Forest Park Runs to 8-Player Records
May 14, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Crystal Falls Forest Park ran away, literally, with its first 8-player football championship this past fall.
The Trojans set the MHSAA 8-player records for 5,327 total yards, 77 total touchdowns, 686 rushing attempts, 4,350 rushing yards and 65 rushing touchdowns on the way to claiming the 8-player Division 2 title. Forest Park also played just 12 games, with an open date during the regular season.
Individually, senior Connor Bortolini was added for a record 54 carries, 402 rushing yards, seven rushing touchdowns and seven total touchdowns against Powers North Central on Sept. 1. Senior teammate Peter Ropiak was added for five tackles for a loss against Eben Junction Superior Central on Sept. 15 and a record 28 total in just nine games for the season. Sophomore Noah Gilner earned the record for tackles for loss in a game with seven against Phillips, Wis., on Sept. 22.
Bortolini will continue his career this fall at Finlandia University.
See below for more recent record book additions in football, plus baseball, girls and boys basketball and boys lacrosse. Click on the headings to view those record books in full.
Baseball
Grand Ledge was added for 420 hits, 87 doubles, 337 RBI, a .389 average and 1.62 ERA as a team in 2017, over 41 games. Senior Wyatt Rush was added for 0.69 ERA over 70 2/3 innings pitched; he now plays for Lansing Community College.
Jesus Becerra did not get a hit during his record-book worthy performance last season. But the Stephenson now-senior did reach four times on errors against Peshtigo, Wis., and turned those opportunities into seven stolen bases – tying for second most steals in one game in MHSAA history.
After giving up two singles to start a May 9 game against Warren Fitzgerald, Madison Heights Madison junior pitcher Austin Brown struck out 20 of the next 21 hitters. He’s tied for seventh most strikeouts in a seven-inning game.
Girls Basketball
Sophomore Kelynn Kujat made 66 3-pointers this past season to set a Frankenmuth record. She scored a team-leading 332 points for the Eagles.
Boys Basketball
Clinton Township Clintondale’s Richard Washington was added to the single-season steals list with 111 over 21 games this winter. The junior also averaged 20.3 points per game and made 63 3-pointers.
Football
Hunter Spence capped a two-season varsity career at Comstock Park in the fall with six record book entries, with his 18 catches against Grand Rapids Catholic Central on Oct. 6 tied for third-most in one game. Spence finished with 136 catches and 1,948 receiving yards over the past two seasons. Senior Logan Serba was added for 245 yards receiving and four touchdowns in one game against Belding. Junior quarterback Chase Brown is up to 18 entries in the record book after two seasons and with one more to play – he ranks on career lists already with 592 passing attempts, 373 completions and 5,126 yards. Senior kicker Nathan Hughes also was added for making 56 extra points in 58 attempts this past season. Hughes will play baseball after graduation at Aquinas College.
Jacob Witt finished his career in the fall with 12 entries in the 8-player record book while playing for Ewen-Trout Creek in 2016 and then a co-op of E-TC and Ontonagon last season. Witt added 31 receptions for 759 yards and 14 touchdowns to finish with two-season career totals of 102 catches, 2,457 yards and 39 scores. Witt will play basketball next season at Michigan Tech University.
Eben Junction Superior Central added to its list of accomplishments in the 8-player record book, including for 643 total yards and 635 rushing against Felch North Dickinson on Oct. 6. The Cougars’ latest listings also include 72 rushing attempts against Rapid River on Aug. 31 and 3,301 total rushing yards last season. Junior Beau Rondeau was added for 41 carries and six rushing touchdowns against Rapid River.
Boys Lacrosse
Howell senior Jack Radzville scored more than half of his team’s goals in a 20-15 loss to Brighton on April 19, tallying nine to tie for sixth most in one game in MHSAA history. He added two assists, and his 11 points total also made that single-game list.
PHOTO: Crystal Falls Forest Park's Connor Bortolini high fives a teammate after scoring during last season's 8-player Division 2 Final at the Superior Dome. (Photo by John Johnson.)
Zeroes Land Kemp With Troy Athens' Heroes
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 17, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
For the second-straight season this fall, Troy Athens boys soccer goalkeeper Jason Kemp made the list for shutouts – this time totaling 15 on the way to leading his team to the Division 1 title.
Kemp also made the MHSAA career shutouts list finishing his three seasons on varsity with 32, the final 31 coming over the last two years (and 45 games) as the fulltime starter.
Troy Athens as a team was added to the single-season shutouts list as well thanks to Kemp’s 15 this fall.
Click to see the boys soccer record book in full, and check out more recent record book listings below for 8-player football, girls lacrosse, boys soccer and volleyball.
Burr Oak tied its best regular-season record this fall in 10 seasons of playing 8-player football, with a number of standouts leading the way to the 5-4 finish. Three made the record book – junior Matthew Greene with six fumble recoveries, junior Damion Ultz with four touchdown receptions in a Week 8 loss to Climax-Scotts, and senior Dustin Musall for five sacks in a Week 1 win over Big Rapids Crossroads.
Powers North Central handed Pickford its only loss this season 20-14 on Sept. 14 in part thanks to six interceptions, a new high for 8-player football. Ian Gorzinski led with three.
Pickford set an 8-player record with 10 rushing touchdowns in an 80-26 win Sept. 21 over Eben Junction Superior Central. Seven Pickford players ran for at least one score.
Bridgman senior Donnie Necas needed just four receptions Aug. 27 against North Adams-Jerome to make the record book for most receiving yards in a game. He gained 230 yards, including a long catch of 90, in the Bees’ 56-16 win.
Girls Lacrosse
Hartland’s trek to the Division 1 Semifinals this spring was keyed by a number of standouts, including three who put up numbers that made the record book. Elena Salazar built on an excellent sophomore season in 2017 with 106 goals, 41 assists and a total of 147 points, making the single-season lists in all three categories and also the career goals (181) and points (260) lists with a season to play. Now-junior Abigail Trosin also made all three single-season lists with 75 goals, 40 assists and 115 points, and now-senior Emma Donahue was added for 73 goals and 98 total points. As a team, Hartland scored 386 goals – good for third-most all-time – over 21 games. Donahue will continue her career after high school for University of Detroit Mercy, and Salazar has committed to Hope College.
Wixom St. Catherine’s Maeve Burke enjoyed a memorable, and busy, sophomore season in net this spring. She made the goalkeeper saves record lists five times, with highs of 19 saves in games against Walled Lake Northern and Royal Oak and 188 saves total over 17 games. Her top single-game saves performances tied for ninth on that list, while her season saves were eighth all-time.
Boys Soccer
Holland Christian lost only once this fall, in its Regional Final, and along the way tied the record for fewest goals given up in one season allowing just five. The Maroons also made record book lists with 17 shutouts and 11 straight; they didn’t allow a goal this season until their 12th game Sept. 25.
Volleyball
Angie Swiderek concluded a standout career at Cheboygan this fall, in the process earning an entry in the MHSAA record book with 30 kills over a three-set sweep of Grayling on Nov. 6. Additionally, her coach Kris Jewell was added after surpassing 500 career wins. Jewell began her varsity head coaching career at Utica Eisenhower during the 1998-99 winter season, leaving after one and then taking over Cheboygan in 2002-03. She has a 513-307-66 record after this fall’s 18-17-4 finish.
Karlee Plamondon and Randi Stone were aces for Ludington against Muskegon Heights Academy during a three-set sweep Sept. 18, 2018. Plamondon had the second-most aces in a game, 19, and her 21 for the match rank third all-time. Stone had 17 aces for the match, tying for ninth most. Stone was a senior last year, and Plamondon is a senior this fall.
Vermontville Maple Valley junior Keilyn Carpenter made the single-season kills list this fall with 690 over 121 sets, including 34 in a four-set win over Lansing Christian on Oct. 15. Both made the records lists; her 106 aces this fall fell just shy of qualifying in that category.
PHOTO: Troy Athens keeper Jason Kemp gathers the ball during this fall's Division 1 Final.