Amid Challenges, Union Enjoys Trophy Run
December 2, 2016
By Ryan Portenga
Muskegon Mona Shores athletic director
The last time Grand Rapids Union High School hoisted a postseason tournament trophy was Saturday, June 4, 2002 – when the Red Hawks' baseball team clinched a Michigan High School Athletic Association District championship.
Despite fielding more than 20 varsity sports, the school – nestled among the northwestern city neighborhoods of Grand Rapids – had since struggled in varsity competition more than it succeeded as the seasons passed by.
When the historic City League of Grand Rapids (founded in 1928) folded following the 2007-08 school year – leading to Union's entrance into the larger Ottawa-Kent Conference of West Michigan – there was reason for optimism within the school's extra-curricular programming. Regardless of how loyalists and stakeholders felt about changes to issues such as organizational bylaws, conference leadership and divisional alignment, the conference shift triggered something of a fresh start.
Yet, since then, the number of eligible athletes within Grand Rapids Public Schools' senior highs has shrunk from 4,500+ (2008-09) to 3,000+ (2016-17), and two of the city's public high schools which joined the Ottawa-Kent Conference with Union (Central and Creston) have ceased traditional operations and nixed athletic programming. Furthermore, Union's football program – the sport traditionally drawing the most community support – has sported a record of 6-74 since the switch in leagues.
Describing such lack of athletic success as a "drought" might be an understatement.
To therefore face a second-half deficit of two goals against five-time reigning District champion Grand Haven in this year's Division 1 District tournament seemed more ordinary than extraordinary. However, with Juan Zavala – the team's fiery first-year head coach – and senior goalkeeper Jesus Ramirez encouraging the Red Hawks from opposite ends of the pitch, the extraordinary happened.
The game's box score would show that Union's comeback began in the 52nd minute when forward Gustavo Lopez netted a rebound to cut the Buccaneers' lead in half. Yet, it was easy to sense a shift in momentum each time the Red Hawks gained possession – driving deeper into Grand Haven's defense with each touch. Then, with just a handful of minutes left in the tilt – after each team whiffed on a barrage of scoring opportunities – midfielder Serge Mwembo converted a free kick ricochet sent in from more than 20 yards out from teammate Cristian Madrigal to tie the match ... and jubilation ensued. Goliath had not yet fallen, but more than enough had been done to challenge the impossible.
See, even if their rally fell short and the boys were to lose, Union's resilience and transformation was inspiring. Unlike most schools they play, the Red Hawks' players are divided during the school day – with 13 attending Union High School and seven attending City High a few miles away downtown – making practices difficult to organize and administer. Then consider the fact that 19 of their 21 athletes are native Spanish-speaking student-athletes – making communication tough between opponents and officials at times.
Finally, while once plagued by an egregious episode from just a few short years before – when one of its players struck an official in the face after receiving a red card – this season’s team had amassed only a handful of yellow cards all season and no red cards. Sure, Union enjoyed a nice following of fans, but there also were plenty of others (perhaps unbeknownst to the team) rooting them on.
"Sure, our team faces challenges," Zavala admits, "but their approach has been nothing short of inspiring. Just like we enjoy maintaining possession and attacking our opponents on the field, we like to attack obstacles off of the field as well."
Although plenty was overcome off of the field and within the culture of the program, an on-field obstacle reared its head as the season came to a close ... the team was having trouble scoring. During the final week of regular-season play, Union dropped a game 2-0 to league foe Muskegon Mona Shores and then lost to eventual conference champion Jenison, 3-0.
Although some of the offensive woes were due to injuries, there was plenty to worry about heading into the District tournament.
"Our kids are resilient," the rookie head coach explained. "They know that our program has fallen short in past years, but they also understand their potential and capabilities. Even though we faltered a bit at the end of the season, we entered the tournament with high expectations."
High expectations that had now come down to penalty kicks after two scoreless 10-minute overtime sessions against a program from Grand Haven that hadn't lost a District championship game in half a decade.
"Unlike past years where heads have dropped and attitudes would get the better of us in such situations, our kids embraced the opportunity," Zavala continued.
Rafa Paz (the team's incredible talented junior midfielder), Luis Madrigal, and Gustavo Perez each scored to open the penalty kick session. Then, not only did goalie Jesus Ramirez make a save, but the senior buried his shot in the back of the net to send the contest into a sudden-death shootout.
"I've walked our hallways," says Zavala, who played at both Union and nearby Kenowa Hills High School more than a decade ago when he was in school. "I know what our kids face, what they've gone through, facing the seemingly impossible at times. I wasn't even sure we would have a team or a program just a few months before – and here we are in a sudden-death shootout to win a District championship against a program like Grand Haven has. Win or lose, it had been an incredible journey with these boys."
Following an uncharacteristic Buccaneers miss in the sixth shot of the shootout, Union sophomore Wilson Rodas approached the ball amid an eerie silence surrounding the field – a silence that erupted into triumphant jubilation a split-second later as the soccer ball met the back of the net. After more than a decade without an addition, Union High School would now have a new "Mitten" for its trophy case back home on Tremont Boulevard.
"I'm still not sure what to think or how to react," concluded Zavala. "It is so difficult to describe that moment – when Rodas' shot slipped through to the net. I'm just so incredibly proud of our kids and happy for our community. This is why we do what we do... it's all for them. There is no substitute for high school sports."
Slaying Goliath does not happen every day or even very often – especially in high school sports. More often than not, the game within our games features the haves versus the have-nots. Yet, every so often – especially when David slays Goliath – we are reminded of all that is good and pure within our business ... the business of school communities, togetherness and defying overwhelming odds.
Union went on to fall, 4-0, to Traverse City West in their Division 1 Regional Semifinal.
PHOTO: Grand Rapids Union celebrates the school’s first District championship in any sport since 2002. (Photo courtesy of Ryan Portenga.)
Soccer, Hoops Next to Seed Using MPR
August 6, 2019
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
As the topic of seeding for MHSAA Tournaments continues to swirl in the air of numerous committee meetings on an annual basis, one of the primary concerns continues to focus on the simple question: “How?”
The MHSAA for years has been working behind the scenes on potential formulas which could best be used as a standardized tool to assist in measuring strengths of teams in a given sport.
This spring, the MHSAA introduced the Michigan Power Rating in the sport of Boys Lacrosse. The Representative Council approved limited seeding beginning in 2019-20 for girls and boys soccer and girls and boys basketball, and MPR will be the metric to determine which two teams must be seeded on opposite sides of District brackets in those sports.
“The boys lacrosse tournament has been seeded since it was added as an MHSAA-sponsored sport in 2005. The seeding is done by committee based on several criteria, one of which was statewide power rankings generated by a third-party website. In the Fall of 2018, that website ceased operation – it was the perfect opportunity for the MHSAA to develop its own data-driven, purely objective ratings system and incorporate that data into the seeding criteria,” said Cole Malatinsky, administrative assistant for the sport.
“The benefits of the new MPR system have been already mentioned – it is MHSAA controlled, simple, objective, and transparent, and it can be used by other MHSAA sports in the future.”
MPR is a computer rating formula similar to the popular RPI rating. MPR provides a way to measure a team’s strength relative to other teams, based on games played against other MHSAA tournament teams, largely on the strength of their opponents’ schedules. MPR is purely objective using only the game results listed on MHSAA.com – there is no subjective human element.
What is the basic MPR formula?
MPR is calculated using wins, losses and ties for games played between teams entered into the MHSAA tournament. The final MPR number is 25% of the team's winning percentage, plus 50% of its opponent's winning percentage, plus 25% of its opponent's opponent's winning percentage.
MPR = (.25 x W%) + (.50 x OW%) + (.25 x OOW%)
The MPR formula can be applied easily to other MHSAA team sports.
What game data is included in the formula? What game data is not?
MPR looks only at results between opponents entered into the MHSAA postseason tournament. Wins, losses and ties in multi-team shortened game tournaments (lacrosse, soccer) also count. Forfeits also are counted as wins and losses.
MPR does not use the specific scores of a game or the margin of victory in a game. The location of a game is not included in the MPR formula, and the formula weighs results at the beginning of the season the same as results at the end of the season. Scrimmages are not included.
Why use the MPR formula?
Different rating systems have been used in the past or have been recommended to the MHSAA. We wanted to have a rating system where the data was controlled and stored in house and could be used for any sport featuring head-to-head competitions.
With its own rating system the MHSAA also can control the different components of the formula, thus keeping the tenets of scholastic competition at the forefront (like not including margin of victory in the formula). Finally, by listing all scores and team schedules online, as well as showing the MPR calculator on each team schedule page, the ratings are transparent and can be replicated easily.
CALCULATING MPR
What are the detailed components of the MPR formula?
You need three numbers to calculate your MPR: winning percentage (W%), opponent’s winning percentage (OW%) and opponent’s opponent’s winning percentage (OOW%).
How do you calculate winning percentage (W%)?
Divide the number of wins by the number of total games played. A tie is worth half a win. For MPR purposes, find the winning percentage against all teams that will play in the MHSAA tournament (MPR W%). Games played against out-of-state teams, varsity “B” teams, junior varsity teams, non-school club teams, and any other non-MHSAA tournament participants should not be included when calculating winning percentage. W% should be an easy number to calculate.
How do you calculate opponent’s winning percentage (OW%)?
Average the winning percentages of a team's opponents. When calculating the winning percentage of a specific opponent, use the opponents "Adjusted Winning Percentage" (ADJ W%). Adjusted winning percentage eliminates all games the team played against that opponent (as well as its games against non-MHSAA opponents).
For instance, if the team beat an opponent with an overall record of 4-1, use a record of 4-0 (1.000) for that opponent. If the team lost to an opponent, use a record of 3-1 (.750). Find the ADJ W% for all opponents, and then take the average. If a team plays an opponent team twice, that opponent’s ADJ W% will be counted twice.
OW% is not calculated via the combined record of the opponents; instead take the average of all opponent’s winning percentages.
How do you calculate opponent’s opponent’s winning percentage (OOW%)?
Use the same process described above, except calculated for the opponents of a team's opponents. This number is much harder to manually calculate, so the OW% for every team is listed on the MPR page of the MHSAA website.
Again, simply take the average of all opponent’s OW%.
How often is MPR calculated?
MPR is calculated about every five minutes. Enter a score and a minutes later the team MPR and the MPR of all the team's opponents will update.
How much will my MPR change throughout the season?
You will see wild MPR swings in the beginning of the season, but after about 10 games played your MPR will start to level out. At 20 games played you will see very little movement with each additional game played.
My score is missing. How can it be added?
This is a crowd-sourced system. Any registered user of MHSAA.com can add a missing score. ADs, coaches, parents, students and fans all can login and enter a score for any game.
What are some common errors when calculating MPR?
When calculating your team’s winning percentage, only include games against MHSAA-tournament teams. When calculating your opponent’s winning percentage, don’t include the games they played against you. When calculating ties, count the game as a half-win and half-loss.
What happens if a game is cancelled?
Because the MPR system works off of averages, it will not make a difference in the final MPR if a game cannot be rescheduled. It would not penalize, nor benefit, any team involved in that scenario.
USING THE WEBSITE
Where can I find game scores?
A list of statewide scores for all sports can be found in the MHSAA Score Center. To find a schedule for any team click on “Schools & Schedules” in the top navigation bar, search for the school, then once on the school page click the sport. You can also see a list of all schools (with links to schedules), on the statewide MPR list.
“We continue to have great success in score reporting for varsity boys lacrosse contests. While we state that schedule submission and score reporting to MHSAA.com are required, athletic directors and coaches understand that in order for MPR data to be accurate, we need consistent and accurate score reporting,” said Malatinsky. “MHSAA.com is now the primary site for high school boys lacrosse schedules, results and ratings in the state.”
How should I use the statewide list of teams and MPR?
Linked to the boys soccer page (and eventually to be added for both basketball pages and girls soccer) is a statewide listing of all Michigan Power Ratings (MPR) for teams entered into the MHSAA postseason tournament for that sport. Linked on the MPR page is an explanation of the District draw formula, describing when and how teams will be placed on the bracket.
The MPR data updates every five minutes. Click on the column headings to sort the data. You also can use the drop-down menu to show teams in one Division, or type a District number in the box to filter teams for that District (Region for boys lacrosse).
You also can click on any school name to go to its schedule page.
How do I read the school schedule page?
The schedule at the top of the page shows the date and opponent for all scheduled games, and results for games already played. If results are missing, click “Submit Score” to add a game score.
Below the game schedule is the MPR Calculator. The calculator is split into three sections. The first section shows the three MPR component scores for the team, as well as the team’s current MPR score. The second section shows the MPR information for the team’s opponents – specifically, for the opponents the team already has played (actually, for games where scores have been submitted). Only these games are included in the MPR calculation.
The third section highlights future opponents. The MPR data for future opponents are not used in the MPR calculation for the team.
PHOTO: East Kentwood and Ann Arbor Skyline play for last season’s Division 1 boys soccer championship.