middle) The Hawkeyes continue the celebration on their home court. (Photos courtesy of the Hamilton school district.)
After Leading Glen Lake Girls to Title, Bradford Brings Boys Into Final Week
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
March 15, 2024
Eight is Enough.
Or is it?
For Jason Bradford growing up on the farm of Arden and Lynn Bradford as one of their eight children, it probably was enough. Bradford’s upbringing may have been slightly similar to “Eight Is Enough,” a comedy-drama television series about a family with eight children that aired on ABC from March of 1977 to May of 1981.
But the show didn’t depict pick-up basketball being played in the barn like it was for Bradford and his siblings. And surely eight would not be enough Regional basketball championships for Jason Bradford, nor enough District titles either.
After leading Maple City Glen Lake to the Division 4 girls basketball championship last year, Bradford stepped down from coaching. At the time his teams had won five Regional and six District titles.
Now his teams have won six Regional and seven District championships. He took over Glen Lake’s boys program during the holiday break this winter as the Lakers were off to a 4-2 start. They finished the season 22-5.
It was the Lakers boys’ first 20-win campaign since the 2018-19 season, and they clinched their first Regional title since 2018.
Glen Lake went 19-5 last year losing to Traverse City St. Francis in the District Final. The season before that ended with a first-round loss to Elk Rapids and 15-6 record.
Bradford led his girls teams four times to the MHSAA Semifinals and almost got their a fifth time this year with the boys. Their run ended Tuesday with a tough loss in the Division 4 Quarterfinals to Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart, 63-51.
“We’re licking the wounds of that one,” he said. “We’ve got to remember to look at the big picture – they are young men becoming men.”
But Bradford already has turned his thoughts to next season and is making plans for summer basketball.
“Having the summer with them if it goes the way we want is going to be huge,” Bradford said. “There are a few things going through my head I can change or adjust.
“We want to continue to build on what our philosophy of what Glen Lake is and my philosophy of what Glen Lake is.”
The Lakers will graduate Cooper Bufalini, Gage Baker, Dylan Cundiff, Tyler Bixby and Jamie Blondia. But they’ll have their top two scorers back, sophomore Jacob Plamondon and junior Benji Allen. Plamondon kicked in almost 20 points per game and led the team in rebounding with more than 10 per contest. Allen averaged more than 11 points per game and led the team in assists.
Glen Lake finished second in the Northwest Conference behind Benzie Central, which was undefeated in league play. The Lakers knocked off league opponents Frankfort in the Division 4 District title match and Buckley in the Regional Semifinal.
The battles with Benzie for the conference title may have been the highlights of the season, Bradford noted. Those were Glen Lake’s only losses in league play, and a share of the title was within their grasp late in the second game with the Huskies.
The Lakers lost 60-51 on their home court in the first meeting but took Benzie to the limit in the rematch before falling, 41-39, on the road.
“We had a lot of great games and a lot of great memories,” Bradford said. “Going for conference it pretty much came down to the last few seconds with lead changes.
“We were up by one point with less than 30 second lefts, and that was the high point,” he continued. “We came up short, but we learned from that game.”
Also among highlights for Bradford this year was the chance to coach against his brother Nathan for the first time in their careers.
The Bradfords started coaching girls varsity basketball 16 years ago, but their teams were in different conferences at the time. Nathan coached the Onekama girls but moved to the boys program before Onekama and Glen Lake had a chance to compete against each other in the Northwest Conference.
The Bradford coaches often talk after their games and learn from one another. They have also seen their parents frequently in the bleachers as they rotate home game sites to see their grandchildren play and their sons coach.
When Onekama and Glen Lake played this year, eight Bradfords were on the rosters as players or coaches. Jason’s son Toby, a freshman, played on the Glen Lake junior varsity team, as Nathan’s son Carson played for the Portagers’ JV squad. The Onekama JV team is coached by another Bradford, Jason and Nathan’s brother Nick. And there were three more Bradfords on the varsity – Nathan’s son Caden and his cousins Luke and Arden.
Glen Lake won both varsity games, 38-36 at Onekama and 61-33 at home.
Jason and his wife Jackie have five children. Their youngest son, Drew, is now a sixth grader at Glen Lake. His oldest son, J.J., is at Michigan Tech and has begun officiating basketball after his senior season at Glen Lake cut short by the pandemic while the Lakers were preparing to play in a 2020 District Final. Daughters Maddie and Grace are playing basketball for Lake Superior State University.
Maddie and Grace were big parts of Glen Lake’s deep postseason runs with Jason as girls coach. With many games played on Saturdays and not conflicting with coaching, Jason, Jackie and the younger boys were able to travel to see the Upper Peninsula’s Lakers play regularly.
This season, the Glen Lake girls – under first-year head coach Brad Fosmore – went 16-8 and won Northwest Conference and District titles before losing a nail-biter, 45-42, to league rival Frankfort in the Regional Semifinal.
“Jason did a good job, and it felt good to carry on the tradition,” said Fosmore, who previously served as a Lakers JV coach. “We took it one game at a time.
“Jason worked hard to build a great girls program,” he continued. “It made it pretty simple because they had that winning tradition and kind of kept it rolling.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Jason Bradford, kneeling, coaches the Maple City Glen Lake boys varsity after taking over the program earlier this season. (Middle) Glen Lake’s Cooper Bufalini (11) pushes the ball upcourt during a 65-49 District Final win over Bellaire. (Below) The Lakers’ Jacob Plamondon (35) makes a strong move to the basket. (Top photo by RD Sports Photo/Rob DeForge, additional photos by Nicole Bixby.)