Brother Rice Answers Hartland's Championship Challenges
By
Jason Schmitt
Special for MHSAA.com
June 12, 2021
HOWELL — Over the years, teams have learned not to blink an eye when facing Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice on the lacrosse field.
It really doesn’t take all that long for the Warriors to make an opponent pay.
Hartland learned that first-hand Saturday during the MHSAA Division 1 Final at Parker Middle School. The Warriors erased a two-goal deficit over the final 21.4 seconds of the first half, then proceeded to outscore the Eagles, 6-0, in the third quarter en route to a 14-9 victory.
“That was huge,” Brother Rice head coach Ajay Chawla said. “We’re down two, and they’ve taken the momentum over. We score two quick ones there at the end. That was a game changer. We went into the locker room and instead of being down two, we’re tied.”
Hartland had rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to grab a 5-3 lead with 1:15 left in the first half. Five Eagles scored, capped off with a goal by senior Charlie Anderson, who took a pass from freshman Drew Lockwood and scored to give his team its biggest lead of the game.
Brother Rice wasted little time answering. Sophomore Ben Eck scored the first of his two goals, battling his way through the Eagles’ defense to put one upstairs and cut the lead to 5-4. After gaining possession of the ensuing faceoff, Chawla called a timeout to set up one last play before halftime.
“We were talking (during the timeout),” said Warriors senior Luke Dudley. “I wasn’t really beating my guy to the net in the first half, but I was getting my hands free. I knew I had (Josh Schlackman) off the pick, hit him, bang.”
The goal certainly changed the momentum in favor of Brother Rice.
“We fell asleep a little bit, and there were a couple of plays that we needed to be dialed in on to end the quarter. That happens,” Hartland head coach Nick Levanti said. “They’re a good team, and if you give them opportunities to score, they’re gonna. We gave up some easy ones there.”
Brother Rice dominated the third quarter. Sophomore Sam Klein scored seven seconds into the second half, and Dudley scored three of his game-high four goals in the third.
“We were obviously a little worried at first, going down, it was a bit of a surprise,” Dudley said. “But we’ve got guys out here who can step up and score. The offense got together. The defense got together. And we talked things out and knew what we had to do. We came out, got some gritty goals.”
Hartland scored the first goal of the fourth quarter, snapping an eight-goal streak by the Warriors. Junior Ryan Krause took a pass from junior Bo Lockwood to make it an 11-6 game. But Brother Rice would answer with a pair of goals from Dudley to push the lead back to seven.
“If you want to play good lacrosse, state championship lacrosse, there’s a margin for almost no error against any team,” Levanti said. “Especially Brother Rice.”
Eight Brother Rice players scored in the win. Robert Reaume, Josh Schlackman and Eck each had two, while Zach Rivers, Paulie Fortino, Klein and Hunter Polonkey each added one. Seniors Tommy Kunz and Nate Randall combined to make 12 saves in goal.
It was the second-consecutive Division 1 championship for the Warriors, who have now won 15 of the 16 MHSAA Division 1 titles handed out.
“At halftime, we reminded them of what they can do,” said Chawla, whose team finished the season 18-2. “They've never lacked heart and hustle and energy this year. What we have lacked sometimes is a little execution. We just weren’t executing. And we started to execute there in the second half. You saw what kind of team we can be when we execute.”
Senior Noah Luck led the Eagles with three goals. Bo Lockwood finished with a pair of goals and four assists. Drew Lockwood (two goals), Krause and Anderson rounded out the scoring for Hartland (22-2), which lost only to Brother Rice (twice) this season.
The Eagles are a young team, and Levanti said he’s excited about the future.
“We had a lot of young guys who stepped up and helped us throughout the year,” Levanti said. “We learned a lot about ourselves, about how tough we really are. It’s incredible, the amount of work ethic these kids have. We have a lot of sophomores, a lot of freshmen. I think there’s a really bright future for this program.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Brother Rice’s Ben Eck (38) works to get past Hartland’s Jack Sargeant. (Middle) The Eagles’ Joey Mattord (23) walls off Rice’s Connor Borkowicz.
Wagner Scores Dream Finish for Cranes
June 6, 2015
By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half
TROY — Johnny Wagner had a once-in-a-lifetime moment three days earlier, but may have topped it on Saturday.
The Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood senior netted the winning goal in overtime of the MHSAA Division 2 Semifinal against Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central on Wednesday, putting the Cranes in their third straight championship game.
With another overtime looming, Wagner lived out yet another dream scenario by scoring the championship-winning goal with 10.5 seconds left in regulation, giving the Cranes a 10-9 victory over Okemos at Troy Athens.
Wagner's fifth goal of the game broke a 9-9 tie that Okemos achieved with a late three-goal outburst, capped by Charlie Ciuk's tally with 1:20 remaining. The Cranes led 8-4 with 7:45 left in the game.
"It was a similar play the last game in overtime," said Wagner, who had a hat trick when the Cranes won the 2013 championship. "It's something we've been working on. It's been an exciting week. It's a big one."
Cranbrook Kingswood got possession following Ciuk's goal and called timeout with 53.5 seconds remaining. Wagner held the ball coming out of the timeout before breaking toward the net and burying a shot into the upper-right corner.
It was the biggest goal of his career — or at least in the last three days. And he will have to watch the video to see it for the first time.
"I did not see it go in," Wagner said. "I thought the goalie saved it and everyone started jumping all over me. I got hit. I was shooting off my back foot. I'm not complaining."
There was never a doubt which player would take the final shot for the Cranes.
"That is exactly what we expect out of him," Cranes coach Mat Wilson said. "That play at the end was just to get the ball to your best player and let him do his thing."
While Wagner's goal was the final shot taken by the Cranes, it wasn't the final shot of the game.
Okemos won the ensuing faceoff and called timeout with 7.3 seconds on the clock. Cole Jamieson, who had two goals, ran with the ball from midfield and fired wide to the left of goalie Ryan Rosenthal from 10 yards out.
"It went wide," said Rosenthal, a 5-foot-5 senior who started in the last three Division 2 Finals. "Me and Trey (Greissing) ran to the end line to get that possession. At that point, we knew we had it."
Although Okemos was able to come back from four goals down to tie it, Rosenthal made two big saves from close range in the third quarter when the Chieftains were rallying from a 5-2 halftime deficit.
"I think he was the player of the game," Wilson said. "I'm not sure what his stats are, but he is an incredible leader. He kept us in the game. Without him, this might have turned out differently."
It appeared that the Cranes had safely secured their third MHSAA championship when the second of Wagner's four fourth-quarter goals gave them an 8-4 lead with 7:45 remaining in the game. But that goal was part of a wild scoring spree by both teams that produced six goals in 2 minutes and 19 seconds. Blake Grewal Turner's second goal with 5:26 remaining got Okemos within 9-8.
The scoring subsided for a few minutes until Ciuk took a pass from Monty Frankfort and went to the net for the tying goal with 1:20 to go.
"We were up a little bit, but knew this team could score," Wagner said. "They're a big offensive threat, so we knew it wasn't over. They got it to 9-9. I was on my tiptoes; I think the whole team was. To score and put the game away is unbelievable."
In the end, perhaps it was big-game experience that carried the Cranes. They were playing in their third straight Final, while Okemos was in the title game for the first time.
"We knew we weren't playing the way we usually play," Grewal Turner said. "I think we came out a little timid. We realized once we started pushing, they didn't stand a chance. We started pushing too late and it showed; we lost by one."
Grewal Turner opened the scoring with 10:53 left in the first quarter to give Okemos its only lead. Riley Matthews scored the first two of his three goals just 1:15 apart to give the Cranes a 2-1 lead before Bennett Sherman's tally with 1:42 left created a 2-2 tie after one quarter.
Charlie Pistner, Wagner and Greg Aikens of Cranbrook Kingswood scored the only goals of the second quarter, as the Cranes took a 5-2 lead into halftime.
Jamieson and Sherman scored back-to-back goals to get Okemos within 5-4 with 3:36 left in the third quarter. Matthews collected his third goal to end the third-quarter scoring, and Wagner scored the first two goals of the fourth to give the Cranes their 8-4 lead.
Jamieson, Davis Lewandowski and Adam Goodsir had fourth-quarter goals for Okemos.
PHOTOS: (Top) Cranbrook Kingswood's Johnny Wagner possesses the ball during Saturday's Division 2 Final. (Middle) The Cranes' Bennett Faliski (7) pushes upfield with Okemos' Anders Stakey defending.