By Dave Wolf – WSJM Sports Director
At end of the calendar year, you will commonly see all sorts of year end countdowns, or year in review lists. For me at least, the year doesn’t end on December 31st. It started on a holiday, again a holiday at least for me my birthday, which was a St. Joe boys soccer game against Plainwell. I remember it clearly because I couldn’t speak clearly. I was prescribed a new medication earlier that week and we’ll just say I had a bit of a reaction to it… Namely, my tongue and cheeks swelled up and took a severe bite on my tongue. So speaking was difficult. I got through that and the season went on after that.
So here are some of the things that went on during the past year.
St. Joe Football wins the SMAC Championship
Things didn’t start well for the first 5 quarters of the Bears 2022 season. St. Joe was simply outplayed by Traverse City Central in the opening game played at Top Taggart Field at Ferris State University. TCC beat St. Joe 49-28, but it wasn’t even that close. St. Joe also looked to be in trouble in their home opener after the first quarter against Hudsonville Unity Christian, but whatever Coach Andrew Pratley said made a difference as the Bears came back from 21-0 down to win 41-28. From there St. Joe did not lose a game after coasting to a 56-0 win at Kalamazoo Central, beating Battle Creek Lakeview 35-14, a close 13-12 win at Portage Central. Then a record shattering 62-49 win over Portage Northern, a game that had the 3rd most yards in MHSAA history, 11th most points in MHSAA history. The most points St. Joe has scored against Northern, the most points Northern has scored against St. Joe. St. Joe then went on to beat Lakeshore and Mattawan before facing Battle Creek Central in week 9, with the winner claiming the SMAC Conference Championship. A back and forth first half didn’t last as St. Joe shut down Battle Creek Central for a 47-29 win at C.W. Post Field in Battle Creek. St. Joe then met and beat East Grand Rapids 49-10 in the first round of the playoffs before falling to Zeeland West 36-18 in the District Championship Game.
Lakeshore struggles:
Bright things were expected for Lakeshore under Danny Thompson in his second year on the sidelines. And not just because of the new videoboard installed at Kohn-Lehman Field at Al Stockman Stadium. However Lakeshore dropped their first two games of the season a 66-15 lost to Zeeland West, and then a surprising 33-27 loss at Kalamazoo United. Lakeshore picked up their first win at Mattawan. But came back home to fall to Battle Creek Central 42-35. Lakeshore won easily at Kalamazoo Central the following week. However, the Lancers 42-35 win at Battle Creek Lakeview was actually their biggest loss of the year. An injury to Lakeshore’s starting quarterback Ryan Korfmacher ended his season and derailed any chance for the Lancers to make the playoffs. Lakeshore fell 42-14 to St. Joe, falling 42-6 at Portage Northern, before falling 20-14 to Portage Central in the final week. Lakeshore finished with a 3-6 record, 0-4 at home. The 66-15 loss to Zeeland West is the worst Lakeshore loss since falling 64-28 to Berrien Springs in 1986, and it’s only the second time Lakeshore has not made the playoffs since 1997.
Bridgman 8-man goes a perfect 9-0, MHSAA cancels exhibition game:
Bridgman high school gives students a lot more opportunities to participate in sports than other schools that are roughly the same size as they are. So begin able to field a full football team is difficult for the Bees. However they do have enough to play 8 man football, and the Bees not only play 8-man football, they excel at it. The Bees went a perfect 9-0, and quarterback Reid Haskins continued to break records in 8-man football. But the problem, the MHSAA considers Bridgman “too big” to be able to play in the 8-man football playoffs. The same is true for Grand Rapids Northpointe Christian. Since neither team was eligible for the playoffs, the two schools were going to play a week 10 “exhibition” game to see who the best 8 man team was, since both were ranked 1 and 2 all season. The day before the big game, the MHSAA notified both schools that they were not allowed to play.
Another area team did win the State Title in 8-Man Division 1, the Martin Clippers beat Merrill 74-24 for the championship.
Niles road warriors; Coloma and Hartford don’t field varsity teams:
Like many schools have done over the past decade, Niles decided to install artificial turf at their field, the problem is that construction didn’t begin until late August and the Vikings were forced to play all of their games on the road. Niles played games at St. Joe and Berrien Springs. And even played their homecoming game against Paw Paw…. In Paw Paw. Lakeshore also did some upgrades at Al Stockman Stadium and the Lancer gym, by adding a video scoreboard. SMAC school Battle Creek Lakeview also added a large video scoreboard and converted to artificial turf.
Coloma and Hartford this past year did not field varsity teams due to low numbers. Hartford also played under the nickname Huskies after deciding to drop the Indians nickname.
Watervliet Grace Christian joins the Twin Cities Sharks.
Eight Man Football has allowed small schools to continue playing football, while it’s given other schools the chance to field a football team. Our Lady of the Lake, Michigan Lutheran, and Countryside Academy came together a few years ago and began playing under the name Twin City Sharks. The Sharks added one more school to their group, Watervliet Grace Christian. Lakers, Titans, Cougars and Patriots now play as Sharks.
Uzelac and Bartz step down
The long career of Elliot Uzlec ends at Berrien Springs. The longtime college coach, who served as head coach at both Wesstern Michigan and the US Naval Academy, also serving under Coach Bo Schembechler at the University of Michigan finally called it a career. Uzelac first came to Southwest Michigan in 2006 at St. Joseph turning around a Bears team that went 0-9 in 2005, to the State Semifinals two years later. Uzelac also coached at Benton Harbor, turning around a struggling program and led the Tigers to the playoffs for the first time in program history, before ending up at Berrien Springs.
Edwardsburg had to find a new head coach for the first time in nearly 30. Kevin Bartz stepped down after one of the most successful runs in state history. Bartz retired after the 2022 season after 28 years on the Eddies sidelines. Bartz led the Eddies to a 216-78 record, including a 28-7 win over Chelsea in the 2018 MHSAA Division 4 State Championship game at Ford Field.
Lakeland Conference returns, conferences shift again.
The name Lakeland Conference made a reappearance after the 2013-14 school year. Berrien Springs, Brandywine, and Buchanan left the BCS conference, while Dowagiac departed the Wolverine Conference, joining independent Benton Harbor to form the new Lakeland Conference. It gave Benton Harbor a conference for the first time since the 2016-17 school year.
While the five school Lakeland Conference reformed, South Haven shifted from the Wolverine, to the BCS and ended up in the SAC, along with former Wolverine rival Allegan.
St. Joe and Lakeshore boys soccer go Big…. Boy
Like the St. Joe and Lakeshore football teams play each year for the Anchor Trophy, and the volleyball teams play for the Dig Pink trophy, the boys soccer rivalry has added a, rather large traveling trophy. Even though the traveling trophy isn’t the easiest to transport. When former Big Boy restaurant in Stevensville closed, someone was able to get the Big Boy statue from the restaurant and donated it to become the traveling trophy for the St. Joe/Lakeshore boys soccer game. St. Joe defeated Lakeshore 3-1 to earn the trophy. Although St. Joe wasn’t able to take the trophy home until the next day because they didn’t know about it and had to bring in a flat bed truck to transport it back to St. Joe. St. Joe won the Anchor Trophy for football, while Lakeshore won the Dig Pink trophy for volleyball.
Benton Harbor hoops starts strong, fades down the stretch; SJ wins 12 straight; Lancers struggle
Benton Harbor’s boys basketball team started the season out strong, the Tigers won 7 of their first 8 games, including the annual Earl McKee Holiday Tournament and a cross river rivalry matchup with St. Joe. However, Benton Harbor’s strong start and Lakeland Conference Championship didn’t holdup at the end of the season. The Tigers lost 6 of their last 9 games, with the last being a 65-61 loss to and at Niles in the Division 2 District Championship Game.
St. Joe struggled early, although the Bears won their opener over Harper Creek, St. Joe lost to SMAC opponents Battle Creek Central and Kalamazoo Central. Before a win at Lakeshore put the Bears at 2-2 heading into the holiday break. St. Joe then overwhelmed Coloma before a close loss at Benton Harbor. Then the Bears went on an unprecedented run for the program. St. Joe won 12 straight games, including a 30 point win over Battle Creek Central, a team they lost to by 3 points earlier in the season, and a 58-43 win over Lakeshore. It ended when St. Joe couldn’t hold off Portage Central late, followed by 3 more losses to Mattawan, Grand Haven and Loy Norrix. St. Joe won their district opener against Portage Northern before a loss to Kalamazoo Central in the District Semifinals.
It was a season that Lakeshore would like to forget, not only did the Lancer finish with a 7-15 record, and 1-7 in the SMAC West. The Lancers lost both games to St. Joe, and were held to under 40 points 10 times, with the lowest coming in a 49-25 loss at Kalamazoo Central. Lakeshore lost in the districts 53-26 to Portage Central.
During the season. St. Joe coach Gregg Shaffer, Benton Harbor coach Corey Sterling and Brandywine coach. Nathan Knapp all won their 200th game as a head coach.
Benton Harbor’s Grant Gondrezick II will continue his basketball career at Division 1 Elon University on North Carolina.
Lakeshore girls win SMAC West; SJ finishes a distant 2nd; Benton Harbor 3rd in Lakeland;
Lakeshore’s girls basketball team restored some hope in the Lancers gym this past season. It’s been a slow return for the team but Lakeshore finally ended their losing streak to St. Joe but won the SMAC West Division title. Lakeshore swept the season series with St. Joe with a 30-25 win in December at the Bear Den, and then a 55-38 win at Lakeshore on Ground Hog’s day. The Lancers season would end with a 45-28 loss to Kalamazoo Central in the District Championship.
A senior heavy team the year before, St. Joe couldn’t replace the talent, scoring and experience from the year before and finished with an 8-14 record. St. Joe won their first two games, over Harper Creek and Benton Harbor, before losing their next five, including a rematch with the Tigers. St. Joe had won three straight games before falling to Lakeland Conference’s powerhouse’s Brandywine and one loss Buchanan before a 52-48 loss to Mattawan in the district opener.
A third place finish in a 5 team conference sounds like it was an average season, after all Benton Harbor did finish with a 4-4 record in the new Lakeland Conference. The Lady Tigers finished the season at 15-9.and considering Buchanan finished at 23-2 and Brandywine at 21-3 are in the same conference. The Lady Tigers continue to bring the program back. It helps when you have a D1 recruit playing as Desrae Kyles signed her NLI to continue her basketball career at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant.
Buchanan’s Faith Carson will continue her career at Ohio State, the 6’4 center helped Buchanan a District and Regional Championship before falling in the quarterfinals. Buchanan only lost two games all season, their first and last games.
The River Valley girls basketball team won their first district championship in 25 years.
SW Michigan wrestlers still making headlines:
Southwest Michigan continues to produce state champions in wrestling, one of the latest is sophomore Brady Baker of Lakeshore. He won the Division 2 Individual State Championship in the 106 pound weight division with a major 9-1 decision in the championship match at Ford Field. Lakeshore’s team program didn’t skip a beat after legendary coach Bruce Bittenbender retired after last year. Ryan Quinn’s team made it to the state tournament again and produced another individual state champion.
While boys wrestling remains strong, girls wrestling not only has emerged, but really has blossomed. The Berrien County meet at St. Joseph ever year now includes a girls tournament, as well as a girls backet in the state finals at Ford Field, and continues to grow each year.
In fact, schools are now adding some boys volleyball teams as club sports and schools are also adding girls flag football teams as well.
Track and Field brings a State Championship to St. Joe
For the first time since 1997, the St. Joseph boys track and field team won the MHSAA’s State Championship, and the Bears did it at the highest level. St. Joe’s Division 1 state title wasn’t decided until the final race, but St. Joe had to wait until the final heat of the 1600 meter relay to know the trophy was theirs. St. Joe finished the race 5th, but the only team that had a chance to catch them finish just ahead of them, and if any school finished between St. Joe and Chippewa Valley, St. Joe would have lost on the final race. Much of the Bears success were because of Trey McGinnis who anchored the final leg of the 1600 meter relay and came in 2nd in the 100 and 200 meter dash. Jerry Cappaccio won the discuss throw and came in 2nd in the shotput. Both also set numerous school as well as conference records. McGinnis will run track and play football at the US Military Academy at West Point.
No Big Boy, but Lancers and Bears still strong in girls soccer
Southwest Michigan girls soccer teams continued to find success through the spring, and the weather was a lot better this year than it was last year. Lakeshore climb back took another huge step this season as the Lancers finished 3rd in the SMAC tournament with a 3-2 win over perennial state power Gull Lake. It’s been a steady rise for the Lancers, thanks to many of the same players contributing to the resurgence of the girls basketball team, which is the opposite for St. Joe, the Bears came into the year with three straight district titles (with Covid year in between). St. Joe’s loss of their 4 year staring keeper didn’t take much of a dip, but St. Joe’s returning scorer was lost before the season to injury, St. Joe’s success mostly fell to the feet of Eleah Hedstrom, who will continue playing basketball and soccer at Lake Michigan College. St. Joe and Lakeshore tied 1-1 in their meeting this season, which makes St. Joe unbeaten against the Lancers in their last 6 games. Both Lakeshore and St. Joe fell to state semifinalist Plainwell in the districts.
Our Lady of the Lake picked up the district championship over their rivals from Michigan Lutheran, and even though they didn’t win a district championship. Bloomingdale fielded a girls soccer team for the first time ever this past spring.
And soccer is not over yet as Plainwell plays in the state semifinals tonight.
Lakeshore baseball falls in regional finals:
Another deep run by the Lakeshore baseball team was cut short a little sooner than what was expected as the Lancers fell in the Regional finals to Grand Rapids Christian. This coming a few weeks after beating top ranked Orchard Lake’s St. Mary’s in Stevensville. The Bridgman baseball team will play in the Semifinals this weekend looking to keep Berrien County’s run of state championship in baseball active, as Lakeshore won two years ago and Buchanan last year.
Buchanan plays in quarterfinals tonight:
While Buchanan’s baseball team could not repeat as champions. The Buchanan softball team will try to keep the recent success on the diamond active to the Bucks. Buchanan faces Ravenna in the quarterfinals tonight at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids.
