Finals Preview: Champs Again Favorites
June 7, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Michigan has known only one MHSAA Division 1 boys lacrosse champion, Birmingham Brother Rice. And Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central is the Division 2 power of late, with two titles in three seasons and the possibility of adding another this weekend.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern will attempt to break the Warriors' eight-season championship in the Division 1 Final at East Grand Rapids. And Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood should provide a formidable foe to Forest Hills Central as it looks to avenge a regular-season finale loss to the Rangers.
The Division 1 Final begins at 2 p.m., followed by the Division 2 Final at 4:30. Click for more information including all results from this season's tournament. Both finals also will be streamed live on MHSAA.tv and broadcast on MHSAANetwork.com, and shown next week on Comcast.
Here's a brief look at the four teams vying for titles (player statistics do not include Semifinals):
Division 1
BIRMINGHAM BROTHER RICE
Record/rank: 17-5, No. 1 at end of regular season
League finish: First in Detroit Catholic High School League Division I
Coach: Rob Ambrose, 20th season (373-45)
Championship history: Eight MHSAA championships (most recent 2012).
Best wins: 19-0 over No. 4 Detroit U-D Jesuit, 14-13 and 16-10 over No. 3 Detroit Catholic Central, 22-9 over No. 2 Clarkston in Semifinal, 13-5 over Division 2 No. 1 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central.
Players to watch: J.P. Forester, sr. A (66 goals, 19 assists); Graham Macko, sr. A (45 goals, 17 assists); Sergio Perkovic, sr. A/M (49 goals, 26 assists), Jason Alessi, jr. A/M (30 goals, 47 assists).
Outlook: Brother Rice has won all eight titles since the MHSAA began sponsoring boys lacrosse and had only one scare, against rival DCC, in-state this season. The Warriors finished 3-5 against out-of-state competition facing top teams from Ohio, Indiana and Ontario.
GRAND RAPIDS FOREST HILLS NORTHERN/EASTERN
Record/rank: 15-7, No. 6 at end of regular season
League finish: Third in O-K Conference Tier 1
Coach: Mark Lardieri, first season (15-7)
Championship history: Division 1 runner-up in 2011.
Best wins: 10-8 over No. 7 Grand Haven, 14-8 over No. 8 Holland West Ottawa, 13-11 over No. 4 Detroit U-D Jesuit in Regional Final, 11-10 (OT) over No. 5 South Lyon in Semifinal.
Players to watch: Bobby Pelton, soph. M; Connor Sullivan, sr. A/M; Bennett Dipzinski, sr. D. (Statistics not submitted.)
Outlook: Northern/Eastern closed with two losses (including one to Division 2 finalist Cranbrook-Kingswood), but has advanced with three straight wins of two or fewer goals. Northern/Eastern also avenged two of its regular-season losses – coming back to beat both West Ottawa and Division 2 No. 4 East Grand Rapids in their second meetings.
Division 2
BLOOMFIELD HILLS CRANBROOK-KINGSWOOD
Record/rank: 16-6, No. 2 at end of regular season
League finish: Second in Detroit Catholic High School League Division II
Coach: Mat Wilson, second season (31-13)
Championship history: Division 2 champion 2006, runner-up 2007.
Best wins: 16-8 over No. 9 Warren DeLaSalle, 10-8 and 8-6 (Semifinal) over No. 4 East Grand Rapids, 13-10 over No. 3 Pontiac Notre Dame Prep (Regional Final), 17-5 over Division 1 No. 9 Brighton, 13-8 over Division 1 No. 6 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern.
Players to watch: Matthew Giampetroni, sr. M (67 goals, 38 assists); Taylor Ghesquiere, jr. A (54 goals, 15 assists); Johnny Wagner, soph. A (50 goals, 23 assists), Michael Langdon, soph. D.
Outlook: Half of Cranbrook-Kingswood’s losses came against top-four Division 1 teams, and another was against Norte Dame Prep – a loss the Cranes then avenged in the Regional. They’ll try to do the same now against Forest Hills Central, which beat Cranbrook-Kingswood 15-5 in the regular-season finale.
GRAND RAPIDS FOREST HILLS CENTRAL
Record/rank: 17-3, No.1 at end of regular season
League finish: First in O-K Conference Tier 1
Coach: Tony Quinn, seventh season (115-31)
Championship history: Division 2 champions 2012, 2010; runner-up 2008.
Best wins: 17-2 over No. 9 Warren DeLaSalle, 15-5 over No. 2 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood, 22-2 over No. 10 Portage Central in Regional Semifinal, 17-4 over No. 8 Haslett/Williamston in Regional Final, 11-8 over No. 5 Detroit Country Day in Semifinal.
Players to watch: Neil Cunningham, sr. A (39 goals, 19 assists); Andrew Kransberger, jr. A (63 goals, 52 assists); Luke Gerard, sr. A (42 goals, 24 assists); Chris Bosscher, sr. D (44 ground balls).
Outlook: In addition to beating half the top 10 in Division 2, Forest Hills Central also owns five wins over teams ranked in Division 1 at the end of the regular season – including two over Division 1 finalist Forest Hills Northern/Eastern. Those few losses came against No. 4 East Grand Rapids, Division 1 No. 1 Brother Rice and Indiana power Culver Academy. The Rangers have won 12 straight.
PHOTO: Forest Hills Central's Neil Cunningham (left) looks to pass to a teammate during last season's Division 2 Final. He'll be among key players as his team plays for a repeat championship Saturday.
Lockwood's OT Winner Locks Up Hartland's 1st Finals Title in Epic Fashion
By
Perry A. Farrell
Special for MHSAA.com
June 11, 2022
HOWELL – With 12 minutes to play Saturday, Hartland (19-4) could see the finish line with a two-goal lead against Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, the dynasty in Division 1 lacrosse.
Rice rallied to tie the game at 10-10. The game eventually went into overtime, when Hartland became the first non-Detroit Catholic League team to earn the Division 1 title on Bo Lockwood’s goal to pull out a dramatic 11-10 victory at Parker Middle School Stadium.
“I don’t know if I’ll go to sleep tonight,’’ said Lockwood. “I have been dreaming of this my whole life. Glory to God. I’m just so grateful.
“On my goal it was a great pick by Mac Tognetti. They had been playing well on me the whole game. I got an opportunity, and I buried it.’’
Hartland was attempting to avenge last year’s 14-9 Division 1 loss in the championship game. Rice had won 15 of the 16 title games played in Division 1, succumbing only to Catholic League rival Detroit Catholic Central 11-10 in 2018.
Rice (15-7) had won this spring’s regular-season game against Hartland 15-11.
“They worked their butts off,’’ Rice coach Ajay Chawla said. “Hartland got the last goal today. I thought it was a pretty even game, back-and-forth. We had many opportunities at the end to win. We couldn’t convert at the end. We took a bad shot. We’re a young squad. We made a number of mistakes. It’s sad for our seniors. We’re going to be a force to be reckoned with next year.’’
For now, it was Nick Levanti’s team’s time to celebrate.
“The opponent isn’t as much to us game in, game out,’’ the Hartland coach said. “Obviously they are a great team. An historic program in Michigan. We looked at the game as focusing on what we could control. We were making some mental mistakes, but our confidence was high.
“Bo has done stuff like that since I met him as a freshman back in 2019. That’s just every day for Bo Lockwood.’’
Hartland dominated the offensive end for the first seven minutes and finally hit pay dirt when Lockwood scored to give the Eagles the first score. The lead didn’t last long as Rice’s Cashton Papadelis scored seconds later to tie the game, 1-1.
Ryan Krause responded for Hartland to put the Eagles up 2-1. He finished with three goals.
Rice junior Will VanLear tied the score near the end of the first quarter, but Krause countered with his second goal to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead. Teammate John Weber added another, and Joey Mattord opened up a three-goal advantage for Hartland, 5-2 with 10:45 to go in the first half.
Christian McNulty ended the Rice scoring drought with a goal to trim the deficit to 5-3, and Papadelis scored his second to get Rice within a goal with 3:08 left in the half. But Tognetti ended it on a high note for the Eagles, scoring just before the buzzer to give Hartland a 6-4 halftime advantage.
Rice (15-6) got an immediate third-quarter spark from Luke Washe, who scored his first goal of the championship to trim the deficit to 6-5. Rice erased the deficit completely when Sam Klein tied the score at 6-6. With momentum clearly on the reigning champs’ side, Papadelis scored his third goal to give Rice its first lead at 7-6 with 8:32 to play in the period.
Krause delivered his third goal for Hartland to tie the score, 7-7. Dylan Ayotte regained the lead for the Eagles with a goal to make it 8-7 with 5:12 still to play in the third.
Klein scored his second goal to tie the game 8-8. Drew Lockwood regained the advantage for Hartland with a goal with 2:38 left in the third. Brother Bo Lockwood followed suit 30 seconds later to give Hartland a two-goal lead.
McNulty scored with a little more than eight minutes left to cut the Rice deficit to 10-9. With 3:55 left in regulation, Sam Klein scored his third goal to tie the game 10-10.
The next goal was Lockwood’s overtime winner. Lockwood also finished with four assists, and Hartland finished the season 18-4.
“I dreamt of this my who whole life,’’ said Krause. “It’s nice to finally see it pay off.’’
PHOTOS (Top) Hartland’s Drew Lockwood (7) defends as Brother Rice’s Ben Eck (1) considers his options Saturday. (Middle) A Hartland player makes his move. (Click to see more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)