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Kraatz' Goal: Set Teammates Up to Score

April 10, 2014

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Allen Park Inter-City Baptist's Evan Kraatz will graduate this spring as the most accomplished passer in MHSAA history. 

And that's not just because of Kraatz' publicized accomplishment this winter. 

The Chargers' senior made headlines in reportedly breaking the MHSAA career basketball assists record (that milestone will be added to the records upon confirmation). But Kraatz also had a flare for dishing on the soccer field, finishing with 102 career assists on the pitch – second only to his assistant coach Nathan Chatfield’s total of 105 tallied during the latter’s career at Burt Lake Northern Michigan Christian. 

Kraatz also made the MHSAA single-season assists list three times with a high of 30 during Inter-City Baptist’s Division 4 championship season of 2011. His 185 points total (including 83 goals) rank 12th on the MHSAA career list for that category.

See below for additional recent entries to the MHSAA boys soccer and other record listings, and click on the headines to see all entries for those respective sports.

Boys Soccer

  • As Kraatz led that 2011 Inter-City Baptist team in assists, teammate Steven Fiema was added for his 43 goals and 59 points during the title run. Fiema now plays for NAIA Grace College in Indiana. 

  • St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic junior Danny McEachen is climbing the career points list as well with 143 over his first three seasons. His 52 goals and 64 points this fall both made the single-season lists for those categories, and total he’s scored 103 goals for Lake Michigan Catholic.

  • Bellaire’s Drew Emery also has a talent for setting up teammates, posting a school-record 26 assists this fall and finishing his four-year career with 72 – good for ninth on that list. Teammate Denny Hall was added to the single-game assists list for tallying five in a 6-1 win over Roscommon on Sept. 19. Emery will play at Albion College this fall.

Boys Basketball

  • Jake Daniels ranked 22nd on the single-season free throw percentage list, making 84 of 98 for a .857 success rate for Holly this season. Daniels, a junior, was one of the top scorers in the Flint Metro League.

Football

  • A pair of Comstock Park quarterbacks and a receiver they both enjoyed were added for multiple categories. Jake Brown was included additionally to previous listings after finishing his career in 2012 with 368 completions in 646 attempts for 5,189 yards. Pat Naughton, the quarterback last season, completed 153 of 252 passes for 2,282 yards to make those single-season lists. Receiver Jake Bush caught 80 passes – 10th on the single-season receptions list – in 2012, and 141 passes – tied for 15th most in a career – from 2011-13.

Softball

  • Comstock Park’s Casey Cherry was added to a group of 15 who have thrown back-to-back no-hitters. Cherry held Cedar Springs hitless in both ends of a doubleheader on May 7, 2009, as her team won 10-0 and 8-1. She struck out 13 over the two games.

Volleyball

  • New Buffalo’s Jade Madison is finishing off an outstanding three-sport career that’s included all-state recognition in basketball and an MHSAA discus championship in track and field – she’ll continue to compete in that sport at Western Michigan University. Madison also left her mark on the volleyball court with 1,502 career kills, including 579 as a senior.

  • Frankenmuth’s Lindsey Mertz had a record-setting performance to finish off her freshman season this fall. She totaled 48 assists in a Class B District match to make that single-match list, although the Eagles fell in four games to Mount Morris.

Wrestling

  • Durand’s Roger Wildmo won three MHSAA championships and 118 straight matches before graduating in 2011. He’s listed for various accomplishments, including 59-0 seasons as a junior and senior, a 230-2 career record and 163 career pins. Teammate Evan Lowell made the single-season escapes list with 77 and career list with 152 before also graduating in 2011. Wildmo now wrestles at Michigan State University.

  • Imlay City had a pair added to the career record list – Sam Lyscas, who won 209 matches before graduating in 2012, and Kevin Ahrens, who won 192 before graduating in 2009. Ahrens also made the career pins list with 119. 

PHOTO: Allen Park Inter-City Baptist's Evan Kraatz (10, in blue) pushes the ball upfield during his four-year career that came to an end this fall. (Photo courtesy of the Inter-City Baptist soccer program.)

Vassar Star Leaves Multi-Sport Legacy

April 20, 2017

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Vassar’s Tyler Humbert finished outstanding football and basketball careers during the 2015-16 school year, making the MHSAA record books in both sports.

Humpert quarterbacked the Vulcans’ football team to one of its most successful seasons in school history in 2015, an 8-2 finish with a return to the playoffs after two seasons away. He made the MHSAA records with 445 passing yards in a 56-21 win over Cass City in Week 6, and for 2,197 passing yards and 153 completions total over those 10 games.

In addition to his football contributions, the 6-foot-7 Humpert finished a four-season basketball career in 2016 with 733 rebounds over 86 games, good to make the MHSAA career list in that category. He averaged 8.5 per game over his career in addition to 10.3 ppg. He currently plays football at Saginaw Valley State University. 

Click to see the football and boys basketball record books in full and the headings below to see all listings for more sports with recent additions: baseball, girls basketball, football, boys and girls soccer, softball and volleyball.

Baseball

Birmingham Groves finished 31-10 this season, making the MHSAA record book with a team total of 48 times hit by pitches. Twelve players were hit by a pitch at least once, with a team individual high of 12 HBPs.

Girls Basketball

Fruitport Calvary Christian and Muskegon Heights Academy combined on Feb. 12, 2015, for the seventh-highest scoring game in MHSAA history. Calvary Christian won 103-63, and those 166 combined points also ranked as the highest-scoring game since 2008.

Football

Gaylord St. Mary became the first team in MHSAA history to intercept seven passes in one game, doing so in a 30-6 win over Bay City All Saints on Sept. 1. Four players contributed to the total: Brady Hunter had three interceptions, Alex Cherry had two, and Andrew Greif and Drew Long each had one.

Boys Soccer

Lincoln Alcona junior Conner McCoy upped his MHSAA single-season saves record this past fall while also making the single-game saves list twice. McCoy, who formerly set the single-season record with 391 as a sophomore in 2015, had 401 saves in 24 games this season. Along the way, McCoy had 35 saves in a District win over Saginaw Nouvel and 34 in a loss to Tawas early in the regular season.

Girls Soccer

Kylie Lanser earned McBain Northern Michigan Christian’s first entry into the girls soccer record book with 30 goals in 18 games as a senior last spring. She had a game high of four.

Softball

Schoolcraft’s Lydia Goble amassed nine record book listings over her first two seasons, placing her name in five categories. Most notably, she had eight RBI in a game as a freshman in 2015, tying for eighth most on that list, and her 73 RBI in 35 games last spring as a sophomore rank 10th all-time for one season. Goble plays shortstop and also is listed for 17 doubles and 12 triples as a freshman and 13 home runs a year ago. 

Volleyball

Adair Cutler and Paige Porter joined the Lansing Christian varsity during their freshman seasons and finished their careers in the fall among the state’s top offensive achievers. Porter had 589 kills in her final campaign to make the single-season list and 1,464 kills to make the career list in that category. Adair made the single-match assists list three times (with a high of 54 in a 3-2 Regional Semifinal win on Nov. 8) and the career list with 3,300 – which ranks 17th since the start of rally scoring in 2004-05. Cutler also made the single-match aces list with 10 three times, the season aces list twice (with a high of 156 as a junior) and finished with 396 career aces, which rank seventh all-time. Cutler has committed to continue her volleyball career at Hope College, and Porter has signed with Spring Arbor.

Reese Weslow’s 31 kills in a five-set win over Lowell were enough to make the single-match list and helped Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central secure first place in the Ottawa-Kent Conference White. Weslow is a senior.

The Schuitema sisters have owned the setter spot at Grant this entire decade, and both now have entries in the MHSAA record book as well. Both were added for single-match assists – current senior Sierra Schuitema with a high of 57, and 2014 graduate Summer Schuitema with a high of 46. Sierra made the single-season list in that category with 1,302 this past fall, and both made the career assists list with 3,987 over four seasons for Sierra and 2,524 over three seasons for Summer. Summer also made the single-match aces list with 12 in 2012 and both made the single-season aces list – Summer with a high of 151 in 2012 and Sierra with a high of 115 in 2015. They couldn’t get closer on the aces career list; Sierra had 388 and Summer 387. Sierra’s career assists rank fifth since the start of rally scoring, and the sisters rank eighth and ninth, respectively, in career aces. Summer Schuitema plays for Campbell University in North Carolina. Sierra has signed with Cedarville University in Ohio.

PHOTO: Vassar’s Tyler Humpert looks for an open receiver during the Vulcans’ 2015 playoff game against Ithaca. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)