EAST GRAND RAPIDS — “Overpower. Overtake. Overcome.” —Serena Williams.
There was no way that Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice or Clarkston Everest Collegiate would be waylaid Saturday, June 10, in their quests for a state championship.
The Warriors met the challenge posed by their Catholic League archrival, Novi Detroit Catholic Central, for a 14-11 victory and claimed their 16th Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 1 lacrosse title.
The Mountaineers fired a 10-stroke lead on the first day of the MHSAA Division 4 boys golf final and increased the margin to 17 strokes on the second day for the school’s third state championship.
A flood: the goals came in furious bunches
Two minutes into the game, Rice senior captain Hunter Polonkey scored. What followed resembled what would have happened if the Little Dutch Boy had pulled his finger out of a dike: a flood.
The goals came in bunches. It was furious. The Shamrocks scored three in a row for a 3-1 lead. Rice responded with five in a row, then CC with four straight, and Rice followed with a trio. With 3:30 to play in the third quarter, Brother Rice had a slim 9-8 lead.
The teams traded a pair of goals until the Warriors iced the game with three unanswered goals.
Rice coach Ajay Chawla said seniors never forgot last year listening to Hartland celebrating its 11-10 overtime win for the championship.
“They started working the next day, and it never stopped,” he said. “This day is a culmination of all that work. You could see today that they were determined not to lose that game.”
Polonkey, who scored four goals and assisted on three others, personified the Warriors’ will to win. He played with a cumbersome brace on his right knee resulting from a torn meniscus two weeks earlier.
“When you are out on the field with your adrenaline rushing, you don’t feel it too much,” said Polonkey, who is committed to Lehigh. “I am sure I will be feeling it later, but I wasn’t going to let that keep me from this game.” He will have surgery later this month.
Rice's goals came from Ben Eck, Johnny Kunz, Sam Klein and Caiden Ramos, each with two apiece, and single scores by Braden Zarek and Christian McNulty.
“A lot of people want to be at this game, but only two can,” Shamrocks coach Dave Wilson said. “When you get to this point, if you make a mistake, the opponent is going to take advantage of it and make you pay for it.”
Jack Cyrek and Sean Donahue with four goals each and Lachlan Moffatt with three accounted for Catholic Central’s offense.
Some 18 years ago, the MHSAA sanctioned lacrosse. Brother Rice has dominated the sport like no other has, appearing in every championship game, winning 16. This was the 10th time that Catholic Central has faced Rice in the finale, winning the 2018 match.
Since 2005, Brother Rice has an astounding record of 356 wins and 51 losses. In 2014, Chawla (171-32) succeeded Rob Ambrose (2005-2013; 185-19).
The Warriors are 259-8 against 47 Michigan high schools, including 132-4 against five Catholic League opponents. The four losses were to Catholic Central, the most recent a month ago for the CHSL championship.
Brother Rice is 97-43 against teams outside of Michigan and Canada.
Brothers motivate each other, Everest to third title
Brothers Remy and Parker Stalcup motivated each other and pumped up their mates to lead Everest to the Division 4 golf title by 17 strokes, 625-642, over runner-up Hillsdale Academy at Bedford Valley in Battle Creek. It was the school’s third state title. The others were in 2017 and 2018.
Remy carded a 70-72 142 and Parker 76-72 148. They finished 1-2 in the Top 10 list. Sophomore Will Pennanen was seventh best with 81-74 155. Freshman Franco Torio 88-92 180 and sophomore Jimmy Schmitt 100-94 104 rounded out the Mountaineers’ lineup.
Remy, who is committed to Saginaw Valley State, shot a similar 70-72 142 two years ago as a sophomore for medalist honors.
“It’s pretty awesome to do it a second time in my high school career,” Remy said. “He had me on the ropes a little bit down the stretch, but I pulled it out.”
The “he” is his sophomore brother Parker, who trailed Remy by a stroke with five holes to play. “I thought I had him going into 14,” Parker said, “and then I just hit a couple of bad drives, which led to some bogeys. And I just lost it from there.”
“Remy is the captain of the team,” Everest coach David Smith said. “And he’s actually become a great leader. He’s encouraging and voting for them to make birdies and go after him. It’s a good bunch of kids that follow him around, and that’s why we were successful.”
Golf footnotes
In Division 2: Brother Rice led the first round by 10 strokes over Grand Rapids Christian, but dropped 17 strokes in the second round to lose 595-597 to Christian in their bid to three-peat. Senior Lorenzo Pinili won medalist honors with 64-70 134. Orchard Lake St. Mary’s finished 12th.
In Division 1: Defending champ Catholic Central finished fourth 13 strokes behind winner Northville. Junior Julian Menser shot 77-72 149. University of Detroit Jesuit and Warren De La Salle finished ninth and 10th, respectively.
In Division 3: Defending champ Ann Arbor Greenhills finished 13th. Junior Max Shulman was third in the Top 10 individuals with 72-77 149. Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett ended up in fifth place.
In Division 4: Senior Keldon Koshorek of Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes was second among individual qualifiers with 81-76 157.
Contact Don Horkey at [email protected].
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