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.)
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- MHSAA News
Lacrosse Finals Move to U-M Among Headlines as Spring Sports Ramp Up
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
April 9, 2024
The Girls & Boys Lacrosse Finals will be played at University of Michigan Lacrosse Stadium for the first time, one of the most notable changes for this season as sports ramp up for more than 100,000 athletes anticipated to participate this spring for Michigan High School Athletic Association member schools.
The MHSAA sponsors postseason competition each spring in baseball, girls and boys lacrosse, girls soccer, softball, girls and boys track & field, boys golf (Lower and Upper Peninsula) and girls golf (UP), and girls (LP) and boys (UP) tennis.
The U-M Lacrosse Stadium opened for competition in 2018 and seats 2,000 spectators. The Girls Lacrosse Finals will be played Friday, June 7, with Division 1 at 4 p.m. and Division 2 at 7 p.m. The Boys Lacrosse Finals will be played the following day, June 8, with Division 2 at 11 a.m. and Division 1 at 2 p.m.
Girls lacrosse also has a significant format adjustment this season, as games will be played with four 12-minutes quarters instead of the previous two halves, in part to allow coaches more opportunities to provide direct instruction during a game. Two more rules changes are expected to improve flow of play – players awarded a free position outside of the critical scoring area no longer must come to a stop and settled stance before self-starting, and false start penalties outside the critical scoring area have been eliminated.
Several more rules changes will be noticeable this spring:
In boys lacrosse, a change was made to enhance player safety. Play will stop immediately any time a player’s helmet comes off, and that player may not return until the next dead ball after play continues.
Fair and legal starts are a continued emphasis for track & field, and a rule change will allow for movement before the start of the race as long as a competitor does not leave their mark with a hand or a foot after the “set” command, or make forward motion before the starting device is activated.
A significant rule change in softball alters pitch delivery mechanics. The pitcher may now have both feet off the ground at the same time when releasing the ball as long as both feet remain within the 24-inch width of a pitching plate and the pitcher does not replant the pivot foot before delivering the pitch.
Another change in softball requires that a playbook/playcard be worn on the wrist or kept in a back pocket to reduce distractions. If worn by the pitcher, the equipment must be worn on the non-pitching arm. Similarly in baseball, a wristband with plays or instructions will be permitted but must be a single, solid color, and for pitchers may not contain the colors white or gray or be otherwise distracting. Baseball players must wear this wristband on the wrist or forearm, and pitchers may wear one only on their non-pitching arm.
Also in baseball, a rule change allows for one-way communication devices worn by the catcher to receive instructions from the dugout while on defense, for the purpose of calling pitches. The coach must be inside the dugout/bench area to use the communication device.
Golfers now are required to participate in at least four competitions for the high school team prior to representing that school team in an MHSAA Regional or Final. Those four regular-season competitions may be 9 or 18-hole events.
In tennis, for the first time in Lower Peninsula play, a No. 1 doubles flight from a non-qualifying team will be able to advance from its Regional to Finals competition. To do so, that No. 1 doubles flight must finish first or second at its Regional, and the No. 1 singles player from that team also must have qualified for the Finals individually by finishing first or second in Regional play.
On the soccer pitch, two officiating-related changes will be especially noticeable. Officials now may stop the clock to check on an injured player without that player being required to leave the match – previously that player would have to sub out. Also, categories for fouls have been redefined: careless (which is a foul but does not receive a card), reckless (a foul with a yellow card) and excessive force (foul with red card).
The 2023-24 Spring campaign culminates with postseason tournaments, as the championship schedule begins with the Upper Peninsula Girls & Boys Golf and Boys Tennis Finals during the week of May 27 and wraps up with Girls Soccer, Baseball and Softball Finals on June 15. Here is a complete list of winter tournament dates:
Baseball
Districts – May 23-June 1
Regional Semifinals – June 5
Regional Finals, Quarterfinals – June 8
Semifinals – June 13-14
Finals – June 15
Golf
LP Boys Regionals – May 28-June 1
UP Girls & Boys Finals – May 29, 30, 31 or June 1
LP Boys Finals – June 7-8
Boys Lacrosse
Pre-Regionals – May 10-15
Regionals – May 16-29
Quarterfinals – May 31 or June 1
Semifinals – June 5
Finals – June 8
Girls Lacrosse
Pre-Regionals – May 16-18, or May 20
Regionals – May 22-June 1
Semifinals – June 5
Finals – June 7
Girls Soccer
Districts – May 22-June 1
Regionals – June 4-8
Semifinals – June 11-12
Finals – June 14-15
Softball
Districts – May 23-June 1
Regionals – June 8
Quarterfinals – June 11
Semifinals – June 13-14
Finals – June 15
Tennis
LP Girls Regionals – May 15-18
UP Boys Finals – May 29, 30, 31 or June 1
LP Girls Finals – May 31-June 1
Track & Field
Regionals – May 16-18
Finals – June 1