Finals Preview: Champs Again Favorites

Boys Lacrosse

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, 20^th 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.

Highlight Reel: Boys Lacrosse Regionals

May 27, 2015

By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director

The Haslett/Williamston and Okemos boys lacrosse teams combined for 33 goals in winning Division 2 Regional Semifinals on Tuesday on the Chieftains’ home field.

Both games were produced for MHSAA.tv by School Broadcast Program member Haslett High School – and a collection of highlights from both are below. Click on the headings for each to watch.

Haslett/Williamston 13, DeWitt 11

Lemanski Spins & Scores Haslett/Williamston cut the DeWitt lead to 3-2 on this second-period goal by Grant Lemanski. The Vikings, which dropped its other two meetings to DeWitt this season by a single goal each time, rallied to win Regional Semifinal, 13-11.

Four-Goal Run for Haslett Haslett/Williamston reeled off four unanswered goals in the second quarter. Here's the fourth tally as Tucker Virkus scores off a pass from Grant Lemanski.

Salisbury Scores Off Steal DeWitt cut the Haslett-Williamston lead to 5-4 by halftime after Christopher Salisbury scored after stealing a pass.

Metevier's Second Goal Jack Metevier ties the game for DeWitt in the third quarter with his second goal of the contest.

DeWitt Goes Up By Three After Three In the closing moments of the third quarter Beau Yabs scores for DeWitt, part of a four-goal run that gave the Panthers a 9-6 lead.

Lounds At Point-Blank Range Haslett/Williamston rallied in the fourth period. Here, Eric Lounds scores for the Vikings from close range to cut the DeWitt lead to one.

Lounds For The Lead Eric Lounds scored what proved to be the game-winner for Haslett/Williamston with just under three minutes to play and the Vikings holding a man advantage.

Lounds Again! Eric Lounds caps the scoring for Haslett/Williamston with his third goal, with about 90 seconds left.

Watch the entire game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.

Okemos 20, Portage Northern 4

How Quick? How About 8 Seconds Off the game's opening draw, Okemos' Bennett Sherman gets the Chiefs on the board against Portage Northern.

Northern Gets On The Board Portage Northern gets its first goal from Matty Seiferlein, with the assist going to Chace Quezada.

Sherman Fast Break Goal Okemos goes down the field quickly to get Bennett Sherman his fourth goal of the game midway through the first period.

Northern's Chace Scores Portage Northern cuts the Okemos lead on this nice goal by Chace Quezada.

Stakey Scores For Okemos Anders Stakey gets a ground ball in front of the net and scores for Okemos late in the first period against Portage Northern.

Jamison On Second Try After his first shot was deflected away, Cole Jamison gets another chance and scores for Okemos.

Duren Scores Man Down Playing a man down in the final minute of the half, Okemos scores in transition with Joshua Duren getting the goal.

Give The Goal Scorer A Hug Portage Northern gets a nice goal from Joey Leona in the third quarter against Okemos, and the goal scorer gets a hug from the coach coming back to the bench.

Kalleward Scores Northern's Final Goal Portage Northern got its last goal of the game at the end of a man-up situation, with Camden Kalleward getting the tally.