Clay, Forest Hills Central Score D2 Fame
June 11, 2016
By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half
HOWELL — Bryce Clay's contributions to Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central's first MHSAA boys lacrosse championship were minimal.
He can be cut some slack, however. He was only in fourth grade, unable to perform an on-field role for the Rangers.
"Back in 2010, I was the water boy for them as a youngster," Clay said. "They won a state title that year. I looked up to guys like Collin Schlosser, an All-American, Chris Bosscher. I just wanted to be like them someday. It's a humbling experience looking up to them and to finally be on the level they were on."
Clay's role is considerably more significant these days.
He broke the state single-season goal-scoring record on Saturday, scoring three times for the Rangers in a 10-6 victory over rival East Grand Rapids in the MHSAA Division 2 championship game at Parker Middle School.
With 104 goals in 22 games, he eclipsed the mark of 102 set by Colin Theisen of Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central in 2015. Add that to the 81 goals he scored last season, and Clay is on pace to obliterate the state record of 276 career goals — because, you see, he's only a sophomore.
It's a fact that excites Forest Hills Central faithful and is a source of angst for rivals.
"He's an absolute animal," said Rangers junior Drew Bailey, who scored the tie-breaking goal with 8:55 left in the game. "He's hard to defend. He's physical. He finishes every shot. He's only a sophomore. He has a huge future ahead of him."
"You have to pay attention to Bryce," said East Grand Rapids coach Rick DeBlasio, whose team lost three times this season to the Rangers. "He's one of the best attack guys. Unfortunately for us, he's only a sophomore."
Clay had an instant impact when he arrived in high school because he's been playing the game longer than most teenagers. He was in first grade when he joined a youth league, playing on the same team with current teammate Patrick English and East Grand Rapids star Hub Hejna.
"I fell in love with it at an early age," said Clay, whose brother Andrew is a senior defender for the Rangers. "If you want to be good at it, you've got to start early."
Clay may be young, but he's mature enough to spread the credit for one of the greatest individual lacrosse seasons since the MHSAA began sponsoring the sport in 2005.
He was held off the scoresheet in the first half, yet the Rangers held a 3-2 lead in the lowest-scoring first half ever in an MHSAA Boys Lacrosse Final. Tanner Hallock scored the first two goals of the game off passes from Bailey, while Max Kuiper had the third goal for the Rangers. Ben Keller and Drew Poortenga scored for the Pioneers.
"They run a heavy zone, which can be tough for a player," Clay said. "But I've got great teammates who can really move the ball and play a great style of lacrosse. My success is from my teammates. I owe everything to them. We're all one big family, and we love to play with each other.
"Honestly, if I'm not having a great day, guys like Tanner Hallock, Max Kuiper, Drew Bailey, Jack Uecker can carry the team. They can get it done in crunch time."
East Grand Rapids (15-6) never led, falling behind 1-0 on Hallock's goal 3:29 into the first quarter. But the Pioneers kept battling, getting a huge momentum boost heading into the final quarter when Hejna scored with three seconds left in the third to tie the game, 5-5.
"We never got into our game," DeBlasio said. "We played way too much defense and had difficulty with transition when we had the ball. When you don't play offense, it's hard to get into a rhythm. We struggled. When we went into the fourth quarter tied with these guys, even knowing how powerful they are at scoring, I liked our chances."
Momentum can be fleeting, however, especially against an offense as dangerous as Forest Hills Central's.
Bailey took a pass from English in front of the net and buried a low shot with 8:55 left in the game to put the Rangers ahead for good, 6-5.
"We started that quarter in a new formation, so we could get different looks," Bailey said. "I knew I was going to be open at the crease. I just had to finish my shot."
Bailey's goal ignited a three-goal outburst by the Rangers, as English scored with 5:46 left and Uecker tallied with 2:50 on the clock.
Hejna kept the issue in doubt when he completed his hat trick with 1:46 remaining, cutting Forest Hills Central's lead to 8-6.
Clay erased all doubt when he scored into an empty net with 51 seconds on the clock. Ty Collins completed the scoring with two seconds left.
Finally, the Rangers (20-2) were back on top of Division 2 lacrosse after losing to Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood by one goal each of the last three seasons, including overtime Semifinal losses in 2014 and 2015.
"I'm fairly new to the program, so I haven't experienced the total disappointment that these kids have,” second-year Forest Hills Central coach Jake Seiler said. “They won it in '12 and were in it in '13. They've come so close, this group of seniors. They've tasted it, but they haven't won until today. I'm just excited we were able to give these seniors the championship they've been looking for since their freshman season."
Kadin Schermers made seven saves for the Rangers, while Nick Milanowski made 12 for the Pioneers.
PHOTOS: (Top) Forest Hills Central junior Ty Collins looks upfield during Saturday’s Division 2 Final in Howell. (Middle) Sophomore Nick Milanowski guards the goal for East Grand Rapids.
Legacy Lives On; Rice Extends D1 Reign
June 6, 2015
By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half
TROY — Morgan Macko is being modest when he says there are no superstars on this year's Birmingham Brother Rice lacrosse team.
Anyone who scores 11 goals in two career MHSAA championship games isn't just another good player.
Macko scored five goals and added an assist, as Brother Rice extended one of the most dominant dynasties in MHSAA history with a 16-7 victory over arch rival Detroit Catholic Central in the Division 1 championship game Saturday at Troy Athens.
The Warriors have won all 11 MHSAA Division 1 championships, going 54-0 in postseason play during that time. They are 159-1 against teams from Michigan since 2005, the lone loss being an 8-7 overtime decision at Detroit Country Day on April 16, 2014. Brother Rice, which tests itself regularly against strong opposition from Indiana, Ohio and Ontario, has a 223-27 overall record in those 11 seasons.
"There's a tremendous amount of pressure," Brother Rice coach Ajay Chawla said. "I'd be sitting up here not telling you the truth if I told you they didn't feel it. They feel it. Every year, they don't want to be the guys that let the legacy down. We didn't shy away from talking about it. We didn't treat this like another game. We understood this was a state championship."
And nobody understands how to raise the level of his game with a championship on the line better than Macko.
Last year, Macko tied a Finals record shared by two other Brother Rice stars by scoring six goals in a 23-7 victory over Catholic Central. Like last year, Macko scored all of his goals in the first three quarters, not as stat-stuffers in the final minutes.
Macko's 11 goals in back-to-back finals broke the record of 10 set by Brother Rice's Jason Alessi in 2013 and 2014.
"It's really fun playing on these big stages in front of a pretty big crowd," said Macko, a junior who was brought up to experience the postseason as a freshman. "You feed off each other's energy, and it's a lot of fun out here."
Three of Macko's goals came during a back-and-forth second quarter in which Brother Rice held off a Catholic Central charge. His fifth goal, which opened the second-half scoring and increased Rice's lead to 11-4, was called the biggest goal of the game by his coach.
"He's a big-game player," Chawla said. "He finishes well. He produced for himself, but he also was the recipient of a lot of great dodges by a lot of guys. It's our unselfish plays that allow him to get goals when his guy slides off him and we find him. Overall, it was a great performance by Macko, but you have to credit that whole offense. The score speaks for itself."
Macko finished with a team-high 63 goals this season. He was one of four Warriors to record hat tricks in the game, with Bo Pickens, Riley North and John Lockwood all scoring three goals. It was the second Finals hat trick for Lockwood.
"There are just weapons everywhere," Macko said. "There are no superstars. The defense can't focus on one guy. You have to worry about everyone. There are threats all over the place."
So, even though Macko had six goals against them in last year's Final, the Shamrocks knew they couldn't sell out just to stop him.
"They have so much depth," said Catholic Central junior Rocco Mularoni, who scored five of his team's seven goals. "They play really well as a team. You can't pick out one individual guy to shut down."
Catholic Central (17-5) started strongly enough, opening the scoring on a goal by Mularoni with 9:15 left in the first quarter. Shortly after tying the score 1-1 on a goal by Pickens with 7:20 left in the first, Brother Rice called timeout. The Warriors came out of the timeout on fire, scoring two goals 34 seconds apart to grab a 3-1 lead. Brendan Kennedy and Lockwood scored to extend the lead to 5-1 after one quarter.
The Warriors (19-4) scored three goals in the first 3:39 of the second quarter to build an 8-1 lead.
Just when it appeared a rout was in progress, Catholic Central restored some drama to the game by scoring three times in a 43-second span to make it an 8-4 game with 7:23 left in the second.
The Warriors regrouped with goals by Pickens and Macko in the final 1:30 of the quarter to take a 10-4 lead into halftime.
"I don't think we were very worried," Chawla said. "Our guys had to settle down a bit. We know they play on streaks and emotion. Once our guys settled down, we got those two at the end of the half, which were huge goals for us. That took a bit of the momentum back."
Brother Rice had the only two goals of the third quarter, with Macko scoring with 9:48 left and North with 25.8 seconds to go.
North's third goal increased Brother Rice's advantage to 15-4 with 9:01 left in the fourth quarter, getting the lead within one goal of invoking a running clock. Mularoni ensured that wouldn't happen, scoring two goals 57 seconds apart to make it 15-6 with 6:57 left.
Goals by Pickens of Brother Rice and Zach Crawford of Catholic Central completed the scoring.
Catholic Central has lost to Brother Rice in the Finals five times and in the Semifinals once.
"We seemed to turn it over a lot against Rice," Shamrocks coach Dave Wilson said. "We know when we have the ball we're going to score; at least that's how we do against 99 percent of the other teams in the state of Michigan."
The Warriors' streak of dominance doesn't appear likely to end any time soon. They are set to return seven of their nine starters from the championship game, including Macko.
And there are always players who have yet to wear the Brother Rice uniform waiting in the wings, eager to carry on the tradition.
"If you come in and can play, you can play,” Lockwood said. “We have a lot of younger kids who are going to come up and keep getting better."
PHOTOS: (Top) Brother Rice’s Morgan Macko (13) drives on the net with a Detroit Catholic Central defender working to intercept. (Middle) Detroit Catholic Central’s Chris Clark looks upfield during Saturday’s Final.