10 to Remember: 2012-13 Finals
June 27, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Championships are culminations of season-long journeys, concluding with the most exciting competitions of the year but steeped in back stories that make those crowning achievements mean so much more.
The Michigan High School Athletic Association awards 127 team championships each school year. Anyone picking 10 favorites could come up with at least 13 different lists.
So the list that follows likely won’t agree with many others. But here’s one person’s take on the 10 most incredible MHSAA Finals performances – focusing mostly on the final competition but with some back story built in – from the 2012-13 school year. (Click on headings for full stories.)
10. Special teams lead to special accomplishment for Brother Rice
Birmingham Brother Rice and Muskegon had combined for 12 MHSAA football championships entering the Finals. But in winning their eighth, the Warriors also accomplished a first in 44 seasons under coach Al Fracassa – their first back-to-back titles. They went ahead in the eventual 35-28 win on a cross-field lateral that turned into a 91-yard kickoff return with 2:13 to play.
9. Lakewood volleyball ends championship wait ...
Lake Odessa Lakewood coach Kellie Rowland has won 787 matches during her 15 seasons over two tenures leading the program, and frequently had brought the Vikings to the cusp of their first MHSAA title. They finally got it by defeating perennial power North Branch in three games in the Class B championship match.
8. ... and so does Bay City Western baseball
The Warriors earned coach Tim McDonald his first MHSAA championship game victory to go with 562 more wins over 21 seasons. Bay City Western won 1-0 in both the Semifinal and then Final over Brother Rice to secure its first baseball title and a 42-2 finish.
7. “Core 4” leave Mona Shores with four more
Seniors Hailey Hrynewich, Morgan Smith, Britni Gielow and Kelsey McKinley finished their high school careers as starters on four MHSAA championship teams, including the one that won the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final this school year by 41 strokes. Hrynewich and Smith both posted top-five individual finishes as Mona Shores shot a two-day 666 at their final championship tournament.
6. Grand Ledge gymnastics sets the bar
Number six on this list makes sense for the Comets, who won their sixth straight MHSAA team championship to set the all-time longest title streak in the sport. They did so with the fifth-highest score in MHSAA Finals history – 149.350 – and despite graduating the Division 1 all-around champion the spring before.
5. Seniors say good-bye at LP Division 1 Final
Grosse Pointe South’s Hannah Meier and West Bloomfield’s Erin Finn brought national acclaim to the Detroit suburbs over the last two years with dominating performances in track and cross country. They finished their careers at the LP Division 1 Track & Field Final, where Meier set all-MHSAA Finals records in the 800 and 1,600 and Finn set an all-Finals record in the 3,200. In the fall, Finn and Meier finished first and second, respectively, at the LP Division 1 Cross Country Final.
4. Fowlerville standout reaches the stars
Gladiators senior Adam Coon, once an aspiring astronaut now turned aspiring aerospace engineer, became the 17th wrestler in MHSAA history to win four individual Finals championships. And he became the first to do so at the two heaviest weights, earning his titles at 215 and 285 pounds. He graduated with a career record of 211-3 and a 194-match winning streak.
3. Swimming with speed in Saline
Saline also won its fourth straight MHSAA title, in Lower Peninsula Division 1, anchored by seniors David Boland, Josh Ehrman, Michael Bundas and Adam Whitener. Combined, they hold four Finals individual and two relay records, and Ehrman graduated with all-Finals records in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 breaststroke. Those four also leave with the 200 medley relay all-Finals record – with their time of 1:30.01 good for third-best in the national record book.
2. Michell sits atop MHSAA medal count
Reed City’s Sami Michell is one of two girls in MHSAA history to win four events at a Track & Field Final – a feat she accomplished both this season and last. And she finished her career this month with 12 individual titles overall, two more than the previous Lower Peninsula record. She graduated with LP Division 3 Finals records in both hurdles races and the long jump, and her 300 hurdles time of 42.23 is an all-Finals record.
1. Football Finals end in overtime classic
The most exciting MHSAA Football Final likely was the last of Thanksgiving weekend – a 40-37 overtime win by Grand Rapids Christian over Orchard Lake St. Mary’s that gave the Eagles the Division 3 title. And at least on this list, it counts as the most exciting of all the buzzer-beating, one-point, by one millimeter endings to the MHSAA’s 127 Finals this school year.
The Saturday night crowd at Ford Field was treated to an incredible performance by Eagles receiver Drake Harris, who had eight catches for a record 243 yards and touchdown and was nearly unstoppable as Grand Rapids Christian drove down the stretch. Quarterback Alex VanDeVusse threw for 307 yards, fourth-most in MHSAA Finals history, as the frazzled nerves of fans, players and coaches alike hung on every play. St. Mary’s ran for 459 of the single-team Finals record 579 yards of total offense; the teams combined for another record of 1,033 total yards between them. And at the end, the game was decided on a 27-yard field goal by Joel Schipper, who had connected on a 28-yarder with four seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime.
PHOTO:Saline swimmers take a celebratory dip after claiming their fourth straight Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship.
Novak Mourned, Missed After 42 Years of Telling Southwest Michigan's Stories
By
Scott Hassinger
Special for MHSAA.com
November 5, 2024
DOWAGIAC - One seat at the media table at five schools in Cass and Berrien counties will remain vacant when the 2024-25 high school basketball season tips off in a few weeks.
Scott Novak, legendary sports editor for Leader Publications for the past 42 years, won't be there to occupy his.
Novak, 63, passed away Oct. 23 following an extended illness.
Throughout his storied career, Novak earned several awards from the Michigan Press Association, The Associated Press and the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan.
Personal recognition wasn't anything Novak sought out. In fact, the Decatur native made it his crusade to see that he got the name of every athlete he covered each sports season into the newspaper at least once.
Novak formed long-lasting relationships with coaches, athletes, parents, officials and athletic directors in the communities of Cassopolis, Edwardsburg, Buchanan, Niles Brandywine and Niles High School, along with Southwestern Michigan College.
Not only did Novak cover local high school sports, but Little League and many other youth and adult recreational sports, along with professional motocross racing at the RedBud Motocross Park in Buchanan.
Novak devoted countless hours during the week and on weekends bringing thorough coverage to Southwestern Michigan. The sports pages Novak designed for the Niles Daily Star, Dowagiac Daily News, Edwardsburg Argus and Cassopolis Vigilant contained more than just stories and photos. The weekly sections Novak produced also contained an entire page or two devoted to statistics and box scores. He took great pride in including those as part of the sports section. Leader Publications is one of very few community newspapers that still does so.
Novak was passionate about his sports coverage in every community, especially Dowagiac where he resided.
Dowagiac High School's 1990 Class BB championship football team was one of the most notable stories Novak covered, along with the Chieftains' 2011 Class B semifinalist boys basketball team. Edwardsburg's 2018 Division 4 championship football run, along with a Final Four run by Niles in softball, were other big events he covered.
Ken Fox, sports editor at the Elkhart Truth, remembers a comment Novak made in the media room following Dowagiac's 35-14 win over Oxford in that 1990 Football Final at the Pontiac Silverdome.
"I'm not sure anyone could have been happier than Scott covering that Chieftains team. We both covered Dowagiac games in the tournament, and each win made Scott's smile grow bigger," Fox recalled. "Somehow we timed it right the day of the game and ended up walking into the Pontiac Silverdome together. When he was ushered right onto the field for the game, that smile was as wide as it had ever been. His first words to the rest of the media when he came into the interview room after the win over Oxford was vintage Scott."
"I told you all back in August that Dowagiac would win it," Novak said.
Robert Oppenheim, a sportswriter at the Elkhart Truth, remembers Novak for being upbeat and positive.
"Scott certainly enjoyed his high school sports and was very knowledgeable about the area,” Oppenheim said. “Personally, he was great to me. He was one of the first people to reach out to me about a job when I was looking for one after my past job experience as a sportswriter ended. I remember having a meeting with him at a Subway in Niles talking about what the job would involve. Each week we would discuss my assignment, and he was great to work with. He understood and wasn't upset when I got a full-time sports writing opportunity at the Elkhart Truth. That's the type of person Scott was. He cared about others. Heaven got a great sportswriter and an even better person."
Brent Nate, a 1997 Dowagiac graduate now in his 14th year as the school's athletic director, grew up knowing Novak.
"I've known Scott my entire life. Looking back, I now realize how special it was to have the local sports editor there covering our middle school football games. You always knew there would be an article on the game in Saturday's newspaper," Nate said.
Nate remembers fondly the night Novak visited his home to interview his older brother after Scott Nate was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 1994 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.
"I just remember the great interest he took in getting to know our family that night. Later when I returned to Dowagiac as athletic director, we rode together to several games,” Brent Nate said. “Scott was a great advocate for high school sports, and what he did for Dowagiac athletics will never be duplicated."
The Dowagiac athletic department will have Novak's empty seat on display this winter in the exact spot where he regularly sat during home basketball games.
Edwardsburg football coach Dan Purlee remembers Novak riding the bus with the team to playoff games when Purlee coached at Cassopolis.
"I always thought very highly of Scott and got to know him really well. He just really loved the Cass and Berrien County area in terms of covering high school sports and did a tremendous job," Purlee said.
Josh Hood, Niles Brandywine's assistant principal and varsity girls basketball coach, first met Novak when Hood was a student-athlete at the school.
"Scott just loved sports, and it was more than just a job to him,” Hood said. “He was very passionate about what he did. I'll remember all the laughs we had in the Bobcat Den and just sitting around talking to him before games and all the friendly banter."
Novak was nominated by Hood as a media member to BCAM's Hall of Honor in 2022.
"It was an easy decision to nominate Scott. I was so excited that he was selected in his first time on the ballot. The articles he wrote were unbelievable," Hood said.
On the day of Novak's passing, Niles Brandywine athletic director David Sidenbender left the school's football stadium lights on overnight in his memory.
"I got to know Scott pretty well when I attended and played baseball at Southwestern Michigan College. He was always fair in his writing and always showed interest in other people's opinions about what he put in the paper," Sidenbender said.
"We will always feel Scott's presence. He always made our kids feel special by interviewing them after covering our games. He will be greatly missed."
Matt Brawley knew Novak both as an athlete and more recently as Niles’ athletic director.
"Scott was a staple in Southwestern Michigan sports. He was very accessible and he knew his stuff,” Brawley said. “He really enjoyed the area and covered me as a player during our District championship and Final Four runs. I also was privileged to work with him during my time at Cassopolis and Niles as AD. He was just an amazing human being, a good friend and was there for everything. You could trust him if you told him stuff off the record as well.”
Brawley set up a table in Novak's memory at last Friday's home football playoff game with Paw Paw. The table contained candles, Novak's photo and a Niles Vikings hat as a memorial to him.
"Scott was the ultimate writer who was an even better human being,” Niles varsity boys basketball coach Myles Busby said. “I can see him, even now, sitting in his chair in the corner of our gym. He had an incredibly warm and welcoming presence about him that made it easy to talk to him. I always enjoyed talking to him as a student-athlete, but I found great appreciation learning more about him during my time as head coach.”
Niles senior tailback Sam Rucker stated that Novak's presence at the games never went unnoticed.
"It means a lot to us to see the media at our games. Just having him at the games inspired us and made everyone feel good," Rucker said.
Sports weren't the only thing Novak covered for Leader Publications. He also enjoyed country and classic rock music and covered many popular artists when they appeared at area venues. He conducted interviews with Tommy James and Kenny Loggins, along with several other stars.
Outside of work, Novak enjoyed being a father to his daughter Kirsten, who survives him.
Scott Hassinger is a contributing sportswriter for Leader Publications and previously served as the sports editor for the Three Rivers Commercial-News from 1994-2022. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph and Branch counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Niles High School set up a memorial table in honor of Scott Novak at Friday's home Division 4 playoff game against Paw Paw. (Middle) Novak, right, conducts a postrace interview with former professional motocross and supercross racer Mike LaRocco at the RedBud MX track in Buchanan during the Red Bud Trail Nationals several years ago. (Below) The Dowagiac High School athletic department will honor Novak by keeping his vacant chair present in the school gymnasium throughout the upcoming 2024-25 basketball season. (Top photo courtesy of the Niles athletic department. Middle photo by Amelio Rodriguez. Dowagiac photo courtesy of the school’s athletic department.)