Tecumseh Thankful for Day to Remember
June 3, 2019
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
TECUMSEH – Baseball’s loss was lacrosse’s gain.
Dylan Day was in the fifth grade and playing Little League baseball in Tecumseh when he earned a spot on the district all-star team. Because he wasn’t a resident of Tecumseh, however, he wasn’t eligible to play for the squad.
“I was already starting to like lacrosse,” said Day. “In school, the varsity kids came down to our school and gave us a clinic on lacrosse. It looked like something I’d be interested in. I decided to give it a try.”
That lesson must have been a good one. It eventually led to a tremendous four-year run for the Tecumseh team and a phenomenal individual career for its leader.
Day is a multiple-sport athlete who completed his four-year career last week as Michigan’s second all-time leading scorer in lacrosse with nearly 500 career points. Last fall he rushed for 1,020 yards and passed for 1,037 more for the Indians’ football team, earning all-Southeastern Conference honors and receiving all-state mention from some postseason teams. He had more than 3,200 career offensive yards in football.
Despite hearing from Tecumseh’s football coaches that he might have a future playing college football, the 6-foot, 175-pound Day has long been dreaming of playing college lacrosse. He started playing the sport year-round before middle school. During the summer he would sometimes go from a full day of lacrosse to football workouts. He joined a traveling lacrosse team early on and has been playing across the country now for several years.
“I think the sport just fits my style,” he said. “I like to be active, run around and I like to hit. It’s the sport that I definitely have the most fun playing.”
Day was an instant success in lacrosse.
As a freshman, he scored 65 goals and had 27 assists, earning all-SEC and honorable mention all-state honors for the 14-3 Indians. After that season, he made the Under Armour All-American Midwest Uncommitted Team, a national traveling team that competed in a high-level tournament in Baltimore.
“He was a leader since the day he stepped on our practice field by challenging other teammates to elevate their game and speed,” Tecumseh lacrosse coach Steve Ayre said.
In 10th grade, he scored 83 goals and had 45 assists, with an 11-point game against Saline. As a junior, he surpassed the previous MHSAA record for goals in a season with 104 and had 59 assists. The Indians went 20-1 and won a Regional championship – and fittingly Day scored the game-winning goal in overtime.
“I didn’t care that I scored the goal as much as I cared about winning the championship,” he said. “It was a dogpile, everyone was jumping on. It was great.”
Another thing that made his junior season one to remember was he was able to share it with his younger brother Blake who also played on the team.
“We are brothers, so we argue, but it was pretty cool to play alongside of him, too,” he said.
This season, Day was as good as ever, scoring 52 goals and getting 52 assists. He finished his career with 304 goals, 183 assists and 417 ground balls.
“Dylan has always shown great athleticism, but his tempo of play and fearlessness set him aside from other athletes,” Ayre said.
Although he spent most of his career as an attack, he also played some midfield. “I think the coaches recognized I was good at scoring goals, so they put me in the attack spot,” he said.
In November, Day committed to the University of Indianapolis to play lacrosse. It’s a NCAA Division II program that is relatively new but has enjoyed a lot of success. In just their fourth season, the Greyhounds made the national semifinals and finished with a 16-3 record overall.
“My education is the most important thing,” Day said. “When I started looking and making visits, that’s the first thing I would ask about. I want to be a dentist or something in that field.”
As for playing the sport at the next level, Day is excited for the challenge.
“I’ve been playing lacrosse year-round now for several years,” he said. “I’m just a busy person in general. I think I’ll get used to playing in college.”
Ayre said he has no doubt Day will do what it takes.
“His dedication to academics and athletics has always impressed me,” Ayre said. “In today's world it is easy to get caught up in wanting to be a college athlete. Unfortunately, this usually means you lose sight of other things in your life, like academics, family, being a kid. Dylan played football for four years, worked at a job, completed a pre-dentistry course at our Tech Center, played on numerous travel and showcase lacrosse teams, and still managed to be a kid.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTO: Tecumseh’s Dylan Day finished 2019 among the all-time leading scorers in MHSAA boys lacrosse history. (Photo courtesy of the Tecumseh boys lacrosse program.)
Preview: League Rematches Reloaded
June 10, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
No. 1 will take on No. 2 in both MHSAA Boys Lacrosse Finals on Saturday at Howell’s Parker Middle School.
It just so happens that both championship games will pit opponents who already have faced each other twice this season with league titles on the line.
Brother Rice downed Detroit Catholic Central 11-5 and 14-7 in Detroit Catholic League A play, and they’ll face off once more in the Division 1 Final at 4:30 p.m. Starting the day at 2 p.m. in Division 2 will be Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central and East Grand Rapids, with the Rangers looking to add a third win to their 15-9 and 14-13 victories in Ottawa-Kent Conference Tier I play this spring.
Both Finals 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: 19-2, No. 1 at end of regular-season
League finish: First in Detroit Catholic High School League A
Coach: Ajay Chawla, third season (57-10)
Championship history: 11 MHSAA championships (most recent 2015).
Best wins: 9-6 over No. 6 Clarkston in Regional Final, 16-3 over No. 9 Midland in Regional Semifinal, 11-5 and 14-7 over No. 2 Detroit Catholic Central, 8-3 over No. 3 Detroit Country Day, 13-9 over Division 2 No. 2 East Grand Rapids.
Players to watch: Morgan Macko, sr. A (70 goals, 55 assists); Riley North, sr. A (49 goals, 38 assists); Jack Kelly, jr. M (47 goals, 16 assists).
Outlook: Brother Rice has played through a couple closer games than perhaps usual this spring – but is again the heavy favorite as it seeks to continue its sweep of every Division 1 title since the tournament was started more than a decade ago. The only losses this spring were twice to Indiana powerhouse Culver Military Academy, and the Warriors took on and beat some of the best from Ohio and Illinois as well. Macko is finishing off one of the most productive runs in MHSAA lacrosse history and also starred the last two seasons.
DETROIT CATHOLIC CENTRAL
Record/rank: 17-4, No. 2 at end of regular season
League finish: Second in Detroit Catholic High School League A
Coach: Dave Wilson, 11th season (149-71)
Championship history: Division 1 runner-up five times (most recent 2015).
Best wins: 13-5 over No. 3 Detroit County Day in the Semifinal, 13-5 over No. 7 Brighton, 16-10 over Division 2 No. 2 East Grand Rapids, 17-10 over Division 2 No. 3 Okemos.
Players to watch: Rocco Mularoni, sr. A; Justin Baker, sr. A; Brennan Kamish, jr. M (Statistics not submitted.)
Outlook: DCC will play in its third straight Final trying to break the hold of rival Brother Rice on Division 1. Seven seniors start for a team with plenty of big-game experience; midfielder Alex Jarzembowski is another veteran standout among many. Similar to Brother Rice, DCC also played strong programs from other states and Ontario. The Shamrocks have shown the ability to lock down top teams; they held opponents to fewer than 10 goals in all but six games and have given up only 11 goals total over four postseason games.
Division 2
EAST GRAND RAPIDS
Record/rank: 15-5, No. 2 at end of regular season
League finish: Second in O-K Conference Tier 1
Coach: Rick DeBlasio, fourth season (first of second tenure; 48-13 overall)
Championship history: Three MHSAA titles (most recent 2009), three runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 16-15 (2OT) over No. 3 Okemos in the Semifinal, 9-3 and 9-3 (Regional Final) over No. 4 Ada Forest Hills Eastern, 8-6 over No. 5 Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, 6-4 and 9-7 over Division 1 No. 5 Rockford, 15-5 over Division 1 No. 3 Detroit Country Day, 16-5 over Division 1 No. 10 Ann Arbor Pioneer.
Players to watch: Hub Hejna, jr. A (67 goals, 30 assists); Matt Solberg, sr. A (43 goals, 49 assists); Ben Keller, jr. A (46 goals, 15 assists).
Outlook: East Grand Rapids will play in its first championship game since finishing runner-up in 2011, and has taken on plenty of strong teams to prepare. The losses came to Brother Rice, Detroit Catholic Central, twice to Forest Hills Central and to Okemos in the season opener – and the Pioneers avenged that loss Wednesday. Those four teams are the only ones to score more than seven goals on the Pioneers this season. DeBlasio formerly coached the team from 2002-04.
GRAND RAPIDS FOREST HILLS CENTRAL
Record/rank: 19-2, No. 1 at end of regular season
League finish: First in Ottawa-Kent Conference Tier 1
Coach: Jake Seiler, second season (36-5)
Championship history: Two MHSAA titles (most recent 2012), two runner-up finishes.
Best wins: 15-9 and 14-13 over No. 2 East Grand Rapids, 17-8 over No. 3 Okemos, 20-8 over Division 1 No. 5 Rockford.
Players to watch: Bryce Clay, soph. D (95 goals, 53 assists); Tanner Hallock, jr. A (51 goals, 34 assists); Max Kuiper, sr. A (38 goals, 28 assists).
Outlook: Second-year coach Seiler has Forest Hills Central back in a Final for the first time since finishing runner-up in 2013 and after having lost this season only to Country Day in double overtime and Culver. Although Clay is the most productive scorer, there’s lots of balance with six Rangers tallying at least 20 goals heading into the week – and plenty of help in goal as senior Kadin Schermers and freshman Jack Nolan have combined to give up six goals per game this spring.
PHOTO: Brother Rice's Cole Hyde moves the ball upfield during last season's Division 1 Final against Detroit Catholic Central.