Senior-Led Forest Hills Central Completes Historic Championship Repeat
By
Drew Ellis
Special for MHSAA.com
June 10, 2023
EAST GRAND RAPIDS – Repeating as Division 2 boys lacrosse champion has been no easy task.
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central had missed doing so on four previous attempts.
But Saturday, the Rangers became just the second program in MHSAA history to repeat, defeating Detroit Country Day for the second consecutive year in the Final, 11-6.
“It’s really special (to repeat). We’ve had a couple opportunities to do that before and unfortunately haven’t been able to piece that together,” Forest Hills Central coach Andy Shira said. “This year, our seniors really took a step forward with how they lead and what it was going to take to get there. We had such a fantastic season last year, and we put them to the test this year. They met the challenge each and every day. We had some ups and downs, but the kids really stayed true to themselves and we came out on top.”
East Grand Rapids is the only other program to win consecutive D2 championships, when it won three straight from 2007-09. This year’s Finals was held at East Grand Rapids High School for the first time since 2013, giving the Rangers a hometown feel Saturday.
But Detroit Country Day (19-3) couldn’t have asked for much of a better start.
The Yellowjackets opened by scoring the first three goals when Mason Gal, Bonner Upshaw and Will Thompson each found the net over the first nine minutes of play.
Shira called a timeout to regroup the Rangers (18-4), and the game was never the same.
“We just needed the kids to settle down and execute better,” Shira said. “We had a little too much going on; we were a little frantic. So, once we settled down and the kids got to work, everything started to work in our favor.”
Forest Hills Central would lock in defensively, holding DCD to just one goal over the final 15 minutes of the first half.
While the defense was in control, the FHC offense rallied behind Magnus Salmon, who scored four times in the second period to lift the Rangers to a 6-4 halftime lead.
“Magnus Salmon was the difference in my mind,” Detroit Country Day coach Chris Garland said. “Bang, bang, bang. He gets three straight goals in the second and really carried the team on his back there. That was the big momentum shift in the game.”
In the second half, it was Jonah McConnell who had the hot stick. He found the net three times during the half and four times in the game to keep DCD from getting within reach.
Forest Hills Central goalie Crandall Quinn put on a dominant final three quarters of play, holding the Yellowjackets to three goals while making nine saves in net.
“It’s amazing. It’s great to be back-to-back state champs and win it in my senior year with all my buddies,” Quinn said. “We lost to (Country Day) earlier in the year, and it was great to see us bounce back.”
On the other side of the field, Country Day goalie Kellen Curby also had a strong showing, recording 13 saves for the Yellowjackets.
“Crandall Quinn is the best goalie in the state, but I think Kellen Curby is the next great goalie in Division 2,” Garland said. “He was outstanding in spots today and played an outstanding game.”
Caden Daley had two goals to lead Country Day on the night.
PHOTOS (Top) Forest Hills Central’s Crandall Quinn (4) advances the ball during his team’s Division 2 championship win Saturday. (Middle) FHC’s Magnus Salmon (3) works a shot between Country Day’s Hugh Aaron (17) and Shafeek Halabi (11). (Below) Oliver Aaron (10) rushes upfield with Collin Webb (7) defending. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
'Dogs' Eat, East Grand Rapids Wins in D2
June 10, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
HOWELL – If the “dog’s gotta eat,” as the expression goes, consider Hub Hejna permanently satisfied with the final feast of his high school lacrosse career.
East Grand Rapids senior attacks Hejna, Ben Keller and Luke Elder earned the nickname “dogs” from coach Rick DeBlasio earlier this season. And if there ever was a time to feed, Saturday’s Division 2 Final fit the bill.
The dogs combined to score eight goals, with Hejna’s last coming with two minutes to play as rival Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central was on a three-goal run. That last score ended up a little more insurance as the Pioneers closed out an 11-9 win and first MHSAA title in this sport since 2009 after finishing runner-up to the Rangers a year ago.
“It’s just part of the system,” Hejna said. “He came to calling us that, and whoever can get it done, just put it in the back of the net.
“It’s kinda goofy. But when a guy like that says something, you just roll with it, see where it goes.”
It went a lot farther than the last day of the season a year ago, when the Pioneers scored only six goals to Forest Hills Central’s 10 – although of those six, Hejna, Keller and Elder combined for five.
This season, entering this week, the trio had scored a combined 184 goals over 17 games. In Saturday’s Final, Hejna scored the team’s first two and four total, while Keller had three and Elder added one.
Forest Hills Central actually opened a 2-0 lead before Hejna’s two goals over the final 2:36 of the first quarter and Keller’s two over the first six minutes of the second gave East Grand Rapids a 4-2 lead that it never would relinquish, although the Rangers pulled within a goal three times.
But unlike in Wednesday's overtime Semifinal win over Detroit Country Day in which it trailed by four at one point, Forest Hills Central fell just short of turning the tide.
“We’re blessed this year with probably the three best attack guys in the state, as a group,” DeBlasio said. “There are other kids like Bryce (Clay of FHC) who are excellent. (But) when you put them all together, our three, we call them the dogs. And our whole attitude is just feed the dogs and make sure we enable them to go.”
East Grand Rapids had avenged last season’s championship game loss to Forest Hills Central with 15-13 and 16-9 wins this spring in finishing first just ahead of the Rangers in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Tier 1 standings.
But that didn’t mean the Pioneers (18-1) went into Saturday overconfident – not against an opponent they knew so well.
In fact, East Grand Rapids’ 11 goals were its second fewest this season. Forest Hills Central’s eight also were its second fewest.
Clay scored five of those goals, tying for fourth most in championship game history. Junior Patrick English added two.
Junior Eric Solberg added a pair of goals for the Pioneers.
“We had to play flawlessly to beat them, and obviously we got down in a position early that we didn’t want to be in,” FHC coach Patrick Clay said. “But given the situation from Wednesday we felt we could keep believing and we came up just a little short today.
“We talked about opportunity. Today we put ourselves in an opportunity to win.”
Forest Hills Central finished 15-7 this spring. East Grand Rapids’ lone loss came by a goal to Division 1 semifinalist Rockford. The Pioneers also earned a two-goal win early over eventual Division 1 runner-up Detroit Catholic Central.
Click for the full scoring summary.
PHOTOS: (Top) East Grand Rapids’ goalie Nick Milanowski reaches for a shot during Saturday’s Division 1 Final. (Middle) Forest Hills Central’s Luke Majick advances the ball.