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.)
Country Day Scores in Record-Setting Fashion to Claim 1st Title Since 2014
By
Drew Ellis
Special for MHSAA.com
June 8, 2024
ANN ARBOR – Heading into Saturday’s MHSAA Division 2 Final, Detroit Country Day coach Chris Garland attributed a lack of offense to why his Yellowjackets came up short in the 2022 and 2023 championship games.
That issue was corrected this time around.
Detroit Country Day put up the second-most goals in D2 Finals history, defeating Ada Forest Hills Eastern 18-7 to claim its first championship since 2014 and fourth overall.
“We have so many skilled players. We are a complete team with tremendous depth,” Garland said of the offense. “We just want to keep putting the ball in the hands of our offense. If you stop one of them, we have another guy that can come at you. We showed that (Saturday).”
One player that Forest Hills Eastern didn’t have an answer for was Country Day sophomore Keaton Yearego. He matched a MHSAA Finals record with six goals, three coming during a 5-0 rally in the second period that put the Yellowjackets ahead for good at 8-4.
“I have a lot of confidence in my team, and my coaches have a lot of confidence in me and allow me to play my game,” Yearego said. “I have some great senior attackmen around me that help me do my thing. Today was just my day.”
The Hawks (16-5) tried to set the tone early, posting the first two goals of the game when junior Jackson Arnold and senior Will Morgan each found the net during the opening minutes.
“I loved the energy. The boys came out to play right from the get-go,” Forest Hills Eastern coach Antonio Boggiano said. “We knew right away that we weren’t happy just getting to this moment. We actually wanted to compete for the championship.”
The Yellowjackets (19-2) didn’t let the early deficit affect them and answered with three straight goals, two coming from senior Oliver Aaron.
“We’ve faced that kind of challenge before. It’s nothing new for us. We’re a resilient team,” Aaron said. “When you have a strong bond with your teammates and can rely on them, you can bounce back from those slow starts.”
The Hawks answered with the last goal of the first period from junior Bradyn Campbell. Senior Preston Hoexum then found the net to open the second to put Forest Hills Eastern up 4-3.
That’s when Country Day got rolling offensively. The Jackets scored 14 of the next 16 goals over 26 minutes of play.
Most of the scores came unassisted, as the Yellowjackets won individual battles to get open looks at the net.
“We have a lot of offensive threats on our team, so if one way isn’t working, we know we have other options,” Yearego said. “We really just executed well and showcased how many different ways we can score. It was an unbelievable performance.”
The offensive dominance showed in a 49-22 shot advantage for Country Day. The score could have been even more in favor of DCD, but Hawks goalie Camden Klaes made 15 saves in net.
Morgan and Campbell both finished with two goals to lead Forest Hills Eastern, which made its first Finals appearance since 2021.
“I’m just proud of the boys, just for overall the season we have had,” Boggiano said. “We met in October and said right then and there that we were going for this ring. We came up a little bit short, but I’m just extremely proud of (the team). They overcame a lot of adversity.”
Aaron finished with four goals for Country Day to go with Yearego’s six. Preston Cook, Caden Daley and Rhys Kenney all found the net twice.
PHOTOS (Top) Country Day goalie Kellen Curby makes a save during Saturday’s Division 2 Final. (Middle) Country Day and Forest Hills Eastern players scramble for the ball. (Below) DCD’s Joe Norton (21) works to get into the open.