Seniors Lead Forest Hills Central Back to #1
June 8, 2019
By Jeff Bleiler
Special for Second Half
HOWELL – The Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central boys lacrosse seniors played in the Division 2 championship game all four years of their high school careers.
Safe to say, Saturday’s capper was tops.
Senior Tate Hallock scored five goals and assisted on four others, and fellow senior Luke Majick added five goals and three assists as the Rangers overwhelmed a young Ada Forest Hills Eastern squad 20-4 on Saturday at Parker Field in Howell.
The championship was the fourth in program history, joining one in 2016 when this year’s seniors were freshmen. The past two years, the Rangers fell short to East Grand Rapids – by two goals two years ago and by one in double overtime last year.
“It feels amazing,” Hallock said. “Obviously, sophomore and junior year we didn’t get it, and freshman year we got it but I wasn’t able to play. So just taking it all in, and it’s amazing that I finally played, got some goals and was able to contribute.”
The Rangers finished the year 22-1, their lone loss to Division 1 champion Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice. The Hawks went 16-7 in their first season under coach Zack Grusell, who served as an offensive coordinator for Central in 2015.
“It’s amazing,” Central coach Andy Shira said. “These guys, especially this group of seniors, I’ve been coaching since they were 11 years old. So to see them go out this way is truly special. It’s sad to see it end, but it’s ending in the best way possible for them.”
In six MHSAA Tournament games, Central held each opponent to five goals or fewer and never scored fewer than 17 goals.
“Our senior class has been here four years,” Hallock said. “Eastern is a great team, they’re young, they’ll be here the next couple years too against us probably. But yeah, we’ve been a powerhouse with our senior class.”
After a first quarter that saw both teams kind of feel each other out – despite being familiar with one another after a 17-4 Central victory over Eastern in April – the Rangers opened the scoring gates in the second quarter and never looked back. Sophomore Carson Deines and Hallock both scored in the opening quarter to give Central a 2-0 lead that grew to seven by the 4:28 mark of the second quarter. Majick scored goals 13 seconds apart in the second, and his third of the quarter put Central ahead 7-0.
Sam Bowen and Kaden Dietrich – two of eight sophomores in the Eastern starting lineup – put the Hawks on the board in the second quarter, which ended with Central going ahead 9-2 on a Hallock goal with 19 seconds to play.
Central outscored Eastern 11-2 in the second half, with a running clock for much of the fourth quarter. Senior Evan Matej finished with four goals and an assist, Deines had three goals and two assists, junior Jackson Clay had two goals and two assists and junior Hayden Sarjeant scored a goal for the Rangers.
The 16-goal margin of victory was the widest in a Division 2 Finals game, with the previous high being eight.
It didn’t help matters that Eastern was without sophomore John Morgan, who had a 120-point season end when he broke his foot in a Semifinal victory over East Grand Rapids. But Grusell wasn’t about to use that as an excuse.
“It’s been an awesome season,” he said. “We’re a young team, and it’s been phenomenal to see these guys get to where they are. We scheduled some of the toughest teams in the state of Michigan this year, and they kind of got punched in the mouth earlier this year and had to do a bit of growing up.
“I can’t give a big enough shout-out to seniors Patterson Alward, Brandon Pham, Isaac Wittlinger and all of our seniors, really. They built this program and got us here. We certainly plan on getting another shot at it, so we’ll try to get back here. It’s been one fun run.”
Bowen finished with two goals for Eastern, and sophomore Kevin Sprague scored the Hawks’ other goal.
Click for the full scoring summary.
PHOTOS: (Top) Forest Hills Central’s Jackson Clay (1) makes a move in front of Forest Hills Eastern’s goal during Saturday’s Division 2 Final. (Middle) Forest Hills Eastern’s David Charron (7) gets physical in the midfield.
DCC Starts Title Reign by Ending Rival Rice's
June 9, 2018
By Jason Schmitt
Special for Second Half
HOWELL - There was never a doubt in Joey Kamish’s mind.
Not when his team trailed by three goals midway through the fourth quarter. Not when his team still trailed after his goal cut the deficit to one.
And certainly not when his second straight tied the game, 10-10, with just under four minutes to play in the game.
“When this team gets momentum, there’s nothing that can stop us,” Kamish said. “Right after we scored a couple and everyone was getting hyped up and there was a lot of energy on the bench, I just knew this was going to be our first state championship.”
Kamish was right. Teammate Ethan Pattinson scored off a pass from Kamish with three minutes remaining, vaulting Detroit Catholic Central past Birmingham Brother Rice, 11-10, on Saturday in the Division 1 championship game at Parker Middle School in Howell.
The win by the Shamrocks snapped the Warriors’ incredible 13-year championship streak, which dated back to 2005, the first season the MHSAA began sponsoring a postseason tournament for the sport.
“I’ve been on the team for four years and I knew we were closing the gap,” said Catholic Central senior Pete Thompson, who had been part of the past three Shamrocks teams that had lost to the Warriors in the Division 1 title game. “In previous years, I felt like we were a bunch of individuals that were really good. But Brother Rice is such a great team, such a strong program, that you can’t beat them with a bunch of individuals. We all wanted this more than anything, any individual goals, and this was a culmination of a great team.”
The win was the Shamrocks’ third over Brother Rice (13-8) this season. They had beaten the Warriors, 10-9, during the regular season and again, 11-8, in the Catholic League championship game.
This one may have been the toughest victory yet for Catholic Central. The Shamrocks built early leads of 3-0 and 5-1 thanks to two first-period goals by Pattinson and two second-period goals by Kamish.
But Brother Rice did not fold. Three goals in a span of 1:58 by sophomore Jordan Hyde, junior Justin Glod and sophomore Pat O’Hara – followed by another goal from sophomore D.J. Dixon – knotted the game at 5-5 heading into halftime.
“We’ve battled all year,” Brother Rice coach Ajay Chawla said. “I’ve got to give it to the boys, they didn’t give up. They fought ‘til the end, and they gave it their all.”
Catholic Central built another two-goal lead early in the second half on goals by Kamish – who finished with five in all – and sophomore Ryan Sullivan. But Rice went on a run, scoring the next five goals to take a 10-7 lead. Dixon and O’Hara had two goals each.
In the end, however, the top-ranked Shamrocks (19-2) had just enough to capture the school’s first MHSAA lacrosse championship.
“Any coach will tell you that lacrosse is a game of runs and they went on their run, and we always know we have to weather their storm and we’ll get one,” Catholic Central coach Dave Wilson said. “We have a very deadly offense, and they just need the ball. Once we could get the ball a bit, we know it’s going to make its way into the back of the net.”
Brother Rice’s 13 title game wins had come against DCC, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern, Ann Arbor Pioneer and Detroit U-D Jesuit, frequently by lopsided scores. But in recent years, Catholic Central had closed that gap.
Last year, Brother Rice edged the Shamrocks, 8-7, in the title game.
“A streak is not going to last forever,” Chawla said. “These guys worked their butts off all year, and we just didn’t have it when we needed it. It’s what happens when you don’t play a complete game.
“You’ve got to hand it to (Catholic Central), their big players, Kamish, Thompson and Pattinson, they stepped up when they needed to at the end of the game. Coach Wilson coached a good team this year. Hats off to them.”
For Wilson, whose program was 0-7 against Brother Rice in MHSAA championship games, Saturday’s victory was very special.
“It’s a bit of relief, but it just feels great to see the fruition of a lot of hard work come together,” Wilson said. “People always go through the perfect storm, ‘What do you want to do, who do you want to play?’ We don’t care who we play; we just want to win a state championship.
“But it feels good to beat Rice.”
Click for the full scoring summary.
VIDEO: Ethan Pattinson scores the game-winner for Catholic Central.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Catholic Central raises a boys lacrosse championship trophy for the first time Saturday. (Middle) The Shamrocks defend a shot by Brother Rice.
/**/