Preview: Repeat Rematches Reign
June 8, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
There’s little question which teams have been the best in Michigan boys lacrosse the last few seasons.
For the third straight, the MHSAA Finals will feature rematches of Detroit Catholic League rivals Detroit Catholic Central and Birmingham Brother Rice in Division 1 and Ottawa-Kent Conference opponents East Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central in Division 2.
The Division 2 game leads off this year’s series at 2 p.m. Saturday, followed by the Division 1 game at 4:30. Both Finals at Howell’s Parker Middle School will be broadcast on MHSAA.tv, available with subscription, with audio available on MHSAANetwork.com. Click for more information, including all tournament results.
Below is a look at all four contenders, with player statistics through Regional Finals.
Division 1
BIRMINGHAM BROTHER RICE
Record/rank: 13-7, No. 4 at end of regular-season
League finish: Second in Detroit Catholic High School League A
Coach: Ajay Chawla, fifth season (86-20)
Championship history: 13 MHSAA championships (most recent 2017).
Best wins: 10-4 over No. 7 Bloomfield Hills in Semifinal, 7-6 and 9-5 over Division 2 No. 6 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 14-5 over Division 2 No. 10 Orchard Lake St. Mary’s.
Players to watch: Justin Glod, jr. A (22 goals, 5 assists); Jordan Hyde, soph. M (17 goals, 11 assists); Patrick O’Hara, soph. M/A (26 goals, 15 assists); Jack Michael, sr. G (7.9 goals-against average).
Outlook: By Brother Rice standards, this season is a little down – the Warriors have lost games to two in-state opponents when they rarely lose to any Michigan teams. And that said, they’re still headed to the championship game looking to remain the only Division 1 title winner in MHSAA boys lacrosse history. Rice has given up double-digit goals in only five games and a combined 20 goals over five playoff games. Juniors James Donaldson and Jack Crosby and senior Connor Marsh all earned all-state recognition on “special teams” last season. Junior Charlie Comer is another scoring threat, with 17 goals entering this week.
DETROIT CATHOLIC CENTRAL
Record/rank: 18-2, No. 1 at end of regular season
League finish: First in Detroit Catholic High School League A
Coach: Dave Wilson, 13th season (182-79)
Championship history: Division 1 runner-up seven times (most recent 2017).
Best wins: 10-9 and 11-8 over No. 4 Birmingham Brother Rice, 13-12 over No. 2 Hartland in Semifinal, 20-9 over No. 9 Rockford, 17-8 over No. 6 South Lyon Unified in Regional Final, 19-18 over Division 2 No. 1 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, 10-4 over Division 2 No. 2 East Grand Rapids.
Players to watch: Peter Thompson, sr. A; Joey Kamish, jr. A; Patrick Brandemihl, sr. M; Ethan Pattinson, sr. M. (Statistics not submitted.)
Outlook: DCC broke through against rival Brother Rice during the regular season and now will look to claim its first Division 1 championship in its fifth straight title game try against the Warriors. The Shamrocks have beaten most of the best in Michigan, with both losses to out-of-state opponents. Thompson was a repeat all-state first-teamer last season and Kamish made the second team. Like Brother Rice, only five opponents have scored double-digit goals on DCC this spring.
Division 2
EAST GRAND RAPIDS
Record/rank: 17-4, No. 2 at end of regular season
League finish: Second in O-K Conference Tier 1
Coach: Rick DeBlasio, sixth season (91-30)
Championship history: Four MHSAA titles (most recent 2017), four runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 16-3 over No. 9 Grosse Pointe North in Semifinal, 16-2 (Regional Final) and 14-11 over No. 7 Ada Forest Hills Eastern, 15-3 over No. 6 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 14-5 over Division 2 No. 10 Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, 17-6 over No. 3 Vicksburg, 16-8 over Division 1 No. 5 Brighton, 10-3 over Division 1 No. 9 Rockford, 12-2 over Division 1 No. 8 Lake Orion.
Players to watch: Nick Milanowski, sr G (5.10 goals-against average), Eric Solberg, sr. A (63 goals, 11 assists); Chris Owens, sr. A (66 goals, 27 assists), Jay Stecco, jr. A (23 goals, 62 assists).
Outlook: After falling to Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central in the 2016 Final, East Grand Rapids won last year’s championship rematch 11-9 to claim its first title since 2009. The Pioneers fell to FHC in their meeting earlier this season and will be playing from a bit of an underdog role again – but with a two-time all-state first team goalie in Milanowski and plenty of scoring prowess. Seniors Jack DelVecchio (31 goals) and Connor Davis (22 goals) also are among nine players who had tallied double-digit goals this season heading into this week. Senior Drew Thomas was a first-team all-state defender last season.
GRAND RAPIDS FOREST HILLS CENTRAL
Record/rank: 18-1, No. 1 at end of regular season
League finish: First in Ottawa-Kent Conference Tier 1
Coach: Andy Shira, first season (18-1)
Championship history: Three MHSAA titles (most recent 2016), three runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 19-3 over No. 10 Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in Semifinal, 25-12 over No. 3 Vicksburg in Regional Final, 15-11 over No. 6 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 20-8 over No. 7 Ada Forest Hills Eastern, 14-7 over No. 2 East Grand Rapids, 16-4 and 19-7 over Division 1 No. 9 Rockford, 12-5 over Division 1 No. 4 Birmingham Brother Rice.
Players to watch: Bryce Clay, sr. A (83 goals, 52 assists); Tate Hallock, jr. A (57 goals, 34 assists); Tobey Hendricks, sr. A (51 goals, 21 assists); Jack Nolan, jr. G (8.00 goals-against average).
Outlook: Shira was the team’s second new coach in two seasons but has Forest Hills Central back in the championship game for the third straight. Clay is one of the state’s top players, a multiple-time all-state first-teamer, and will look to end his career with another high note. Senior defender Andrew Trapp and senior midfielder Patrick English made the all-state first and second teams, respectively, last season, although English (16 goals, 14 assists) had played in only 13 games entering the week and isn’t listed in the starting lineup. Junior Luke Majick added another 45 goals and 25 assists entering this week, and junior Logan Wedder is a top face-off specialist.
PHOTO: Forest Hills Central’s Patrick English (32) launches a shot during last season’s Division 1 Final.
Margin Smaller, but Rice Streak Lives On
June 11, 2016
By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half
HOWELL — Ideally, the morning of a championship game arrives with as little stress as possible.
But junior Nick Dudley didn't catch a break with the timing of two important events in his life.
On the day that he took the field in the MHSAA Division 1 lacrosse championship game, he had to get up early and take the ACT test at Royal Oak Shrine High School.
"I think I did pretty well," said Dudley, who cites English as his strongest subject.
He will find out for sure soon enough.
But there is no disputing his performance on the lacrosse field later in the day.
Dudley completed his test at noon, was on the team bus to Howell at 1 p.m. and scored four goals for Birmingham Brother Rice in a 10-8 victory over rival Detroit Catholic Central on Saturday at Parker Middle School.
It was Dudley's first championship as a participating player, after being brought up to the varsity for last year's tournament. It was the 12th for Brother Rice in as many MHSAA tournaments. Only East Grand Rapids' boys swimming and diving team (15 straight in Class B-C-D from 1948-62) and Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett's boys tennis team (13 straight in Class C from 1972-84) have won more consecutive MHSAA titles.
"There's pressure every single day," said senior Morgan Macko, who made huge contributions in Rice's last three championship victories. "We don't want to break the chain."
"Going into my senior year, there's pressure, but you've got to overcome it and keep going," Dudley said.
Chances are, Catholic Central will have a say in whether or not Rice's championship streak reaches 13.
The Shamrocks (17-5) have lost to Rice in the last three Division 1 championship games, and are 0-6 all-time against the Warriors in the Final.
Catholic Central was blown out 23-7 in 2014 and 16-7 in 2015. Rice's average margin of victory in the previous six MHSAA Finals was 8.7 goals.
"I will say, from our perspective, it's not a matter of if, it's just a matter of when," 11th-year Shamrocks coach Dave Wilson said. "We feel confident in that. We are working very hard. My hat's off to Brother Rice. They played a phenomenal game. They're a fantastic team, but we will carry on."
The only Michigan team to beat Brother Rice since the MHSAA began sponsoring lacrosse in 2005 was Detroit Country Day, which won 8-7 in overtime in a regular-season game on April 16, 2014. The Warriors are 174-1 against in-state teams during that span, including 59-0 during MHSAA tournament games.
Few of those 59 victories were as tightly contested as Saturday's.
"It speaks to the expansion of lacrosse across Michigan," Macko said. "It's great for everyone. It's definitely a little more stressful, but that's what makes it fun. You can't complain about a game like this. Everyone likes to see a game like that. It's awesome winning by so much, but it's great for everyone when it's a close game."
Catholic Central, which lost 11-5 and 14-7 to Brother Rice during the regular season, established an early tone by scoring the first goal on a shot by sophomore Peter Thompson with 7:11 left in the first quarter. It was the only lead the Shamrocks would possess, but the score was tied five times and the margin was one goal or less for the first 29 minutes of the game.
Thompson finished with four goals.
"You want to feed the guy that's hungry and the ball's going in the net," Wilson said. "If we had more opportunities to get him the ball, we could've done a little more."
While Dudley and Thompson filled the net, the goal-scoring stars from last year's Division 1 Final performed admirably as set-up men.
Macko, whose 11 goals over the last two MHSAA Finals are a two-game record, had one goal and four assists for Rice (20-2). Catholic Central's Rocco Mularoni, who scored five goals in last year's Final, had no goals and three assists.
"The past two state championship games, there wasn't much individual effort on those goals," Macko said. "It was all teammates setting me up. I was in the right place at the right time. That really benefitted me. Today, it was Nick Dudley in the right place at the right time. That was huge for us."
The Macko-to-Dudley combination struck for back-to-back goals after Catholic Central's Collin Burgin tied it 5-5 just 33 seconds into the third quarter.
Dudley scored two goals one minute apart off passes by Macko to make it 7-5 with 6:53 left in the third for the first two-goal lead of the game.
"His vision is amazing," Dudley said of Macko. "It was him."
The Warriors broke it open to 8-5 on Ryan Scott's second goal of the game with 5:38 left in the third.
The Shamrocks weren't ready to concede another championship to Rice, however, getting within 8-7 with 3:52 left in the third on goals by Brennan Kamish and Thompson just 28 seconds apart.
Macko's only goal, on a patient individual effort around the net, made it 9-7 heading into the final quarter.
Cole Hyde re-established a three-goal lead for Rice with 7:41 remaining. Kamish's second goal got Catholic Central within 10-8 with 4:33 left. Mularoni rang a shot off the post with 3:03 left and Thompson had a shot stopped by goalie Teddy Lievois with 2:23 to go.
Rice was able to milk the clock down to 30 seconds following that save, leaving the Shamrocks no time for a comeback.
"They came in, they were inspired," Rice coach Ajay Chawla said. "We fought hard. CC's going to play hard against Rice every time they come in. We expected it. Coach Wilson did a nice job getting those guys ready. At the end of the day, we knew we were going to have a dogfight on our hands. The nice thing is we've played tough teams this year. We've been in these situations. Our guys were able to pull it out."
Lievois finished with eight saves. Catholic Central's Hunter Braun made 13.
PHOTOS: (Top) Brother Rice's Morgan Macko (13) works to stuff a shot past the Detroit Catholic Central defense. (Middle) Jack O'Hara gathers a ground ball for the Warriors.