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.

Highlight Reel: 2017 Lacrosse Finals

June 12, 2017

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director

For the first time in the history of the MHSAA Lacrosse Tournament on Saturday, all four finalists for both girls and boys from the previous year returned to square off in championship game rematches, with two teams continuing their winning ways. 

Here are highlights from Saturday’s action from MHSAA.tv. (Click on the final score to watch the entire game.)

Girls Division 1

Rockford 17, Birmingham 7

Hammer Time - Maggie Hammer led Rockford's effort in the Division 1 Final with five goals, four in the first half, including this shot from a low angle.

Bright Spot For Birmingham - Meryl Feys had four goals to lead Birmingham in the Division 1 Final against Rockford, including this one off a first quarter restart.

Girls Division 2

Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood 17, East Grand Rapids 16 (OT)

Pioneers Force Sudden Victory - East Grand Rapids forced the Division 2 Final into the first sudden victory championship game in MHSAA Girls Lacrosse history with about 90 seconds to play in overtime when Lindsay Duca put the ball out in front for Emily Roth to score.

End to End – Stuff to Score - The game-winning sequence for Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood against East Grand Rapids begins with junior goalie Brigitte Ballard coming up with a big save. The ball goes ahead to junior midfielder Angelina Wiater, who makes a 75-yard run downfield to wrap around the goal and score the Division 2 game winner.

Boys Division 1

Birmingham Brother Rice 8, Detroit Catholic Central 6

Shamrocks Storm Into The Lead - Detroit Catholic Central scored three straight goals to begin the second half in the Division 1 Final against Birmingham Brother Rice, including two by Brennan Kamish.

Mr. Big Shot Wins It For Rice - The only goal of the fourth quarter was the fourth goal of the game for Cameron Gould of Birmingham Brother Rice, who gave his Warriors the lead and another MHSAA Division 1 boys lacrosse title.

Boys Division 2

East Grand Rapids 11, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central 9

The Beast For East - Hub Hejna scored four times for East Grand Rapids in its 11-9 Division 2 Final win over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central. He tallied two goals in the first quarter after the Rangers got out to a 2-0 lead, the second of those coming on this wrap with a minute to play.

What A Day For Clay - Bryce Clay had a five-goal day for Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central against East Grand Rapids in the Division 2 Final. He gave his team a 2-0 lead in the first quarter with this shot from midfield.

PHOTO: Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood celebrates its first girls lacrosse championship Saturday at Brighton High School.